As far as I know our SMF version (1.1.14) is up to date.  The problem is that sometimes our poor web server gets sick and tommy has to reboot it, so I apologize on behalf of the server.  At some point we're planning on migrating the forums and website to a new server that will not get sick all the time.

In an effort to control spam and to keep the forums tidy, all forum accounts with a post count of 0 have been removed.  If you had a lurker account, you will have to recreate it -- sorry for the inconvenience!

User registrations are now checked against a global database of known spammers, so this will hopefully also keep out spambots.

I added some meat boy specific questions to the registration form.  I think this will stop most of the robots, but unfortunately I think some of the spam we're dealing with is actually coming from live humans.

I guess we're getting a lot more spam all of a sudden, and I finally figured out how to get at least one SMF modifcation to work!

I added a couple questions to the registration page, so when someone registers for the forum they need to answer some meat boy specific questions.  I think this will curb some of the spam registrations, but we'll see!

There might be a mod for it, but so far I have been unsuccessful in mod installations due to the custom theme, so it would require a lot more hacking and slashing of all the php codes.

So the spam bots chose a very vulnerable time to attack the forums.

Both myself and Team Meat were at Game Developers Conference this past week and I mostly have been without any sort of internet for the past 7 or 8 days.  When I left I looked at the current rate of spam, which was like one or two posts every couple days, and figured that it would be fine to not monitor the forums constantly, but I guess that was a pretty big error in judgment.

So for now global moderators have the power to manage the ban list and should only be using this power to ban the spam bots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK7J0jYKpiY

I rest my case.

I've added psychopath as a mod.  If he actually turns out to be a psychopath then we're all in trouble.

[HERE BE THE RULES OF THE TEAM MEAT FORUMS.]

HERE BE THE RULES OF THE TEAM MEAT FORUMS.
Obey them and all shall be well.  Break them and one might find themselves on the wrong side of a swift moving ban hammer.


RULE 1  Don't be an ass.
Should be simple enough.  Being an ass includes but is not limited to, personal attacks on other members of the forum, racial slurs or otherwise super offensive language, any sort of harassment to other members, and acting like a general douche.  Punishments for assery include verbal warnings from the forum staff (either public, or private through PM), temporary, and permanent bans.  Treat people as you would in person, be civilized, and all that good sort.


RULE 2  No illegal stuff.
Do not post anything related to pirated material, and do not post material that is unsuitable for minors to view.  This includes pornography and general gross/shocking imagery.  Illegal materials could get us in big trouble with our web host, and we wouldn't want that.  Any posted material or links to aforementioned materials will be promptly removed.  A warning of some sort will come swiftly to the offending user.  Repeat offenders will lose posting privileges, or be banned permanently.


RULE 3  No advertisement spam.
This should be obvious, but any spam advertisement posts (WoW gold, Ugg Bootz, Nike Jerseys, etc) will be immediately removed with the ban hammer coming down swiftly on the offending poster.  If you make a post that is spam-like, the forum staff will assume that you are a spam bot and ban you permanently without warning.  This rule applies only to posts that make you look like a spam bot.


RULE 4  No super annoying signatures (or avatars)
If your signature is huge and has 100 frames of animation then it's probably going to be moderated.  There is no exact pixel size limitation on signatures currently, but if your signature is much larger than your average post size, then there's a good chance it will be moderated.  Also if enough people complain about your signature or avatar giving them seizures, it will be moderated.  You won't be banned, probably just warned and your signature removed.


RULE 5  Post Etiquette.
We're not asking you to behave like fancy pants rich people, but please be reasonable while posting in the forums.  Completely derailing a thread will result in a warning.  Repeat offenses of purposely derailing threads will result in a temporary loss of posting privileges.  On top of that, try not to post large images directly to the forums (wallpapers for example). If you'd like to share a large picture, use a link to the image instead.


RULE 6  The rules can change.
The forum staff reserves the right to alter or amend the rules as they see fit.  That's about it.


Some important notes:
- If you see something out of line, please report the offending post to the moderation staff with the "Report to moderator" link at the bottom right of the post.
- It is up to the discretion of the forum staff to decide what is a punishable offense.
- In most cases you will be warned about an offense before before further action is taken.  (Except if you're a spam robot.  That's a insta-ban.)

Rules Version 1.0

[please report your posts]

I think that bumping is okay in some cases, and if it gets too out of control then we'll deal with it.

I made another revision.  I'm pretty sure this is ready to go up as our OFFICIAL RULES unless anyone has any hard core objections or edits still.

I'd just like to recommend one little change:

"If you see something out of line, please report your posts to the moderation staff with the "Report to moderator" link at the bottom right of the post."

I think that should say something like "please report the offending posts" 

Otherwise, I'm in favor of launching the current draft as the first official rule set. I think we could make it look a little more tidy with some fancy text formatting but I'm in complete agreement with the base rules, especially number 5 :)

Oops, good catch ;p

I think that bumping is okay in some cases, and if it gets too out of control then we'll deal with it.

I made another revision.  I'm pretty sure this is ready to go up as our OFFICIAL RULES unless anyone has any hard core objections or edits still.

Made some adjustments.  I want to make the spamming rule clear that it only really applies to  "WOW GOLD UGG BOOTZ NIKE JERSEYS!!!" posts by spam bots and humans paid 6 cents per message.

I updated the first post with a first draft of rules.  Let me know what you guys think.

This all looks pretty awesome.  I'll be going through this thread sometime soon and I'll make a "first draft" of the super meat forum constitution.