RULES

[Kisai]

Okay enough is enough. I could have sworn this forum had this but here are the rules again in a nutshell:

1. General Discussion is open to all registered users, you can post anything you want except:
   1. inline images that exceed a PG rating (Link to discussion relevant images with a link only and mark NSFW if it's not PG safe). The only exception to this is the Naked Thread, nudity can be inlined there.
   2. posts encouraging the hate of any person, place, thing, religion, idea, just don't hate something cause it exists or doesn't exist.
   3. spamming the forums with unsolicitied sales pitches.
   4. spamming the forums with any non-CG/non-Keenspot promotions not cleared by STrRedWolf, Kisai, or Mercury Hat (most are OK'ed -- we want you to ask).
   5. ganging up on any specific poster, comic author Comicgenesis or not
   6. encouraging any illegal activity that is illegal in the USA and/or the country that the poster is from.
2. General discussion is not the help forum, for Comicgenesis-specific problems, go there instead.
   
   Moderators and Admins will use discretion when locking posts/threads. Posting any item that it's sole purpose is to start a flame will be locked.
3. No links or instructions on how to obtain pirated software for doing comics. Moderators, please edit/delete any posts with links to pirated material or instructions how to obtain it.
   
   If you want to quickly know how to make a webcomic without spending money for photoshop, flash, illustrator, or whatever there are a few free pieces of software
   
   • The gimp (Unix/Win) at http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/
   • Paint.net (Win) at http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
   • SSWF (Unix/Win/Mac) http://sswf.sourceforge.net/ (Note this is nothing like Macromedia's editors, it's script based, source code)
   • Alternative to SWF you can look at SVG, which is a free vector image format, but there are no free viable editors that support everything.
     Though you can code SVG without needing any editor.
     Though this editor is close, http://www.inkscape.org/ , free too. (thanks SJ) (We don't know if SVG is compatible with our systems yet for comics --STrRedWolf)
   There are plenty more free products, I'm sure, but I want to discourage the use of pirated software on Comic Genesis. Make your comic yours by not stealing software and/or content to produce a comic.
4. DO NOT EMAIL KEENSPOT FOR COMIC GENESIS QUESTIONS! DO NOT EMAIL COMIC GENESIS FOR TECH HELP UNLESS YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FORUMS!
5. The forums limit size of the sig to fit in the same area that a standard advertisement would fit plus 20 px (468px wide, 80px high). Banners must be Safe-For-Work (no nudity/gore.) Sigs will be disabled on users who circumvent the enforced limit.
6. In the same line of thinking, you can upload images in ANY forum except General Discussion. Please do not hotlink to third-party sites just to show your image, with the exception of PhotoBucket, any similar photo-hosting service which encourages you to hotlink, and your webcomic accounts. Do not use imageshack.us . Also, please limit the width of each image to no more than 720 pixels (so us folk who like their webbrowser not to be full screen need not full screen it... and yet still have to scroll to get to the next page because someone put up a 2048x1536 pixel behemoth of a photo up).

ComicGenesis IS NOT a Dating service. People may form and break off relationships as they please. Admins and Moderators will not help you with this.

Avatars are now set to 125 wide and 125 high, this is to make up for the new forums widths. phpBB3 has about 200 to 225 pixels of width for the user's profile, where as phpBB2 only had about 100 and wasn't fixed. Avatar size has been upped to 48K, but please do not use the maximum size unless there is a need. at 20 posts per page that would make each page 960KB just for the avatars.

Thank you,
Kisai

[STrRedWolf]

Also note you can sprite with Gimp and Paint.net, and we perfer you do your own custom sprites (a la Desiel Sweeties) than use sprite rips of Megaman and other games.

[Mercury Hat]

Stop replying to spam threads. Please! It is pointless--the spammer will never read your oh so hilarious posts. Not to mention that it reeks of postwhoring.

This goes for any spam thread on any of the main boards. If you see spam, make sure the mod of that forum sees it so that they can notify an admin.

From now on, any replies I see to a spam thread are going to be deleted outright untouched in case I need to warn people about their behavior. If you reply to multiple spam threads with multiple posts, expect to receive a warning. This would be a stupid thing to get DHW for, so knock it off, folks, I'm tired of it.

Edited August 26.

[Mercury Hat]

Notice about signatures. Sigs are getting out of hand; we DO have a sig limit in place right in the very first post of this thread, and I'm going to start enforcing it. 468x80 pixels, this is the size of the standard ads. I'm going to say this applies to here in GD as well as all the "main" boards. The main boards being what you see in the index. Individual comic forums are up to their respective moderators; if they don't care about 500px tall sigs, whatever, I won't enforce this there.

Additionally, and this hasn't been a problem, but sigs with graphics larger than, say, 30kb will get a warning. Again, hasn't been a problem, but if I notice a sig slowing down the forum's load time, a warning will go out.

From the time of this post, you have ONE WEEK to trim yours down to size. My sig, with text included, is 468px by 60px in the ComicGenesis theme as specified in the first post up here. However, imagine another line of text beneath it to see how it would fit in the limits of 80px high.

After ONE WEEK, I will gently chide people over PM to trim down their sig size. Don't make this be a huge problem (repeat offenders, people ignoring the rule, etc), because if it is, I might have to turn off people's sigs, and I don't want that to happen.

EDIT TO ADD: Every theme is slightly different when it comes to width, especially with how it handles text. The black theme, based on the default phpBB theme, is the widest. My sig is measured to fit in the ComicGenesis theme, as it is the default. 468px wide is not going to be hard enforced, but if your sig is obviously too wide, especially on the default theme, you will get called on it. I will not begrudge you, let's say 10 pixels on the default theme, especially if it's text, but if your images add up to over the limit, you'll be asked to cut it down. Your image width is not dependent on the theme and can be easily measured .

EDIT EDIT: I've upped the height limit to 80px. This allows you one 468x60 banner plus one line of text in the standard size beneath, since this is a popular thing to do with the standard-sized banners.

[STrRedWolf]

A clarification on the sig rule.

• No single image can be more than 468x60
• No pack of images under 320x60 may stretch for more than two rows in the Comic Genesis theme.
• You may have a few rows of text underneath the images.
• The admins reserve the right to edit your signature if it doesn't fit, and then annoy you about it.
• Imitating Kibo's 1 meg sig will immedately put you on the Dead Humanoid Walking list.

Don't make us edit your signature.

[Mercury Hat]

Fall means it's time for a new guideline/rule!

Non-mods, which is to say most all of you, please limit the amount of backseat moderating. This hasn't been a big deal, but even one incident can turn nasty quickly.

Example: It is okay to politely tell someone they should have posted a thread in a different forum. It's not okay to harp on someone about this rule or that rule and ensure them their ban is imminent or something like that. Gentle reminders: good! Taking the reins and acting as mod apparent: not so good!

Basically, if it's something you'd have to get a mod or admin to do, it's best to find a mod or admin and let them know about it. Chances are, we're aware of a situation, especially if it's a big one, so catch someone in chat or in a PM and double-check.

Main board mods, you can still do the talking part of moderating in a forum which isn't yours as you've been doing.

[STrRedWolf]

Just a small reminder: Your forum mods are listed on every forum message list page at the top.

Each forum mod should be responsive, or else post in the forum that they're taking some time off. If you find the forum mod hasn't taken action or replied within a reasonable amount of time (a week is good), then bug Mercury Hat followed by Kisai and myself.

Forum mods: Please post a sticky when you'll be off the 'net for some time.

[STrRedWolf]

In light of recent actions by the Church of Scientology relating to a celebrity break-up, I am instituting the following policy:

Any complaint about a post or comic that calls said post or comic a violation of the Church's Code of Conduct shall be given the appropriate weight for such complaint. That weight is NEGATIVE.

In other words:

• Posted complains citing church edict as the reason for complaining about a post will result in a ban of no less than one year.
• Emailed versions of said post will be treated as spam and reported to the originating ISP. If they come from the Church, their ISP gets complained to.
• In person complaints shall be subjected to Nuclear Bubble Wrap's ScientLOLojyuuichi on repeat until police arrive and arrest said person for harrassment and possible mental instability (before the song, not after).

This is for your protection and my sanity. I don't want church members filling my ear with nonsense. I got enough of that when I just walked *by* the church in DC going to/from work for a full month!

EDIT FOR MORE INFO: Scientology groups asks followers to censor Web comments.