Guidelines

ATRL's Code of Conduct Policy

 

ATRL values respectful discussion throughout the site. Rules are enforced with penalties including warnings, thread bans, forum bans and revoked posting privileges. All members are expected to read and follow the rules – no exceptions. These are global rules, meaning they cover every section of the forum (including Blogs) unless exceptions are outlined in a particular thread like Stand Your Ground. There are additional rules in each section of the forum (Music, Charts, etc). which should be followed in addition to our global rules. 

 

The administrators and moderators of ATRL reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread or any post, including blog posts and comments, and warn, ban, or delete any member, for any reason. The ability to post messages at ATRL is a privilege, not a right. Members who consistently abuse this privilege by ignoring the rules will be warned or banned from posting. 

 

Staff Communication

 

Conduct 
Members must be respectful to the administrators and moderators of ATRL at all times. This includes PMs, help requests and social media channels. Insults, rudeness and other forms of disrespect will result in penalties that may include a ban from the forum.

 

Reporting & Help Requests
Members can report threads, posts and profile content that violate ATRL’s rules and policy. Reports must be sent through the traditional report link found underneath each member’s post. Members can send in help requests to directly contact ATRL staff about an issue, whether it be a dispute over a penalty they’ve received, a technical issue or a request that only staff members can resolve. 

 

The Don’ts
— Reports and help requests via staff walls and PMs are not allowed and may result in penalties against the sender.
— You are not allowed to fish for a report against a member to get them banned (reporting a member’s old posts, baiting them into an argument, etc). Penalties will be given to members caught doing so.
— All reports must be presented respectfully. The user reporting a post or thread may be warned if the report itself is deemed rude or offensive to staff. 

 

General Rules

 

Disruptive Content
All comments must stay on the thread’s topic. Do not post comments with the intent of derailing the thread into off-topic conversation or out of control arguments. Thread titles must not contain misleading descriptions of the thread’s content, capitalized words for the sole purpose of hyping the thread or all caps formatting. Fake news articles must be marked as such in the thread title. ATRL prohibits the use of nicknames when referring to public figures, brands or other users. For more information on this, see the nicknames warning. Intentionally fooling the profanity censor is also prohibited.

Offensive Content
Do not post content of a sexual or discriminatory nature. This includes avatars, signatures and other public profile content. Mentioning or linking to adult entertainment websites is also prohibited. Content that is extremely violent or otherwise discomforting needs to be marked as such and must only be linked, not embedded. It must also be relevant to the topic at hand. 
 

Sexual Content
We do not allow content that includes graphic sexual text, image, audio, video, or games; or content containing non-consensual sexual themes, whether simulated or real.

Examples: Sex acts such as genital, anal, and/or oral sex; masturbation; cartoon porn or hentai; graphic nudity; Rape, incest, bestiality, necrophilia, snuff, lolita or teen-themed pornography, underage dating

Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP) - 2020

The Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP) covers all forms of explicit hateful and discriminatory speech that make other users feel unsafe and uncomfortable. This includes but is not limited to racist, homophobic, or transphobic posts, as well as discrimination or offense comments based on sexuality, gender or an individual's choice to be defined as something else altogether.

Disrespectful Comments
Critical comments are welcome, but you are not allowed to insult or belittle members or staff. This includes indirect means such as your avatar, signature, custom title or in conversations with others. PMs may be investigated in extreme cases. Use your Ignore List to prevent other members from contacting you. 

Illegal Content
Threads and posts containing links to unlicensed downloads or streams of copyrighted material are not allowed because of legal concerns, and will be deleted as soon as possible. It is also prohibited to post offers to trade unlicensed files through other means or make requests for those files. Any attempts to circumvent this rule in any way will not be tolerated, and members who do so will be warned or banned. 

 

In an effort to comply with DMCA requirements and reduce the amount of takedown notices we receive, news articles posted on ATRL must be no more than 50% of the content and must include a link to the source. Users can choose to either post roughly half of the article or the most valid portions that total no more than half the article. 

Unsolicited Advertising (Spam)
Threads and posts containing unsolicited advertising or spam are not allowed and will result in a ban from the forum. 

Duplicate Accounts
Creating more than one account on ATRL, for any reason (starting fresh, changing your username, evading warning points, etc), will result in a ban of your duplicate, permanent points to your main account & a 3-month ban. Additional infractions will result in a permanent ban from this forum and unable to access the forum entirely.

Penalties

 

Reminders are warnings with no points attached. These are issued to new members, for first time offenses and content that isn’t severe enough to receive a full warning.

 

Warnings are points issued to members that break the rules. Points accumulate and expire over a period of time depending on the violation. Accumulated points will result in a ban from the forum after reaching a certain limit. You can view your warnings in your profile.

 

Violating the Zero Tolerance Policy

Violating the ZTP will result in an immediate 3 month ban and 2 points that don’t expire for 1 year. If you accrue three Offensive warnings from the date of June 16, 2020, a permanent ban from the forum will be issued. However, in exceptional circumstances, the ATRL staff reserve the right to issue a permanent ban at their discretion before reaching your third offense.

 

Please note that this policy will not be applied retroactively to previous permanent bans under the original ZTP.

 

60 Day Ban — Occurs when member reaches 10 active warning points, or gets warned when they already have 10 active warning points. (Important Note: This ban may take effect even with expired points; see this thread for clarification)

 

Permanent Ban — In severe cases, members will be permanently banned from the forum (violating the Zero Tolerance Policy, creating duplicate accounts, repeatedly ignoring the rules, insulting staff, spamming, glorifying and/or making light of rape, domestic violence, terrorism, murder, etc). Permabanned members will have an opportunity to appeal their ban by contacting @atrl on Twitter. 

 

Thread bans are issued to members that disrupt threads by constantly trolling or going off topic. The standard thread ban is 14 days, but more severe violations may result in a permanent ban from the thread.

 

Section bans are issued when members constantly cause problems in a certain area of the forum (Blogs, Base, The Lounge, etc). These bans are permanent by default, but may be reviewed by our moderators after a certain amount of time has passed.

 

Restricted status
Members may lose some forum privileges if they repeatedly display disruptive or immature behavior. Restricted members are not able to create threads and are not allowed to post in serious discussion threads relating to real world news and issues.

 

Disputes
If you wish to dispute a warning or ban, you can contact our staff. Members who have lost access to the site (due to a temporary or permanent ban) can contact ATRL’s staff via Twitter (@atrl). 

Warning Types

 

Note: The following warning point levels represent the least amount of points associated with the warning. Depending on the severity of the violation, points issued may be increased. See custom warnings for more info.

 

Abrasive — 1 point, expires in 60 days
Your comment was rude and/or hurtful to other members or staff. 

 

Disruptive — 1 point, expires in 30 days
You did one of the following:
- Spammed gifs/images/smileys/random keys
- Posted a pointless thread or too many times in a row
- Intentionally used a fake, misleading or attention-seeking thread title
- Used all caps in a thread title or capitalized one or more words for the sole purpose of hyping the thread
- Bumped one or more old threads for no reason
- Posted in a language other than English when the thread did not call for it
- Typed or formatted your posts in a disruptive or annoying style
- Participated in disruptive group behavior
- Intentionally fooled the profanity censor

 

Flamebait — 1 point, expires in 30 days
You started a thread or posted a reply that just seems to be fishing for an argument, or you perpetuated an argument by quoting such posts.

 

Insensitive — 2 point, expires in 60 days
You posted something disturbing or highly polarizing with no concern for other people’s feelings.

 

Vulgar — 1 point, expires in 60 days
You posted sexually suggestive content.

 

Spoiler — 1 point, expires in 30 days
You posted information that gives away major plot details of a movie, TV show, book or video game. For more information on this, see the Entertainment guidelines. 

 

Nicknames — 1 point, expires in 30 days
You mangled the name of a celebrity, public figure, brand or ATRL member by combining it with another term.
Allowed: Celebrity portmanteaux, honorary titles and shortened names such as "Brangelina", "Queen Britney", "Legend X", "Princess Ri", etc.
Not allowed: Any type of mangling such as "Godga", "Successica Legendson", "2001ney", etc. or other disruptive nicknames that do not reflect their real name.

Exception: Positive nicknames are allowed in Fan Base threads for the respective celebrity.

 

Off Topic — 1 point, expires in 30 days
A significant part of your post had little to do with the thread’s topic, you posted the list of members currently browsing, or you talked about reports, warnings or other moderation activity.

 

Infringement — 1 points, expires in 30 days
You copied more than 50% of an article without proper consent from the author, and/or you did not properly link to and credit the source.

 

Personal Attack — 2 points, expires in 90 days
You personally attacked another member, viciously and/or repeatedly, on the forum or on their wall.

 

Trolling — 2 points, expires in 90 days
You were belligerent or antagonizing in a thread about a celebrity you don’t like, or you started a thread meant only to bash a certain celebrity, or you harshly attacked a celebrity/fan base.

 

File Share Request — 1 point, never expires
You requested a link to an illegal download or an illegal download website, either directly or by hinting at it.

 

Graphic — 2 points, expires in 90 days
You posted content of a highly violent, discomforting or sexual nature.

 

Offensive — 3 points, 3 month ban, expires in 1 year
You posted something racist, homophobic, or otherwise discriminatory in violation of our Zero Tolerance Policy. 

 

Explicit — 2 points, expires in 1 year
You posted a sexually or violently explicit image or your profile info contains sexually or violently explicit content.

 

File Sharing — 3 points, never expires
You posted a link to an illegal download, illegal download website, or you posted copyrighted material. Quoting posts that contain links to illegal downloads is also strictly prohibited. For more information on this, see the Music guidelines.

 

Breach of Privacy — 3 points, 6+ month ban, never expires
You intentionally posted a member’s personal information or picture without their consent. This is not allowed even if the information or picture was originally posted on ATRL by the member themselves. The only exception is the member’s avatar, though misuse can still be warned for other reasons.

 

Duplicate — 1+ points, 3 month ban, never expires
We’ve discovered that you have a duplicate account and are carrying on a second persona.

 

Spam — Permanent ban
If you post obvious spam for another website or business, you’re out of here, period.

 

Custom Warnings: In addition to the standard warning points, it’s also possible for members to receive custom warning points. These are issued when:
— The member has violated multiple rules in the same post
— Posted content that goes beyond what the standard warning covers
— Intentionally breaking the rules as a form of protest or to be malicious
— Has been warned several times for the same violation