We sure do have a lot of rules and guidelines threads - find them all here, and please make sure you've read them! Also, community-wide announcements (that aren't major ZDoom News) go here as well.
Welcome to the ZDoom Forums!
I hope you enjoy your time here. We're generally a pretty accepting community of nice people, but bear in mind that like all internet forums, ours comes with a set of rules and guidelines that we expect you to stick to. If you don't stick to the rules, you're doing more than annoying the moderators; you're also doing things that most people really don't like seeing. Not all rules come with the same penalties, which is why they're sorted into the following three helpful categories: Mandatory, Minor, and Guidelines. These rules generally also apply to our other online presences, such as the Official ZDoom Discord and the IRC channel on Espernet.
Note that, in the interest of preventing spammers, your first post will need to be approved by a moderator before it will be visible on the forum. If you haven't had your post approved in a while, contact one of us. More information can be found in this announcement thread.
But before we get into the main rules, let's go over a special section:
Spoiler: Not Safe For Work/18+ Content Rules
After a clarification by Randi elsewhere on the forums, NSFW content is now allowable. BUT, before you go posting your naked ladies and dick pics everywhere, know that under certain jurisdictions, it is still illegal to expose young children to these sorts of things (and it could potentially get people fired, as well); therefore, NSFW content should be safely contained in a Spoiler tag or off-site link labeled NSFW/18+.
Also, be aware that "NSFW" is NOT a catch-all to allow people to post whatever depraved crap they want to post. There are things that are still very much against the forum rules. I go by an "ick factor" rule; artistic nudity is fine, but "barely legal 18yo taking it up the butt!" is not.
Here's a vague list of where my "ick factor" resides:
The below is fine as is:
Gore, by itself. (Typical Doom stuff, in other words.)
"Real" gore from photographs of people who have specifically given permission for them to be shared. (The famous Kevin Cloud knee injury texture, in other words.)
The below should be tagged as "NSFW/18+"
Tasteful nudity, by itself. (Exposed breasts and/or genitalia with no sexual purpose. No, this does not make dick pics legal.)
Nudity combined with gore, with no sexual or "guro" purpose behind it. (Borderline case - certain mods contain monster designs based on the female form, this is here to allow those)
Ick factor barrier - everything below this line is strictly against the rules:
Erect male genitalia. (Borderline case - I'm aware that Alien mods are popular, and many H. R. Giger designs contain images based on those; those are allowed, but actual erections have no place here, so no dick pics please.)
"Real" gore derived from photographs of dead people. (The implication is that they did NOT give permission to use them.)
Depictions of sex acts, especially hardcore pornography.
Any sexual violence whatsoever. I'm going by Australian rules here: no rape, no wife-battering, and no "anal probe" weapons, because that's just gross. While we're at it, no more "buttrape!" jokes. That goes double for Terry wads.
Spoiler: Mandatory Community Rules - These absolutely will get you warned or banned.
The following MAY NOT BE POSTED in forum threads, replies, avatars, signatures, Projects, or off-site links:
REAL graphic violence (anything that is not a video game screenshot or from a movie). Yes, this includes the Brutal Doom Real Gore patch and anything based on it.
Terrywads, as defined by DoomWiki, and any other wad files that are made to be deliberately annoying, shocking, or destructive. This goes along with shock sites. We have no need for this stuff.
Our staff will refuse to stand for anything with severe sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise prejudiced connotations, including epithets, hurtful stereotypes, or references to genocidal movements.
I'd really appreciate it if you keep major drama movements like a certain "ethics in game journalism" hashtag away from our forums. I don't care what side you're on.
Warez/pirated software, ROMs, or any links to sites containing such things. Sorry, but this includes "Abandonware" links as well!
Illegal music and albums. A lot of times, a Youtube embed of a single song is fine, but "full album" uploads are NOT okay.
Sites that distribute torrents for illegal files.
Full versions of any commercial games that are not EXPLICITLY deemed free for redistribution by their original authors. Again, "Abandonware" does NOT mean "free for redistribution!"
In particular, full versions of any commercial game supported by ZDoom. Please don't include doom.wad, doom2.wad, or any other game IWAD in your Project post! Look into Freedoom instead if your project needs to be standalone!
Any other copyrighted media to which you do not own distribution rights.
AI-generated images, videos or audio. We do not in any way support attempts to replace human creativity with neural networks. Note, AI upscales of existing human-made artworks/video/audio are fine (but to use them in your project, you'll still need to obtain permission from the original author).
AI-generated code UNLESS it's been tested and proven to work by a human. "Untested example code" generated by neural networks is NOT allowed.
If any of this is unclear, ask me and I will try to clarify it for you.
In addition to the above list, the following things really seriously piss us off and will quickly result in a banning, either temporary or permanent.
No spamming. You do not have any reason to post the same thing in multiple threads. If you've posted in the wrong thread, let us know so we can put your post where it needs to be.
No spamming...in the other sense. Your first post should generally not be a cheap plug for another website, especially if it has nothing to do with ZDoom or its community. Remember, your first post must be approved by a moderator before anybody can see it on the forum. If your first post is a cheap plug, you may be mistaken for a spambot.
Don't be an asshole. No flaming, trolling, or baiting other users. We don't like seeing people insult each other, regardless of the cause or reason. I don't care what a person has done, there should not be any reason for you to swear at them and call them rude things. As for trolling and baiting, if you're saying things for the express purpose of causing someone else to swear at you and call you rude things, then you're not clever, you're not smart, and you won't be immune to moderator action.
Don't repost things that were locked or deleted. If we moved, edited or deleted your message, there is probably a good reason behind it, so don't just post it again. If a discussion was locked, don't start another thread "continuing" it, because that is probably going to be locked as well (though there are some exceptions; you may want to contact a moderator before you re-post a discussion).
Do not attempt to "hack" in to the forums, webspaces, or anything on the ZDoom servers. We will take very swift action against any attempts of this, including real life consequences. Your ISP's abuse department will be contacted. Law enforcement will be contacted. If what you're doing would get you arrested in your home town, you're probably not allowed to do it here, either.
Do not "evade" bans. If you've been banned, registering a second account for yourself is a bad idea and will most definitely get you banned again. If you are evading a temporary ban, it will become an indefinite or permanent ban.
ZDoom is not the place to argue over your ideology of choice. The definition of "politics" has changed over the many years that our forum has existed, and has gradually become twisted and corrupted to serve the worst agendas and support the most inhuman things imaginable. To declare a "no politics" rule would be to exclude a significant chunk of our population, whose very identities would be declared "political," and said rule would be invoked maliciously to silence those people. So instead, this rule has been rewritten to acknowledge the state of our world today - if you feel that you can discuss politics, religion, current world events, or other deeper issues with respect to your fellow users, be my guest. But such discussions will be very closely monitored, and at the first signs of disrespect (especially any veiled hate speech or dogwhistles), we will close it down, and we will not be merciful to those responsible.
Spoiler: Minor Community Rules - These may result in warnings, but only rarely bans.
The projects forum is only for projects that exist. If you can't provide some proof that your project is actually in the works (i.e. screenshots, Youtube videos, or best of all, a download link), your project thread may be locked. See the Project Posting Guidelines for more information.
Don't "bump," "revive," or "necro" old topics. The rule of thumb is about 30 days, or 1 month. Uselessly bumping old topics will get you yelled at, especially if it's a very old Projects thread. If you're going to post in an old thread, you should have a very good reason for doing so, for example asking questions about how an old mod works. We do have a couple of useful threads to stop pointless bumping; ask here if a download link is broken, or read this thread if a mod doesn't seem to run correctly. If your bump consists solely of "So, any updates?", there will be hell to pay.
Be careful about derailing threads. It may be confusing to look at a thread about somebody's project and see it changed into an argument about which Doom port is better...or worse, the thread has devolved into people posting stupid pictures and drowning out the original discussion. Start a new topic if you want to change the subject.
Don't be a backseat moderator. This does not mean you shouldn't report posts if the need arises, but generally, we are perfectly capable of doing our jobs as administrators, so yelling at people about how they're breaking the rules does not solve anything.
Don't feel the need to "get the last word." Just because someone's ranting at you doesn't mean that you are free to respond in any way you see fit. Arguments can be quickly deflated if one side just ignores the other, rather than just adding to the fire. It's a bit sad that a great number of terrible fights on the forums could have been avoided in such a way. (HINT: ZDoom Forums has a "foes list" feature that hides all of a user's posts from view! Just look in the user's profile to find it.)
Don't "call out" rule-breakers! If you suspect a user of ban-evading, sock-puppeting, or any other sort of rule-breakage, please use the Report This Post button or otherwise contact the moderators. DO NOT call them out in public, as this tends to make actual ban-evaders more careful and thus harder to deal with, and may make you look like a jerk if you wind up being wrong.
Do not reply to shit posts. If someone's just spamming or flooding a bunch of threads with nonsense (or other things against the rules), do not respond to them, especially if the shit-poster isn't the topic starter, because this just makes it harder for us to clean up the mess. Use the Report function or alert the moderators.
Don't "blank" your posts. Yes, it is possible to edit your post and delete all the text out of it, but if you're not comfortable with the replies you're seeing to your post, then the most you should do about it is tell a moderator. If your editing question was answered, leave the question up, or else nobody else will be able to find the thread later. If your project thread is getting poor feedback, erasing your original post is a very childish thing to do.
No cross-forum drama, please. Please don't drag arguments across forums or IRC channels. Keep it contained, and if a moderator has told you to stop, that doesn't mean to take it elsewhere, it means to STOP. Most of us really don't care that someone on another site has a grudge against you or anything like that.
Don't ask for modders to support older versions of ZDoom/GZDoom. Just because you can't run it on your potato hardware or ancient version of OpenGL32.dll does not mean you should be asking modders to support, much less use these older versions. If you can't run it, upgrade your hardware, and upgrade your wrappers! Everyone should always run the latest version of GZDoom, whenever possible, and if you cannot do that, then you need to update your hardware so that you can. That's on you, not the modder.
Spoiler: General Community Guidelines - It's rare to get official warnings for these, but please mind your manners.
Please speak as clearly as you can. Generally, most of our forum users prefer English. Some people may not read or write English very well (or may even use auto-translation services like Google Translate or Babel Fish), so please keep them in mind when posting. Excessive "leet-speak," "txtspeak," "gangsta" or extremely slang-heavy posts will make it hard for non-native speakers to understand you. Please don't use lots of unnecessary abbreviations, either; it's not that hard to write "you" instead of "u."
The forum doesn't (technically) have an official language. Because there are many users who do not read English as well as we would like, people may speak other languages on this forum in order to make themselves understood. That does mean that those who only understand English cannot read these posts, but please don't yell at people about speaking non-English languages.
Be VERY CAREFUL with images and videos! When making posts that contain high amounts of large images or video embeds, we would much prefer if you used thumbnails or off-site links instead. If you must post large images (anything larger than 640x480 pixels), see the Image Posting Rules thread. Not everybody has a powerful (or unlimited) internet connection. Some of our users are stuck on narrow bandwidth due to location; others may be using mobile internet that comes with data transfer caps. Please keep these people in mind.
Use the Report button! Be sure to report any posts that break the above rules to a forum administrator or moderator with the "Report This Post" button (it looks like this: ), or by sending a moderator a private message on the forums or IRC.
Please let us know about problems with the website or forum software so we can fix it as soon as possible. Otherwise, try another browser and see if that works. Technical problems with the forum ought to be reported on the ZDoom.org bug forum), but only if you can confirm that it's actually a problem with the forum and not your browser. If the bug tracker is not working, feel free to bring it to our attention via the forums (the General section is probably best).
We can't keep a constant watch on the forums. Most of us have jobs or classes and can't waste much time keeping an eye out for trouble. If a problem has gone on longer than you expect after reporting the issue to an admin, just be patient. If it's absolutely urgent, getting an admin's attention through the IRC channel or Discord server may be a good idea, but patience is the most important part.
Please don't post just to be posting. If you're replying to a discussion, make a few points of your own. Don't just reply with "I agree" and nothing else - tell people why you agree. If you want to start the conversation yourself, think about whether your post can be built upon. The forums are not Twitter; you can say more than ten words per post. In fact, if your post is less than 10 words long, please consider whether it adds anything to the topic, and if it doesn't, don't post it.
Try to post in the right forum. If there doesn't seem to be a specific place for what you're posting, ask yourself this: does it have anything to do with Doom? If yes, use General. If no, use Off-Topic. If there's any doubt, ask one of us, we'll be able to put your thread somewhere for you. I know it's a little confusing now with the forums being rearranged, but bear with it and use your best judgment.
Try to respect people's work, even if you don't like it. Don't just spout negativity without providing reasonable criticism, and keep it civilized. A lot of "criticism" on the forums has come in the form of really abrasive, mean-spirited, and generally rude posts, and this has caused quite a number of drama bombs over the years. We'd really prefer that this didn't happen.
If you want to ask for help with your project, make sure you can pull your own weight first. We've seen a lot of attempts at starting community projects where the project leader doesn't contribute anything; you're not going to attract a lot of help if you're just saying "I need code, and maps, and graphics, and sounds, and everything" and not providing anything yourself. At least try to learn how to do what it is you need help with - there are a lot of tutorials and documentation online, including at the ZDoom Wiki. Asking for help is generally considered as the last resort. Our community is not large enough for projects to be headed up by a "project leader" that does nothing but dish out orders.
Try not to double-post (make another post immediately after another post you've made) - if you need to add a last-minute thought to your post, there is always the EDIT button for such things (it looks like this: ). Making several posts in a row without other people replying first tends to really irritate people. If you want to quote multiple people, use the EDIT button for that, too!
Patience is a virtue! If nobody's replied to your project thread within half an hour, don't just make another post and complain about how slow we are. Generally you'll want to wait a week (or until your thread drops off the first page) to bump it, if it's something important. Not everybody lives on the forums, and ZDoom isn't nearly as fast-paced as other message boards - it could take upwards of a couple days before anybody notices your thread, so count on waiting a while.
Don't try to erase your questions when they've been answered. Need help? That's fine, feel free to ask and don't be too embarrassed about it. Though we would really prefer it if you didn't "blank" your help question afterwards, and it's really not necessary to ask that a help thread be locked when your issue has been resolved. People that have the same issue as you may opt to use the forum's Search function to find a solution, and if you blank out or delete your original post, then these people won't be able to figure out how to solve the issue themselves. As for locking threads, we (the moderators) only tend to do that when rules are being broken or if a discussion is getting unruly, so there should never be a reason for that to happen.
Because some people couldn't help themselves, Spoiler tags are limited to five per post, ever. If you feel like you need more than five spoiler tags for something, figure out some other way to format your post.
If you want to change your name, wildweasel is the person to contact. Before you ask, though, please be absolutely certain that you really want your name changed, and that you won't want to switch back in a week. It is worth noting that people can find your old name by finding any old posts of yours that other users have quoted. Also, don't assume that changing your name is going to clear you of any bad reputation or embarrassing events in your past.
If you need help with a project, ask in open chat. Do not pester developers for help. Knowledge benefits all, and the developers tend to be pretty busy anyway. There may be valid reasons to contact a dev privately, but if it really is needed please do this as rarely as possible.
Rules and hints regarding images, project thumbnails, and Youtube videos have been moved to their own topic.
ABOUT DOOMWIKI LINKS
I know it's confusing, but due to some disagreements with Wikia, there are TWO Doom Wikis. The old one that we used to use was located at Wikia, and is probably the one you're going to see in Google search results, but this is the wrong one. The real Doom Wiki - the one that is still being updated by the community - is located at http://doomwiki.org. The old Wikia wiki only continues to exist because Wikia management refuses to let us remove it. When linking to the Doom Wiki, make sure to use the correct link. If you see any links to the OLD Doom Wiki, let a moderator know and we can edit the post to correct the link.
If you have suggestions for rules to be added, send them in. Happy Posting, and feel free to contact me or any other staff member with any questions.
-wildweasel
Staff of the ZDoom Forums
Caligari - User Accounts administrator. Contact for help with recovering your account.
Jekyll Grim Payne (aka Agent_Ash on ZDoom Discord)- User Accounts administrator. Contact for help with recovering your account.
R4L (aka Barry Burton on ZDoom Discord)- User Accounts administrator. Contact for help with recovering your account.
Hellser - Global Moderator
Enjay - Global Moderator
Graf Zahl - In charge of organizing development, head of the GZDoom and Raze projects.
Rachael - Currently in charge of the backend, taking over for Randi.
Staff Members Emeritus - Thank you for your past service
Randi - Our Benefactor, creator and founder of ZDoom itself, we would not be here otherwise.
cutmanmike
Bio Hazard
QBasicer
Phobus
Siggi
BoldEnglishman
Lud
NeuralStunner
JadedLexi
Hege Cactus
Blue Shadow
wildweasel
Gutawer
Last edited by Rachael on Sat May 08, 2021 1:56 am, edited 61 times in total.
Need help? That's fine, feel free to ask and don't be too embarrassed about it. Though we would really prefer it if you didn't "blank" your help question afterwards, and it's really not necessary to ask that a help thread be locked when your issue has been resolved. People that have the same issue as you may opt to use the forum's Search function to find a solution, and if you blank out or delete your original post, then these people won't be able to figure out how to solve the issue themselves. As for locking threads, we (the moderators) only tend to do that when rules are being broken or if a discussion is getting unruly, so there should never be a reason for that to happen.
I'm aware the forum rules are really long, like "wall-of-text" long. Not everybody really has the time to pore over what basically amounts to a "what not to do" thread, so I think it might be time to simplify the rule set and rewrite it to be a bit easier to skim over (especially for some of our users who may not be as good at reading English). So I'm tentatively unlocking the Official ZDoom Forum Rules thread, so I can solicit feedback from our userbase. Any rules in here that seem flat-out unnecessary? Anything that could stand to be rephrased? Suggestions on how to simplify the text of a rule? Let them be heard here.
Ban length is determined on a case by case basis. In some cases, a user may have just built up a bunch of warnings for little stuff (like warez links, useless posting, etc), and we may choose to ban them only temporarily. The majority of cases of bans, though, have wound up being permanent, because either the offense is too large (porn spam), there are too many warnings (in excess of 10 since the previous ban, for example), or the user just plain insists (anybody that has ever responded to a warning with "just delete my account please").
Yeah, by my standards, a temporary ban is more often the exception to the rule. I mean, I'm all in favor of second chances, but sometimes the bannable offense is just too big to warrant it. I guess when people want to break the rules around here, they really like to go for broke.
armyman12345 wrote:If a moderator becomes corupt and bans everybody? Even randi?
I assure you that's highly unlikely to happen. We're all mature adults here, or at least I like to think that sometimes. =P
I should point out that it should be impossible for that to happen on a phpBB3 board. Randi is very intelligent and has most likely set himself as the only founder on the board. Founder access, among other things, includes the ability to bypass bans. Even if he is accidentally logged out and it is an IP ban, he can still log in as his own account and it will give him access back again.
But also like wildweasel said, each moderator was hand-picked for experience and maturity. I know each and every one of them and I also know they would never do that - or even try.
Please don't "blank" your posts for any reason. If you're not comfortable with the replies you're seeing to your post, then the most you can do about it is tell a moderator. Blanking your project thread due to excessive negative feedback reeks of immaturity.
I've added some Guidelines for Posting Images, and a small guide on how to use imgur's Large Thumbnails and Linked BBCode to make your large pictures more palatable for small browser windows and limited bandwidth.
), or by sending a moderator a private message on the forums or IRC.
). Making several posts in a row without other people replying first tends to really irritate people. If you want to quote multiple people, use the EDIT button for that, too!
