House Rules

[Justin]

 

 

 

In order to keep things fun for everyone, we ask that you play by a simple set of guidelines when interacting with fellow members in the Forums:

 

 

1. FREE SPEECH & FREE EXPRESSION

(See Hitchens, Christopher). We strongly advocate free speech and free expression, in our forums and throughout the world. Free speech and free expression are what separate us from savages. We firmly believe you have the right to make your own decisions and we allow you maximum freedom to do so within our forums. With maximum freedom comes maximum personal responsibility. Use your free expression constructively as we will not allow our forums to descend into Lord of the Flies.

 

We are not going to disagree with your opinion, deem it inappropriate, and ban you. Quite the contrary. There's nothing we enjoy more than fostering debate. But that debate must be among respectful adults who know where to draw the line. It's the difference between a fencing match and a drive-by.

 

 

 

2. "YOUR RIGHT TO MAKE A FIST ENDS AT ANOTHER PERSON'S FACE"

That is to say, your right to freely express yourself in our forum ends when it infringes upon another person's rights. And it goes without saying that we’ll delete anything which could be construed as inappropriate at any time for any reason. We will not be held responsible for your views nor the views of fellow forum members. We’re all grown ups, so please be respectful, constructive and make it count.

 

 

 

3. BE NICE

This is a nice place with nice people. We're a community of like-minded classic gamers with shared interests, and we all found our way here for similar reasons. Our common love of Atari, classic gaming, and retro culture should be a catalyst for treating each other with genuine courtesy and shared respect, regardless of how strongly we disagree on a topic. If you're banned elsewhere you shouldn't try to join Atari I/O.

 

 

 

4. DON'T BE A "GOON"

Goons troll, instigate, spread negativity, beg for free stuff, monopolize conversations, complain incessantly, lack basic civility, and ruin the good experience for everybody else.

 

• NO TROLLING
• NO FLAME WARS
• NO SPAMMING
• NO POLITICS OR POLITICAL IMAGERY
• NO DOXING 
• NO BEGGING
• NO ILLEGAL FILE SHARING
• NO PERSONAL ATTACKS / HARASSMENT
• NO FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION
• NO FALSE FLAGS
• NO CLICKBAIT / MISLEADING / MYSTERY TOPIC TITLES
• NO BLIND / MISLEADING HYPERLINKS
• NO ABUSE OF EDITS / VANDALIZING THREADS
• NO DISHONEST HIGH SCORES
• NO LEWD / CREEPY BEHAVIOR
• WE'RE NOT A COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT
• RESPECT EVERYBODY'S RIGHT TO BE HEARD
• BE POSITIVE! REFRAIN FROM SPREADING NEGATIVITY
• ONE ACCOUNT PER PERSON

 

Don't be a goon or you will be removed, quickly.

 

 

 

5. ACT AS THOUGH YOU'RE ENTERING OUR HOME

This is a privately owned website that we put time, effort, and money into creating and maintaining. This is not the public square. It's also not the complaint hotline for other websites. We ask that you conduct yourself as you would a guest at a party in someone's home. A likable party guest doesn't drag drama and negativity from the outside world and other websites into somebody else's home, and they don't use your backyard as a platform to complain loudly about your neighbor. They don't beg for handouts, and they're polite when others are generous. Likable party guests aren't negative, cringy, overtly political, divisive, critical or argumentative in a friendly setting. A likable guest has civility and knows to leave politics and divisive topics at the door, and doesn't push agendas or political imagery on you as they enter your home. We leave the noise of the outside world at the door and come in with a blank slate make new friends with shared interests and have a good time - not find topics that foment reasons for us to dislike each other. A likable party guest is polite and thoughtful toward the other guests, knows how to  get along with others and enjoy the party. Please treat our forums and your fellow members the way you would want to be treated.

 

 

 

 

6. BE HONEST IN YOUR TRADES

(SEE 3, 4, & 7)

 

 

 

7. NO PRESALES

 

Presales of products that do not yet exist are NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES in the forums. DO NOT use the forums to directly solicit money for products that are not yet complete or projects that are still in development. Even with the best intentions, sincere promises of "ready to ship in six months" many times become tumultuous as months turn into years or even a decade without fulfillment. Please wait until your product is READY TO SHIP before soliciting sales in our forums.

 

 

 

8. HANDLE YOUR OWN BUSINESS

We're not mommy. Clean up after yourself, try not to make a mess and handle your own affairs.

 

 

 

9. RESOLVE QUARRELS PRIVATELY

We will not allow bickering, petty fights, personal problems, passive aggressiveness, drama and general negativity to infect this forum. Disagreements are part of life, it's how those disagreements are handled that counts. Address them in a respectful way. Resolve your quarrels privately rather than dragging them into the forums for everybody to suffer through.

 

 

 

10. TRY TO BE INTERESTING, MAKE FRIENDS & HAVE FUN!

Enjoy!