Users of The Keep agree to this document by using the services provided.
1. Users of the Keep are asked to keep profanity to a minimum.
Light swearing is acceptable, both in character and out of character. Light swearing includes words "ass," "damn," "hell," "bitch," and other swear words that aren't considered harsh swearing.
Harsh swearing is acceptable out of character, when it is censored or not directed toward someone present in a hostile fashion. Harsher swearing is considered to be the words "fuck," "cunt," and the like. Room names and User names MAY NOT contain harsh profanity.
2. Profiles may not knowingly contain links to pornography or otherwise sexually explicit materials.
Profile pictures CANNOT show bared crotches or genitalia for males or females, and it cannot show female nipples. Such pictures, or profile text, depicting such a scene will be considered Advertising for Cybersex and is extremely frowned upon. An Admin or Moderator will request the picture or profile to be edited, or possibly removed, dependent upon content. If the User refuses, the Administration (Admin and Mods alike) will /kick or /ban dependent upon repeated offenses/level of transgression.
Bandwidth Theft: Taking content (such as pictures) from a website without permission from the content owner is illegal. Users found stealing bandwidth (by reusing the same content but still retaining the original url without permission) will be subject to temporary or permanent suspension of access to the Chat. We recommend users find a free picture hosting site if they are unable to host images with their own resources.
3. Real Life (RL): Users found promoting Real Life hate campaigns will be permanently banned.
Hate campaigns include sexism, racism, and homophobia, but are not limited to being those alone. Keep in mind that telling a story about a hate campaign (In Character) is acceptable if the players involved agree; for example, a fictional story about racism between elves and orcs is an example of something that is acceptable.
Please remember, In Character (IC), and Out Of Character (OOC) are two separate things.
It is also forbidden for a user to make Real Life (RL) threats against another user. Punishment for this will be given according to the severity of the threat, and the number of threats the threatener has made before, and whether or not the party threatened wants to make a complaint.
*** In ALL cases of Real Life (RL) hate campaigns and threats, proper authorities may be contacted at the discretion of the administration.
4. Cyber sex or 'cybering' is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN in all public rooms, this includes whispers.
Any sexual contact with a player who is a minor (under the age of consent) in their country/state is strictly prohibited in all rooms, both public and private. Punishments for this will suit the transgression, and will lead to banishment and in extreme cases the involvement of appropriate authorities.
5. Public room tags will not contain any information of an inappropriate or solicitous nature.
This includes, but is in no way limited to, tags that state or imply the user is looking for sex, seeking sexual roleplay, providing or offerring sexual content. It is at the discretion of the staff as to what may be considered solicting.
Rooms tagged as (Private) are still subject to the rules of the AUP, and are afforded no rights of a private room. Please use the /private command to make a private room. Unsuitably named rooms will be removed at the discretion of the staff after a warning.
6. Respect each other's privacy Out Of Character (OOC).
This applies to all users of The Keep. Repeated requests to another player for OOC information (ICQ #, AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, email address etc.) that they do not want known, will be considered harassment, and will be treated as such.
This also applies to any Real Life (RL) details a person wishes to keep private, and any form of behavior that would be considered harassment in Real Life (RL). Refrain from posting personal information about other users, such as pictures, addresses, numbers, or any detail that one could reasonably request remain private.
7. Attempted port scans, probes, uses of known network security tools or otherwise seeking of security flaws in The Keep or any of the infrastructure supporting it without express permission from the System Operator will make that user subject to permanent banning at the discretion of the System Operator.
ISP and Federal officials may also be notified.
Likewise user/s who attempt what may be construed as a Denial of Service attack on the network, or any attempt to disrupt the service through any security flaw or otherwise will be subject to permanent banning. ISP and Federal officials may also be notified.
8. Any user who uses The Keep for the purposes of spamming will be subject to kicking or any other punishment deemed appropriate by the administrative staff.
Spam being defined as the repetitious posting of nonsensical or meaningless letters, numbers, text or URLS. Please also refrain from randomly capitalizing letters in your posts, using font colours (like white text on a white background or bright green) that are difficult to read.
9. Any user who persistently talks (as opposed to whispers) Out Of Character in In-Character only rooms will be asked to role-play;
failure to comply may result to kicking or any punishment deemed appropriate by the administrative staff.