Forum Rules

[Steve]

Forum Rules

1. No abusive language or personal attacks. This includes even if it is just retaliation for what another member said to you. Moderators will not distinguish between who started it and who is just responding. This is not a court of law. Consider this carefully if someone attacks you - do NOT retaliate or you risk being banned without notice. Instead, just report the member and give specific examples of their breach of the rules. Remember if someone you don't like breaks the rules and you don't, you have the last laugh.

2. No copyrighted material or intellectual property. It will just put the forum in danger of being shut down. It doesn't matter if the material is from a scammer - copyrighted material must be respected.

3. Spamming and/or promotion of products and services may only take place in the "for sale" section. This includes services like moneybookers, systems or whatever. If you post promotions or you are found to have been promoting against the rules, you will be banned. No-one wants spam.

To Sellers: if you post an email address or ask people to contact you privately, perhaps to tell them about your great system, you and your posts will be removed. If you promote here, you must do it openly where you naturally will be questioned by more experienced members. This is because scammers lure victims to private discussions. To members: be wary of anything for sale and of positive reviews because very frequently roulette system sellers post under fake names to give themselves false positive reviews.

4. Respect other people's opinions. Especially for experienced players, when someone says they have a holy grail that bets on red/black, it is hard to resist. Say what you think, but don't attack people personally.

5. Do not inhibit free expression of ideas / criticisms. Everyone should feel free to speak their mind without fear of being attacked or ridiculed.

6. Do not behave in any way that is unjustly unpleasant, or makes participation in the forum unappealing. In other words, be good and respectful to others - don't be a dickhead. Those who are behaving in any unacceptable way will usually be warned first, but if the behavior continues, banning will result.

Subtle insults aren't are still considered attacks. You'd know if you were attacking someone, and so will the person you're insulting. You can be critical of someone's ideas, but be very careful not to criticize the actual person in a personal way. And at the same time, if you or your ideas are criticized, understand that most of the time it is for your benefit. Try not to take it personally. Instead, try to grow from the criticism and be honest with yourself.

7. No clickable links without admin's approval. If you are a new member and post any link, expect it to be removed without notice. Clickable links from more established members may be accepted.

8. No multiple IDs - if you are found to have multiple accounts on the forum, all will be removed unless you have permission from admin.

9. No "baiting", which is where you brag about how great your system is, but you don't share anything except perhaps obscure details that lead people along. The forum is a place for open sharing. If you "bait" people, expect to be banned.

10. NO TROLLING. Trolls will either be moderated or banned. The definition of trolling:

Without significant provocation, posts material with intent to annoy another member, in particularly when posts:

          - Contain opinion, rather than verifiable fact, and do not include a clear explanation of how others can verify the material's accuracy.

          - Contain repetitive information that all thread contributors reasonably already know.

          - Appears more like a deliberate attempt to annoy any member, rather than a constructive response with good intention.

          - Repeatedly interrupts and interferes in a thread, where the OP has clearly asked them to stay out of.

It is considered 'intent' when the offending member ought reasonably to know their behavior is considered trolling.

The most common issue with any of the roulette forums is that when someone shares a system or idea, members will either attack it or try to explain WHY the system fails - members get sick of seeing the same nonsense again and again, so they can be a little insensitive to contributing members. The system designer (contributor) then feels victimized and that they're being attacked, and the "critics" can't see the problem as they're just telling the truth. The contributor then doesn't want to contribute again. My suggestions to minimize this problem are below:


Treatment of "Manipulative Gurus"

"Manipulative Gurus" are members who amass a following from gullible and inexperienced members, usually for the purposes of scamming, or seeking attention. Although their intentions may be clearly nefarious, they are not immediately banned. Why is explained below:

Previously when we banned them much earlier (for the forum's integrity), both the scammers and gullible members claimed I was just censoring the "holy grail" to probably to "protect my sales" of roulette prediction technology. My technology sales is not at all a consideration when moderating the forum. The accusation of "ulterior motives" is just a typical comment scammers use to encourage and mislead victims.

Furthermore, other experienced members (who aren't selling anything, and have no affiliation with me) also highlight the scam's red flags. These members are often also attacked, and accused of somehow colluding with me. All the world's gaming experts, mathematicians, engineers, physicists and educated people are not colluding with me. They merely share an understanding of basic math, probability and reality.

Often a new self professed guru comes here and amasses ignorant, uneducated and naive followers. And rather than being quickly exposed, the scammer is praised and protected.

If I highlight the glaringly obvious holes in their story, I am attacked by the gullible members, and accused of having ulterior motives.

Being attacked isn't the issue.

The real issue is if I ban the scammer too early, they become a martyr. This does more damage to member's knowledge than letting the scammer run amok, because it leaves the followers endlessly chasing an apparently elusive secret (which doesn't exist), which they may have learned if I didn't ban their guru. So a more productive approach is I let the guru run amok for quite some time, until it's overwhelmingly clear what the guru is.

The most notable case is "Charles Edward Hampshire", for 2 years claimed to have the "holy grail". He published vague clues to his "holy grail" that led nowhere. Initially he wasn't selling anything, so gullible people believed him. Then after about 2 years, he began accepting payments for his "holy grail", then vanished.

Experienced members knew it was a scam from the start. Many gullible members lost money to the scam.

There have been many scams like this, and the same process repeats: gullible members think the scammer has a secret winning system, and protect the scammer. Rather than immediately ban the scammer, they are allowed to post until members learn better.

What if the "guru" really had the "holy grail"? There's always this chance, which is why they are given ample opportunity to prove their claims. This is a forum for open discussion and sharing. The guru doesn't need to share, but "baiting" is not permitted.

Normally I wont "ban" the guru. I'll wait until the scam is obvious to clearly most members. Then I'll ask the guru to either provide proof of their claims, or give members usable information, rather than vague dead-end clues. Any further posts that go in circles aren't approved. Again by this stage, the vast majority of members will clearly consider the guru a scammer.

Even long after the scammer leaves (or even simply changes usernames), gullible members often continue running in circles, trying to make sense of the vague clues. Such members can help themselves by properly understanding what more experienced members have said.


Reporting Posts or Other Members

1. If there is any problem, contact a moderator directly (via PM) or report posts individually using the "report post" link. Give precise explanations of the problem. Dont be vague. Give precise details on the problem.

2. Dont ask for help in the actual threads. Neither myself or the mods read everything.

3. We can only do something if we know about a problem.

4. There is no bias for or against anyone here that I'm aware of. But if I'm made aware of a bias, I'll do what's needed to rectify the problem. If a mod is being biased, then you let me (Steve) know about it. But keep in mind sometimes mods will see one issue and not another. So only one problem post gets removed but not another, and it can seem like bias when it's not.

5. If specific members are constantly being a problem, we will make it so each of their posts needs moderator approval before publishing. This can be changed once the member appears to be adhering to rules


If you share a system or ideas and feel you are being unfairly attacked or spoken to poorly:

1. Report the offending members, and specify the exact posts that you felt were a problem. If a moderator is the offending member, tell them about it and if you feel their behavior does not change, report the issue to admin (Steve). All of the moderators have good intentions, but sometimes their "good faith" comments are misconstrued for what they are.

2. Understand that rather than attacking you, members are probably trying to explain the reality of what you published. If you are correct and they are wrong, stick to your guns and discuss the matter with the forum - that is exactly what the forum is for. One way or another, truth eventually wins, always.


If you are reading or testing another person's system, and find it fails:

1. Behave in a way that shows appreciation for the member contributing. Be polite and explain reasons for your beliefs. Do not shoot them down in flames. If you spell it all out to them and they still don't see it, just leave them alone and let them find out for themselves.

2. Understand on many forums, people are scared to share because of how others may react to their strategy/ideas. Contribute to creating an open and friendly environment where systems, ideas and concepts are discussed.


If you feel a particular member is breaking the rules or generally bringing the forum down:

You can tell them what you think they're doing wrong, but be polite and impersonal. Do NOT attack them or you yourself may be banned. If their behavior continues, do not create a thread to complain about them. Just contact the moderators directly with the following information:

i. Who the member is, and

ii. Exactly what behavior you find unacceptable and GIVE ACTUAL EXAMPLES WE CAN SEE FOR OURSELVES. If you just tell us generally some member is being a nuisance, expect us to do nothing. We do not read every post and judge every comment. If you have a problem with someone, you have to clearly explain why.

If you think a moderator isnt doing their job properly, then contact me (Steve) directly via PM to explain the situation.


Complaints About Moderators

If you have a complaint about the moderators:

1. Do NOT kick up a storm on the forum and create trouble.

2. DO tell me (Steve) IN PRIVATE exactly what the problem is. Don't be vague. Be very specific and give actual examples of the problem. I will only consider actual actions and text from moderators.

Just because a moderator will generally be more reserved and bite their tongue, dont expect them to sit and shut up. They can and probably will respond to nonsense. In fact I expect them to, but to be careful how they word responses. Does it give everyone the green light to insult a mod? Well you can try it, but it will be breaking the rules to attack ANY member. And you can expect it to result in a ban. For attacking a moderator? . . . No. For attacking another member.


Account and Post Deletion

1. Besides documents (such as ebooks) that are already copyrighted, any material you post in the forum becomes the property of the forum owner. This because some members have arguments with others, then ask to have their account and all their posts deleted. We don't do this because it would leave "holes" throughout the forum. If you don't want to post here anymore, then don't login and post here. If you don't want to share information, then don't post it in the first place.

2. In some cases you may change your mind about information you shared, and request for it to be removed. This is usually ok, but it is up to the moderators to decide if removal is justified and appropriate.

REMEMBER: This is a forum. You do not need to live with the people here. There are much more important things to worry about than what someone said about you. But in cases where a member becomes a nuisance, understand they wont last long and offending statements can be removed if they are unjustified. The rules and guidelines are simple and fair, and protect all forum participants. And they are not difficult to follow.



Rules & Guidelines For Moderators


GENERAL RULES FOR MODERATORS

1. Your job is to enforce the basic rules above, without bias. Do not abuse power, don't let it get to your head, and don't use it as an advantage in arguments or you will drive members away.

2. Be very careful not to be condescending. If you wave authority at someone as if you are better than them, their instinctive response may be a big F U. But if authority is respectful to them, not corrupt and exists for the genuine benefit of the community, then members give back respect.

2. You may sometimes be the target of attacks. Try not to take it personally. You can't keep everyone happy at the same time.

3. If you are in conflict with another member, and are not sure how to handle it without appearing biased, tell me about it and I'll discuss it with the member.

4. Understand your conduct sets an example for everyone. You are a member too, not just a moderator. So when you are attacked, I don't expect you to bite your tongue. If you did, it would give other members the green light to attack mods, without fear of a response. So if someone has a go at you, you have every right to throw it back at them PROVIDED it is within the forum guidelines. Just be very careful to not use your powers for your own benefit.

5. Do not moderate other moderators. If another moderator does something inappropriate, let me know, and please give actual examples.

6. Be very careful about what posts moderate. The guidelines for post moderation are below.

7. If you are unsure of what to do in particular cases, please ask me directly.

8. Become familiar with how the forum's moderation features are used. The last thing we want is to completely mess up the forum. There are regular backups, but we'd rather avoid disasters.

9. If you must warn members, warn them in PRIVATE with a PM. Understand that doing it in public is going to make the situation worse.

10. Be very careful to be humble of your position, or you are going to push members away. ie don't use it as a weapon to win arguments.

11. Understand that being a moderator means you need to bite your tongue even more than normal members. If you aren't prepared to do this, you shouldn't be a moderator.

12. Do NOT delete accounts because it makes it harder to track repeat offenders. Only ban accounts, but only in extreme cases.



WHEN TO MODIFY OR EDIT POSTS


1. Remove a post only as a LAST RESORT. If you remove a post, contact the member and explain EXACTLY what about the post broke the rules. Do NOT just remove a post without explanation unless they are a new member obviously spamming or making trouble. Give established members respect by letting them know what they did wrong.

IF the member re-offends, you can place them to a moderated list so that their posts must be approved before being published:

To put a member on the moderation list:

   STEP 1. Click on the user
   STEP 2. Go to "Actions" and select "Issue a warning"
   STEP 3. You will see a little bar with + and -. Keep clicking the + until the bar turns orange, and the rating is at 35%.
   STEP 4. Enter a friendly notification message for the user that they will see when they are logged in.
   STEP 5. Click "issue warning".

   To undo the change, repeat the above steps but click the "-" button and make the bar turn green. Then just click "issue warning". This sets the new warning level/percentage so their posts dont need approval anymore.


2. Do NOT edit large sections of posts and replace them with characters like "." or it is impossible for me to see what was removed. If you do this and the member complains, then I cannot see what was edited, and I cannot determine if the editing was justified or not. This leaves me blind, and the member frustrated if they feel the edit was unjustified. But I CAN see entire removed posts if they haven't been edited. Small edits are ONLY for small things like removing a link that is probably spam, in which case you can edit the link and replace it with a comment like ** LINK REMOVED. NEW MEMBERS NOT ALLOWED TO POST LINKS **. This let's new members know they can't spam here. But we still allow links, just only from trusted members.


3. If you are in conflict with a member and they attack you personally, this would be against the rules and you can remove the post (and give explanation to the member). But you may have posted similar messages too. So if you remove their messages but not yours, this is a conflict of interest. If you are going to remove their posts and arguments, you would need to remove yours too. And in any case that posts are removed, you should give the member an explanation. It doesn't mean you can just remove all posts from both of you if an argument isn't going your way. It is very annoying to have posts removed for any reason. Consider it from their point of view. They take the time to type it all out, and suddenly its gone. Ideally though, the situation will be stopped before it spirals out of control.


4. If a post is not quite breaking the rules, but is irritating to you for some reason, this is not acceptable grounds to remove a post or thread. Keep in mind that whenever someone attacks me personally even if there is no justification, I will still personally leave the post, and respond to it in detail. It would be easier if I just removed it, but I have nothing to hide. I prefer transparency and will respond in detail, to inform readers of the truth. I will only remove posts that attack me if they are repetitive junk or posted purely with malicious intent.



EXAMPLES FOR MODERATORS AND APPROPRIATE ACTION

* A new member joins and starts spamming immediately, with obvious spam links.
ACTION: Remove the user's posts and topics, and ban the user. Do NOT remove the account.

* A long-term member gets into an argument and makes personal attacks, instead of giving constructive criticism
ACTION: Remove posts with personal attacks, with full post in tact, and PM the user explaining exactly why the post was removed. If the post contained valid and valuable information, then it is a better option to remove just the offending remarks without removing the post, then warn the member in private.

* Multiple long-term members are in a heated argument with lots of personal attacks.
ACTION: Edit or remove posts (depending on if posts had any valuable content or not), and privately warn both members.

* Any long-term member continues inappropriate behavior.
ACTION: Put the member on a moderated list, so their posts must be approved before being published. Inform them of what you have done and why (in private). This is much better than a temporary ban. You can remove the restriction when the member appears to have calmed down.


Rating Posts and Members

The bottom of each posts has a rating feature. You can vote by clicking an icon, and undo by clicking again.

The options and explanations:

Like (thumbs up): When you like the post.
Value: +1

Dislike (thumbs down): When you dislike the post.
Value: -1

The Finger: Let the member know you don't like them, or just to mess around. This does NOT affect the member's rating at all. Don't take it too seriously.
Value: 0

Personal Attack: If you feel the post is getting too personal. This does NOT report the posts to moderators, but it gives you the ability to give a negative vote towards a member. To report posts and request moderator intervention, you need to click the "Report Post" button.
Value: -1

Jizz on you: If you ever feel it the need.
Value: 0

WTF?: When a post is unclear or doesn't make sense.
Value: 0

Excellent contribution: For extra good contributions.
Value: +2

Anyone can see who voted what by visiting a member's profile page and clicking "Rates".

Members who negatively vote based on spite will be restricted from voting. This is because one person has the ability to give a lot of negative votes, and give others an unjustified bad reputation. We cannot possibly monitor every vote given. So if you suspect someone in "spite voting" against you, NOTIFY ADMIN. Otherwise we wont look into it. Once admin is notified, we'll review a member's given votes and may restrict members from being able to vote.

What would be considered "spite voting"? An example is if a member gives constantly votes on "neutral posts" (posts that aren't bad in any way), then it is reasonable to assume the intention is to negatively affect another member's rating. If you are going to report a member for spite voting, you should make sure you haven't done the same yourself or we'll restrict you from voting too. Additionally, members who receive an unusual amount of "positive ratings" from new or inactive members may have votes removed.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE ANOTHER MEMBER AND WANT IT TO BE KNOWN, USE THE "JIZZ ON YOU", "THE FINGER" OR "WTF" VOTES WHICH HAVE NO RATING VALUE. THIS WAY YOU CAN BE HONEST ABOUT THE RATING YOU GIVE A MEMBER, WHILE STILL EXPRESSING YOUR DISLIKE OF A MEMBER (IN A MORE PLAYFUL AND LESS SERIOUS WAY).




The System Players Forum (no AP)

The system players forum is at nolinks://nolinks.rouletteforum.cc/index.php?board=108.0 - It's a section designed for members who don't want to be constantly told why their system wont work. You need special permission to post in this area. Contact admin to request access.


Multiplayer Roulette Game Rules

1. Inactive players are automatically logged off after 10 spins of inactivity.

2. When you've finished placing bets, click the "Ready" box. When all players click ready, the next spin occurs.

3. If you use a bot, it must click "Ready".

4. If you are constantly not clicking ready and slowing the game for everyone, and you aren't responding in the chat window to verify you're a real person and not a bot, then moderators may ban your account.

MODERATOR GUIDELINES

- If you receive a complaint about a member, first check nolinks.rouletteplayers.org/leaderboard to see if they're actively playing.

- To immediately boot and ban a user, go to nolinks.rouletteplayers.org/moderate and toggle "ban/unban" for the user (you need to be added as a moderator to see this page).

- Before you ban a player, try chatting them via the chat window. If they don't respond within about a minute, go to the moderation page and click "Ban". To undo, click "Unban".

- Use your common sense and only ban accounts that disrupt the game (such as bots).

[Steve]

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