Lemma Soft Forums

Welcome to the Lemma Soft Forums! We're happy to have you here, as long as you follow the forum rules to keep this a constructive place.

Failure to follow the following rules may result in you being warned, banned, and/or having your thread locked or deleted, among other things. The consequences are at the administrators' discretion.

Forum participation is a privilege, not a right. If you do not agree to follow the rules and/or accept the consequences for breaking them, do not participate.

0.) Forum Mandate
The purpose of this forum is to promote the creation of visual novels and story-based games by providing a place for the creators of those games to teach each other, improve their skills, forge collaborations, and promote their work.


1.) Tolerance of Others' Views
This forum has members from many countries and cultures. Naturally, there will be diverse views and disagreements on topics. Threads that degenerate into personal attacks, insults, and name-calling will be locked or deleted, with administrative action taken against the offending parties.

Discussion of political and social issues is allowed only as long as they remain civil and on-topic. We generally allow discussion of issues that pertain to the creation of visual novels and story-based games or the operation of the forum. We allow discussion of issues raised by a good-faith game in threads about that game. Other issues are off-topic, and should be discussed on a more appropriate forum.

Opinions expressed by forum members are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the forum administration. Failure to argue against or in favor of an opinion does not necessarily reflect agreement or disagreement with that opinion by the administration.


2.) Civility and Criticism
No flaming, swearing, personal attacks, or trolling. Do not attack people based on religion, gender, race, or sexual orientation.

We encourage constructive criticism, but direct criticism towards work and ideas, rather than criticizing people. Criticism should be offered with the intent to improve a work. Insults or criticisms meant to tear down a work or person are not acceptable.

As this is a forum filled with creative minds, you're likely to receive constructive criticism and suggestions on your work. You don't have to agree with the criticisms, but don't get defensive over someone's well-meaning opinion. In the case that the person is merely being rude or insulting, report the post and move on.


3.) Language
The common language of the forum is English. Posts must be written in English using standard capitalization and punctuation. Posting in chatspeak ("ur", "plz", "u", etc.) is disrespectful and not allowed.


4.) Stay On Topic
Posts should address the topic presented in the thread's opening post. Conversations have a natural flow, and the subject of discussion can change over time, but do not hijack the thread based on a single loosely-related comment or offhand remark. If you wish to respond to a point that is off-topic for a thread, you may create a new thread quoting the original.


5.) No Illegal Content/Links
Links to warez, pirated games, torrents, or any other illegal means of acquiring software are not allowed. Instructions on how to obtain software illegally are not allowed.


6.) Multiple Accounts
Each account should belong to one person. If you are part of an organization (company, circle, etc.) you wish to be identified with, use the "Organization" field to specify it. In the case of a dispute between the person and their organization, the account goes to the person, but the organization has a right to control who belongs to it.

Each person should only have one account. An exception is for members who wish to create a second identity for participating in "hentai" discussion, as such material may carry a stigma in certain communities. Only one account should be used in a given topic.


7.) Basic Forum Etiquette
* Do not double-post (do not post twice in a row in the same thread, unless you have significant new information)
* Do not "bump" threads unless you have something new to contribute
* Do not send bulk unsolicited private messages
* Do not post spam, or messages that look like spam


8.) Respect for Users' Attention
When you post a message, hundreds or thousands of people will read it. Make sure your post has a point - it answers a question, or supports a position. Simply expressing agreement, disagreement, or picking a choice out of a list generally isn't enough - try to make sure you express what you are thinking.


9.) Private Messages (PMs)
Private messages are only called "private" because they do not get sent to everyone on the forum, unlike posts. Like email, the people you send PMs to might forward them to others. Administrators may access PMs when investigating user behavior, or during the course of forum maintenance.


10.) Signature Length
Signatures should be at most 5 lines high. Signatures with pictures should be at most 90 pixels high.


11.) Poll-Like Threads
Poll-like threads are open-ended threads that ask a user for their personal opinion, without requiring that they justify that opinion.

The administration asks that you not post poll-like threads on the Lemma Soft Forum. When such a thread is posted, we will change, edit, or lock it as we deem appropriate, to ensure that polls do not take the place of discussion. There may be exceptions for "get to know your fellow forum members" type threads.


12.) Adult Content
Threads containing adult content must be placed in the adult sections of the forum.

a) Adult content includes - but is not limited to - explicit sexual activity, depictions of sexual nudity, and extreme gore. The forum administration may enforce an expanded definition that matches their sense of what adult content is. Censored depictions of adult content remain adult content.

b) This restriction is applied to the content of the threads, rather than the content of the game under discussion. We allow the discussion of an adult game in a non-adult thread, as long as the discussion itself remains non-adult. Direct links to adult downloads or images should be placed in the adult section.

c) Adult games must have an adult thread before any non-adult threads are created. This is to provide the forum administration with a place to move adult posts to.


13.) Crowdfunding
Do not link to crowdfunding campaigns (including kickstarter or indiegogo campaigns) for visual novels or games unless those campaigns include a link to a nontrivial playable demo.


99.) Everything Else
These rules are not all-encompassing, and people might find loopholes and technicalities. Administrators may take action in response to disruptive behavior, rudeness, or creative ways of circumventing the rules. These situations will be handled on a case by case basis.


Note:
To report a post, click on the red exclamation point at the bottom right corner of the post.

_________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

2012-03-29 - Initial post of this version of the forum rules.

2012-06-01 - Tweak the ban on political wording to allow issues raised by good-faith games.

2012-09-09 - Renumbered the old rule 12 to rule 99, so it's last. Added the new rule 12, which describes how we allow adult content.

2013-05-14 - Added the crowdfunding rule.

_________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

These rules can be discussed here.

_________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt