Community Guidelines
I. Introduction:
The All inPlay community is composed of people from all over
the world, people with a large diversity of beliefs, dispositions, and customs.
As such, it is inevitable that many situations will arise where community members
will disagree as to the nature of conversations taking place at the tables.
The intent of the guidelines contained in this document is to help us each do
our part to help maintain the fun, friendly, and safe atmosphere that All
inPlay has come to represent. These guidelines also show how instances of
abuse can be reported, and how they are acted upon.
Note: According to the terms &
conditions of the All inPlay service, all members of All
inPlay are supposed to be adults. Children and minors are allowed to play
on All inPlay so long as they are supervised by a parent or guardian
at all times and so long as the account they play with does *not* contain the
children's personal information (it is illegal for a website to gather personal
information for those under the age of 13).
II. Guidelines:
- Be Friendly <smile> - All inPlay is a fun, friendly
community of folks who love to play games and chat together. When you join
a table, it is customary to say howdy and introduce yourself to those whom
you do not know. It is also customary to say goodbye before you leave a table.
If ever you aren't sure of something, always feel free to ask those around
you - people are usually up for helping new folks out. It is also recommended
that if you are new and need help, that you stay away from the "fast"
tables, as the people playing there don't have a lot of time to take their
turns and so can't help much. If you are an old hand and meet a new person,
see if you can lend them a hand - you might just make a new friend <smile>. To learn more you might want to read the All inPlay Etiquette Guide.
- Common Sense Appropriate Language - All members are asked to keep
their language appropriate when on the tables or posting to the mailing lists. In other
words, members should use language that the other people at the table (or mailing list) will not take offense to.
When in doubt, members are asked to avoid any kind of strong or suggestive
language. The All inPlay game tables are all public, meaning
that any community member is free to join or leave at any time. Because of
this, language that might be fine one moment might be inappropriate when a
new person joins the table.
Example: If the table is full of old friends then the group should feel free
to talk however they like. However, if the table is joined by a child, by
someone who is known to not enjoy strong language, or someone who the existing
people at the table do not know, then it is simply common sense to moderate
one's language accordingly. This is no different than how people act when
interacting in public places in the real world.
- Respect - If someone at a table is uncomfortable with the language
being used, they should feel free to make that known to those around them.
Those around them are then asked to show respect for the person's request
and moderate their language accordingly. In particular, members are strongly
advised to keep in mind that any kind of romantic or sexual innuendo is *only*
to be used in the company of those who are *completely* comfortable with such
language.
Example: Jane Smith joins a table with a fun group of friends who don't mind
throwing around a few strong words from time to time. Jane is showing her
daughter Emily how the game works and so she asks everyone to keep in mind
that there is a kid in ear-shot of the computer. Jane's friends then, naturally,
adjust their language and everyone has a good time, minus a few spicy words
<smile>.
- Take Charge of Your Experience - Inevitably in a community as diverse
and large as ours, there will be some members whose definition of "appropriate"
or "respect" do not agree close enough for them to be comfortable
chatting at the same table together. As the All inPlay tables
are public and appreciate the great diversity of beliefs and views of our
members, we cannot use a one-code-of-conduct-fits-all solution. Instead we
provide tools that allow each community member to shape his or her own experience
as they see fit.
Ways members can take charge of their experience:
- Avoid playing at a table with someone they do not like
- Use the Ignore feature (just press Alt+i while in-game) to permanently
block all future chat messages from the annoying player
- Toggle the "ignore all chat" feature - allowing them to play
without having to hear any chat from anyone for the duration of that game.
These features allow every member the ability to shape and mold their playing
experience as *they* see fit.
- Mailing List Rules - All of the above guidelines apply to our community
mailing lists as well as these additional guidelines:
- No Foul Language/Content - The All inPlay Community includes a
diverse group of people so we ask everyone to keep their language clean.
It should be noted that members of this list come from all over the world,
and so a word that may be offensive to you might be a perfectly plain word
to the person posting. If that happens to you, let a moderator know.
- No Spam or Off-Topic Content - Nobody likes to get spam or posts that are wildly off topic from the intended discussion area, so nobody should do it <smile>!
- Keep it Cool - Email discussions can get heated and when that happens
sometimes people make it personal. To help keep the community healthy, members
DON'T make things personal; instead they stay focused on the mission of
the community (having fun, interacting with others). They talk about THE
GAME and disagree with other people's IDEAS, not with other people.
- Ignore Flames - If someone posts something inflammatory aimed at
a community member, they report it to a moderator but otherwise IGNORE the
inflammatory post. Responding to such posts only makes things worse, so
the best thing to do is just to make sure a moderator is aware of the situation
and let them take care of it.
- Constructive Criticism - Constructive
criticism that has the good of the community at heart is always welcome - even if
it is critical of All inPlay! However, destructive and/or disrespectful criticism
of anyone - even if said in support of All inPlay - is not allowed.
- Its the Law! - It's obvious, but it needs to be said: don't break the law. All inPlay is based in the USA and is bound by the laws of the state of Massachusetts. It should be noted that gambling is illegal in our state and, therefore, on our site. All inPlay logs all chat conversations at all tables. We are required by law to provide such logs to authorities, if requested. We react to any reports of illegal activity immediately.
-
Report Abuse - In any open, public online community there will inevitably
be those who join with ill intent or who simply do not understand how to be
civilized around others. While wide berth and tolerance is necessary in a
worldwide community, abuse and uncivilized behavior is *not* tolerated at
All inPlay. If a player is repeatedly using truly objectionable
and/or abusive language or conduct, members are strongly requested to report
such behavior by email to abuse@allinplay.com.
III. Action Policies
As the community is mostly self-regulating, All inPlay rarely
has to take any kind of disciplinary action. However, in the rare instance where
we do need to take action, here are our standard operating policies.
If a player is found to be in violation of our guidelines, All inPlay sends the offender a warning email. If the abusive behavior continues, All inPlay can and will ban the player from the website for a period of time
deemed appropriate (determined on a case-by-case basis by All inPlay).
In rare situations where it is obvious that the player is beyond reasoning, All inPlay reserves the right to skip the warning email and go
straight to an account ban.
If we receive and confirm a report that a community
member has used racist language for racist purposes, we will consider it
as harshly as we do sexual harassment. The offending member will
immediately be banned for at least 30 days and informed that repeats of
such behavior will likely lead to a permanent ban.
Players who are banned from the site will *not* be reimbursed for the time
they cannot play - as is stated clearly in the formal terms
& conditions of the All inPlay service that all members are obliged
to read and agree too before they use the service. Players can certainly petition
All inPlay if they feel that some mistake has been made (support@allinplay.com).
IV. Closing
If you have any questions or comments on these guidelines, please feel free
to contact All inPlay at any time (support@allinplay.com).
Links to other related documents:
Community Home Page : My
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