Chat Policies

Welcome
Welcome to this little corner of the wiki. As you know, users go on chat to unwind and get away from rping for a little. Although we all like to have fun, there is a time where he have to tone it down a notch so things won't get out of control. By following these rules, we can do just that.

Out of Character
In general people must understand that people coming to participate in this wiki come from various ages, walks of life, countries, etc. They also come here, or should be coming here to this particular chat, to participate or talk about the Hero Academy RP Wiki. So any discussion that turns into a heated argument or debate, that has nothing what-so-ever to do with this wiki, is not appropriate here. Some topics that can lead to this sort of debate are religion and politics. Banning those topics may seem a bit harsh, but everyone is very touchy about what religion they follow and people might disagree, so the conversations themselves have no real place here to begin with. As there is the option to privately message in chat, specific users, if you wish to carry on a religious or political debate with another user, you should do so in private messages, not open chat.

Just to clarify, a casual reference to something that may be religious, political or controversial but not intended to spur a massive debate is one thing, but once it's clear that a debate is occurring, it should be stopped. For instance, if someone's writing a character history that involves a character who was raised Jewish, they may ask a simple religious question in chat, as long as it does not turn into an all out religious debate, bordering on a fight, it's ok. Bottom line, anything that turns wiki into a heated argument or debate, will not be tolerated and chat mods should ask that the conversation cease.

Also some less heated topics, but also not appropriate here, on this wiki's chat, would be heavy discussions and/or recruiting for other wiki's. That is the equivalent of a Pizza Hut Manager, walking into a Domino's Pizza to talk about Pizza Hut and try and get people to go work for them. It's pretty much downright rude. If you would like to request help with something, or would like to become our affiliate, again, you can do so on private messages.

Also, as there are many users here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos or harassment will not be tolerated.

Main chat is for out of character, we do not roleplay in chat. Some users may pretend to act things out, like *hugs* or *tackles* or some users may even mock fight in chat. As long as all this remains friendly it's fine, but as far as roleplay, if users wish to roleplay in chat, they need to do so in private messages.

Users without Enrolled Characters
As this chat is for this role playing wiki, anyone in chat should belong to the wiki, if you wish to join or are in the process of waiting on a character to be enrolled, this is of course fine. However, if you keep coming back to chat, with no attempt to make a enrollment, you may be asked to leave and/or kick banned, which is up to the discretion of the chat moderators on at the time. If you are banned from chat, once you have either adopted a character or made a enrollment for one, your ban will be lifted. As far as how many times a user enters chat before a ban is in place, that is at the chat mod's discretion, however a good rule of thumb is multiple times for more than a day. This can be hard to monitor, as the same people aren't always in chat at the same time and so coming up with an "official" number isn't realistic.

Warnings
Specific to how in chat warnings/actions should be taken:


 * 1) One to two clear verbal warnings (depending on the severity of the rule break), for instance "So and so, please stop if you do not I will have to kick you from chat"
 * 2) If you don't think you are getting your point across, a "kick" may get your point across quicker that you are serious and that they need to stop.
 * 3) If they persist even after one or two verbal warnings and/or even a kick, immediately ban them for anywhere between a few hours to a few days depending on the severity of the issues. Once they are banned, leave a message on their talk page explaining the ban and how long the ban is for.
 * 4) If once the temp ban is lifted, they come back and repeatedly cause more problems in chat, they should be banned again for an even longer period, and should receive an official wiki warning.

Apologies:

If a user has committed an offence and has received only verbal warnings he or she may make an apology. It is up to the discretion of the Chat Moderator as to whether this apology will be accepted or not. If an apology is made within 10 minutes after the last warning was received he or she may be forgiven entirely. While they may forgive, Chat Moderators are by no means encouraged to forget.

Warnings Leniency
An Administration which attempts to enforce rules and policies exactly by the book without restraint or remorse is often regarded as a hated one; as policy cannot be crafted to fit every potentiality. Therefore, it is necessary that Chat Moderators be allowed to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis instead of according to rigid or specific rules and regulations which may not be applicable. At present reasons for warnings are as follows:

Good Reasons


 * Personal attacks
 * Harassment
 * Spamming
 * Policy violation
 * Inappropriate language
 * Excessive YELLING

Bad Reasons


 * Disagreeing with an administrator

Naturally all of the above, with the exception of Policy Violation, Sock Puppetry, and disagreeing with an administrator are entirely subjective. Thus, if an esteemed user, or perhaps an entirely new member, does any of these things once or twice leniency may be a reasonable response. However if this unreasonable behavior continues warnings may be necessary. Likewise, if a user with a history of offences does something, he may be granted less leniency or none at all. All of the above is up to the Chat Moderator's discretion.

Disputes
If a situation occurs in which the accused disputes the subjective allegations laid against him he may ask his fellow chat members for an appeal. In this eventuality all those present in chat at the time the incident occurred will be asked to vote for or against the accusations. If the majority votes for, the accusations stand. If the majority votes against, they fail.

Cursing/Swearing
At present, chat policy reads thus:

"Also, as there are many users here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos or harassment will not be tolerated."

Unfortunately "heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos, or harassment" is notoriously hard to define. Users are allowed to use the following: Damn, shit, crap, bitch, and their variations/combinations. Other words like "F*ck" should have at least single letter replaced by an asterisk (*) as shown. Cursing in other languages is generally tolerated. All of the above is up to chat moderator discretion and is subject to the warning/dispute/appeal system discussed above.

Due to the increasing problems with Wiki Chat many of us have found it necessary to resort to alternate means of communication including Skype and Chatango. As most of our community is now actively using these means, it is imperative that we maintain some sense of law and order in these seemingly far flung places. Therefore it is equally imperative that we come to view them as extensions of our wiki chat wherein our rules, regulations, and policies have equal effect.