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Terms of Service

Introduction

At RPGWatch we appreciate your opinion, but since your opinion isn't the only opinion, we have rules in place. These rules are based on the law we operate under and our ideas on what we want to allow or disallow.

The basis of these rules is that we want to have a discussion that allows everyone to participate and in which people are not excluded. Your contribution to a discussion should be meaningful and bring the discussion forward and not scare people away.

RPGWatch is not your personal soapbox. Participating in a discussion requires you to verify, before sending out your message, if it also adds something to the ongoing discussion. Note that there is not a restriction on what topics can be discussed, as long as the topic itself is not against the rules on this page.


Some general stuff

When "moderators" is stated, it refers to both moderators and admins.

The rules on this page are applicable to any form of expression you can use on RPGWatch, now and in the future. Examples of these are: participating on the RPGWatch forums, using private messages and using the RPGWatch forums to send messages.


Applicable laws

RPGWatch operates under Dutch law. However, as the server is located in Germany, German law also applies, as well as European law.

One of these European laws is about privacy and personal information (GDPR). In what way we deal with that you can find in our Privacy Statement.

What these laws also state is that as RPGWatch is non-governmental, we can and will restrict your rights to express yourself on RPGWatch.


Freedom of Speech

Whatever your constitution says about the freedom of speech, know that it is absolutely not relevant on RPGWatch. Your freedom of speech, when using any form of communication on RPGWatch, is restricted to what is described on this page.


Defamation, discrimination, insults and threats

Under the law we operate under (and also because we think it is a good idea) it is strictly forbidden to discriminate and insult people because of their race, religion, sexuality or gender, as is incitement to hatred or discrimination. Specifically, holocaust denial is not allowed by law and thus also not on RPGWatch. In the eyes of the law, and ours, insults that are directed to a person or a group of persons are forbidden, so a religion or an organization is excluded from that.

On top of that making false statements about people (defamation) or threatening them, either in writing or any other form of media, is prohibited.

To make some of this clearer, the following shows some examples of what RPGWatch considers to be acceptable or not:

  • Constructive criticism of the work of a person is allowed, even if that person does not like the criticism. Also specific behavior of a person can be criticized
  • Criticism of a person is most of the time not allowed
    • "You are an idiot", is not allowed
    • "I don't like you", is allowed
    • "This trick you played is stupid", is allowed
  • Generalizations are usually incorrect. Stating that "women are incapable of ...." (whatever you think they are incapable of) or "all Catholics are pedophiles" are not acceptable, because they are both incorrect and insulting
  • Stating that "on average, female athletes cannot run as fast as men" is allowed as it can be factually proven, as is the statement that "some Catholics are pedophiles" (and no that link you have to some page on the internet on whatever topic is most likely not proof, but just an opinion).
  • Stating that "gays are not worthy to get married" is discrimination. Being religious does not make it right to say that.

In all cases it is up to the moderator to make a decision if and what action to take.


Copyrighted material

Plagiarism and placing copyrighted material on RPGWatch is forbidden. You are allowed to name the source and link to only the front page of the webpage that holds the material. An exception to this is linking to illegal sites (such as illegal download sites), which is forbidden.


Pornographic, sexist, obscene and violent material

Pornographic, sexist, obscene or violent material of any sort is forbidden on RPGWatch. Linking to such material is not allowed either.


Off-topic

In general a contribution to a discussion should add something to that discussion and keep the discussion going and on-topic, not stop it or divert it.


Trolling

Sowing discord in a discussion by starting arguments or upsetting people by using inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or disrupting normal on-topic discussion is forbidden.


Multiple accounts

Posting, using more than one account, with the intent to steer a discussion into a specific direction is not allowed.


Personal information

You are forbidden to share personal information of others, without the person involved giving his or her approval. Personal information is any information that the person has not made public themselves, such as (but not limited to):

  • Photos
  • Name
  • Address
  • Contact information
  • Passwords
  • Private Messages


Advertising

Any form of advertising, not approved by RPGWatch, is not allowed. If you want to advertise by means of a link or message, please contact RPGWatch prior to doing so. If you do not have an approval, you are not allowed to advertise in any way.


Criticizing RPGWatch

Obviously, you are allowed to criticize RPGWatch. However it needs to be based on factual information. RPGWatch is willing to enter a debate on this. Repeatedly coming back on the same issue, which has been responded to by RPGWatch (but probably not to your satisfaction) without adding anything new is annoying and can lead to moderator action.


Responsibility

The person expressing themselves on RPGWatch is responsible for that expression. However RPGWatch takes its responsibility to take action when it is not within the limits of what is described on this page.


Moderation actions

The action taken by a moderator can be (but are not limited to):

  • Contacting individual(s) to make them change their behavior
  • Modifying any submission (or have it modified by the writer) that is in conflict with the rules on this page
  • Deleting any submission that is conflict with the rules on this page
  • Giving a person a warning (infraction) for violating the rules on this page
  • Banning a person for a limited or unlimited time for violating the rules on this page
  • (Pre-emptive) Banning of users that show every resemblance of a bot or a spammer.

RPGWatch is not obliged to motivate the reasons for moderation to anyone other than the person being moderated. The reasons for moderation will not be discussed in public and discussions about it can be ended or removed by a moderator.
If the moderated person feels the motivation for him or her being moderated is invalid, they can contact the moderator(s) and/or RPGWatch to discuss this.

If you think a fellow member is not acting within the rules, please contact the moderator instead of posting a comment about it. It will only get the discussion off-topic.


Duration

This Terms of Service can be changed at any time at which point all registered members will be informed of that fact by means of a forum post.