This is our General Discussion forum, the place where you can hang out and discuss (almost) anything that comes to mind. Of course, since people aren't perfect, and regrettably do make mistakes, we have a few rules you can follow to assure that you don't end up getting warned, suspended, or worse!

Well, let's get the most boring part over with first, shall we? Alright!

Here is a Guide to General Discussion
The Do Not List: While we like to think of ourselves as a fairly liberal forum as far as what users can and can not do, we do have a few solid rules that can't be broken. (At least too many times.) So it would probably be a good thing if you did not...

• Post Illegal Content – We're sure that most of you have at one point or another done something that someone would consider illegal, such as downloading software or music without permission or purchase, we ask that you do not post any such content here. That means you can't post things such as links to music downloads or software downloads unless it is permitted or if the copyright is held by poster, and you also can't post serial codes for any type of software unless it is permitted or if the copyright is held by poster.
• Advertise – Advertising is the act of shamelessly promoting any website, no matter what the subject is, what is offered, etc. For example, do not post the link to your board, your MySpace, your favorite game, your FaceBook group, or anything else! You are permitted to advertise in your signature and in certain topics where permitted. Do not post advertisements in this forum or the advertisement itself will be removed, the topic closed, and the poster promptly given a warning. [Effective October 3rd, 2008]
• Double Post – Double posting means exactly what it infers: that one has decided to post two times in a row. All new posts and topics have an edit button that you can click if you feel like something else needs to be said or something needs to be changed. Double posting is an annoyance most of the time and many people take up issue with it.
• Break InvisionFree / ZetaBoards Terms of Service – InvisionFree / ZetaBoards have pretty much everything about ownership and operation of boards in their Terms of Service in regards to what you can't do, but you'll find that these policies remain true on boards like this one where you are not the owner. For example, it's probably not too good of an idea to talk about or share pornography, be a racist, be excessively profane, and so on. This, obviously, would include laws. Don't break any laws, or the police might come knocking.
• Spam – Spam stands for "Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages." Spam might qualify as posts that are off topic (if I opened a topic about dogs and you started talking about how great cats were...), messages that are lacking content (this would include long trains of lol or excessive smileys following a short message), messages that have no point (I think you can guess this one), or messages that are just annoying.

Punishment and Crime: If you break certain rules, we'll probably let it slide once or twice, but breaking rules multiple times, or doing something inherently wrong, will probably get you in instantaneous trouble. This section details what you will get if what you give isn't that nice.

• Posting Illegal Content – If you are found posting illegal content, the post(s) and / or topic(s) in question will be removed immediately, and you will be warned, suspended, and possibly banned. Severity of the punishment depends on severity of crime.
• Advertising – If you are found advertising in any topics, your post(s) will be removed unless found to have substance (i.e. being partially on topic), in which case the link itself will be removed. First instance will be a verbal warning. Further instances will result in suspension, mod queue, but rarely in a ban. After all, it's going to be hard to advertise once you're on mod queue, but if you were to, say, spam warez links while queued, I think that would be grounds for a ban.
• Double Post – While posting more than once in the same topic is excusable now and then, doing it repeatedly over short periods of time is another thing. If you are found posting repeatedly over short periods of time in the same topics, you will be verbally warned. More instances will result in suspension, mod queue, or both.
• Spam – Spam is annoying. If you are caught spamming, you will be, as is usual, verbally warned. After repeat instances, you will be suspended. Following several smaller punishments along the lines of suspension, you will be banned.
• Special Offenses – It's probably wise to not post pornography. Anyone caught doing so will be banned on sight. That's why it's probably not wise. The same goes for illegal discussions and activities. I said prior that depending on severity the punishments could be less, but ignore that part: assume that whatever illegal content you could post about is covered by the ban part.
• Exceptions – While we do not allow any of the above, we can allow discussion on torrents and miscellaneous peer-to-peer technology as long as intent to use them for illegal activities are not explicitly mentioned. A topic on whether pornography is inherently bad, for instance, is also allowed, provided there is no detailed descriptions of acts, links, or straight out images.

Terminology: What do all these words mean? What's a suspension? What does ban mean?

• Verbal Warnings – Verbally warning someone means that staff are alerting a member to his or her wrongdoing without issuing further punishment. We do not allow members to give verbal warnings, however, as this is considered backseat moderation, but feel free to point out where a rule has been broken.
• Suspension – Suspension means that you will not be able to see the board while logged into your account for a period anywhere from one day at minimum to thirty days at maximum.
• Mod Queue – A mod queue means that whenever you post a member of staff will be required to approve or deny your posts entry into public sight. This is usually done to prevent spam, advertising, and so on. You may be mod queued after two suspensions or barring that immediately after the first in extreme cases.
• Ban – When a user is banned, this means that you are no longer allowed to access the forums in any way as a member. When you have been banned, you no longer have privileges of normal members and are no longer a member of the community. All bans are final except in rare circumstances in which staff bring it up to decide. You are not allowed to appeal your ban, nor is anyone else allowed to appeal your ban for you. Anyone appealing bans on behalf of someone else will be immediately suspended.
• IP Ban – When as user has been banned and came back, an IP Ban will follow. IP Bans make it so you can not come back from the internet protocol you used when you first registered. If there are repeat instances from multiple IP addresses within the same range, we may wildcard ban the entire range, which has the effect of barring an entire group of people from seeing the board. This, as you can imagine, isn't just bad for you but bad for everyone else who uses the same service.

But...

It's entirely likely that you're a good user who obeys all of our rules and all of the service's rules. If that's you, well, I guess we don't have much to worry about, do we? In that case, likely new user, I have a few additional things to say that aren't quite rules but more along the lines of pointers.

Introductions
If you want to introduce yourself (and who doesn't want to get attention for just being around?), we have an entire forum devoted to you introducing yourself! On the off chance that you're not new, well, feel free to welcome other users.

We want to make everyone feel at home right away, don't we? You bet we do. So tell us about yourself. Tell us what you like, what you don't like, what you watch on TV, what music you dig, you know, just tell us about you. We really want to know!

x Landmark
People like to gloat about their post counts. I'm not entirely sure why, but post counts are kind of a big deal to some people. If you're one of those people, you can post a topic regarding your landmark post count. If you've just hit five hundred posts, one thousand posts, twenty-five hundred posts, five thousand posts, ten thousand posts... Well, that's probably a big event.

When you reach landmark posts (x is equal to the number of posts reached, in case you were wondering about that), you can post a topic about it as long as you give thanks to or shout out to the people that helped you get there. It's like being at the grammys, only you didn't win an award. Isn't that neat?

Favorite x
For sake of healthy discussion, it's probably best to avoid topics that have the purpose of determining our favorite colors or what food we like best. There are some exceptions, like Joe Biden vs. Sarah Palin, but generally topics about what your favorite color is just wouldn't be the kind of thing to stimulate the aforementioned healthy discussion.

Healthy Choice
While we here at ForumStyles are smart folks, we're not doctors. Well, most of us aren't. If you've got some health problem, we're not the place to go for advice. That's right, I'm afraid we don't allow health topics as it relates to illness or injury.

You'd probably want to go to the doctor for that broken leg, rather than sit here and let us decide whether it really is broken or not. Likewise, if you suspect you're about to have a heart attack, I don't think thatguy114 is very qualified to tell you "it's nothing!"

Most of All...
Have fun! With the lengthy descriptions of rules and punishments, you'd think we're mean people or some nonsense like that, but we're really not. We'd just prefer we didn't have to be mean people! You be nice to us and we'll be nice to you. You can be nice to us by following the few simple rules we have, and we'll be nice to you by providing all the services we can.

Forerunner topics posted by my good friend doggiejazz28, reposted by me a few years later, and lastly reposted yet again by former staff member Lurk.