Organized and spaced the rules out a bit more. And the thread has been split. Here is a backup of the rules:

These rules are guidelines for interacting on the forums and game. Things are lax here, and some rules are enforced more noticeably than others; but you should take care to read these every once in a while, or you might find your posts getting edited or deleted, or saves suddenly disappearing.

The mods are allowed to edit or delete posts or topics, warn and ban members here, and even see the IP addresses of members here as they see fit. These rules are superior to that or in-game information (AKA the message of the day, etc). Moderators however, do make the final calls on the interpretation of these rules.

Forum Posting Rules

Forum rules also apply to groups
1) Use proper grammar and spelling so others can understand you. Avoid posting any curse words or foul language. Using **** instead to replace foul language is OK. Please be polite, as trolling is a quick way to get threads locked.

2) Spam is against the rules here. Major offenders will be temporarily banned. If you don't have something useful to say, then don't post it at all. Groups are also seen as spam if created OUTSIDE the Groups section. Double posting is prevented within a day due to a forum-wide software limitation on them. This also applies to bumping, which is when you post in an old thread in order to bump it back to the top of the most recent threads. This is only really allowed if your bumping post has something relevant to the topic, or a serious question is left unanswered in a help thread. Otherwise it is considered necroposting. Generally, try not to post in a thread more than a month old unless you have something useful to say.

3) When you make a new thread, try to make your thread title as descriptive as possible. If people don't know what's in a thread, they'll never read it. Similarly, avoid using all caps or unusual characters, they're painful to read. If we can't figure what's in your thread from the title alone, don't be surprised if it gets locked.

4) Don't impersonate people with similar names, or use someone else's account here. Expect to be banned if you do, there's not much tolerance for it here. Multiple people using a single account specifically designed for that purpose is fine, as long as you don't post on the forums with it.

5) Please do not post large images. Many people still use slow internet, and large images will prevent them from reading your threads. If you want, post a hyperlink to the large image instead.

6) No "+1" posts, if you agree strongly enough then you can post why, otherwise don't post at all.

7) Please don't talk about stuff the mods or admins are doing. Conversation about people who've recently been banned tends to cause drama, and spams threads with unrelated info to the original topic. If you don't know why they've done something, ask a mod yourself using the Conversation feature.

8) Don't ask how to be a moderator. There are no guidelines to follow for being made one, and the status is given for private reasons. New moderators are rarely promoted, and will be handpicked by Simon if there is ever a need for more. If you do ask about it, the chances of being made a moderator become significantly smaller.

9) Please don't advertise for other games, forums, programs or services outside of The Powder Toy here. We have enough activity dealing with just Powder Toy.

10) Piracy, or condoning piracy, is not tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, posting links to pirated software, links to piracy websites, or talking about it in general.

11) Don't be a back seat moderator. Defined as a user who acts like a moderator, but doesn't hold an actual spot as one. This gets very annoying, and only a real moderator knows which rules to enforce properly at which times. Calling "necro" in a thread may even get you banned. Don't ask for threads to be locked either unless they are yours.

12) Don't be a troll. Trolls are just very annoying for everyone to deal with, and you will be more likely banned than others that follow the rules more often. This includes trolling in any thread, even game threads by purposely not following the rules.

Save Uploading Guidelines

These are guidelines for avoiding having saves deleted or otherwise hidden from public view. If you fail to follow them, don't be surprised if your saves get lousy votes, unpublished, removed from the front page should they make it there, or simply deleted all together. They are listed in no particular order.

1. No image plotting. If you have to use a program to draw out pixels from an image outside of Powder Toy without drawing it by hand, then don't be surprised when it gets deleted and you get banned. Jojobond has his on the topmost votes because he was the first to figure out how, but the grandfather rule no longer applies.

2. No self-voting. This equates making more than one account, and then using those accounts to vote for your own saves, or even someone else's. It's very obvious when it happens, we can see this easily. People get banned for doing this. Don't do it. It's still possible to make an account for multiple people to use and post saves on, provided no votes are made with the group account, and no posts are made on the forums with it.

3. No hate saves please. So no shooting Jews, killing Beiber, etc.

4. No penis drawings. Or any other explicit or non-explicit sex please. We like to think this is a game that

kids can play. Ten year olds play this game, don't post anything too inappropriate for children.

5. Don't ask for votes. If your stuff is awesome, you shouldn't have to beg for popularity to get votes. People tend to downvote when they see a lot of this anyway, it is not effective. Do not have anything relating to or mentioning votes inside the actual save

• This includes saves that have the characteristic green arrow asking for votes, or a large number of signs mentioning votes in the save. If you want to thank people the votes they have given, that can be a small note in the description or comments, but don't make it excessive either. Testing this rule to see how much you can do is a bad idea, because every moderator enforces it just slightly differently.

• Gimmicks for getting votes like '100 votes and I'll make a better version' are similarly frowned upon. Vote farming will not be tolerated at all. Asking for votes in return for anything like save improvements or copying part of the save counts as vote farming. View farming or any other type of farming that may arise later is also still against the rules.

6. Keep the number of logos and signs to a minimum. They not only slow the game down, but can also make saves unappealing for people to use. Saves that contain excessive numbers of Logos will be removed from the front page or even unpublished.

• You can link to as many directly related saves as you want, but if you link to more then 3 unrelated saves, this is just too much advertising, and it will probably be removed from the front page.
• Please do not make fake update or similar fake notification signs either.

7. Please don't swear excessively. Saves containing excessive swearing or rude language will be unpublished. Don't make rude or offensive comments either.

8. Don't make text only saves. Saves are much better when they actually use some of the features in the game. Text only saves will be removed from the front page should they ever get there.

• Also, any element suggestion save will be removed from the front page. It's recommended you make a thread on the forum, so it's more official and you can get actual criticism from other users and devs. You can make the save and link to it on the thread if you want.
• This also relates to art on the front page. Art saves that only rely on the deco layer are generally removed. Art using elements may stay longer if it's more impressive.

9. Don't claim others' work as your own. If you didn't make it, don't resave it for yourself, this is taking credit for something you didn't make, and can take votes away from the original author. You can fav. a save instead of publishing a copy if you want to see it later.

• This doesn't mean you can't modify or improve saves though; building on the works of others is encouraged. If you give credit to the original author, it is usually OK to resave unless the author specifically prohibits it.

10. Do not make laggy saves If a save is so laggy that it crashes the game for some people, it's just really annoying. Saves that do make it to the front page that purposely lag the game will be demoted.

Using Reports

The moderators can browse the saves index like everyone else, but it takes time to find things that people would report, so sending reports for stolen or otherwise rule-breaking saves is helpful, otherwise the rule-breaking save may not be found. These guidelines spell out what makes going through reports a pain, and what helps us even more.
What you can report for
Report a save for breaking any of the save uploading guidelines, it is not just for inappropriate saves and stolen saves. You may also report a save for the comments or tags on it, even if it's your own. This is the easiest way to notify a moderator of something they may need to delete. They can also see who creates tags, so if there is a large amount of tag spam, reporting may be better than deleting the tags yourself, losing the data of who made them.
1. Do not misuse reports. It wastes moderator's time, and may lead to saves wrongfully deleted. If you misuse the system we have the right to ban without warning. Do not spam in them either, if we see any reports with nonsense in it you can expect a swift 24 hour ban at the very least.
2. The more information, the better. We can do research to try and figure out what you're talking about, but if you just say "it's stolen" and the save reported isn't well known, the report will be ignored. Include the id of the ORIGINAL save in reports, the author and id of the save being reported are not needed. If you do not know the original id, you can try including the author's name, but if you have trouble finding it, chances are the moderator reading it also will, and will ignore it.
3. Do not ask for saves to be removed from the front page. It might not be good, or maybe you don't think it belongs there, but you don't need to report every bad save, or every art save, that ever gets onto the front page. They will be removed eventually if they don't deserve to be there, but a report will not get anything removed. If you don't like it, try voting it off instead.


_{Last Edited: June 13, 2013 By jacob1}