Time to Reinforce the rules on some issues.

Here are the posting guidelines presented by Bugman himself:

Bugman, post: 5 wrote
Hi,

Let [acronym="master engineer"]ME[/acronym] be the first to welcome you to my humble brewery, please pull up a stool, take a tankard of my finest and relax, for here you have the chance to relax, take the weight off your boots and to talk.

Please, read the following, and observe them, failure to do so will involve you having your tankard removed, you carried outside and shackled up with the pansies, so read careful:

Although this board allows you too, please no HTML other then tables (useful for stat lines), Flash, sub or super script, Teletype. Any use of these will see that piece of information removed.

Please do not post up full/parts lists from [acronym="Great Weapon or Games Workshop"]GW[/acronym] books. So no publishing of Fishmen, WS3, BS3, T3, W3, S3 and so on. Immediate Banning violation. Please respect current IP [acronym="Great Weapon or Games Workshop"]GW[/acronym] guidelines. If posting in the play testers area, you can post stats ONLY for that character/troops in question

Do not spam or post 1 line replies. Posting huge amounts or just one line saying "get a Dwarf lord" will only get you thrown out on your rear.

Be polite to others, flaming, rudeness, swearing, SHOUTING and causing nuisance or offence is not tolerated. Save bar brawls until you are outside of this place. Obscenity, derogatory terms, "I swear too much" and racial abuse will also not be tolerated. This also applies to people's avatars too.

My word is final, followed closely by my moderators. I will always back a moderator in their actions unless there are cute women involved or bribery in millions is being offered, to all of [acronym="Unit Strength"]US[/acronym].

Closing time (that of a post) is final. No ifs, butts or refills allowed.

Advertising or trading of any miniatures, or related services (such as painting) is only allowed in The Market Square. Please check the Rules thread in that section for further details. No ebay!

Much as I dislike the product, they guys over at Lone Wolf have worked hard to produce army builder. Do not post up cracks or ask for cracks. This is an immediate banning violation.

Do not ask for army books or where you can get old ones from. Do not recommend either file sharing programs as away to do this. Bugman's cannot be associated in any way with illegal activities. Violators may be banned indefinitely.

Do not post off topic posts or any posts regarding Lord of the Rings.

Do not post links/advertise to other forums

There are to be no images in your signature

Do not slag off or have a go at [acronym="Great Weapon or Games Workshop"]GW[/acronym] staff or developers. They work hard and the things they produce are often ultiamtley outside thier control. GW is a company out to make ��, there is no getting around this.

Spamming
Unnecessary abuse of over posting or one-word comments will get your posts deleted, and at worst, you kicked of the forum. You have been warned!

Mother Tongue
We live in a world where communication is required, and many of us speak different mother tongues. However, while here at Bugman's please post only in English so that hopefully all of us can understand. Also please use proper sentences with punctuation and capital letters as this helps everyone more easly understand the flow of what you are saying.

If you wish to post a link to another site, then submit it to the link section. Of course, it could be part of your argument etc, when of course,then include it in your post!

Well, enjoy your drink, and never hesitate to ask for a refill, your custom is always welcomed in Bugmans Brewery.

Bugman

And to be truthful, many of these rules have been taken lightly.

Some of these rules, even Moderators have been known to break, such as complaining about GW staff and developers.

Also several members, and not just the ones your thinking of have been recently guilty of posting nonesense, spam, and multiple posts. This Will no longer be tolerated. If someone spams/multiple posts, or posts nonsense, then that post will be deleted. Verbal warnings will be given for such actions. Threads will be locked if individuals break this rule repeatedly, or if the thread slips into chaos. Actual Warnings on individuals forum accounts will be used should they repeatedly break this rule.

I know I seem like a hard case lately, but its only because people are really starting to abuse the rules. And I feel like I am failing in my job.

The whole Stone and Steel debate has also sparked me into action.

So here is how its going be. The Moderators whom are active, which include Khazadson, Dark Dwarves, Myself will be enforcing the rules proper. I am not saying that we have been failing in our jobs, but only that the rules will be more closely followed in accordance to Bugmans wishes.

Now, I do not do this in anyway to be Malicious or mean, in fact I almost want to give up my Mod position because I dont want to be the jerk moderator, nor do I want people to think I hate anyone. I dont, I just want the Brewery to work as it should, and for Bugmans rules to be followed.

In addition to Bugman's rules, I will add this, Please use the Search Bar, extensively so, to find topics before posting a new thread.

A note on Threadomancy Policy. I will post Silashand's original ruling on this subject:

silashand, post: 182191 wrote
All,

I just wanted to post a note about the topic of threadomancy, i.e. digging up old threads, and the general policy as I am aware of it here at the Brewery. Basically, the mods/admins will in general lock older threads that someone posts to, but for whatever reason haven't had other posts in the recent past. It is preferable that members if they have something new to add to the topic to start a new thread instead. The reason for this is simple. Allowing the older ones to continually be resurrected is considerably frustrating to users who may have already made their comments, but not realize it until after they have been forced to read the old topic again because they thought there was something new to be added.

Why does the Brewery police threadomancy in the first place? In general because it is desired by the forum members. Bugman may comment himself on this if he likes, but in the time I've been here I've had many people complain when an old thread is resurrected. The reasons are always the ones I mentioned above. To date I have only ever had one member question the policy saying they didn't like it. It is for this reason that we maintain and promote the policy that threadomancy is frowned upon here at the Brewery. From my own experience, this policy is similar to many other Warhammer/Gaming sites on the net and as such should not be entirely new to members.

Why then keep the old threads in the first place? Well for starters the old threads often provide valuable information that members may want access to long after the topic has died. Threads that cover strategies, tactics, painting advice, etc. are all useful even if not referenced on a daily basis. Secondly, they provide a means of allowing new members to research and catch up on goings-on in the Brewery without having to repeat the same old questions over and over again that we have all answered many times before.

If that is the case and we don't want old threads resurrected, then why don't we lock them all after they reach a certain cutoff? The answer to that is time, specifically the time we mods and admins have to police / monitor the forums. All of us are volunteers and can spend only a limited amount of time here making sure things run smoothly. It is difficult enough at times to monitor the active threads to watch for potential flames, spam or other tasks that need taking care of. It is far easier (and within the capabilities of our limited spare time) to simply lock the few that do come up and post a note in them saying why.

What is the limit on how old a thread can be before it will be locked by the mods? To my knowledge there is no set timeframe of inactivity that all of us adhere to, though the general trend is if a thread has been inactive for 3 weeks or longer then it will usually be locked.

What is the best way to address a topic that has been inactive for a while? Before posting on an old topic, we recommend doing a search on the forums to see if it has been discussed before. If it has and there is a current discussion going on then use that thread if you have something new to add to the topic. If it is not a current thread then please create a new post. You might consider including a link to the old thread as a reference if you think it has information you think would help aid the discussion. If you can't find the topic anywhere then feel free to create a new post to discuss it as usual.

If for whatever reason you wish to see the policy changed, I would recommend PMing a mod or admin with your views. If enough people comment that they don't like it, perhaps the policy would change, I don't know. Likewise, if you have any comments on the above, please let us know. I just thought it might be best to post a note explaining things so everyone knows what to expect.

Cheers, Gary

PS. If any of the other mods/admins/Bugman wish to add their thoughts to this note please do. I'm obviously not the one in charge, but I thought this was something folks might be interested in for future reference.

This is how this will be followed, as Silashand states. However I will make one small change. instead of 3 weeks, it will be a month. So if a thread has remained inactive for one month, then if one should post in such a thread it will be locked.

Also in regards to the Stone and Steel Situation. Here is the Brewery’s official position on this matter:

silashand wrote
Stone and Steel is a licensed publication and distribution without approval from the IP holder is illegal. That a product is out of print matters not at all. The Brewery cannot and will not condone piracy either publicly or privately. Obviously I cannot stop people from doing what they want privately, but it is still illegal activity and as such is not permitted here.

Cheers, Gary

So any attempts to share this information are to be stopped. Any future discussion of these matters will result in Moderator/Administrator action.

Again I will repeat that I am not out to get anyone, and I actually like being known as the Moderator that everyone can come to if they have troubles or need help with something. I do not like being known as the Moderator that closes threads or enforces rules.

I don’t like seeming like a totalitarian Prison Warden, and that’s what I feel like every time I used my Moderator “abilities.”

It is my desire that the Brewery feel like a family, but all families have to have rules, and all families have parents to reinforce these rules. Think of the Admins as the Granparents, the true Elders and Rulers of the House, where the Moderators are the Moms and Dads who”control” the “kids” which are the “normal” members.

I am going to leave this thread open for questions and comments. I ask that you keep it on topic, and only ask or make comments pertaining to the rules and statements above.

Any spam, nonsense, or off topic comments will be deleted and if there are multiple attempts the thread will be locked.

If you feel the need, and wish to discuss matters privately I am always open for Private Messages (PM’s).

I hope everyone can forgive the harsh nature of this thread, but know that I only post it so that the newer members can be made aware of the rules and see that they follow them.

I strongly encourage, everyone, to check out the Rules and Regulation Threads and Postings found here:

http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/forum/2-rules-and-regulations/

And everyone have a pint on my tab!

Cheers!