FORUM RULES

[Yellowrose]

Forum Rules

WELCOME TO ZOO ADMIN

Thank you for joining us here at Zoo Admin. In order for you and other members to make the most of the forum and enjoy your visits, please take the time to become familiar with the Terms of Service, the Forum Rules and Frequently Asked Questions compiled below.


1. Terms Of Service
2. Age Requirement
3. Responsible Posting
4. How to Post Questions about Zoo Tycoon
5. Posting Non Zoo Tycoon Topics
6. Forum Search Function
7. Forum Help Function
8. Image and Attachment Posting
9. Signatures & Avatars
10. Helping Moderators
11. Current Projects Thread
12. Still Need Help?
13. ZA Policy on ZT websites that flame and allow flaming
14. Member Accounts
15. Download Submissions
16. Harassment

1. Zoo Admin Network Terms of Service

Link: Guidelines/TOS
Please read the above link. It covers most of the rules that if broken could result in a warning or immediate banning from the forum.

2. Age Requirement

Zoo Admin has a minimum age requirement of 13 years of age. However we do have some members under the age of 13. With Parental permission members under the age requirement of 13 will be permitted to be an active member after a Forums Administrator has recieved a parental permission email from the underage members parent with a parents email account.

Parental mails can be sent to admin@zooadmin.org or the COPPA form can be filled out by a parent at the time of registration.

3. Responsible Posting

As for all forums you agree to the Terms Of Service when you join. There are also other forum rules such as for images and signatures as listed above. Should you not understand or have a question about any of these rules, please PM a Moderator/Administrator or ask your question in site discussion.

When posting, remember you should be posting to either ask for information or provide information for others benefits. Posting one word answers "cool" "great" "awesome", etc is not useful and is considered spamming the forum. Before posting ask yourself if you are adding value to the thread. If the answer is no then do not post. Double posting is not permitted on these forums.

Stories are not permitted to be posted here at ZA as they can be quite long and our staff have a lot of reading to do with just regular posting, unless in proper topics for this purpose and limited to a paragraph not exceeding 25 lines of regular sized text.

Game threads will be posted by an admin or moderator after discussion by staff of suggested topics, and will be placed in the appropriate thread.

Double Posting

Double Posting is where you make more than 1 post one right after the other within a few minutes of each other. Unless there is another members post after yours there should be a minimum of 1 hour between your posts if you are the only person posting. This rule does not apply to the Show & Tell Topic when you are making posts that include screenshots of your zoos.

Editing Your Posts

There is a Modify button in your post. You can change or add to your posts by clicking on the modify button, making your changes and then pressing Save. Please edit your post rather than making another post to add another point, correct your statement, or to try to increase post count. Multiple Posting(Double Posting) may result in a warning being issued.

Do not edit out Mod Notice Warnings this will result in your own warning level being raised and you put on Mod preview.

Reporting a Post

The Report A Post button is for reporting an inappropriate post NOT for asking a Moderator or Administrator a game related question or to show a post to another member. Please use caution when using the buttons at the bottom of your posts

4. How to post questions about Zoo Tycoon

First thing is to find out whether your question has already been answered in a thread. There is a Search function at the top of each forum you can use to find similar questions and their answers.
The Zoo Tycoon section is clearly marked with topics such as Strategies, Wishlist etc. Read all the threads in the appropriate topics and see if you can find your answer there.

If you cannot find a suitable answer and wish to ask you may start a new thread. When naming your thread it is a good idea to word the topic of your questions in the subject. For example: Putting your subject as "Help please" is bad form when you could put "Trouble with Zookeepers".
This also helps others looking for similar answers to find the relevant threads easier.
Always supply as much information about your problem, or question as you can. For example- just posting "My Zookeepers don't work" is not going to get you very much help. Posting how many zookeepers you have, what tactics you already tried etc will put everyone in a better position to help you.
Some forum sections have pinned rules. Also please read these before posting.

5. Posting Non Zoo-Tycoon topics

There are sections for this in the Zoo Admin Extras area. General Discussion, Random Insanity and Computer Games. General Discussion being for topics other than Zoo Tycoon you would like to discuss with members such as Current Events. There are special pinned threads for saying Hi if you are new, or letting everyone know you will be away and also for birthdays so please do not start new threads for that. These can be found in the member Goddies section of the forums. Again, read the forum to make sure there is not already a thread for the topic you want to discuss.
Random Insanity is for games. Computer Games is to discuss specific computer games. There are pinned rules in this section, please read before posting.

6. Forum Search Function

Please make yourself familiar with the forum search function. Quite often you will find the information you are looking for has already been posted.

The Search bar is located in the upper right hand corner of every page; it appears as a text bar with a Magnifying glass next to it. You can either type directly into this text box and hit enter, or you can click the Magnifying class for an advanced search option. You will see the different parameters you can set for your search, for example: to search for information on "guest happiness" - type guest happiness in the Search Keywords box, select All Forums or the specific forum you wish to search. Then select the Search Posts from box to cover new or older posts. For searching the whole forum it is best to set this to Search all posts from Today and the older box to cover everything.
There are also further instructions on how to use the Search function in the Help section also in the top right hand corner of the forum main page.

7. Forum Help Function

In the top right hand corner of the forums' main page there is a Help function you can click on for assistance of many of the forum features.

8. Image and Attachment Posting

You may add an image to a post as long as it complies to the rules below.

The picture when using the IMG tags must not be larger than 450x450 pixels. This is to cater for people with lower resolutions and to avoid members having to scroll horizontally to read the post, which is against the TOS. An attachment must not be larger than 100kb in filesize.

You can use the image tags to link an image from another website.
eg: [*IMG]http*/theURLaddress.jpg[/IMG] This will paste the image in your post.
Please do not include the asterisks

Or you can use the URL tags
eg: [*URL=http*/theURLaddress]Click Here[/URL] to open a new window to view the image.
There is no size limit for using the URL tags linking to another website. Please do not include the asterisks. We recommend Photobucket for your file hosting needs. Registration for this site is free. We do ask that you try to keep your images to a maximum of 800x600 so our dialup members can also enjoy your images.

You may also use Zoo Admins attachment feature. This feature is restricted by file-size. There is a file attachment box under your post, just click Additional Options to make the extra functions visable then use the Browse window to locate the file on your hard drive and then Submit The picture will then be added to your post providing it is within the specified file limit as indicated..- maximum 100kb file size

Other Files
you may add other file types to your post if relevant . Allowed file types are .txt, .doc and .xls . This feature is restricted by file-size. Follow the same procedure as for attaching an image. Anything that you put in a .txt, .doc, or .xls file should still conform to the standards of responsible posting; if you wouldn't say it on the forums, don't say it in here.

Failure to comply with the image/file posting rules will result in the immediate removal of your images/files and a warning. Or the removal of the attachment privilege.

9. Signatures & Avatars


Signatures
Signatures may be no longer than 6 standard lines, this includes any breaks/spaces between text. A standard line is the height of normal text. Making larger text than standard will count your line as 2 or more. A standard line is a font size of 10 pts.

Images are not allowed in signatures at Zoo Admin. This includes banners, smileys or other images. Exceptions - Staff, contest winners & Members of the Month applied by the Site Administrators or other staff.

Avatars
Your avatar must be no bigger than 100 X 100 pixels in size. Uploaded avatars from your computer must be no larger than 40 KB in file size.
The following file types are allowed: gif .jpeg .jpg

How to add a signature
Click on Profile, and on the left hand side, select "Forum Profile Information" from the Modify Profile Menu. Your signature is at the bottom. Use the text box provided to type in your signature. Hit the "Change Profile" in the bottom right hand corner to confirm the changes.

How to add an Avatar
Click on Profile, and on the left hand side, select "Forum Profile Information" from the Modify Profile Menu. At the top, you can choose an avatar from our gallery or upload your own, as long as it is 100x100 pixels or under 40kb. Hit the "Change Profile" in the bottom right hand corner to confirm the changes.

Failure to comply with above rules will result in your signature or avatar being removed and a warning.

10. Helping Moderators

Whilst we appreciate that some of you like to help us with the forum, there are a few issues that need to be addressed.

Do not make a post just to tell another member not to double post. We will decide what is an inappropriate double post and advise the person if necessary. (It does not make sense just to post to tell someone else not to double post).

Do not make a separate post just to inform another member that they are in the wrong forum, or a topic should be moved or locked. We do not need you adding "mod you can close this". We read the forums everyday and it is our job to notice these things.

If a thread needs urgent attention please PM a Moderator and we will attend to it as soon as possible. Do not take forum problems into your own hands.

It would be appreciated if you can help us by following these guidelines, we notice sometimes a thread goes on for half a page whilst everyone adds there 2 cents about where it should be and if it should be locked etc. This is unnecessarily clogging up the forums.

11. Current Projects Thread

Current Projects forum is there for everyone to inform others what animals/objects/packs they are working on and to get feedback on their projects. Due to many members abusing this forum with threads of projects they never intended to finish or just to advertise their site we have to enforce some rules.

Please only post projects, when you have the skills and ability to finish it. If you can't make things yourself, DO NOT start packs or projects-you are not going to be able to finish. These packs need experienced designers to lead them- if that isn't you don't start one. If you can't make anything but want a pack, post your ideas in wishlist or put your idea in the request topics found at the top of the current projects area.

If you are advertising that your newly created project/download is available at your own site- it belongs in the ZT Site Advertisement thread.

Do not post your Zoo making projects in Current Projects. There is a Show and Tell forum section for this purpose.

Anyone that starts threads about projects when they continually do not complete others they have started will have their post closed. If you have not started it then it is NOT a current project. If you want to share ideas or get feedback on a potential project try the wishlist forum. DO NOT start "do you like this idea?" threads in current projects. If any are made they will be CLOSED.

Each thread in the forum is subject to be closed when the project no longer seems to be moving forward on a sufficient time-line. The time frame for each project will be determined by a moderator.

Anybody spamming continually in these threads with comments like "cool", "looks great" or continually breaking the above rules will receive a warning.

Additionally, please do NOT make requests to designers in their Current Projects threads unless the designer has stated that it is okay. This can cause designers to become annoyed, upset, or overwhelmed and we certainly do not want that.

12. Still Need Help?

If any of the above is unclear and you still have questions, you can visit the Site Discussion forum to ask or check if your question has been addressed there, or at anytime you can PM a Moderator/Administrator for assistance.

13. Flaming

What is flaming ?
Flaming is making a post to say something about another member or site that is not nice, Examples of this are saying the site is junky or this person does ugly work. These are just mild examples but this sort of thing is unacceptable. When posting where you want to say something about someone or another site try to think of how you would like to be spoke about and post accordingly. Manners and common courtesy apply even to Internet discussions.

ZA Policy on ZT websites that flame and allow flaming
Zoo Admin promotes a family oriented and friendly Zoo Tycoon community. Therefore the following now applies:

Zoo Admin will not support websites or site members that openly flame other Zoo Tycoon websites, their staff or their members. Any advertising or reference to those sites may be removed from the site at the staffs discretion.

Zoo Admin will no longer support authors who openly flame other Zoo Tycoon websites. All Zoo Tycoon Animals, Objects, Packs, Utilities and Hacks from those authors will be removed from our site. We also will no longer be providing technical support for their works.
Flaming will carry consequences, including but not limited to immediate banning from Zoo Admin of your user name and IP address.

14. Member Accounts


Registered Members are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or administrators of that site. Any problems with the account are your responsibility, as are any actions taken by Zoo Admin staff as a result.

Zoo Admin members are to have only one member account to be used only by that member.

If there are other relatives who wish to visit and take part in the forums they must have their own account and if under the age of 13 must provide an email from a parental email account with parental permission to a site administrator or their accounts will be suspended.

Any member who makes a duplicate account to avoid a suspension, mod preview or issued warnings will have the new account as well as any existing accounts permently suspended and banned form using the forums. A permanent ban includes banning of the members IP (Internet Service Provider) Address. If you have forgotten the email used at registration or forgotten your password you can send and email to the administartors or webmasters to have your password reset. Please do not reregister.

15. Download Submissions


Only validated members of Zoo Admin can submit a file to the downloads database.

All Files submitted to the database are first reviewed and tested by an admin before they are permitted to be downloaded by the members and guests of Zoo Admin. The Admins will do their best to review and test a file and make it available for download within 7 days of submission.

A submitted file must be in a zip file and be accompanied by a screenshot of 400x300 pixels in image size. For more in depth rules on submitting Zoo Tycoon 2 files to Zoo Admin, please refer to the ZT2 Downloads Submissions Rules & FAQ a faq for Zoo Tycoon 1 submissions will be posted shortly.

Any file submitted that does not have a screenshot may be refused. A file containing errors or needing error fixes my also be refused. Not all submitters will be notified if a file is refused. If an announcement is not previously posted and your file has not been made available within 7 days then it was refused. A file will not be made available for download if it has errors or bugs.

All files submitted must be your own creation. If a file contains elements created by another person, you must have the original creators permission to use their work. Credit must be given to that person for their part in the creation of the file. Proof of permission must be made available to a site administrator upon request for verification.

If it is discovered that you have submitted a file and claimed it as your own creation when it in fact has been created by another person your account will be banned from use and you will no longer be permitted to access the site. This is stealing.
Recent submissions have given us no choice but to now take a zero tolerance approach to members claiming another persons work as their own and submitting it to the database.

Link Posting
Posting a link to an untested submitted file is not permitted. This is a safety measure put in place to protect our members and guests from a faulty file. When the file has been tested and approved by a staff member a new post page will be made available in the Latest Downloads section of the board with a link to the filepage. Members posting links to untested files may have the following consequences applied to their membership (including but not limited to) 1) have their submission privileges removed, 2) member account suspended or 3) may result in a complete ban from the site - no access. Links ARE allowed to other community fansites, we just ask that direct links to files not be put on our forums.

Hosting Zoo Admin Files
Please be aware that even if you do not claim that a file is yours or that you have created it, you still do not have the rights to take any download from this site and host it on your own site. Designers give us the permission to host the file, and trust us in keeping their files safe from theft, etc. You must have the creator's permission to host the file somewhere besides here.


16. Harassment

Per Zoo Admin Network Terms of Service please note:

Harassment/Stalking/Privacy
Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of an creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the boards, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is strictly prohibited. Posting private information without permission is also prohibited. Requesting someone's age is also prohibbited, unless it's done by the board administration/staff.



Please note that at Zoo Admin this extends (but is by no means limited) to our creators. These members take personal time to make new and exciting things that you can add into your games. They do this without compensation (read: for free), and want you to enjoy their works. A lot of time and effort is put into this. Effective immediately, anyone harassing a creator will be subject to action by the board staff up to and including being banned. This includes (but is not limited to) comments made by PM, in forum post, and via email. Any type of comments such as "Hurry up already", "When is it coming out?", "Is it done yet?" will be subject to this policy.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these rules please PM an Administrator or Moderator for help.

These rules are subject to change and revision without notice.

Please check back every now and then to be sure you keep up to date with the rules of this Forum.