Shipper Central Rules - PLEASE READ -Updated September 28, 2009

All of the Shipper Central rules have been combined into one post. Everyone should be able to find them easily.

Your Shipper Central Mods would liked to urge all posters to please read these rules and adhere by them when posting in the threads, as Official Warnings will be handed out if they are ignored.

First off: Whenever your post is edited by a moderator and they leave a comment as to why your post was edited, DO NOT go back and edit or delete what the moderator posts. This will be grounds for a warning and possible removal from the Shipper Central Forum.

SHIP NAMES/SONG THREAD LIST can be found HERE.

THREAD TITLES

The link to the thread title rules can be found here.

BEHAVIOR

~ Shipper Central is designed to be a FUN place for people to discuss their favorite FICTIONAL pairings. Shipping is NOT life or death - it's fun AND it's fiction. So, let's please not take things so seriously. If someone doesn't like your chosen pairing, SO WHAT? You do and that's all that should matter.

~ We expect EVERYONE to have RESPECT for the other posters in this forum and their ships. Treat other ships the way you want everyone to treat your ships.

~ To quote TBonz - "Insulting couples (characters) and/or real life actors: DON'T. If you don't like a ship and feel compelled to say why, do it dispassionately and with respect for those who might."

~It is not appropriate to talk about the personal lives of actors in the shipper threads. Brief mentions of the actors when it pertains to the ship is ok but anything else needs to go to the appropriate actor thread.

~ It is NEVER appropriate to flame or bash another poster or group of posters. Negative comments and snide remarks towards others will not be tolerated in this forum.

~ If someone flames you, DO NOT respond. Notify a moderator and walk away.

~ DO NOT bring arguments/problems from outside this board into the forum. No exceptions.

~ There are a lot of posters who ship more than one pairing. Please respect the right of your fellow posters to do this.

~ DO NOT push the 'notify moderator' button repeatedly - ONCE is enough. If a problem is more widespread than just one post, PM us about it. Abuse of the 'notify moderator' button may lead to the loss of that facility and, in some circumstances, to your own removal from the board.

~ Trolling will not be tolerated. Do not go into another thread merely to disparage the pairing shipped there. This includes going into a slash thread to make homophobic remarks or to state that one/both of the characters in question are not GAY. DO NOT DO THIS. It also includes going into other ship threads and saying the ship is stupid and so forth.

~ Discussion in each thread should be limited to the ship it pertains to. Brief, on topic mention of other ships is allowed (for example, if you are discussing a double date between two pairings), Otherwise, discussion of other ships is OFF TOPIC and should be avoided.

~ There is now threads for discussion of ALL ships - discussion of the merits of other ships should take place there. They are pinned at the top of the forum page.

~ If you know that you'll be uncomfortable or annoyed about characters in your favorite ship being shipped with other characters you might not like, DON'T GO AND READ THEIR SHIP THREADS. You only have yourself to blame if you end up upset. There's a very good reason why each ship has their own thread.

~ Slash Threads: If you are offended by slash, it is best to avoid those threads. DO NOT go into a slash thread and state that a character is NOT gay, or that slash is "sick" or "wrong".

SPAM

Due to the noticeable increase in SPAM in Shipper Central, it has become necessary to make the policy on spamming clearer and, to a certain degree, stricter.

~ Posts within Shipper Central must now contain a MINIMUM of 3 lines of Good posting.

~ Good posting is ON TOPIC, Discursive, and NOT CHATTY.

~ Good posting is NOT: complementing someone on their artwork, fanfiction, avatar/banner, discussing thread names, conversations about real life, countdowns to new episodes, etc.

~ Remarks regarding artwork, fanfiction, discussing thread names, countdowns to new episodes, and BRIEF allusions to real life MAY be included in posts but ONLY in ADDITION to the 3 line MINIMUM of good posting.

~ TalkCSI is a DISCUSSION BOARD, not a CHAT ROOM. If you wish to chat about real life, post in "real time", or even post chattier messages regarding your ship, please do so OFF the board using a medium such as MSN, AIM, YAHOO, or a chat room, or make use of the PM system here.

~ Mass posting (ie: A thread posting huge amounts in a short period of time) - Please DO NOT do this. It is unfair for your fellow posters to come back online to a huge number of posts - It may discourage them from either reading through the thread or contributing to the discussion themselves (we have this first hand from the many posters who have pm'd mods with complaints of feeling shut out of their own thread due to the high volume of posting.)

~ Let's keep the threads on topic. Discussion should center around the ship to which each thread is dedicated. General discussions regarding the series, episodes, and spoilers which do not directly involve your ship should take place over in the discussion forums for each series.

ADULT CONTENT

~ As per the board rules, linking to adult content is NOT permitted. In other words, you can't link to a fanfic, fan made videos, or images rated above PG-13. Ratings above PG-13 include NC-17, FRAO, R, M, MA, and FRM.

~ Also, please keep on-topic discussion rated PG-13 or below. In other words, don't embellish posts with graphic sexual or violent content.

SPOILERS

~ If you wish to post a spoiler or discuss a spoiler for an upcoming episode or season that pertains to your ship, please use the nifty little spoiler code that can be found when you go advanced. Keep in mind that once an episode has aired in the US that they are not considered spoilers anymore and therefore, the code in unnecessary.

STARTING NEW THREADS

~ There have been a lot of duplicate threads. Before you start a new thread, please check in "The Ship Name List/Song Thread List" thread pinned at the top of the forum.

~ You can start a thread to ship any character on CSI, CSI:Miami, or CSI:NY with another character on CSI, CSI:Miami, or CSI:NY. In other words, please don't start a thread for Danny Messer and some character from LOST. This is a crowded forum, so let's keep it for the CSI programs only.

~ Don't start a thread to ship characters with OC's (original characters/fan-created) or inantimate objects. The former should be written as a fanfic and placed in the fanfiction forums. The latter is just in poor taste.

STARTING NEW SONG THREADS

~ You can start a song thread for any ship on CSI, CSI:Miami, and/or CSI:NY. Please check the Ship Name List/Song Thread List thread pinned at the top of the forum before you open a new song thread.

~ You are limited to two posts in each song thread per day and only one song per post. If there is more than one song per post, the post will be edited to remove each song after the first one.

~ When posting a song, please do not use all CAPS or all bold letters as it can be a bit hard to read. It is ok for the title to be in bold and/or underlined and the lyrics to be in italics, if you wish to do so.

~ Please make sure that when you post a song that you also say why you are posting the song (how it relates to your ship, why you like it for your ship, etc), instead of just posting lyrics.


FAN VIDEOS AND DOWNLOADS - UPDATED!

~ You may not link to any downloadable copyrighted material such as video clips of the episodes or interviews unless it is from a CBS approved site like YouTube and from CBS itself.

~ Promos are welcome to be posted in shipper threads but ONLY if it relates to your ship. If not, it should be posted in the spoiler threads for each series.

~ Also, no discussion of downloading episodes or tape trading will be permitted on the board.

~ You can, however, link to fan-made videos from sites such as YouTube but please make sure they are posted in the Fan Made Videoes - Shipper Central Style thread pinned at the top of the forum. Please keep all links in this thread instead of the individual shipper threads.

SIGNATURE BANNERS/TEXT AND AVATARS

~ According to the rules regarding banners and text, a banner can be no bigger than 220x75. For example, this banner by LivingEnd is 220x75:



~ Of course your banner can certainly be smaller. Also, you can have EITHER a banner OR text, but not both. In other words, of you have a banner like the one pictured above, you cannot also have a favorite quote from the show, song lyrics, or the link to your website. You have to choose one or the other. If you want to credit someone for making your banner/icon (which you should), do so on your profile page.

According to the rules regarding avatars, they must be no larger than 140x140. All avatars must be GIF, JPG, or PNG images. JPG and PNG images may be no larger than 70kb. This in an example of an avatar (thank you CSI_Kat) 140x140:



~Of course, your avatar can certainly be smaller but you need to have been a member of this board for at least two weeks AND have 50 posts before you can have an avatar.

POSTING IMAGES

~ According to the board rules, you should not post any more than 50-60kb worth of photos per post.

~ As a courtesy to others, please try to keep your images 400x400 pixels or smaller, so that they do not stretch the screen and are easier on dial-up users. If the image you want is larger, please post a link to it instead.

~ Also, please do not hotlink because it uses up valuable bandwidth of other users.


Looks like that just about does it. I know it's a lot to read but it will be pinned at the top of the forum for easy access.