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Terms of Service
The One Ring is a "family friendly" site. We welcome people of all ages to our forums. Because of this, keep posts "clean". Do not engage in sexual innuendo, excessively crude talk, violent or threatening talk, foul language, or personal attacks. Posts containing any of the above may be removed or edited without notification. Threads which degenerate into disruptive battles, "dirty" talk, or which in any other way violate a "family friendly" atmosphere may be removed.
We encourage enthusiastic and spirited discussion. Disagreements can make for good discussion. People are allowed to disagree and state opinions strongly. However, hostile posts, or a pattern of hostile posts, which disrupt the level of conversation on a thread may also be edited or removed, and action may be taken against offending posters.
If another poster violates TOS, it is better to ignore the post and/or notify a moderator. Debating with a hostile poster about their behavior only causes thread degeneration. Stick to the topic of the thread, rather than the personalities involved. Often "removing the audience" causes an offending poster to stop hostile tactics, as they no longer bring attention. Another person's poor behavior is not an excuse to misbehave.
We are a site dedicated to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Let's make sure our posts and discussions are of a level he would have appreciated.
Details:
Foul Language: Orcish language is not welcome at The One Ring. Strong language will be removed, and a continued pattern of foul language may result in the poster being barred from the forums. Masked but recognizable foul or crude language, (such as replacing a letter with an * or changing a letter), is still considered a violation of Terms of Service.
Attack: "Flaming" or personal attacks are not permitted on The One Ring. Disagreement is not the same as attack. We are people of varied opinions, and will naturally disagree at times. A certain amount of "thick skin" is necessary in any internet forum. Do not take a strong statement of opinion as an attack. But attacks on another poster (as opposed to their argument) violate these Terms of Service. A poster who engages in such personal attacks may be banned from the forums. Personal attack may be defined as any behavior designed to make a poster feel unwelcome on the forum. This would include, for example, racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual slurs, or scorn directed at another poster, or attempts to drive another poster off the message board. Threads with the purpose of criticising or insulting another poster will be removed.
Board Disruption: Board disruption can take a variety of forms. Continual disruption of a thread due to personal bickering, hostility, spam, etc, may result in the thread being locked, removed, or the posters involved being banned from the forum for a period of time.
Violence or threats: These are absolutely not tolerated. Even suggested violence in jest, against board members or any other real person, public or private, will be removed.
Multiple User Identities: The use of alternate multiple user identities (aka usernames) with the intent to deceive other members of the forum is not permitted. Users with multiple usernames must publicly disclose their ownership. Multiple usernames for role play "characters" in our Role Playing forums is permitted insofar as the original ownership is also publically disclosed. We reserve the right to lock, ban, or delete any multiple usernames registered to the same person if we determine said usernames are deceptive or acting maliciously.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Illegal Substances: The Staff of The One Ring has a zero tolerance policy on posts promoting the use of illegal substances and underage use of tobacco or alcohol. However, posts containing information or references to responsible alcohol consumption or tobacco usage in appropriate settings by persons of legal age are permitted.
Links: Any link found to lead to a site that does not hold to the same family friendly standards as The One Ring will be subject to edit or deletion. Members posting such material may be subject to a warn or other measures.
Personal information about our members: The staff of The One Ring care deeply about our members and are interested in providing a safe environment in which to post. There is no perfect method of preventing access to predators without restricting access to everyone. It is unwise for persons of any age to give out personal information about themselves on a public messageboard. Adults may choose where and how many personal details they wish to post. However, persons under the age of 18 may not post their ages, specific locations(nothing more specific than state or province) or legal names. Please refrain from asking others their age or specific location. Persons who appear to be inappropriately curious about our member's personal information may be subject to warning or ultimately user banning. If the staff of The One Ring has reason to believe an individual is attempting to gain improper information about another person for criminal purposes he/she will be reported to the proper authorities.
Inactive Email Addresses: Each user must have a working email address. If it is found that a user has registered under a false email address, The One Ring may cancel that user's account without prior notice or warning. It is the user's responsibility to maintain a current and active email address. Email addresses can be update by going to "My Info" in the community section.
Advertising and sales are only permitted in designated forums. No "spam", please.
Please note that intentional disregard and/or willful violation of these terms can and will increase the severity of the administration's response, and may be grounds for permanent removal from the messageboard.
The The One Ring staff will determine when a poster has violated TOS and what actions, if any, shall be taken.
Premiere Membership
Premiere memberships are non-transferable and non-refundable. A user with a premiere membership who has been banned forfeits any use of that membership and may not transfer it to another user. A banned user may apply for reinstatement and thus regain his/her premiere membership.
Underage Memberships
No person under the age of 13 may register or participate at The One Ring without express written permission of a parent or legal guardian on file in our offices. A permission form is available for download here (requires Acrobat Reader) and must be mailed to our offices at:
The One Ring
901 S. Magnolia Ave
Monrovia, CA 91016
Any member found to be under 13 years of age without this permission form on file will have their membership revoked and privileges suspended until we either receive the form from the authorized person(s) or the member reaches the specified age.
Plagiarism and Intellectual Property
The staff of The One Ring encourages respect for the work of others. Inappropriate use of another person's intellectual property (this includes all forms of media and written materials) may result in the removal of the item and discipline of the member up to and including revocation of their posting privileges. This rule applies to anything posted on the Message Boards or in the News section and includes material posted in Member's signatures. Before submitting any item for publication (including signature pictures) please either obtain the owner's written permission or ensure that the image is not copyrighted. If you are the owner of material that has been used on this site without your permission please contact us at admins@tolkienonline.com.