Rules & Guidelines

Rules that must be followed on Poultryland.

Rules & Guidelines
1. DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. This is probably the most important rule. If someone is bullying or harassing you, being rude or generally offensive, IGNORE THEM. Do not engage them in any way, do not attempt to defend yourself (or others) - you do not need defending. Responding to them only escalates the situation and makes more work for your lovely moderators to clean up. Remember this phrase: Flag and Move On. Flag the post/message and move on. Repeat offenders will be given a timeout (24 hour suspension) to cool off.

2. If you can't think of something nice to say, don't say anything at all. Bullying/harassment will not be tolerated under any circumstances. I don't care who you are or how important you think you are, you are not more important than any other player. All players have equal right to peaceful enjoyment of the game. Depending on the severity of the offence, players deemed to be guilty of bullying or harassing other players will be suspended or banned.

3. You do not own any breed (even if you are the breed founder), colour, pattern, naming convention or combination thereof All birds you create belong to Poultry Land. Breed certificates entitle you to create a breed of your own design & name, it does not entitle you to restrict how others use your breed. You may choose to specialise in birds of a particular type but so may anyone else. Trying to control how any other player enjoys the game will be suspended for 3 days, repeat offenders will be banned

4. If you wish to prefix your birds' names with a ranch brand, please register your brand using the facility provided to prevent stepping on the toes of other breeders. Players attempting to impersonate another breeder by using their prefix in their birds' names will have a ranch brand set by the moderators and their bird names changed. A suspension may be issued at the moderator's discretion.

5. Keep it Clean While there is no outright ban on "adult" language, excessive use of offensive language or offensive language directed at another player will result in a suspension, at the moderator's discretion. Offensive language in usernames, bird names, breed names and ranch brands is not permitted. Offenders will have the relevant names changed to something of the moderator's choosing and may result in a suspension or ban depending on the severity of the offence. Posts of an inappropriate nature will be deleted. If you're unsure if what you want to post is appropriate, it probably isn't. As a good rule of thumb - post like your grandma is watching ;)

6. Be respectful of the opinions of others While no subject is off-limits, if you disagree with another player's opinion or belief and cannot do so in a mature, respectful way, do not join the discussion. Everyone has a right to their own opinions and beliefs. Everyone has a right to express those opinions so long as they don't infringe on the rights of other players. Poultry Land will not tolerate attacks on any person's "Race", Gender (or Gender Identity), Sexuality, Income/Class, Religion(or lack thereof), Nationality, Size or Age.

7. Being "in character" does not excuse you from following the above rules Many players enjoy roleplaying on the forum, there is a dedicated board set up for it but the normal rules still apply. If you can't play nice, don't play. While some leeway is given and the RP forum is not heavily monitored, the normal rules still apply, playing a character is not an excuse to bully or harrass other players.

8. Do not interrupt the narrative flow of an RP thread If you have questions, please start a new thread and prefix the subject with [OOC] or add your question to another OOC thread for the RP thread you have a question about.

9. If it seems to good to be true, its probably a bug There are no tricks to the game, if you think you've found one, it is probably a bug. Taking advantage of bugs is known as exploiting and is not permitted. If you find a bug (of any kind), report it in the bugs forum. If it is a bug that could give an unscrupulous player an advantage, you may report the issue directly to me rather than post publicly about it. If you are unsure if something is a bug or not, please feel free to contact me and I will let you know as soon as possible.

10. Accounts are limited to 1 per person If you're not happy with your account for some reason and want to start again, please contact me to discuss your options. Depending on your circumstances is may be possible to reset your account, if not I will retire your current account, allowing you to create a new one. Players creating multiple accounts without NancyJ's approval will have the account(s) of her choosing.