SF-FANDOM strives to provide a flame-free, spam-free environment for discussion of science fiction, fantasy, history, mythology, and such other subjects as we may occasionally include. We do not currently require registration to browse our forums, however registration is required to post messages. New messages and/or accounts may be placed on a delayed moderation at our discretion. We reserve the right to change our registration and pre-moderation policy at any time.

Except where noted, we do not preview or approve content for posting. We therefore accept no liability for whatever content is posted to our forums, although we reserve the right to remove any content that we deem to be inappropriate. All content is subject to administrative review upon our receipt of complaints. We may also, at our discretion, modify or remove content without prior notice. Your participation in our forums, either registered or unregistered, grants to us all rights and privileges to modify or delete your content in accordance with the guidelines set forth here and in our privacy policy. Your participation also grants to us immunity from all litigation for comments made by others that you deem to be damaging, misleading, or in any way defamatory.

Forum administrators and moderators are volunteers. Unless otherwise stated, administrators and moderators are not employees or agents of Xenite.Org and SF-FANDOM, their owner or owners, or any associated entities. Volunteers have limited rights and privileges and do not set SF-FANDOM administrative policy. As part of their normal functions, forum moderators may, at their discretion: intervene in topics to ensure that discussion communities do not depart from our policies and guidelines; and/or seek second opinions from other SF-FANDOM forum administrators and moderators; and/or intervene in forums without assigned moderators, or whose assigned moderators are not available. By participating in our forums you agree to accept the decisions of our moderators and administrators regarding the content you post.

In general, the following policies are enforced on SF-FANDOM forums. Some private forums may exclude all or part of these policies, except where the Xenite.Org network is contractually bound to observe policies set by its Web-hosting provider(s), subject to applcable laws and statutes.

The SF-FANDOM forums are used by many people. Nonetheless, they are privately owned and operated forums. You have been extended a revocable privilege of participation. Do not assume that your freedom of speech, as protected under the law, allows you to barge into anyone's private forum and say whatever you please in any manner you deem appropriate. You are OUR guests and you agree to abide by OUR rules and judgment. To learn more about what your actual rights are under U.S. law, we recommend you search for reputable resources on constitutional law on the Internet.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution only provides you with a limited guarantee:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

SF-FANDOM, being a privately operated domain, does not receive funding from the United States government and does not act in any capacity as a law-making body or arm of the Congress. We are, therefore, under no obligation to allow you to post whatever you wish in our forums. Your actions, if they are deemed abusive, may be prosecuted under various laws, including but not necessarily limited to invasion of privacy, at our discretion.

Your privacy is of paramount concern to us. We will not disclose your private information to third parties or use it for promotional purposes. If you register with our forums, you will have certain options available to you which can help ensure your privacy. However, though we take what we feel are reasonable precautions against unauthorized access to our database, your registration in our forums grants to us immunity from all prosecution for violation of your rights in the event that an unauthorized access occurs.

We may, at our discretion, permit registered members to use signatures in their messages, custom avatars, custom titles, or other small boons. Such privileges are revocable and are subject to our priorities. The suspension of these privileges should not be deemed a consequence of abuse, as we may have other administrative reasons for taking such actions.

We encourage and appreciate a diversity of opinion. We also understand that two parties in any dispute may both be presenting valid if incomplete sets of facts. Arguments and disagreements are permitted in our forums provided they do not descend into exchanges of personal recriminations or subtle attacks and provocations.

It is acceptable to be blunt and direct, as when you say, "You're wrong", "That is not so", "There is contrary evidence", "Your information is incomplete", "I disagree", "I don't see it that way", etc.

It is not acceptable to disagree by saying things like: "You always think you're right".

It always helps when you are expressing your opinion to make it clear by saying things like: "in my opinion", "I believe", "I think", "I conclude", etc. While it may be obvious to you that you are only expressing an opinion, it may not be so obvious to others. They may respond by attempting to undermine your remarks with "proofs" that you are only expressing an opinion. You can help keep a discussion going by clearly admitting you are stating an opinion or disagreeing with the other person.

Although it is not necessary to support every statement of fact with a link or citation of some sort, you will certainly strike people as being more credible if you do so. You stand a better chance of convincing others to accept your point of view if you provide complete and well-thought-out arguments.

Simply offering sweeping generalizations or statements of fact often invites a contrary reply which may be detailed and filled with citations.

Do not be intimidated by the other person. Try not to feel defensive or put upon. If you think the other person has crossed the line, REPORT THEIR MESSAGE TO A MODERATOR. DO NOT RESPOND to provocations. DO NOT FOLLOWUP to abusive messages. DO NOT FAN FLAME WARS.

Certain types of posts are prohibited. The following definitions are provided for your convenience, but we reserve judgment in all matters to ourselves. All decisions by moderators, super-moderators, or forum administrators may be appealed to the senior administrators. Appeals decisions are final.

These forums may not be used to present personal complaints about individuals, nor for belittling other people, spreading poison pen campaigns, rallying the masses against your worst enemies, or inciting general warfare among otherwise calm and peaceful people. A poison pen campaign is any concerted effort by one or more individuals to persuade one or more other people to shun, abuse, harass, intimidate, or otherwise mistreat any third party or third parties. The organization of protests against corporate policies which affect the fan community in general may be allowed through the promotion of online petitions and protest pages. Protests may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

We regard flaming to include the use of insulting or derogatory language to refer directly or indirectly to any other individual (including celebrities, particularly those to whom we have dedicated forums), either participating in this forum or not. Name-calling, implying the unfitness or inferior quality of another person, maligning another person's reputation, and singling someone out for abusive and harassing comments, complaints, or allegations are not permitted.

Poison pen campaigns are strictly forbidden. Attacking the character of another individual is flaming. Character attacks take many forms. We generally look to see if remarks are made about the other person or what the person has written. Any message which obviously seeks to discredit an individual or group of individuals by any means other than direct citation and refutation of arguments will most likely be deemed a personal attack or poison pen message.

Any attempt to harass people is unacceptable. If you cannot disagree without attacking the other person, find another discussion to participate in. Or go somewhere else. Attempts to provoke angry or emotional outbursts will be deemed at harassment.

In general, if you say or imply anything bad about another person, we will probably regard your comments to be inflammatory. You may be asked not to engage in such behavior again. Your comments may be edited or deleted. You may be banned (either temporarily or permanently). You may be reported to your Internet Service Provider for abuse of their acceptable use policy. And we reserve the right to bring suit against habitual, malicious people who repeatedly abuse our policies, forums, and/or communities.

The moderation staff will strive to refrain discussing individual behavior in the open forums. Where we deem it necessary to do so, such comments are exempted from this policy, but concerns may be addressed to the administrators.

We define spamming to be posting the same or similar message repeatedly, either in the same forum or across multiple forums. The content of the message is irrelevant. On rare occasions, we may allow a regular participant in our communities, who in our judgment has a clear record of abiding by our guidelines, to post several announcements. It is better to ask a moderator in advance than to simply post the same thing over and over again. Multiple posts are subject to immediate removal without appeal.

We define soliciting to be any of several behaviors, including posting commercial announcements, off-topic announcements, links containing affiliate codes for merchandise on e-commerce sites, requests for private information, etc. Under no circumstances will we permit messages that request ages or contact information from minors (people under the age of 18) to remain in our forums. We may, at our discretion, report requests for such information to police agencies if we feel there is sufficient cause to be concerned. Under no circumstances will any of our moderators or administrators ask anyone to post their age or contact information in our forums. Such information is to be provided on a voluntary basis and should be confined to personal profiles.

Messages requesting money, or messages requesting reposting to other forums, will be removed immediately. Any messages even remotely resembling a pyramid or ponzi scheme, where people send money to a small group of people on a list and then add their own names to the list, are strictly forbidden in our forums.

From time to time, members of our communities may post information about online petitions. As our forums are intended primarily for discussion, our moderators may delete petition announcements or impose restrictions.

One-time Web site announcements, especially from new members who have never posted before, are forbidden. Authors and/or artists and/or agents and/or publicists and/or publishers seeking to promote their works or their clients' works may not initiate new discussion about those works. If a forum has been specifically created for an author, publisher, television show, movie franchise, or other entertainment entity with a clear fandom, it is understood that the producers, writers, editors, actors, or other people associated with the entertainment topic may browse and choose to participate in our forums. Their participation is generally welcome and not considered to be a violation of the self-promotion policy.

Reposting copyrighted material in its entirety without permission from the copyright owner is not acceptable. If you wish to repost material such as poems or news articles, please follow the "fair use" doctrine outlined under various copyright laws. Generally speaking, "fair use" requires that less than 25% of copyrighted material be used without seeking permission. If you wish to share an interesting news article from another Web site, it is best to post the first few paragraphs and then provide a link to where the entire article may be read. Original creative material such as stories, poems, songs, images, etc. should be linked to if it is provided on the Web. Please indicate you have permission to repost material if you did indeed get permission. Falsely indicating you have permission will be considered an abuse and violation of this policy.

We may from time to time, at our discretion, forbid or restrict the discussion of selected topics. Such bans or restrictions are intended to help maintain the focus of our communities, as well as the sense of community we have fostered here. Forbidden discussion topics will not necessarily be listed here. It may prove that you will only learn a topic is forbidden through after-the-fact moderation.

We do not permit community members to argue with moderators in the forums. All of our moderators and administrators may be contacted by email. Messages which question or disagree with administrative actions are subject to editing and/or removal. It is our desire to see the forums used for discussing the topics they are devoted to. Administrative disputes will be handled via private email. Refusal to contact moderators or administrators privately will be deemed abusive behavior.

You may ask for assistance in our Posting Problems Forum, but you may be advised to contact an administrator via email.

If you cannot reach an understanding with a moderator, or if the moderator advises you to contact the administrators, you should cease communication with the moderator and contact our administrative staff. Sending harassing or threatening messages to forum moderators will be deemed abusive and your privileges will be subject to revocation. We may also forward copies of such messages to Internet Service Providers or other appropriate bodies.

We may, at our discretion, ban or restrict the privileges of individuals through their accounts or by IP address allocation. Such bans may not be circumvented through use of other ISP connections or accounts, particularly with the intention of posting harassing or argumentative messages or otherwise displaying your intent or ability to disrupt forums. Circumventing a ban is an invasion of privacy issue, and persistent behavior may -- at our discretion -- be reported to your Internet Service Provider(s), employer, parents or guardian, school, local authorities, or other parties. We may, at our discretion, elect to prosecute you through civil or criminal complaints, as appropriate laws provide for. If the SF-FANDOM administrators choose to ban you from the forums, you are no longer welcome to participate in our communities. Please go elsewhere and leave us alone. Bans may be temporary or permanent. There is no law which grants you the right or license to invade private forums. Do not seek to intimidate the Xenite.Org or SF-FANDOM administrators, moderators, owners, operators, or community members with threats or defiant arguments. That only makes it more likely we will report your abusive behavior to other parties. You forfeit all rights and guarantees to privacy if you insist on invading our forums.

Profanity is filtered at our discretion. The lack of specific filters does not constitute prior approval to post obscene or offensive language in our forums. Screen names, whether registered or unregistered, should not include profanity or obvious insults. Some otherwise innocent words may be filtered automatically due to constraints of the technology we use. It may be necessary to circumvent the filters to convey exact meanings, but circumventing filters to include profanity is not permitted.

The only way to ensure that no one else uses a screen name is for you to register it. We will not reserve screen names for you. We will not attempt to arbitrate disputes over screen names. The registration system assigns screen names on a first come, first served basis. If you really want to use a screen name that no one else can use, then you MUST register one. We may, at our discretion, restrict the number of accounts you are permitted to create. Please do not create multiple accounts. Contact our admin staff if you have problems registering or feel compelled to create a secondary account.

While we accept that a truly international community includes people who may have strong personal feelings about specific divisions or conflicts around the world, we must ask that you refrain from posting hateful or malicious propaganda. We reserve the right to remove or edit messages we feel are intended to slam specific political parties, religious groups, ethnic groups, or nations. It is easily possible to express your disagreement with policies and actions without employing colorful rhetoric which, if directed at an individual, would be clearly identified as a flame.

Do not post messages which are intended to aggravate or infuriate other people. While you may be feeling great anger yourself, our forums are not intended to be used as political weapons or propaganda platforms. Conflicts between nations, ethnic groups, religions, or political parties may be discussed but they will surely not be resolved in our forums. Please do not attempt to sway the masses to your cause through our forums. Share your opinions and insights, but please do not instigate massive hate-threads.

Links to Web sites which provide illegal content or explicit sexual content are not permitted in our forums. Explicit sexual content includes but is not necessarily limited to images, movies, or stories depicting sexual acts or behaviors, private body parts or functions. Inclusion of explicit language or images in your messages is not permitted.

Use of our forums to share information, either explicitly or via coded message, on how to access illegal sites or participate in illegal activities is strictly forbidden. If we detect such behavior, we reserve the right to report it to the proper authorities without warning or comment.

Except where otherwise indicated, we do not permit the posting of fan fiction to our forums for television shows which are currently in production. This provision is provided as a courtesy to the professional writing community, some of whose members from time to time visit our forums. Fan fiction should be posted only in designated archives or forums. Although SF-FANDOM supports the sharing of fan fiction, we do not wish to alienate the professional writing community, many of whom are forbidden by their employers to read fan fiction.

We do have a fan fiction forum. We encourage fan fiction authors to post their stories there. It is acceptable to post an announcement about your stories in appropriate forums, to help people find your work in our fan fiction forum.

Fan fiction should not include sexually explicit material. Please be considerate and include sufficient information in your subject line or introduction to warn people if you are writing stories which some people may find offensive.

SF-FANDOM does not normally archive content which we deem to be abusive. All archives are made available as part of our normal Web content whenever time and resources permit. We do not, however, have the ability to edit or delete material from the archives to any extended degree. We therefore make no provision or warranty for removing content which has been archived.

SF-FANDOM reserves the right to change any and all of the above forum policies without notice.