Games Discussion Board Rules - Updated May 8, 2015

Use this as a guide to figure out what is and isn't acceptable on this board and for forum use in general.

General Rules

GameSpot has a set of terms for forum use. You can view the Terms of Use as well as the Community Code of Conduct.

But, how do I avoid trouble?
Don't flame, troll, or post disruptively and don't encourage such behavior.
Don't victimize others and avoid discriminatory language.
Don't discuss any illegal activities. (ROMs, Emulators, Homebrew, etc).
Don't post inappropriate material (pornographic, overtly sexual, gore, etc).
Don't post from an alternate account.

Board Specific Rules
Posts with the intention to get a rise out of board members (i.e. Why Halo Sucks) without much substance from the original post will be moderated - see below.
Discussions about current happenings in the world of video games is OK as long as it's kept civil.
Any discussions about current consoles and games must is fine. Use the Retro Gaming board for older games and consoles.

For clarity sake: Any console that still has games being made for it (Xbox 360, PS3, etc) as well as games for that console is OK to talk about.

Definition of Spam
Topics in which you are advertising, promoting, soliciting and offering goods/services for commercial purposes or financial gain.
Topics that consist of "thoughts of the day", immature or inane content/purpose.
Topics solely linking to websites, images, videos or other material without any commentary from the topic creator.

How We Control Spam
New users are unable to create more than one forum topic per 24-hour window until they've created five forum topics.
New users can only post 5 posts a day.
Once a user has 25 total posts, this restriction is dropped.
Flagged content gains +1 karma point for the submitter and the accused. If the moderator accepts the accuser's position, their karma is reset.
Once a user hits +10 karma they are banned from posting.
Karma automatically degrades -1 karma each night.

Posting in Old Topics/"Necro-ing"
"Necro-ing" or posting in old topics is discouraged.
Be sure to check the date of the last post before you reply.
Topics that have not been posted in for two weeks or longer will be locked (stickied threads excluded).

Three Strike Rule

Hate speech and threats have no place in the GameSpot community. We want this board and the forums to be welcoming and engaging for users. Therefore, the moderating team has a 3 strike rule that will be enforced. It is as follows:
First offense: User will receive a warning.
Second offense: Seven-day suspension from the site.
Third offense: Permanent Ban from GameSpot

For the sake of clarity, this will include forums, comment sections, and blogs. The ban will be imposed to those that violate our guidelines within a span of 60 days of each offense. If no further incidents occur within the 60 day period, the user will be cycled back to good standing all is right in the world.

Contacting The Moderators

The GameSpot moderators are here to help. Click here to send a private message to our entire mod crew.

What's the one rule I should remember?

Don't be a jerk. Treat people how you want to be treated!