Guidelines
Welcome! 
And thank you for taking the time to review our Rules. These are here for clarification and the Staff will refer to them as needed.
Reviewing these Rules, while entirely elective, is recommended.
Disclaimer
Please remember that Simtropolis is not responsible for any message posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.
The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of Simtropolis. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to report the content, or contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use Simtropolis to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.
You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by Simtropolis.
General
1. Member Responsibility
It is the responsibility of each member to read and comply with these rules, which may be updated at any time. Simtropolis will endeavor to give members reasonable notice of such changes. These rules apply to all forums on Simtropolis.
2. Other Rules
Some other site areas, sub-forums and threads have their own specific set of rules. These are visible in each forum, or posted in clearly marked stickied topics where they apply.
For example, the STEX has a separate Code of Conduct, which can be viewed here.
3. Communication
Private Messages (PMs) sent by the staff will be considered read once the member has subsequently logged on to the site.
It is the responsibility of each member to ensure that their registration email address supplied is current and regularly checked.
4. Simtropolis Staff
Administrators and Moderators (staff) are generally knowledgeable in one or more fields of game and site related content. As such their primary roles are helping other members by answering questions or providing links to relevant information, as well as creating tutorials or other posts explaining aspects of various city building games. Additionally, staff are responsible for the smooth and efficient running of the site.
More specifically, the staff should not be viewed as a police force looking for tiny infractions. However, when necessary, staff may moderate content and will take whatever action is deemed appropriate in any given situation, regardless of whether there is a specific rule covering that situation or not. If there is a misunderstanding or dispute with any staff action taken, please bring the issue up politely with that staff member in private. In the rare event something cannot be resolved to your satisfaction in a private conversation with a Moderator, you are welcome to add one or more Administrators to the PM.
If you would like clarification on these rules, or help with anything site related, please contact an Administrator or Moderator. A full list of the staff team can be found here.
In all matters, the decision of the administration is final.
5. Prohibited Actions
The following is strictly and expressly prohibited:
a) Anything referring to CD keys or no CD cracks.
b) Any content malicious to computer hardware or software, such as viruses.
c) Any content that violates another person's privacy.
d) Anything relating to the pirating, or copying, of any software game title.
e) Abuse of any site feature, including manipulating the site's reputation or review system to unfairly escalate any other member's ranking. See here for an example.
f) Anything which violates licensing agreements (EULA) of games or software.
g) Advertising any service for commercial gain from selling custom content creations. This includes using Patreon (or similar) services with the sole purpose to "paywall" items for sale, without sharing creations freely within a reasonably deemed timeframe. See this post for a full clarification.
6. Personal Member Safety and General Site Conduct
Simtropolis is a PG-13 site. It recommended that members do not give out personally identifiable information to anyone else on the site or the internet.
There is zero tolerance for the following behavior:
a) Any material that is the work of another individual but is being represented as original. Permission must be obtained from the original creator, and due credit must be given, before including any element of that creator's work in custom content upload.
b) Any offensive, pornographic, or obscene material.
c) Overt sexually loaded comments or content.
d) Discrimination against another member in any form, including age, race, gender (including gender identity), religion, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual orientation.
e) Excessive swearing, offensive, or profane language (especially directed towards another member).
Note: Item 6e means what it says. Excessive swearing is part of the zero tolerance policy. And more specifically any abuse towards another member is not allowed. It does not definitively prohibit minor swear words in the proper context. This includes those subtly used as a form of emphasis, appropriate for the subject being discussed.
The personal safety of our members is a primary concern. Any inappropriate or unwelcome attention, harassment, solicitation, or sexually orientated comments or behavior directed towards another member, either publicly or privately, should be immediately reported to a Simtropolis Staff member.
7. Inappropriate use of Simtropolis Member Accounts
The following is not permitted:
a) Using clone accounts to bump the original users threads, double post, to otherwise disrupt the forums, or perform any action which may be considered inappropriate or deceitful.
b) Creating spam-bot accounts for advertising purposes.
c) Any username, avatar or signature containing profanity (swear words) or other offensive material.
Staff at Simtropolis use a range of options to deal with breaches of the site rules. The staff will always endeavor to use the fairest and lightest method available.
8. Common Sense Rules
Common sense rules, like politeness, are not explicitly stated but are still enforced. 
Posting on Forums
9. Formatting of Posts
Regular forum posts should be posted in the default text size, color and font in most cases. Exceptions include the use of text formatting tools and color for headings and in the CJ section or similar creative posts.
10. Religion and Politics
Discussion concerning religion or politics is only permitted in designated threads in the General Off-Topic and Current Events forums. Discussion must be about the issues, not each other.
11. Other Websites
What happens at a different website stays at that website. If a member has a dispute or grievance with another member, moderator, administrator, or webmaster of a website other than Simtropolis, it may not be brought to Simtropolis and discussed here.
12. Replying to Threads
Ideally you should quote the relevant parts of previous posts and reply accordingly to each of those all in one new post. If you are unfamiliar with the site's software, see the section Selective Quoting in the Introduction and Guide to Simtropolis.
There are a couple of instances when posting again in a thread where you were the last to previously post is allowed, providing there is something new or relevant to add:
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This is actually encouraged when the topic is of a troubleshooting nature and there are others actively replying to help. For instance, you may need to make a correction to something you stated, and it would likely be overlooked if you were to edit your last post. In this case it is better to add a new post (even if it has only been a very short time since the prior post) because those who are following the conversation may have already read the post and could be replying to the inadvertent misinformation. By adding a new post, this will send a new notification (beep) to the thread followers and alert them to see the new content.
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Should you have something new to add and it has been several minutes or hours since your last post, it is suggested to make a new post rather than an edit. Those who are following the thread may have already read the last post and would therefore not be notified by an edit to that post. This is intended for those legitimate oops moments when you think of something you forgot. Eventually staff may choose to merge posts at a later time for consolidation.
It is also acceptable to reply to (and therefore bump) an old topic regardless of when the last post was if you have new, relevant information or questions. Do keep in mind some older content may no longer be up to date due to changes in the game itself or the game content being discussed.
Note: In the site Forum Games there is a Forum Game Rules thread that contains more restrictive bumping rules which supersede the above with regard to posting in that area.
13. Finding the Right Forum
Simtropolis has several main forums with most having a few sub-forums.
It is sometimes difficult to decide where a new topic should be posted and this is most especially true for newcomers to the site. Feel free to make your best guess for where to create a new topic. For instance, if the new topic is about SimCity 4 then the SimCity 4 General Discussion is a good place to post it. Or, you can simply place it in the New Members Information and we'll decide for you. A staff member will be happy to move it somewhere else if there is a better place for it.
All threads should use an informative title and tags that describe the topic or question accurately. Titles with Help me!!! or Hey!!! are unlikely to get many useful responses and will likely be edited by staff to make them more descriptive. 
14. English, Spelling and Grammar
Simtropolis is an English speaking forum. Proper spelling and grammar is generally expected. Overuse of net-speak or txt abbreviations should be avoided. 1337 $p3@k will be instantly smitten by the bunnies. 
Please be patient and courteous with non-native English speakers trying to write in English.
House Keeping
15. Staff Positions
The site administrators pick only trusted, active, and helpful members to fill vacant positions. Staff positions are never obtained by asking or campaigning for them.
16. Simtropolis Awards
From time to time, members who have contributed positively to the community are awarded with Custom Member Labels, (CMLs), Member of the Month or Trixies. These awards are never given out by asking. Actively soliciting for one will virtually guarantee that it will not be given. 
17. Key Point to Remember
While we try to accommodate everyone, Simtropolis is not a democracy. Think of it as a benevolent dirktatorship.
If you actually read all this, kudos! Please enjoy the community! 
