General Site Rules

While we support and value free speech, we do have a dedicated moderation team that will act if we feel that rules have been are violated. This is a forum for adults to get away from their busy lives and enjoy camaraderie with people with shared interests, and we appreciate you spending your limited free time here. The rules are in place to provide an optimal experience for everyone, and moderators will do their best to facilitate this. We prefer to moderate as little as possible but will intervene when we deem it necessary.

Moderator actions may include editing your post, moving your post and even deleting your post completely. Depending on the severity of your infraction, a moderator may resort to applying a ban. A ban may be as simple as a thread ban, a board ban, a site ban (from anywhere between a few days to a few weeks) or a permanent ban depending on the severity of a poster’s actions. You may also be subject to temporary post-approval based on your conduct. We would prefer not to use this function at all but can and will if necessary, so please refrain from violating the rules.

If you find yourself nearing violation of the rules for whatever reason, please speak privately with a moderator before engaging in any actions that may lead to a ban. If you find yourself irritable or just frustrated for whatever reason, we recommend taking a day or two to cool off before saying something regrettable. We are human beings and sometimes do and say things we regret, but we would rather people not let out their pent up aggression here on other posters. If you find something has been modified in error, please contact someone from the moderation team using the report post option.

1. While we are an international community, the language choice of the forums is English, and we ask you to always adhere to that.

2. We don't use racial slurs or the word faggot.

3. No disruption. No knocking threads off their rails to suit your purposes, bait threads, bait posts, or generally being an obnoxious poster who makes the site unpleasant for anyone. Tangential discussion is inevitable but if it’s too off the rails a moderator may ask you to make a separate thread or move your post.

4. Keep it clean, classy, and respectful. We all joke around, but if you are intentionally trying to attack another poster that may warrant moderator intervention. If something turns into a heated one on one, your posts may be moved to a separate thread. D-Pad understands the need for people to express themselves, but we ask you to refrain from racism, bigotry or just generally attacking people based on their immutable characteristics. Attack the post, not the poster. No images of porn, nudity, excessive violence and gore, or anything of that nature (unless stated otherwise within a board's additional rules). If you find a user is consistently souring your experience, or a particular thread bothers you please use the “Ignore” feature if you deem it necessary.

5. Please be mindful of the content you post. Other posters may be taking a break at work, church, family gatherings, or having someone peeking over their shoulder. If you're posting something with shock value, please post in a spoiler tag. If a post is too shocking it may be enclosed in spoiler tags by a moderator, moved or removed entirely.

6. Posts should be made in the applicable board. If you make a post in the wrong board you can use the report post button to notify the moderation team.

7. Keep it honest. A good argument or discussion doesn’t rely on trickery to get its point through. Post in good faith and hear your opponent out. Who knows you may learn something!

8. Self-promotion is allowed, given an audience interest and an up-front admission in the thread title, subject to discretion by moderators. Additionally, do not expect special treatment or protection from moderators — the community will offer its opinion on your work, one way or the other. Be prepared for the fact that people might not like what you put out there.

9. Doxing, threats of violence, or organizing such things will not be tolerated.

10. Piracy and emulation topics can be discussed, however, specific links to downloadable material are not allowed.

11. Please do not post here on behalf of a banned member. Banned members have access to the "Contact Us" feature, where they can contact the moderation team directly and work through any issues. If approached by a banned member, please ask them to use the "Contact Us" feature. There is no guarantee a ban will be reversed. If you have specific questions about a ban or moderator action please send a message to a moderator or raise it in the moderation thread. Do not derail general threads to address a ban or any other moderator action.

12. Off-site drama is allowed to an extent, meaning we are allowing discussions around other websites and communities, but please do not bring Discord Drama to the site. If you started it in Discord, you can finish it in Discord. No one likes to be that guy in the room that has no idea what everyone else is talking about.

13. Bumping, meaning you being the only poster commenting on your thread, is allowed in moderation. Do not bump your thread repeatedly, if no one wants to discuss your thread, please take the hint. On that note, if there is a topic you do not want to see anymore, please use the “Ignore” feature on a thread to hide it forever.

14. For picture threads, please keep it to a maximum of 5 pictures per post and of a reasonable size.

15. We expect members to be here because they wish to be here with good intent both in terms of participating in the community and the site as a whole. If we believe that is not the case we reserve the right to remove them. This includes violations of personal privacy as well as attempting to bring the site into disrepute.

16. All rules are subject to revision and change as and when situations may arise.