Welcome to Port Saiid, a community that has existed for over 10 years, which serves as the official forums of FlyingOmelette.com.
Please read and understand the following rules and guidelines before posting.
1. Demonstration of Working Knowledge of FlyingOmelette.com
Within your first ten posts, it is strongly advised to participate in an at least one topic in the Feedback Forum. Your post should demonstrate at least some working knowledge of the website, and it must be a substantial contribution. Things that are NOT considered substantial:
- Anything that could be said about the site without actually having read any of it, ie, "Your site is awesome! I love it!" or "Your site sucks! I hate it!" or "Your layout sucks!", etc.
- Asking me to update the Cameos Database again.
- Why isn't "X-Game" on your Top 100, game ending songs article, or in your review section, etc.?
- Making any kind of observation on the site under the pretense of advertising your own site. (For example, "You put up too much NES music in the music downloads section...Come visit MY site for a much better music selection!")
I am not asking you to go through all 700+ pages of FlyingOmelette.com and memorize it. But if you've found this forum and I don't recognize you from somewhere else, it's reasonable to guess you found Port Saiid through the site and it's certainly reasonable to expect you to have actually read and understood something on it.
Please note that should you ignore this rule and post anyway, it may not necessarily result in a warning or banishment, but if you start breaking other rules on this TOS, your motivation for posting could be called into question. I've seen too many examples of sociopathic people happening upon a popular site and immediately seeing it as a means of getting negative attention. People like this believe they can manipulate the forums to gain "fame" and "power" over a lot of people without ever actually taking an interest in the site or its staff and regulars, or contributing anything useful.
****Exemptions For Rule #1:****
Anyone who has posted before June 6th, 2008. You are "grandfathered" in and don't have to worry about this.
Anyone who I know from another website or forum such as (but not limited to) sites that are linked on the front page's "Memory Card", the site's links page, or the "Affiliates" listed at the bottom of the forums.
Anyone who I have had ongoing email conversations or Q&A discussion with, which counts as "working knowledge of the site".
2. Flamebait
If you make any kind of snide, sarcastic, threatening, harassing, or otherwise inflammatory replies to me or to any other member in good standing of this forum, your post will be deleted, and whether you are sent a warning or immediately banned will depend upon the severity of the post in question - to be determined by my judgment. This also includes, but is not limited to, complaining about what we discuss, our methods of discussion, and/or our methods of forum moderation.
3. Other Sites' Rules
Other sites' rules are not to be brought to this forum nor attempted to be implemented. As an example, I do not mind if people make more than one post in a row in a topic so long as the replies are substantial and not just trolling/spam. But a couple of years ago, we had a few users on the forums who came from other places that had a rule against doing this and they would complain to us constantly about it - even when it was me or another admin who made the "dreaded" double post. Note that this rule includes this type of complaint, but is not limited to it.
Essentially, ANY attempts to moderate the forums when you are not a moderator could possibly be viewed as a Hostile Forum Takeover and you are strongly advised to proceed with caution if you don't want to be banned.
4. No Spam Police
If a spam or troll post is made, DO NOT make a separate topic pointing out the troll post or the spam. Why? Because now instead of there being one spam post which would be deleted once the mods see it, there are TWO topics about it, which defeats the point of deleting it. And pointing out troll posts in separate topics is giving them the exact attention they're looking for.
5. Stranglehold Scams
Stranglehold Scams are strictly forbidden by Port Saiid's policies. They have been prohibited for years and we have said many times over and over again that they are, yet people keep attempting them to this day. What is a Stranglehold Scam, might you ask? A Stranglehold Scam is when a user makes harassing and intentionally annoying replies to people (such as those exemplified by Rule #2), but the instant anyone says anything in reply, even if it's no worse than what they were doing, the scamster plays the "victim" and complains that people are being mean to him/her. This is usually followed up by a post saying that he/she is going to leave the forum and/or delete his/her account, unless people apologize to him/her and tell him/her that they like him/her, think he's/she's "great" or better than everyone else, etc.
People use this tactic to "phantom moderate" a forum and gain power over it. If they don't like someone, or something in particular that someone has to say, the scamster utilizes this scheme to "silence" that person(s) or to get them to apologize for whatever it is they said that offended the scamster and never say it again. It is, essentially, an attempt to put a "stranglehold" on the forum discussion. I see it as equal to a Hostile Forum Takeover.
Anyone caught attempting a Stranglehold Scam or Hostile Forum Takeover will be instantly banned and all posts the scamster has previously made on the forums will be deleted. That is how serious I am about my Zero Tolerance policy on this.
6. Personal Life Problems
Anyone who blames me or any other member in good standing of Port Saiid for anything in your private life is getting instantly banned. I'm not responsible for your well-being and/or mental health. If you have a problem, seek professional help. This is an arts & entertainment forum, not Dear Abby or Dr. Phil.
Likewise, anyone who blames me or another Port Saiid member in good standing of causing them online trouble without VERY substantial proof will be banned.
I do not control what people here do at other sites. If you have an issue with someone for something they said or did somewhere else, you have to resolve it with that person on your own. If you bring another site's problems to this forum and/or hold me responsible for them, no matter what your reasons are, I WILL ban you.
7. Annoying Avatars & Signatures
If I deem your avatar or signature annoying or offensive, I will send you a private message asking you to change it. You have 24 hours from the time I send the PM to change it or else I will deactivate your avatar and signature in my Yuku control panel.
Also, please do NOT use the default Yuku avatar. I hate that thing and don't want to see it under multiple usernames, and it isn't good for you to use it - it might cause me to mentally associate your posts with a troll who only registered to cause trouble on the forums and never bothered to change it. If you do not change your Yuku default avatar within 24 hours of your first post, I will deactivate your avatar in my control center.
8. Large Topics
Topics over 150 replies long are subject to being locked, with continued discussion of the topic encouraged to be started within a new post.
We haven't been doing this one as much lately because Yuku seems to handle large topics just fine, but they were a problem for Ezboard. Still, there are times when a large topic (particularly Game Progress Topics) will be retired and a new one for the same subject will be started, and it is at the discretion of the administrators and moderators.
The reason I mention this rule is because it was well-known for many years that Ezboard staff itself would sometimes show up and lock large topics due to the strain they put on their systems. We self-moderated our own large topics to keep from tying up Ezboard's hands and to keep the servers at their optimal running speed.
However, despite that this was (again) well-known and mentioned many times on the forums over the years, I had an incident where I locked a topic with over 300 replies and several of the people involved in it accused me of creating this rule on the spot.
9. Derailing Topics
Attempts to purposfully derail conversations by posting off-the-wall statements, inflammatory replies, or offtopic pictures, or any other posts of any nature that is disruptive to the flow of conversation
I am not the world's biggest hardnose for "STAYING ON TOPIC" like some other forum administrators. I know that the natural course of conversation often causes it to go in different directions. But blatantly posting something offtopic with the intention of turning the conversation into something else is not tolerated.
- Text Derailment:
This is a good example of what I'm talking about. That reply has absolutely no relevance to the subject of the original topic nor any previous reply made to that topic. If your reply is THAT off-topic, then start a new thread for it. Also note that putting "Off-Topic" or "Off-the-Subject" in the post does NOT justify it.
- Picture Derailment:
Posting pictures when they're relevant to the conversation is okay, but you must use common sense and good judgment when doing this. We once had a problem with a user who was posting very large pictures in multiple topics that had nothing to do with the conversation. If you have a picture you want to share with the forums, post it in one of our ongoing "Post a Picture" topics.
10. Yuku's Rules
You MUST abide by the Yuku Terms of Service for posting in these forums. However, be aware that just because something is NOT in Yuku's TOS, that doesn't mean it's not part of MY particular rules for Port Saiid.
Yes, believe it or not, back before the Yuku upgrade when Port Saiid was still an ezboard, I actually had someone try to argue with me that his disruptive forum behavior was perfectly legal by Ezboard's TOS and that I couldn't ban him for it.
11. Repeat Troublemaker Pretending to Be New
We all make mistakes and do immature things. Sometimes, people might want a second chance with a community after having problems with it. I can certainly understand that. However, if you want a fresh start, man up and do the respectable thing: Apologize for your past behavior and assure us it won't happen again. If you register a new name and pretend to be someone new, no matter how hard you try, you WILL inevitably say or do something that either gives away your true identity or indicates you have intimate knowledge of the community that you could not possibly have if you were brand new. I can spot most people who do this within 1-5 posts. Two of my top moderators, James and DH, are extremely good at figuring out this type of thing and coming up with evidence to prove it. You WILL get caught. We ARE aware of your games.
12. "Welcome Me" Topics
These types of topics are not grounds for warning, deletion, or banishment, but I frown on them and they are discouraged. If you are new to the forums, you can make a better impression by replying to a few topics and giving us an idea what you are like through your natural personality, behavior, and opinions. Introduction Topics are generally discouraged because people tend to make one introduction topic, then never return, and they usually do not contribute any kind of meaningful conversation to the forums.
People who have left the forums for awhile and have returned are also discouraged from making "Welcome Me Back" topics. We always have an ongoing "Game Progress" topic in the General Discussion forum and a "Life Progress" topic in the Kitchen Sink forum. If you've been away, you can reply to either of those topics to tell us what you've been doing all this time.
I had an incident where two people made a "Welcome Me Back" topic within a 24 hour period. The first person got a lot more replies than the second person. The second person got upset and complained to me about it. Two things: #1) People get sick of posting "Welcome back!" over and over again. #2) If you ignore my suggestion and decide to make a "Welcome Me Back" topic anyway, you are likely to get more replies if you make more replies yourself. Making one post saying, "I'm back", and then disappearing again will not likely yield the same results.
If you post an Introduction or Welcome Me Back topic, don't expect me to reply to it because I probably won't.
13. General Stupidity
Here is a list of things that fall under "General Stupidity" that could very possibly get you warned or banned and/or your posts deleted:
- Doing something purposefully disruptive and then bragging that I can't do anything about it. Yes I can. Yes I most certainly can.
- Cliche or typically stupid internet responses. If I were to list all of these, this TOS would go on forever. I'll edit in particular problems as they come up. A couple of recent examples:
- Likewise, you are STRONGLY advised against posting gigantic "walls of text" with no capitalization and/or punctuation and too many abbreviations/acronyms and/or no line breaks. If you do this, it gives off the impression that you are either a little kid or mentally-challenged, possibly both. Do not be surprised if someone draws that conclusion. If you want to be respected, then act respectable. Don't act like you don't have to put your best foot forward just because it's a message board. That's an insult to the entire community, and if that's how you feel about it, then there isn't any reason for you to be posting here anyway.
A good suggestion for being a better poster is to only post something that you'll be proud of having said years later. If people are going to remember you, then it will be for the strongest impression you gave off. Acting intelligently, using common sense, and making posts that contribute to substantial conversations are good ways to be remembered years later as a good forum member. If all you ever post are pointless one-liners, complaints, and questions and observations about very trivial things (ie, "Your avatar isn't working!", "Do you have AIM?", "Where can I get ROMs?", etc.), then you aren't going to leave any impression on people at all. And if you follow up that behavior by getting mad about something and lashing out at the entire forum for it, then the only impression you'll leave people with is that of a psycho.
We tend to keep most of our posts as an archive. If you post something here, chances are it'll still be here years down the line. So, for example, if you don't want to be remembered as "the guy who acted like a dick in multiple topics because someone didn't want to change their image hosting to Geocities", then you might want to stop and think about what you're doing.
This TOS is subject to change without notice.
Please read and understand the following rules and guidelines before posting.
1. Demonstration of Working Knowledge of FlyingOmelette.com
Within your first ten posts, it is strongly advised to participate in an at least one topic in the Feedback Forum. Your post should demonstrate at least some working knowledge of the website, and it must be a substantial contribution. Things that are NOT considered substantial:
- Anything that could be said about the site without actually having read any of it, ie, "Your site is awesome! I love it!" or "Your site sucks! I hate it!" or "Your layout sucks!", etc.
- Asking me to update the Cameos Database again.
- Why isn't "X-Game" on your Top 100, game ending songs article, or in your review section, etc.?
- Making any kind of observation on the site under the pretense of advertising your own site. (For example, "You put up too much NES music in the music downloads section...Come visit MY site for a much better music selection!")
I am not asking you to go through all 700+ pages of FlyingOmelette.com and memorize it. But if you've found this forum and I don't recognize you from somewhere else, it's reasonable to guess you found Port Saiid through the site and it's certainly reasonable to expect you to have actually read and understood something on it.
Please note that should you ignore this rule and post anyway, it may not necessarily result in a warning or banishment, but if you start breaking other rules on this TOS, your motivation for posting could be called into question. I've seen too many examples of sociopathic people happening upon a popular site and immediately seeing it as a means of getting negative attention. People like this believe they can manipulate the forums to gain "fame" and "power" over a lot of people without ever actually taking an interest in the site or its staff and regulars, or contributing anything useful.
****Exemptions For Rule #1:****
Anyone who has posted before June 6th, 2008. You are "grandfathered" in and don't have to worry about this.
Anyone who I know from another website or forum such as (but not limited to) sites that are linked on the front page's "Memory Card", the site's links page, or the "Affiliates" listed at the bottom of the forums.
Anyone who I have had ongoing email conversations or Q&A discussion with, which counts as "working knowledge of the site".
2. Flamebait
If you make any kind of snide, sarcastic, threatening, harassing, or otherwise inflammatory replies to me or to any other member in good standing of this forum, your post will be deleted, and whether you are sent a warning or immediately banned will depend upon the severity of the post in question - to be determined by my judgment. This also includes, but is not limited to, complaining about what we discuss, our methods of discussion, and/or our methods of forum moderation.
3. Other Sites' Rules
Other sites' rules are not to be brought to this forum nor attempted to be implemented. As an example, I do not mind if people make more than one post in a row in a topic so long as the replies are substantial and not just trolling/spam. But a couple of years ago, we had a few users on the forums who came from other places that had a rule against doing this and they would complain to us constantly about it - even when it was me or another admin who made the "dreaded" double post. Note that this rule includes this type of complaint, but is not limited to it.
Essentially, ANY attempts to moderate the forums when you are not a moderator could possibly be viewed as a Hostile Forum Takeover and you are strongly advised to proceed with caution if you don't want to be banned.
4. No Spam Police
If a spam or troll post is made, DO NOT make a separate topic pointing out the troll post or the spam. Why? Because now instead of there being one spam post which would be deleted once the mods see it, there are TWO topics about it, which defeats the point of deleting it. And pointing out troll posts in separate topics is giving them the exact attention they're looking for.
5. Stranglehold Scams
Stranglehold Scams are strictly forbidden by Port Saiid's policies. They have been prohibited for years and we have said many times over and over again that they are, yet people keep attempting them to this day. What is a Stranglehold Scam, might you ask? A Stranglehold Scam is when a user makes harassing and intentionally annoying replies to people (such as those exemplified by Rule #2), but the instant anyone says anything in reply, even if it's no worse than what they were doing, the scamster plays the "victim" and complains that people are being mean to him/her. This is usually followed up by a post saying that he/she is going to leave the forum and/or delete his/her account, unless people apologize to him/her and tell him/her that they like him/her, think he's/she's "great" or better than everyone else, etc.
People use this tactic to "phantom moderate" a forum and gain power over it. If they don't like someone, or something in particular that someone has to say, the scamster utilizes this scheme to "silence" that person(s) or to get them to apologize for whatever it is they said that offended the scamster and never say it again. It is, essentially, an attempt to put a "stranglehold" on the forum discussion. I see it as equal to a Hostile Forum Takeover.
Anyone caught attempting a Stranglehold Scam or Hostile Forum Takeover will be instantly banned and all posts the scamster has previously made on the forums will be deleted. That is how serious I am about my Zero Tolerance policy on this.
6. Personal Life Problems
Anyone who blames me or any other member in good standing of Port Saiid for anything in your private life is getting instantly banned. I'm not responsible for your well-being and/or mental health. If you have a problem, seek professional help. This is an arts & entertainment forum, not Dear Abby or Dr. Phil.
Likewise, anyone who blames me or another Port Saiid member in good standing of causing them online trouble without VERY substantial proof will be banned.
I do not control what people here do at other sites. If you have an issue with someone for something they said or did somewhere else, you have to resolve it with that person on your own. If you bring another site's problems to this forum and/or hold me responsible for them, no matter what your reasons are, I WILL ban you.
7. Annoying Avatars & Signatures
If I deem your avatar or signature annoying or offensive, I will send you a private message asking you to change it. You have 24 hours from the time I send the PM to change it or else I will deactivate your avatar and signature in my Yuku control panel.
Also, please do NOT use the default Yuku avatar. I hate that thing and don't want to see it under multiple usernames, and it isn't good for you to use it - it might cause me to mentally associate your posts with a troll who only registered to cause trouble on the forums and never bothered to change it. If you do not change your Yuku default avatar within 24 hours of your first post, I will deactivate your avatar in my control center.
8. Large Topics
Topics over 150 replies long are subject to being locked, with continued discussion of the topic encouraged to be started within a new post.
We haven't been doing this one as much lately because Yuku seems to handle large topics just fine, but they were a problem for Ezboard. Still, there are times when a large topic (particularly Game Progress Topics) will be retired and a new one for the same subject will be started, and it is at the discretion of the administrators and moderators.
The reason I mention this rule is because it was well-known for many years that Ezboard staff itself would sometimes show up and lock large topics due to the strain they put on their systems. We self-moderated our own large topics to keep from tying up Ezboard's hands and to keep the servers at their optimal running speed.
However, despite that this was (again) well-known and mentioned many times on the forums over the years, I had an incident where I locked a topic with over 300 replies and several of the people involved in it accused me of creating this rule on the spot.
9. Derailing Topics
Attempts to purposfully derail conversations by posting off-the-wall statements, inflammatory replies, or offtopic pictures, or any other posts of any nature that is disruptive to the flow of conversation
I am not the world's biggest hardnose for "STAYING ON TOPIC" like some other forum administrators. I know that the natural course of conversation often causes it to go in different directions. But blatantly posting something offtopic with the intention of turning the conversation into something else is not tolerated.
- Text Derailment:
This is a good example of what I'm talking about. That reply has absolutely no relevance to the subject of the original topic nor any previous reply made to that topic. If your reply is THAT off-topic, then start a new thread for it. Also note that putting "Off-Topic" or "Off-the-Subject" in the post does NOT justify it.
- Picture Derailment:
Posting pictures when they're relevant to the conversation is okay, but you must use common sense and good judgment when doing this. We once had a problem with a user who was posting very large pictures in multiple topics that had nothing to do with the conversation. If you have a picture you want to share with the forums, post it in one of our ongoing "Post a Picture" topics.
10. Yuku's Rules
You MUST abide by the Yuku Terms of Service for posting in these forums. However, be aware that just because something is NOT in Yuku's TOS, that doesn't mean it's not part of MY particular rules for Port Saiid.
Yes, believe it or not, back before the Yuku upgrade when Port Saiid was still an ezboard, I actually had someone try to argue with me that his disruptive forum behavior was perfectly legal by Ezboard's TOS and that I couldn't ban him for it.
11. Repeat Troublemaker Pretending to Be New
We all make mistakes and do immature things. Sometimes, people might want a second chance with a community after having problems with it. I can certainly understand that. However, if you want a fresh start, man up and do the respectable thing: Apologize for your past behavior and assure us it won't happen again. If you register a new name and pretend to be someone new, no matter how hard you try, you WILL inevitably say or do something that either gives away your true identity or indicates you have intimate knowledge of the community that you could not possibly have if you were brand new. I can spot most people who do this within 1-5 posts. Two of my top moderators, James and DH, are extremely good at figuring out this type of thing and coming up with evidence to prove it. You WILL get caught. We ARE aware of your games.
12. "Welcome Me" Topics
These types of topics are not grounds for warning, deletion, or banishment, but I frown on them and they are discouraged. If you are new to the forums, you can make a better impression by replying to a few topics and giving us an idea what you are like through your natural personality, behavior, and opinions. Introduction Topics are generally discouraged because people tend to make one introduction topic, then never return, and they usually do not contribute any kind of meaningful conversation to the forums.
People who have left the forums for awhile and have returned are also discouraged from making "Welcome Me Back" topics. We always have an ongoing "Game Progress" topic in the General Discussion forum and a "Life Progress" topic in the Kitchen Sink forum. If you've been away, you can reply to either of those topics to tell us what you've been doing all this time.
I had an incident where two people made a "Welcome Me Back" topic within a 24 hour period. The first person got a lot more replies than the second person. The second person got upset and complained to me about it. Two things: #1) People get sick of posting "Welcome back!" over and over again. #2) If you ignore my suggestion and decide to make a "Welcome Me Back" topic anyway, you are likely to get more replies if you make more replies yourself. Making one post saying, "I'm back", and then disappearing again will not likely yield the same results.
If you post an Introduction or Welcome Me Back topic, don't expect me to reply to it because I probably won't.
13. General Stupidity
Here is a list of things that fall under "General Stupidity" that could very possibly get you warned or banned and/or your posts deleted:
- Doing something purposefully disruptive and then bragging that I can't do anything about it. Yes I can. Yes I most certainly can.
- Cliche or typically stupid internet responses. If I were to list all of these, this TOS would go on forever. I'll edit in particular problems as they come up. A couple of recent examples:
- Telling me the only reason I didn't understand something is because I didn't read it.
- Arguing with me over every thing I say in a post and/or review and then turning around and telling me I can't argue with IGN or Gamespot because their reviewers "have thought long and hard about everything".
- Likewise, you are STRONGLY advised against posting gigantic "walls of text" with no capitalization and/or punctuation and too many abbreviations/acronyms and/or no line breaks. If you do this, it gives off the impression that you are either a little kid or mentally-challenged, possibly both. Do not be surprised if someone draws that conclusion. If you want to be respected, then act respectable. Don't act like you don't have to put your best foot forward just because it's a message board. That's an insult to the entire community, and if that's how you feel about it, then there isn't any reason for you to be posting here anyway.
A good suggestion for being a better poster is to only post something that you'll be proud of having said years later. If people are going to remember you, then it will be for the strongest impression you gave off. Acting intelligently, using common sense, and making posts that contribute to substantial conversations are good ways to be remembered years later as a good forum member. If all you ever post are pointless one-liners, complaints, and questions and observations about very trivial things (ie, "Your avatar isn't working!", "Do you have AIM?", "Where can I get ROMs?", etc.), then you aren't going to leave any impression on people at all. And if you follow up that behavior by getting mad about something and lashing out at the entire forum for it, then the only impression you'll leave people with is that of a psycho.
We tend to keep most of our posts as an archive. If you post something here, chances are it'll still be here years down the line. So, for example, if you don't want to be remembered as "the guy who acted like a dick in multiple topics because someone didn't want to change their image hosting to Geocities", then you might want to stop and think about what you're doing.
This TOS is subject to change without notice.
