Rules may be changed, added, or removed without notice.
GENERAL RULES
1) There is to be NO inappropriate content, swearing, cursing, or profane (foul) language of any kind on any part of Alacrity. This includes, but is not limited to, private messages, forum posts, chats, dog names, dog descriptions, user profiles, user names, user statuses, or any other page with "alacritysim.com" in the address bar.) Inappropriate images are also not permitted.
UPDATE 12/19/15 :: All violations of this rule will now also include an additional fine of no less than $10,000 and no more than $1,000,000, at staff discretion. Offensive content will be changed at staff discretion. Depending on the format of the violation, your profile layout/user name/status/etc may be blanked.
1st Offense - 24 hour chat/forum ban.
2nd Offense - 1 Week Chat/Forum Ban, $25,000 fine
3rd Offense - $50,000 Fine, 1 Week Chat/Forum Ban
4th Offense - 1 Month Chat/Forum Ban, Account Frozen.
5th Offense - IP Ban.
2) Respect the site staff. This includes complying with a moderator or administrator asks of you. If you do not agree with action a moderator has taken, or feel they have treated you unfairly, please use the Issue Hub and submit to the proper section for reporting staff members. You may not go from Mod to Mod in attempt to get a different ruling; follow the appropriate chain of command if you feel you must report a moderator.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine & Admin alerted to speak to player.
4th Offense - Account Frozen
3) Respect your fellow players. Do not do anything which may be directly insulting to another member, their beliefs, their art, or anything else. Harassment of any kind; this includes, but is not limited to, badgering for prices or items, name calling, general repetitive and undesired communication, and public "Black Lists" or "Walls of Shame". Disrespect will not be tolerated on Alacrity.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine & Admin alerted to speak to player.
4th Offense - Account Frozen
4) Mini-modding is NOT allowed. Helping people and reminding others of the rules of the site is perfectly fine, but you may not tell others what to do. If something is serious, submit it to the Moderator Issue Hub, and it will be taken care of. Screen shots are encouraged. Everyone is allowed to "help" and answer questions, but please do not assume the role of a Staff member if you are not one. If Moderators are in the chat room please let THEM correct other players' behavior.
Offenses - Documented Request to stop
Every 5th Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 Fine, Admin alerted to speak to player.
Extreme Cases of Mini-Modding will result in an Admin being notified for consequences. This can lead to a possible IP Ban, so please don't do it
5) Accidental transfers of money, bones, dogs, or items: If the recipient of the accidental transfer has been active within the last 2 weeks, you must allow at least 48 hours to work the problem out amongst yourselves. If resolution cannot be reached or the recipient is unresponsive, submit an issue to the Moderator Issue Hub. Do not expect an instant transfer.
Please allow the time for these to be researched and looked into. Not everything can happen immediately.
6) False advertisement of any kind is not acceptable. If you don't have the item/bone/dog/account to sell, do not say you do. If you don't have the money to buy something, do not say you do. The reverse of this is also true; do not claim to be without funds when you have them. If a user holds anything for another player with the expectation of payment, the burden of proof falls upon the reporting member, so keep documentation. If the agreed upon time, or 48 hours, whichever is greater, has passed and a transfer has not occurred, submit an issue to the Moderator Issue Hub. A mod can only return the payment if it is proven that the item, dog, bone, etc., has not been received. This rule is limited to Alacrity only; transfers involving off-site currency, pets, or items are not protected by this rule.
1st Offense - Documented Warning.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & Fine of 20% of the transaction
3rd Offense - Account Frozen
7) Selling things (dogs, items, accounts, art, etc.) for real life currencies is allowed on Alacrity, EXCEPT FOR BONES. This includes the sale of accounts! If you are selling your account for $USD, you may not have any bones on that account. You must either spend them, give them away, or send them to storage on account #1. Alacrity nor staff are responsible nor obligated to attempt to handle any situations with stolen goods, real life currency or virtual.
1st Offense - Account Frozen. (This is if you sell bones for real life currency.)
8) Tags may not exceed 100 pixels tall by 175 pixels wide. You may not use obscene images. Flashing or animated tags are allowed on the site, but an "obnoxious" tag may be asked to be removed if a Mod sees fit.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning & $25,000 Fine.
5th Offense - Account Frozen.
9) You may only own TWO accounts on Alacrity. Two. Period. This does not mean you may have 2 accounts per e-mail, or 2 accounts per computer. This means you may have ONLY 2 accounts. If you have a family member or friend that plays on Alacrity as well, who shares your internet connection, please submit an issue to the Moderator Issue Hub about your situation. You may not transfer or sell money, dogs, items, etc. between unlinked accounts which exist on the same IP. For example, you may NOT sell your sister an awesome dog from your account to get her started. This is to prevent cheating.
1st Offense - Documented Warning that any further illegal activity will result in IP Address ban, fined $15,000 per account Created, and additional accounts frozen.
2nd Offense - IP Address Ban.
10) Posting links which perform an action (e.g., thread bumping, dog training) is strictly prohibited. Please respect everyone by NOT posting a link in the Shout Box, Forums, Personal Messages, or Chatroom that perform any action.
1st Offense - Documented Warning & Link removed.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, Link removed, $5,000 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $10,000 Fine & Admin alerted to speak to player.
4th Offense - Account Frozen
11) Begging is not permitted anywhere on Alacrity. This includes messaging people and asking for things out of nowhere, pleading and whining for items, cash, dogs, etc. in chat, on profile scribbles, in private messages, on IM's, on forums, etc. Everyone on Alacrity has worked hard to get what they have, so please don't attempt to exploit their effort by begging. There are a number of great ways to find out how to make money; visit the Help section, ask a Newbie Helper in the Newbie Helper issue hub, ask in Chat for pointers, but please do not beg.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine
4th Offense - Account Frozen
12) Art Theft. Just don't do it We take art theft extemely seriously on Alacrity. Art theft can be defined as when you use art without permission of the original creator. This can include using a picture from a web search without permission, drawing over a picture, copying another sites art and putting it on Alacrity. submitting or displaying anything that is not of your own design and efforts without written consent of the owner is prohibited.
1st Offense - Documented Warning & $15,000 Fine.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, $50,000 Fine & Admin alerted to speak to player.
3rd Offense - Account Frozen.
13) Advertising is ONLY allowed in the following places: Advertisement/Shout Box, Sales Forum, Sales Chat, or your personal Status. You are not allowed to advertise in ANY of the other chat rooms, profile scribbles, forums not for sales, or your user name. For example, you may not set your display name to read "SallyJoe - Has great Puppies for Sale, come see now!!"
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning & $15,000 Fine.
5th Offense - Account Frozen
14) Art Critiquing is not permited without being specifically requested by the art owner. If critiques of a piece of art are NOT asked for by the owner, then they should not be given. If you have nothing nice to say about a piece of art, then please don't say anything at all.
1st Offense - Documented Warning.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning & $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Account Frozen.
15) Excessive Refreshing Refreshing the site excessively for the sole purpose of gaining random events is not allowed and is viewed as cheating. It is not a legitimate means of obtaining these companions and may also cause extra strain on the server for the site. The administrator team will be able to determine whether or not users are doing this apart from normal gameplay, so users do not have to worry.
1st Offense - Documented Warning & Removal of random event companions, as well as reversal of sales if sold/traded/etc.
2nd Offense - Account Frozen.
CHATROOM RULES
1) Don’t spam in chat. This means you cannot continually post similar things in chat. In sales chat, this specifically means you can only post once every 15 minutes or until your sales post falls off the front page, whichever comes first.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
2) There is to be no obnoxious behavior. (i.e. the repetitive use of one word, a phrase, capital letters, the use of 1337 speak or chat speak, replacing words with numbers, over-abbreviated words, color testing, or continuing a behavior after a mod has asked you to cease, posting just to spite or antagonize another player, taking part in any activity with the sole intent of annoying, irritating, or otherwise aggravating another user). If you wish to test your chat room color, please do so in the General Discussion - The Testing Thread. Attempting to circumvent the chat filter is also not permitted.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
3) You may post images in chat, but they must meet the same criteria as tags (only 100 pixels tall by 175 pixels wide). You may not post obscene or offensive images.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
4) You may only use minimal HTML. Do not use overly large fonts or try to change the whole chat layout with unclosed tags. We understand that accidents happen, but please be careful when using HTML in the chat rooms.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
5) If a mod asks you to change your font color, you must change it. There are to be no overly bright fonts, or fonts that blend in with the background.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
6) If a mod asks you to move a topic to the forums, you must comply. Most controversial topics belong on the forums, as well as more mature discussions. If you wouldn't talk about a subject in front of your 12 year old sibling, it's probably not appropriate. If you have a question as to where a topic would best be suited, submit an issue to the Moderator Issue Hub.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
7) Advertisements, Trade Requests, Price Checks, Contest Links, Website Promotions and Give-Aways are no longer allowed in Chat A, Chat B or Roleplay Chat. Please use the new shout box feature located HERE, Sales Chat, or the appropriate forum. (Ex: "Selling this dog for $1000." or "Looking to buy Training Sessions, message me." or "Giving away a free dog! Who wants it?" or "I have this dog XXXX, how much is it worth?") or "Come join my sim/forum/website!")
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
8) Click requests should not be posted in any Chat room. If you have pets on another site which 'grow' with clicks, please keep your requests to the Forums or the Advertisement box. This includes asking people to visit your profile to click on your pets. While talking about affiliate sites in the chat room is allowed, click requests are not.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
9) Don’t throw yourself "pity parties". Chat posts are missed, lines are over-looked, no one can think of an appropriate response; it happens. Do not expect every comment you make to elicit a response. Trolling for a reaction or response is not allowed. For example, "No one is paying attention to me!" or, "*sobs*", are not allowed.
1st Offense - Documented Warning
2nd Offense - Documented Warning & $2,500 Fine
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, $5,000 fine & 2 Hour Chat Ban
4th Offense - Documented Warning, $10,000 fine & 24 Hour Chat Ban
5th Offense - Documented Warning, $15,000 fine & 48 Hour Chat Ban
6th Offense - Documented Warning, $20,000 fine & 1 Week Chat Ban
7th Offense - Account Frozen
Roleplay Chat - Please keep this chat available for Roleplaying only! This means no general talking or discussions that are not related to Roleplaying.
Sales Chat - This chat is available for discussing trades, deals, and selling or buying any item on Alacrity. Please don't use this chat for anything else.
FORUM RULES
1) All debates must be kept on the debate board and must remain civil. Debating in another player's thread is not acceptable. Constructive criticism when it is asked for is permitted.
1st Offense - Documented Warning with copy of original sent to poster and offensive post deleted.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, Banned from Forum.
5th Offense - Account Frozen
2) Images posted in a thread should not stretch the page. If a picture is larger than the page, the image should be resized or a link should used.
1st Offense - Documented Warning with copy of original sent to poster and offensive post deleted.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, Banned from Forum.
5th Offense - Account Frozen
3) Follow each individual forums' set of rules. You can usually find these stickied to the top of each forum. Read these rules and only post if you can abide by them.
1st Offense - Documented Warning with copy of original sent to poster and offensive post deleted.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, Banned from Forum.
5th Offense - Account Frozen
4) Signatures should not stretch the page, should be tasteful, and should not be unreasonably long. Do not use large images, too many images, or hard to read text.
1st Offense - Documented Warning with copy of original sent to poster and offensive post deleted.
2nd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $2,500 Fine.
3rd Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, $5,000 Fine.
4th Offense - Documented Warning, copy of original sent to poster, offensive post deleted, Banned from Forum.
5th Offense - Account Frozen
CUSTOM ACCESSORY RULES
No copyrighted images or trademarked characters are to be used on Alacrity without express written permission from the holder of the copyright or trademark. This includes, but is not limited to: photographs, artwork, icons and tags, photomanipulations, altered versions of existing images, etc.
This means anything made by someone ELSE cannot be used unless you have the artist's permission. This INCLUDES photographs. Tracing a photograph or following a reference too closely without the expressed permission of the image owner is not permitted.
Photography, even your own, and that of free stock is NOT allowed to be submitted as custom accessory material, for quality control purposes. Alacrity is centered around hand drawn, original art, and custom content should follow with this.
Tracing is not allowed, unless the photo you are tracing from is one you took yourself, but we still strongly discourage that, and you may not simply paint over, manipulate, or put a texture over a photo and submit it, even if it's yours. You must draw it all from scratch. Photography can be helpful as reference material, but if you insist on tracing, you may only do so with your own photographic content, not something you just found online, even if it's free stock.
Trademarked characters may not be used; this includes both existing and official images of said characters, as well as any art you may create yourself based on that character (e.g., no Spiderman, Superman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Littlefoot, Mickey Mouse, etc.). These characters are owned by their respective corporations. If you use a trademarked character, and someone from the company that owns it sees it on this site, Alacrity could be sued. NOT you, not the person who put it here, but Robyn herself. So just don't.
When creating a Custom Accessory with the Custom Accessory Maker item, please keep these rules in mind. Custom Accessories found to be using copyrighted images or trademarked characters will be deleted from the site and their creators will be fined. No refunds for the use of the Custom Accessory Maker item will be issued.
If you are in doubt about the nature of an image or character, please contact an Admin for a ruling before using it anywhere on the site.