HPANA Rules of Conduct

Although the administrators and moderators of this site will attempt to keep objectionable content from being published, it is impossible to review all posts all of the time. Messages express the views of the author only and are not endorsed or condoned by the site or its volunteer staff. Hence, you agree not to hold HPANA responsible for the content of any messages on the site.

HPANA reserves the right to remove, edit, move or lock (close) any thread for any reason, with or without prior warning.

THOU SHALT NOT...

1. Post inappropriate content (messages or pictures) including: sexually explicit (or pornographic), obscene, vulgar, hateful, threatening or illegal messages or use any such depictions in your avatar (user image). These are public forums visited by thousands of people many of whom are kids – As such, discussions of this type will NOT be tolerated, period.
2. Post negative remarks based on age, race, weight, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
3. Engage in personal attacks or flames. If you don't agree with somebody's post, argue with the post's content, not with the person who made it.
4. Use flagrant profanity. Limited curse words may be allowed in specific adult areas of the site, but should be kept to a minimum, and are NEVER allowed in the public areas of the site.
5. Post one-line comments that consist of nothing more than "is anyone here?” or “I am only doing this for points.” - thousands of people visit HPANA daily and most don't care if somebody else is with them at any precise moment. Forums are NOT chat rooms and should not be used as such unless specifically allowed.
6. Post one-line comments on news articles such as “first to post” or “I agree”. You should not post comments on news articles before fully reading and digesting them. You should only posts AFTER you’ve read an article and then only if you have something of interest to add to the discussion.
7. Impersonate another member or sign in under another member's account. This is a serious offense and may result in expulsion from the site on the very first occurrence. Similarly, impersonating a “famous” person such as actors from the Harry Potter movies or J.K. Rowling herself will not be tolerated and will be considered grounds for immediate removal from the site.
8. Use "chatspeak" anywhere on the site. We know it's difficult, but you must actually type out the full, real English versions of 4 (for), u (you), cuz (because), 2 (to), ne way (anyway), ppl (people), etc. JK Rowling almost stopped doing online chats because she couldn't stand the chatspeak. Also do not try to get around the filter that has been built to PREVENT chatspeak. If your post is rejected and you see the message "No chatspeak allowed," instead of trying to get around it, change your post and spell out the words!
9. Feed the trolls. Trolls are classified as people who sign up just to post messages with the only intention of causing a ruckus. DO NOT POST in topics created by trolls. Naturally, a moderator will see them in time and remove them. By posting in them you are only keeping the troll interested and coming back. If you ignore them, they'll go away.
10. Use multiple accounts to gain access to either the “adult” and/or “kid” forums. If a member is found to have multiple accounts or be in an area of the site that they are not entitled to, they will be removed from the entire site. Members who are found to have multiple accounts (regardless of the reason) will be asked to choose one and only one to use.
11. Post overly large photos in topic discussions. The largest an image can be is 500 pixels by 500 pixels – any image larger than that size will be reduced or deleted. To avoid this, please be sure to resize your image before adding it.
12. Post spam or actively solicit for other web sites in the HPANA forums. The Sonorus forum is the ONLY place where SPAM is allowed.
13. Post in the Common Room of a different House. The forums are set up so that you can only post in your own common room. On occasion, there may be situations where the system breaks down and allows a member of one house to post in the common room of another. This is against the rules and strictly forbidden. Anyone caught doing this will have house points deducted.
14. Mention # of points wanted/needed in a post. If your post contains a reference to the number of points you want or need to get to another level (or in a certain time period), it will be deleted.
15. Use animated signatures on any posts . All forum signatures must be static. Animated signatures are no longer allowed on the site, and static versions can be no larger than 200x40 pixels. Due to site performance issues HPANA can’t support animated signatures. Note: Avatars can continue to be animated.
16. Post in any other language besides English. Since HPANA is an English site all comments must be posted in English so that moderator's can make sure that all members are following the rules.
17. Create a topic titles using all capital letters. Use appropriate punctuation and capitalization when creating topic titles for all threads. Any use of all caps is likely to be deleted.
18. Create topics celebrating personal milestones in your membership, your birthday, or life event on the site. HPANA is a community of people and while we want to celebrate accomplishments, starting individual threads for each one for every member is beyond the capability of the site.

HPANA members are expected to:

Listen to forum moderators and site administrators at all times. HPANA staff have the final word on anything and everything, so don't argue! Any instructions given by a moderator should be followed and respected. If there is a question about any action taken, feel free to first bring it to that moderator directly, and if necessary to the attention of the Head Moderator, Geri. Owls can be sent to Geri. Disrespecting instructions or posting negative comments about HPANA staff or their actions will not be tolerated.

THOU SHALT...

1. Be kind and considerate of your fellow members.
2. Be old enough to legally be a member on the site. All members MUST be over the age of 13 years old to be on the site. If a person under that age is found to be on the site, they will most likely be asked to leave immediately and their profile removed. New U.S. laws went into place at the start of 2004 that made allowing members under the age of the 13 no longer possible.
3. Use descriptive subject lines when creating topics. What are you posting about? Do you even need to create a new topic? If you really do, explain the new topic as accurately and succinctly (short) as possible. Moderators may choose to change the title of the topic to better engage comments from other members of the site.
4. Look for thread topics BEFORE starting a new thread. Often the topic you are interested in already exists and has been moved back a few pages. By looking first and creating topics second you keep the forums organized and you keep from having your threads deleted. A search function is available to help you in this process.
5. Periodically check this list of rules, for they may be changed or amended at any time. Notice for any new revisions should be published, but it is your responsibility to follow and abide by these rules and guidelines. Failure to do so may result in warning and ultimately, permanent expulsion from the site.