The SCP Foundation

Users

As a user, you are entitled to the following rights, and held to the following obligations:

Rights:

1. You may comment however you wish on any entry, provided it is done so in the spirit of constructive criticism or conversation, and not as a personal attack or “troll post”. If you feel a user’s comments are not being posted in the spirit of constructive criticism or conversation, please contact a Mod or Admin.
2. You may vote however you wish on any entry, provided that this is done as an honest expression of opinion on the article and not the author or other outside factors, and not as an attempt to artificially boost/reduce an article’s position as part of a “group strike”. A “group strike” is defined as the mass voting of an article based on things other than the article’s merit, such as a personal opinion about the author, outside pressure, or other things with no bearing on the entry itself.
3. You are allowed to post your submissions, provided that this is done in the correct location.
4. You may request assistance/comments/review by other users and staff, with the understanding that they are under no obligation to do so, and that the choice is wholly voluntary on their behalf.
5. You may question the actions of other users and staff as long as it is done in a calm, mature fashion.
6. You may make minor edits for grammar or spelling to other peoples' articles if you accurately fill out the "Short description of changes" box. Larger edits require permission from the original author, moderators, or admins.
7. You may appeal a permanent ban one year after it has been enacted. Staff, however, may deny your request for any reason.

Obligations:

1. You are to be a mature member of the community. Heated arguments, vandalism, trolling, and general immaturity, including intentionally writing badly to provoke a reaction, will not be tolerated.
2. You are to be open to criticism, and to tolerate the opinion of others whom you may not agree with. If you feel a commenter is being unnecessarily harsh, please contact a Mod or Admin.
3. Entries may be edited/moved/deleted at any time. As an original author, you may undo edits if needed, and repost deleted articles upon revision.
4. If a mod or admin says a discussion is over, it is over. If you continue, you are now open to any punishment deemed necessary.
5. If you receive multiple comments calling for editing, please do so. If you choose not to, please state the reason.
6. If you constantly have entries deleted, undergo major edits, and be decommissioned, please stop and consult an Admin or Mod before continuing to post new entries. This will allow us to determine what the issue is, and hopefully keep it from happening any more.
7. Respect Mod and Admin staff decisions. If you feel you are being treated unfairly, please appeal to a different staff member, and they will review the situation. If the situation is deemed “fair”, please do not continue to appeal to other staff members in hopes of getting a different response.
8. Suggestions for editing by Mods and Admins should be given careful consideration.
9. Know who the Admins and Mods are.
10. You are not allowed to have a signature for your forum posts.
11. You will not post unfinished works on the site proper.
12. Know how to use the 'Edit' and 'Reply' functions before posting in the forums.

Nonmoderative Senior Staff

As a Senior Staff Member, you are held to all the above mentioned items, in addition to the following:

Rights:

1. Senior Staff are allowed to vote on the deletion of pages.
2. Senior Staff may call for the mass review of a particularly good/bad entry. Mass Review is defined as the presentation of an entry to garner additional comments or votes, without positive or negative bias. A entry would be presented as such: “Please read <entry>. I would like to see what the community opinion of <entry> is.” As opposed to “Read <entry> and tell me how bad it is.”
3. Call for a “Stop.” order on a conversation if it is determined to no longer have any merit as a constructive argument. Moderators and Administrators may override a Stop order issued by a nonmoderative Staff member, if they feel that the discussion still has merit.

Obligations:

1. Staff members are held to the same series of obligations as regular users, except where special circumstances apply. Additionally, site staff are held to a higher standard of conduct and ethics than other users, and failure to honor the expected role of site staff will be seen as grounds for demotion from such a position.

Mods

As a Site Moderator, you are held to all the above mentioned items, in addition to the following:

Rights:

1. You may vote/call for the deletion of any page.
2. Delete/move forum threads that are old/out of use/incorrectly placed.
3. Deletion of pages (within guidelines).
4. Call for a “Stop.” order on a conversation if it is determined to no longer have any merit as a constructive argument.
5. Nominate users for banning/tempbanning.
6. Edit forum and discussion posts in violation of site rules and expectations of users and move out-of-place threads. The reason for this must be clearly given.
7. Give permission for rewrites in lieu of the original author, if the original author is no longer present.

Obligations:

1. Try to maintain an objective viewpoint at all times.
2. Keep the community civil, and attempt to defuse arguments.
3. Report any and all major actions, such as deletions.
4. Give warnings/recommend punishments in proportion to the offense.

Admins

As an administrator, you are held to all the above mentioned items, in addition to the following:

Rights:

1. Banning of users
2. Deletion of pages (with minimal guidelines)
3. Accepting member applications
4. Making alterations to the site format after review
5. Act as a “supreme court” in regards to issues brought up by users and Mods

Obligations:

1. Provide comments and decisions from an objective viewpoint at all times. Always keep the best interests of the site and community in mind, even if it may run counter to your personal feelings.
2. Always attempt to be as reasonable and fair as possible.
3. When forced to act quickly, or without staff approval/review, please state the reason and course of action as soon as possible.
4. Maintain the site, and attempt to improve it whenever possible.

The following offenses may result in a permanent ban at staff discretion:

• Obvious and Blatant Site Vandalism (deletion/vandalism of wiki pages.)
• Evasion of lesser disciplinary measures (for example: creating an alt and logging onto the site when under a tempban.)
• Obvious and blatant trolling (Forum posts intended to incite extreme emotional reaction; this includes trolling other sites in the name of the SCP Foundation.)
• Spamming the forums.
• Blackmailing or extensive harassment¹ of a user, group of users, or the site as a whole.
• Excessive or flagrant breach of lesser rules.
• Other equally horrible things that the staff has yet to think of or that should be a given to any sane person.

The following offenses may result in a 24 hour temp ban for the first offense, 7 day ban for the second, and permaban for third offense, all at staff discretion:

• Excessive rudeness to Senior Staff, Moderators, and/or Administrators acting in an official capacity.
• Failure to comply with a mod/admin directive delivered within the rights listed above.
• Voting on articles for reasons other than their literary merits.
• Excessive or flagrant breach of lesser rules, especially excessive rudeness.

The following offenses may result in a warning for the first offense, 24 hour temp ban for the second, 7 day ban for the third, and permaban for the fourth, all at staff discretion:

• Excessive rudeness to other users.
• Excessive or flagrant breach of general site guidelines or the Obligations listed above, i.e. repeated posting on staff posts.

The following offenses will never result in bannings.

• Writing shitty SCPs (although spamming the site with shitty SCPs can be considered an instant permaban.)
• Voting on any particular article as an expression of opinion on its quality or merits.
• Respectful disagreement with staff decisions.

It is also hereby stated that any and all of these rights, obligations, and punishments are subject to alteration, deletion or addition after review by the Staff.