Rules: Indepth¶
Warning
A user account is considered a single ‘entity’. This means that if a violation is enacted on a specific account, this account is held ‘accountable.’ If the account is banned it does not matter if it is a ‘brother or sister or friend’ who broke the rules, since you are not able to maintain the integrity of the account, it cannot be on the server.
Knockturn Network Rules¶
Contents
Note
The following list of rules are required to be obeyed no matter which server within Knockturn you are on.
Chat Violations¶
Our chat is the essence of our community, and for this reason, we would like it to remain a respectful environment for all whom use it. This means that anyone who cannot follow these rules, cannot be apart of the community. While we understand that there are all ages on the server, being older or ‘cooler’ does not give you the permission to break the rules, just because you’re no longer a “child”.
Rudeness¶
While we understand that Knockturn is not necessarily a ‘safe space’, we expect that all people on the server attempt to keep impolite feelings and thoughts out of it. We stand by the term: “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t anything”. For this reason, all players are asked to be civil and keep a civil attitude in our chats. Our server motto: We rather have 5 nice people than 50 jerks applies here. If our server is smaller due to the fact that other people are just too rude, then we will manage - better to have a good community than a big one.
Threats¶
On Knockturn we take threats seriously, whether or not you meant it as a joke. Anyone who threatens another user’s person will be harshly punished. If you have a conflict with another user, we urge you to take screen shots and report it on the forums in the offenses section.
Threatening Self-Harm¶
While we want ALL users to be safe, and we do not want users to hurt themselves, we also want to respect the users who are on here. Since, sadly, it is often an attention seeking method by saying you will harm yourself or ‘cut’, we do not allow sending messages like this to another user even in private messages. This is due to the fact that it usually has an adverse mental effect on other users, and can even sometimes harm them mentally. Sometimes the person saying it, is only doing it for attention, and due to that, they are never in real danger, but Gas-Lighting someone who may actually have issues in real life due to someone who is worried for their safety. If you think anyone is going to self-harm we urge you to contact upper staff, and we will make sure to attempt to fix the situations, and if necessary, call the authorities in the person’s area in order to ensure they are okay, to the best of our ability.
Spam & Annoying Chat¶
Many people dispute what is considered ‘spam’. In our books, its any chat that is deemed ‘annoying.’ This means anything that involved too many characters, caps, or interchangeable caps. We also have a lack of fondness for people who capitalize all words in a sentence such as: We Capitalize Every Word All The Time. If a staff member says it’s “spam” or “caps”, then it probably is.
Swearing¶
Swearing is a by chat rule (meaning some chats allow swears, see Special Channel Alterations), though swearing acronyms are allowed in global. In global areas & public areas we draw a very hard line on full swearing. However, depending on the chat channel, some other channels permit swearing. It depends on who is present for the most part, & we never permit someone swearing at someone, even in acronyms.
Advertising¶
It’s considered a serious and very bannable offense to advertise, whether you advertise another server on Knockturn or advertise knockturn on another server. Since we hate seeing people throw addresses in our chat, we also do not want to see anyone else put our addresses in another server’s chat. If this does occur, and and we are confronted about it or have evidence of the matter, we will ban that person. This is a hard rule on bother directions - on the server and on other servers.
Slander¶
Our server has a lot of work put into it. If you don’t like it, you have the ability to leave. However, speaking poorly about the server to people on the server is generally not okay, and is not accepted. This is due to the fact that hundreds of people have put hundreds of hours of work into building it, literally and figuratively, and it’s hurtful to come on the server to talk crap about it. Simply put, if you spent multiple years on a project, you wouldn’t want someone to take a turd on it. So why should we receive that treatment from you?
Taboo Subjects¶
The following subjects are not permitted for discussion in global or public areas:
Religion
Politics
Drugs
Racist Comments
Sexist Comments
Any sexuality, straight or homosexual.
Adult subjects
Any subject a staff member deems both controversial and unrelated to a server’s theme
Why? Most of these are general, but others are controversial subjects. We are fine with everyone being who you are in your off time, and we are fine with gay, straight, or furry roleplay characters. However, we are not interested in your opinions on any of it. Your character can be Christian or Wiccan or Muslim (on hogs), but we don’t want you discussing it with the other users. There is a time and place to discuss things, and this network is not the location.
However, if you want to discuss Harry Potter politics or Bloodism, and whether or not Regina was controversial, go ahead.
Preferred Pronouns¶
To keep all people happy, or miserable depending on how you look at it, knockturn recognizes exactly 3 gendered pronouns to allow users to pick what they feel most comfortable. Those genders are: He, She, and They. Regardless of how you see a person, you must always refer to what they have as a preferred pronoun.
With that in mind, please be aware that if you recently switched, or if the person recently came back from a long hiatus, do not instantly get offended if they do not know. The people who are breaking the rule are those who intentionally use the incorrect pronoun despite you asking them not to.
Trolling¶
This is a gray area, but this is generally anyone who is doing something with the intention to waste someone’s time or breaking rules for the sake of attention. This is a community, and if you are coming on just to be an annoying person, we will ban you.
This pertains to any attention seeking annoying behavior that will cause staff to not be able to do something worth their time. This especially counts if you have been warned not to by staff.
Requesting Staff¶
You can apply for staff on our forums but asking for staff directly is simply not going to work. We will not give you a staff role just because you asked, no matter how nicely.
Mini-Modding¶
This is informing someone else of a rule, or telling someone else what to do as if you have the authority of staff. If someone breaks a rule, report it, or let staff deal with it. Do not seek to step in between staff & the user. This applies to calling out “caps” in global.
Interrupting Roleplay¶
If someone is roleplaying, it is not permitted to walk up, and start harassing them or trying to talk to them out of character. Especially, if they ask you to stop. If you /msg them and they do not want to be bothered, you need to let them roleplay until they are available at a later time.
Staff Progression of Questions¶
Asking questions of staff is fully acceptable. However, there is an order to whom you ask a question. The hierarchy is as follows:
Helper
Mod
Admin
Co-Owner
Pandette
While we all know that Pandette just simply knows all, you have to remember that Pandette is only one person, and while you may ‘just have one question’ there are about 100 more people who feel the same way. In addition, Pandette has real life to deal with which means she has to balance her real life with how much she spends on this game. For these reasons, we ask that you respect this order, not just with Pandette, but also the co-owners, admins, etc. Always ask the lowest on the totem pole, and let them refer you to someone else if they cannot help.
Special Channel Alterations¶
Some channels have special rules or exceptions to the rules, but from time to time will follow the rules of all other channels
Slytherin Chat: Allows swears, as long as they aren’t at people, but if asked to not swear, you must cease.
Staff Chat/ Admin Chat: Allows swears. If you swear at people & cause altercations it usually results in a staff warning or demotion.
Non-Public areas: You can swear as long as everyone nearby is okay with it.
Server Etiquette¶
Arguments¶
When it comes to a dispute, everyone involved should make quick to stop the argument. If the argument continues, we ask that you bring it to staff to resolve the issue, or agree to disagree. Anyone who is attempting to argue with people constantly, will be punished. We want to maintain a friendly environment on Knockturn, at the expense of disruptive players if need be.
Nudity¶
All avatars should be fully clothed and dressed appropriately. We don’t want to see anything you wouldn’t see in a PG movie.
Appropriate Roleplay Name & Usernames¶
We ask that all names be appropriate when chosen, and you will have your name forcibly changed if not. Anyone without an appropriate username needs to change their ign, else we may have to remove you from the server until you can due to the fact that it is not proper.
Griefing¶
Destroying Server Made Builds¶
No one is permitted to ruin the integrity of a build that is not their own. This includes destroying walls of areas where you are permitted to build. If you accidentally destroy something, please report it on the forums or to a staff member. The same goes if you find anything broken.
Stealing¶
Generally, anything you are not permitted to open should be locked, but there are occasions where this is not the case. If you see something unlocked that seems like it should be locked, make a ticket or report it on the forums before taking from it. Most of the time this is obvious. Do not think you will be able to get away with stealing as everything has coreprotect and we can find out if you have stolen anything.
Violence¶
External Programs¶
Mods¶
This server does not permit mods outside of Optifine, shaders, and Minecraftcapes. Any other mod would need to be asked about in Mod Applications before being used. Some example of mods not permitted: Minimaps, player locations, etc. Using unapproved mods is a very bannable offence.
Hacking¶
Hacking on the server is strictly not permitted. Anything that might give you and advantage over another player or enter an area you aren’t permitted to go is not allowed.
DDoS attacks¶
Attacking the server through DDoS is also not permitted, for obvious reasons. Although, more likely we won’t even be able to detect this happening, our servers have pretty good DDoS protection, but that doesn’t mean you should try.
Miscellaneous rules¶
Using Alternate Accounts To Abuse Starter Money¶
Due to the fact that we believe in fair play, it is not permitted to sign in with an alternate account and send money to your main account or any other starter items. If this is caught, it is considered cheating and therefore a permanent ban on all accounts from the server, possibly ip ban, regardless on which server it was performed.
Using Hacked Accounts¶
Any use of illegally gotten alternate accounts on our server is a permaban and ip ban without any appeal. We do not approve of breaking the law or stealing.
Evading Punishment¶
Trying to not be punished by either going around a mute if possible, switching servers, signing off when in trouble, using #minecraft-server on discord when muted or banned or using an alt account while you are banned is not permitted. If any of this occurs, punishment will results in an even harsher punishment that prevents evading. IE: temp banned person using alt, both accounts are permabanned. Permabanned person comes on server to dispute ban, both accounts permabanned and no appeal permitted for more than 3 months.
If you have issues, put them on the forums. Do not come on the server on an alt to try to talk to staff.
Intentional Lag of the Server¶
If you are doing something that has the potential to lag the server, then you can get in big trouble. This might include large redstone systems, networks of hoppers, or just throwing items down on the ground to cause lag for everyone nearby.
Exploiting of Bugs¶
If you find a bug, you need to report it on the server right away. Not reporting a bug on the server is a serious offense, especially if paired with you using the bug to your advantage.
My Account, its not me¶
Even if someone else is on your account, it is considered you. If you don’t like that, don’t let others on your account.
Staff Word is Law¶
If a member of staff says something, you have to deal with it as if it is law. Breaking this will only lead you into more serious punishment. If you disagree with it, you can appeal to someone higher on the totem pole in the forums. If it’s Pandette, then appealing on the forums goes to all the co-owners for appeal process.
Badgering Staff¶
Badgering staff wastes time and is punishable. It includes: asking questions of them continuously, asking ‘When will I know about my application’, asking them to look at something on the forums for you, asking them to do something that they said they would do already and haven’t gotten to yet.
Staff are people, and some of them are very busy and all of them have life outside of knockturn. Add that to, not only are they volunteers, but some of them pay to even keep the server up out of pocket, ie Pandette & Crystal & Nomsy. Therefore, not only do you have no right to treat them like your servant, but you are a guest here. That means you have to act like you would if you were over someone else’s house, respectful of what you see about you.
While we are here to help, you need to have patience. Additionally, badgering staff includes feeling like you are justified as reason for why something is the way it is. You are not owed anything, and when there is a rule you need to respect it. If the mass majority of people agreed with you on a rule, then it wouldn’t be a rule.
Unopened Areas¶
There are areas of the map that are not open from time to time, and they are areas that are usually in progress. One example would be the chamber of secrets which is not yet open to public viewing.
Drunk in Global or On Hogwarts Grounds¶
Drinking alcohol may be fun, but it slurs up your messages, making them incomprehensible and annoying. All chat in global should be sober chat only. Use [] or ** around your message to prevent drunk chat when speaking in global or on hogwarts grounds.