Your membership to Amassment means that you agree to follow our community guidelines – so you will want to check these out. These guidelines have been rewritten to accommodate for our updated structure and rules of operation.
About Our Community
Open Membership
Our community is open to anyone interested in shrines. Whether you want to make shrines in the future, already make them, or just enjoy visiting them and would like to interact with and help other shrine makers, Amassment is for you!
Are you new to shrines and want to learn more about them? Check out our Introduction to Shrines portion of our Directory.
Channels
Our channels are defined by our: forum, chatroom and Twitter account. Our community guidelines apply to all channels.
Respect & Language
We promote an all-inclusive and non-hostile environment as we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable. We ask that you be respectful of others and have an open mind. Members of different ages come from all over the world and have many different interests, fandoms, and points of view. While you don’t have to agree with everyone, you must be able to tolerate viewpoints that differ from your own. Harassment and verbal attacks on other members within any of Amassment’s channels are not tolerated. Use appropriate language, and refrain from making derogatory or offensive remarks.
Problem Resolution
We are a community that are supportive of each other. If you have a problem or issue with another member or something someone posted, we ask that you message the member privately to first discuss the issue at hand. Please keep in mind that feedback should be about behavior, not personality. In your feedback, you should describe the effect the person’s behavior has on you. If for whatever reason you can’t resolve an issue yourself, please contact a member of the Admin Team.
Rule Enforcement
Issues Between Members
We hold each individual accountable for their own actions and place the expectation that they will behave in a way that promotes a positive and fun environment. If you are experiencing an issue with another member, please take the following steps:
Contact the member in question first and see if the issue can be resolved. Most of the time it is just a misunderstanding, as communicating over the internet can be tricky and what people say can be up for interpretation.
If the issue is not resolved, please contact one of the Administrators. Please refrain from bashing, or flaming, the individual within Amassment channels. Harassment is grounds for an immediate ban.
Administrations will discuss together and contact the individual in question. The first notice is given and is considered a strike.
If an individual has violated the guidelines to an extensive degree, as determined by the Admin and staff, they will be banned.
Contacting Staff
If you are unable to resolve the issue with the individual in question, or you feel that you are being harassed or attacked at the community, we ask that you reach out to staff members. We try hard to catch everything that goes on, but there are things that may elude us. Refer to the Contact Information topic for ways to contact staff members with questions and concerns.
Please consider keeping screenshots of interactions in question to present to the staff so we are able to make appropriate judgments regarding the situation. While we do not police the entire shrining web community we will not tolerate Amassment members being targeted and may be forced to take action when issues arise regarding harassment caused by current members.
Strikes
A Strike is a warning that one may receive from a member of the administrative team. Warnings are sent via a private message or e-mail to the individual.
Breaking any of the guidelines or rules will result in a strike. When an individual has received three strikes they will be issued a ban from the forums. Grounds for a strike include:
- Harassment of any Amassment member within Amassment channels. Our channels include: forums, our discord channels, our twitter account. Please review our Forum rules to see what we constitute as Harassment.
- Theft or plagiarism. Using any Amassment member’s (or other individual’s) fanart, code, written content, or other original content without permission is considered theft.
- Spamming the Forums or Chat Channels
- Posting Illegal Content
- Inability to adhere to Rules and Regulations of the community
Forum Rules
Feedback
We are all about motivating and bettering each other as shrine makers. Because of that, any plug posted at the forums is likely to receive constructive feedback as well as compliments. We have set up a “Sweet” system for members who wish to not receive any kind of constructive critique on their work, as some members just wish to show off what they have made. Please be aware of it when plugging a site, or responding to plug posts, so you don’t receive feedback if you don’t want it, or accidentally give feedback to someone who would rather not have it. More information on our “Sweet” system can be found here.
Communication
We are an open community and enforce positive communication between members within the Forums. Communication goes both ways and we ask that you are willing to engage and discuss in other posts when you sign up for Amassment. While we have many different forum topics we do not specialize in offering assistance with code or web design. Soliciting help without engaging in creation or conversation may be seen as spam and may result in a warning.
Spam
Our definition of spam includes:
- Posts unrelated to the topic or board
- Multiple posts of the same topic posted in various portions of the board
- Soliciting help without engaging in creation or conversation
Please avoid double-posting in forum threads and use the edit function instead.
Harassment
Harassment is aggressive or relentless unwanted pressuring of other individuals within the community. This could be done via private messages, forum posts, emails, and engaging members outside of Amassment channels for personal gain. In addition, we define harassment when an individual has requested to cease contact and the harasser continues to engage. Harassment within Amassment channels is not tolerated and will be grounds for an immediate ban.
Illegal Content
Do not post or link to anything that is illegal or pornographic.
Directory Listing Rules
Member Listing
New members are eligible to be listed on our community’s Members page after they have shown some activity at the forums. While you may join the forums or follow our Twitter to lurk, we do not list members who have shown no activity. Consider posting an introduction and saying hi! To get listed, please post in the Get Listed as a Current Member topic in the Directory Updates board on our forums.
Shrine Listing
Staffers will attempt to find new shrines by our members and add them as they find them, but if they miss any, feel free to submit them directly by posting in the Add a Site topic in the Directory Updates board on our forums. If we have added one or more of your shrines on our own and you would prefer them not to be listed, let us know.
Plagiarism
Content on your shrine should be original, including writing, layout and code. If you choose to quote a Wiki page or other published documents, you should reference your source accordingly. Use of original content (including text and code) from other sources without the creator’s consent is considered plagiarism and is subject to a strike.
Fan Art Usage
Amassment has a strict anti-theft position regarding fan art, whether fan art is used in a layout, as part of a gallery or for any other kind of graphic. We ask that shrines using fan art have permission from the artist and give visible credit on the shrine. If you have permission from the artist, please include a line to state so. Note that sites such as Google, Imgur or Zerochan are not appropriate forms of credit, nor are Tumblr or DeviantArt if they do not link to the artist’s personal site or profile.
Appropriate credits should include the name of the artist, their portfolio or contact link, and the mention of their permission to use their work.
If a site is found to be using fanart without permission and is submitted to the directory it will be rejected. Our Directory team does regular directory checks and if fanart is used without permission the site will be removed and the owner will be notified of a strike. Using fanart without permission is regarded as theft.
Administrator Review
Shrines that are submitted to the directory or plugged at the forums are subject to review by Administrators. Amassment reserves the right not to add a shrine to the directory, to remove a shrine from the directory, or to remove a plug if a shrine is not in accordance with the guidelines above, especially where plagiarism and fan art theft are concerned. A shrine may be resubmitted to the directory or reposted at the forums once the content in question has been amended, namely by removal or by obtaining permission and giving credit.
When you sign up to take part of Amassment you signify that you agree and will adhere to the rules and guidelines posted. You understand that you will act respectfully, speak kindly, and play a beneficial and important role to the shrining community. Amassment aims to provide a safe and comfortable space for those who are interested in the creation of fansites and be a consistent source of inspiration and friendship.
Guidelines last modified 3/8/17
