VF Guidelines for Junior Members (ages 13-17) - Updated July 13, 2007

[admin]

VF does not allow registration for those under the age of 13. Anyone over 13 and under 18 is placed in a specific category called "Junior Members". All members who are under the age of 18 and over 13 must join this member group (there is no option to opt-out).

As a Junior Member, certain areas of VF are either restricted or may not be available to you.

1. Junior Members have the ability to edit their User Title to anything that conforms to VF Guidelines (no staff titles, profanity, etc).

2. Junior Members have free access to the Arcade*

*3. Junior Members have restricted access to the Meets and Events Forum. (Junior members can read and post, but cannot create threads or post on the VF Calendar)*

4. Junior Members can read and respond (comments) to VF Journals but cannot have their own Journal due to privacy concerns.

5. Junior Members have restricted access to Private Messaging*

6. We recommend that Junior Members not post photos of themselves in prominent places where their safety may be at risk.

7. Junior Members have no access to VF Chat.

8. Junior Members cannot become a Premium Member (paid membership) until they reach the age of 18.

9. Existing Premium Members who are under the age of 18 can finish out their current subscription, but after which they will be returned to Junior Member status until they reach the age of 18.

*=For certain options, Users must acknowledge certain rules before proceeding.

Limited Access:

If we feel you cannot present yourself in a mature manner on VF, or you have violated site guidelines, you may be placed into a Limited Access usergroup, which, while still allowing you to visit the site, read messages, etc, excludes you from posting messages, using the Private Messaging System or using the Shoutbox.

--------------

In general, Junior Members' access to Visions Fantastic is conditional, and any Guideline infractions can result in the loss of access to VF (Banning). Our complete guidelines are below:

1. No commercial or website advertising.

You cannot post a message advertising your website (or someone else's website, i.e. "come visit"). If your link applies to a topic already begun by another user, you may post a link. Your signature may also contain a link to your website, but commercial advertising, EBAY listings, or any link where you can earn a commission is not allowed. If you'd like to point out a link of interest on another site, make sure you link to a HTML page where the item resides and DO NOT link to images, video or audio clips. Commercial advertising or "Spam" is not allowed and the account will be deleted. The following are exceptions to the above rule:

- Links to Youtube and Google Video content as long as it's appropriate and complies with VF Guidelines (no profanity, nudity, violent behavior, vulgar or sexually oriented content, etc).

Linking Policy:

Links in your signature, homepage link or links posted in the shoutbox must be in good taste and be family friendly and appropriate. Adult, crude or otherwise inappropriate (sexual, racial, violent, alcohol/drug related) content is not allowed on VF and you should not link to it from VF by posting links to it. Offensive links may be removed and possibly count towards points on your VF account.

MySpace

Myspace is a community website where people can meet other people their own age, etc. You may post a link to your Myspace page in your signature or as your Homepage link, but you may NOT start a thread about Myspace or share your Myspace links in the Shoutbox.

The Rumor Mill

Typically Internet Rumors should be discussed in the Rumor Mill. Topics we feel may confuse people (For instance; 'Rocket Rods Returning!') will be moved here. Other websites can be discussed here, but remember to refrain from personal attacks on other websites and persons' who operate these websites.

No foul or abusive language, flaming or trolling. Respect for VF Staff:

Visions Fantastic Discussion Boards are meant to be family friendly. Refrain from using profanity (we consider profanity anything that can't be said on public radio or network TV). Adult or sexually explicit language is not allowed. Bullying, harassment or general disregard for other users or Moderators is not allowed. Masked vulgarity is not allowed: h***, f***, etc.

If a Mod or Admin gives you a direct instruction, not following it or taking it seriously may result in your account being placed on Limited Access.

Harassment and Personal Attacks:

If you feel you're being harassed, avoid getting into heated confrontations and report the behavior to a Moderator or Admin and we will handle the situation . A personal attack would be a comment about you, personally. For instance:

"Rocket Rods coming back would be a stupid idea' - is acceptable.

"You're an idiot if you think the Rocket Rods coming back is a good idea!" is NOT acceptable.

Flaming and Trolling

"Flaming" and "Trolling" are fairly self-explanatory terms, and this activity is not allowed here. Flaming and Trolling involve people intentionally posting things that will get a rise out of people and potentially cause others to break guidelines. An example of this would be someone posting the following statement in the VMK Forum:

"Anyone who uses VMK is an idiot and has no life"

While the statement does not personally identfy a particular user, it's a personal attack (on the members of that particular forum) and is considered trolling because of its obvious confrontational meanings.

What a YAGE?

'Yage' is short for 'Yet Another Grand Exit". Occassionally people may feel they are no longer welcome at VF, or for whatever reasons of their own, they decide to leave VF. Posting a "Yage" is considered trolling. A Yage usually directs the 'blame' on somebody or the entire website community. People often post a 'Yage' to simply see how people respond. The responses vary from 'Oh no.. Don't leave" to "Please leave NOW!".

A "Yage" following the above criteria may be deleted or moved to "Never Never Land" and closed. There is no point in discussing these topics and encouraging personal attacks. Your account may be placed on Limited Access if you choose to use this method of disruption.

3. "Bumping" your post by posting multiple messages just to keep the message current is a violation of our Guidelines . You will be warned once, but additional infractions may result in suspension or eventual banning. Multiple posting just to increase your post count is also a disruption (also see "Flooding" below) and incidents of this will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

4. Stay on topic! Topics will tend to go off-topic naturally from time to time, but if you delibrately or repeatedly try to steer a discussion off-topic, you are be in violation of our Guidelines. Steering a topic off-topic is a passive-aggressive action and is considered disruptive. Topics generally that are not Disneyland related are moved to a special "Off topic" discussion area. Certain topics are not allowed and are considered a waste of resources. They include topics like 'what music are you listening to right now' and similar topics. Topics posted are for DISCUSSION, not listings. Please use this area for off-topic posts or other subjects you'd like to discuss. Internet rumors and speculation will usually be moved to the Rumor Mill.

5. Multiple names, accounts, etc, are not allowed. One person (or household) is allowed one username. If 2 or more people are signing on from the same household, please contact an Admin and let them know you're doing this to avoid having your accounts banned. All accounts are capable of changing the username (by contacting an Admin), so creating new accounts should be unneccessary. If you forget your password or change your email, contact a site Admin. People caught with multiple accounts are immediately banned.

6. The discussion or the distribution of copyrighted or trademarked materials are prohibited. Generally this includes the discussion of copies or bootlegged or materials (MP3, Disneyland Forever tracks, etc). Take these discussions elsewhere. We realize some material is not commercially available, but that is no excuse for trading these materials in a public forum. If you ask for these materials in our forums, expect your topic to be deleted and your account banned.

7. Flooding or otherwise posting an unreasonable amount of posts or replies is a violation of our Guidelines. You will be warned if you're posting too much. We realize new users typically want to enter into several conversations, but replying to multiple messages over the course of several days is considered 'flooding' and 'disruption" and is against guidelines. The following are considered typical:

Typical User: 2-8 posts a day
Flooding User: 20+ posts a day

8. Impersonating a Visions Fantastic moderator, webmaster or Admin is grounds for immediate banning, in most cases. Only staff members are allowed to enforce VF Guidelines. We recommend you report the Post or PM right away so one of our staff members can take care of the problem.

9. Posting a graphic, video file or audio file that is "hot linked" from another website without the webmaster's permission is not allowed. When using Avatar photos, either use the server space provided on VF (Gallery) or obtain your own server space. Leaching your avatar off another server costs the other site money. On the same note, you may not "hot link" to your own avatar for use on another forum.

10. Posting potentially libel material against somebody is a violation of our Guidelines. Posting personal attacks against other individuals, whether they are on this website or not, is not allowed. For instance, you may criticize a website's CONTENT, but you shouldn't criticize the individual who wrote it.

11. In general, information that is posted should be taken as rumor until it has been verified by a press release or some official statement by the Company (Disney). Topics that become based on heresay will be placed in the Rumor Mill.

12. The Visions Fantastic Staff reserves the right to handle any situation with any action seen fit by said Staff member. If you feel that a situation has been handled unjustly, you may contact the Admin (Chris) via email at webmaster@visionsfantastic.com Be sure to include your username in any correspondance.

Avatars, Signatures and Graphics Posting

1. Avatars must be no more than 200 pixels wide with a maximum height of 250 pixels. Uploaded avatars must not exceed 64k. Use care when using remotely-hosted images and/or animations. Large animations (filesize) may create slowdowns for users on a slower connection and you may be asked to remove it.

2. Graphics used in signatures must not be larger than 400 pixels wide and 150 pixels high. They must not exceed 64k. You may only have ONE image in your signature with up to 2 lines of regular text OR up to 6 lines of single-spaced regular sized text. Please use care when using large size fonts in your signature and make sure they don't exceed the length of six lines of regular (10pt) text. Your signature cannot contain anything that can be construed as hateful or abusive to another person, company or organization.

3. Javascript or other coding is not allowed in your signature. A countdown timer is available in your PROFILE.


4. When posting a graphic in your message, please try to keep the image to less than 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels high. When possible, post a small thumbnail image and link to the corresponding image in the Visions Gallery . Each user has 6 megabytes of free space in the Visions Gallery.

5. Spelling and Grammar. VF is not the Grammar Police, nor are we a educational institution, however, proper spelling and grammar are vital in a medium such as a Discussion Forum. We encourage you to check your post over in the 'Preview' mode and check for spelling and obvious grammatical errors (A nifty spell cheak feature is available to those using Internet Explorer). You also have 24 hours after you post a message in which to edit your post. If Mods and Admins begin to see a pattern of mispellings/poor grammar, you will be notified. If the pattern persists, its likely you will lose your posting privillages on VF, or your posts may have to be approved by a Moderator before they appear on VF. In extreme cases (where you have not responded to a VF Staff Member regarding the situation), you may be banned without warning.