#1. Do not spam/flood

Spamming is the posting of stupid, pointless, annoying messages that have nothing to do with the forum topic- Pokemon. If you post such messages, don't be surprised to see them disappear in an instant; We and other moderators regularly scan the forum and remove posts that are wastes of space.

A typical spam post could be: "bye everyone!" "let's chat!" "who is cooler/more stupid: person A or person B?". Get the point?

Posting something similar to the aforementioned examples of spam as a poll or tip (as opposed to a chat) is a surefire way to get it tagged.

Flooding is posting many threads in a row, on-topic or not. Usually such floods are off-topic spam anyway, and will be deleted. However, at times, people get an idea of a type of poll to post and tack up five or more in a row. This is unfair to other people who's posts are pushed down, and it is pointless since no one will bother to reply to your posts if there are that many in a row. Spread out your posts over time if you have many in mind, or try to combine them into one, as in the case of questions.

Rate my team posts are FINE.

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#2. There are to be THREE chat posts per page.

Expect more chatting posts to be tagged. It's a simple rule that needs to be understood. Too many chats results in a flooded forum where legitimate questions and posts are pushed off the page. It also causes people to be spread out over too many posts, creating many tiny chats rather than a few good, large ones. It's not just the rule, it's logical.

Also, there are to be no personal chats. These are when someone posts something like, "Jimmy, come chat here!" or "Only person A, person B, and person C can chat here!", et cetera. Pokemon isn't your personal message board, it's a forum for everyone to chat and help each other. Everyone is allowed in every post, so don't try to create chats for just certain people. It's not only pointless, it can cause hurt feelings and floods the forum quickly.

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#3. One fanfic per day

Fanfics are allowed in this forum, but each person may only post one per day. This will encourage better quality and less spam.

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#4. Keep your language to an acceptable degree (no cussing, racist slurs, sexual references).

Pokemon is a game for all ages, so naturally, people of all ages visit the Pokemon forum - let your language reflect this.

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#5. Respect other users

Somewhat vague, but very important. This is anything from staying on the topic of other peoples' posts, not bringing your own questions into others', to refraining from flaming or insulting. Rudeness and foul-mouthed attacks on other people will not be tolerated. Show respect to get it yourself, and the helpful and friendly community that is GameTalk's signature quality will thrive.

Within this category- respect others' choices in gaming. This means you, pokehaters. It is okay to have a different opinion about Pokemon, and post a general discussion about it. However, flaming in your ignorance Pokemon and those of us who enjoy it will get you banned quickly. It is immature, annoying, and can affect users in negative ways. Discuss, don't argue or flame.

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#6. Do not impersonate other people

Unfortunately some people find it amusing to, through one way or another, pretend to post as another user. To such people: don't. It's not only pointless, annoying, and a waste of space, but any Moderator can see it's you via IP's. You won't get away with it, so don't try it.

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#7. Do not advertise other sites

Well known sites like serebii.net or ign.com are fine to mention (most people know these anyway), but reporting your own site, for example a proboard, is not allowed at gametalk. Posts containing advertisements shall be removed at the moderators' discretion.

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#8. Do not talk about ROMs

ROMs are, basically, console games that you can play on your computer via an emulator. Gameboy/advance, SNES, and even more recent consoles are commonly emulated and played this way. Although not strictly illegal if you own the original game, ROM technology is not something gametalk likes to associate with. Thus, talk of it is banned, and any posts containing ROM requests or help will be tagged a.s.a.p.

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#9. Don't stretch the page

The page is stretched when someone posts too many consecutive keys in a row- usually ?'s and/or !'s. Which newcomers have a strange habit of doing. For example...

"how do u get in saffron??????????????????"

"lets chat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Though those wouldn't be quite enough to stretch the page, you get the idea. It would be a shame to have to tag a post because of something so petty, but that's what will happen. It's pointless and annoying to post so much punctuation and look like you're yelling everything, anyway, and it won't put yourself in a good light.

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#10. Enjoy your time here!

Whilst not strictly a rule, it's something we'd like to see everyone adhering to as Pokemon's prime days continue! Help out other users, post helpful tips and make relevant chats, and you'll find you will have an awesome time here!