OFFICIAL SITE RULES

1. Respect Everyone: This is absolutely critical. Just because someone’s opinion is different than yours does not give you the right to call them names or otherwise degrade them in any way. This includes but is not limited to flaming, bashing, talking down to, or other similar behavior. Further please respect gender preferences, calling someone by the wrong gender pronouns is disrespectful and it just hurts peoples’ feelings. If you’re unsure of a person’s gender, feel free to PM them and ask. It is okay to have differences in opinions, so long as such differences are voiced in a respectful manner.

2. Cyber Bullying/Discrimination Policy: Bullying of any kind will not be tolerated for any reason as it has been shown to have negative impacts on a person’s self-esteem and other emotional indicators. Further discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or affiliations, or other such protected class is also covered in this rule. If you are observed violating this rule, you will be temporarily suspended and if violations continue, you will be banned.

3. No Spam: This includes posting useless things to increase your rank or watch your post count go sky high.

4. No Thread Bumping: Don’t just reply to your own thread to force it to the top of a specific area as the “last active item”, or to correct a mistake in the original post. Should you wish to make alterations to a post you made choose the “edit” button. The exception to this is in the creativity section when you have new creative work to add (such as a picture or story)

5. Organization: Please post your topic in the appropriate area. Topics posted to the wrong area may be moved or locked at our option. If you’re unsure of where to post your content, please PM a staff member.

6. Content Policy: Cussing, swearing, cursing, or other abusive language is not allowed anywhere. In addition to the ban on abusive language, please remember to keep all content appropriate for all ages. Appropriate actions will be taken if need be. Please keep in mind that we have various age groups that visit the site, especially young users. 

7. No intentional spamming: Spamming is kinda the same thing as Trolling. If we catch you spamming intentionally then your account will be banned or suspended.

8. No unapproved advertising: Advertising any product or service without the permission of the staff is strictly prohibited. Do not advertise anything on this forum if it has not been approved by me or any of the other staff members. If you want to advertise something then PM one of us. Advertising your website in your signature is fine with us as long as you do it in a reasonable way. Another way that is acceptable for advertising is by putting your website in your profile in the website box. Other than this will not be tolerated.

9. Cheating and stealing (Be original): Remember all that stuff they taught us in school about plagiarism? Well, it applies here as well. Further stealing creative assets or posts from others including the site itself is covered under this policy. If you suspect violations of this rule please PM staff with evidence. Note that the plagiarism rule applies to contest submissions as well and will be strictly enforced. Cheating will not be allowed. There are many types of cheating such as spamming, posting pointless stuff just so your rank will go up, stealing, attempting to steal others work and pictures just to win a contest, etc. If it wasn’t your original idea or content, at least give credit where it is due. If you do any of this, you will get banned. If you know someone that is cheating, please PM one of the staff members and we will deal with it immediately. Please provide evidence. As for stealing, do not steal others work. If you are going to take it, give credits. If you do not give credits to the one that created the work, that is called stealing, otherwise known as plagiarism. This is kinda the same thing as cheating and this will never be tolerated. If you know someone that is doing any of this, please contact us immediately but please make sure you have evidence to show us.

10. Chatbox policies: All rules that apply to forums also take effect in the chat box. Please be respectful and do not flood the chat.

11. Usernames: You can not change your username or your color. The only way for you to do that is if you win one of the contests here and choose that as your winning prize from the choices that will be listed. There may be times where you can ask one of us to change your username for you, after giving it some thought, we may allow it. However, passwords and emails can be changed by going into your profile and typing in your new information.

12. Signatures and Avatar policy: The maximum allowable dimensions for signature pictures are 640x360 pixels. Animated GIFs are allowed, however, videos are not allowed at this time due to some users experiencing behaviors where the videos automatically start playing. The maximum allowable dimensions for user avatars are 200x300 pixels. Should you require assistance with avatar or signature dimensions, please contact staff. In addition, we ask that you refrain from using flashing signatures due to the risk of some members being epileptic. 

15. Cite News sources: If you share news about a specific topic, please cite the source so we will know that the information isn't fake and that you are not making it up.

16. One account, per person, per lifetime: All users are permitted a maximum of one account. Users found to open multiple accounts will have all accounts permanently deleted. Should you have a special requirement for multiple accounts, please PM staff and we will address it on a case-by-case basis. If another account is needed, please come to us first and we will decide from there. The only time you will be allowed another account, is if you give a good reason as to why you have created this account. 

17. Shipping: Shipping is allowed, however, there will be no ship warring, negative comments around shipping, or the like. This only serves to create drama and we don’t need drama. If someone ships you on the forum they don’t mean it literally; however, if you’re uncomfortable with the shipping incident in question, please contact a member of staff and we will handle it.

18. No Mini-Modding: In short, don’t claim to be a member of site staff or threaten official actions. If you need to, PM a staff member and they will fix the issue right away. Helping a user with signature or avatar dimensions is acceptable. Oh, and Mini-Modding makes you look like a not-so-nice person in the process.

19. Change is part of life: We can make amendments, alterations, or deletions to this set of rules at any time with or without notice to you. Please remember to check back here occasionally for updates.


Those are the rules so just follow them so we won't have any problems and this way everyone will have a great time at Social Chat. If any major changes to the rules have been made, then a comment might be made below if it needs to be drawn attention to. However, we have the right to change them without notifying you, so please review these rules at any time.
If you see anyone abusing these rules and breaking them, please use the report button or PM one of us and we will take it from there. Our goal is to make sure everyone feels safe here where their opinions and thoughts are appreciated and so they feel welcome and wanted. And the most important objective is for everyone to have fun!
If anything seems a bit confusing, please don't hesitate to private message us and we will explain it in more detail.

- The Administrative Team