Welcome to BrainKing! Our site offers a unique game playing experience that we know you will enjoy. In order to make this experience enjoyable for everyone, we have a few guidelines for all to acknowledge. By signing on to this site you agree to the following guidelines:

General Guidelines: (rules to be applied throughout the site - in games, discussion boards, tournaments, ponds, stairs, fellowships etc.)

1. Each individual who plays on BrainKing is asked to use one, and only one, BrainKing account. Multiple accounts created for cheating in tournaments, games, ratings, or to get around bans on boards are prohibited.
2. You are NOT allowed to let other people use your account. If you believe someone has access to your account, immediately change the password on your profile page.
3. This is a family site, thus foul language, sexual language, abusive personal attacks and threats ARE NOT ALLOWED on BrainKing. (Note: some private fellowship boards are allowed to relax the foul language rules as long as members know this rule before joining the fellowship.) Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the particular part of BrainKing or, if it is necessary, from accessing the whole site.

Game Guidelines:

1. NO CHEATING. This includes using outside programs to help play and losing on purpose for the goal of boosting ratings. Your account may be banned, and ratings will be removed.

Discussion Board Guidelines:

1. This is primarily a “Game Site”, not a “Chat Site”. The Public Discussion boards are here to enhance the game playing on BrainKing, and to provide areas for users to post, providing the posts are on-topic and relevant to the Discussion Board that is being viewed/used. By posting on any Public Discussion Board here at BrainKing, you are accepting to abide by the following rules. You are personally responsible and accountable for your own posts.
2. If a Moderator or member of BrainKing Staff consider a subject or post to be off-topic or irrelevant, it may be removed. Should you be asked personally to cease a subject or remove a post, this must be done immediately. Please respect the wishes of a Moderator or member of BrainKing Staff, whether you agree with it or not. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
3. No Flame Wars – Posting in an aggressive, flaming or baiting nature is unacceptable. If you do not have anything nice to post, do not post. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
4. No Foul Language – It is unacceptable whatever the circumstances. Please be aware that Children may also have access to a Public Board. BrainKing is a Worldwide Site - please also consider that a “word” or “phrase” may not be classed as Foul Language from where you are from, but it may be elsewhere in the World. If in doubt – use an alternative word or phrase. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards. This also applies to the posting of links to YouTube videos.
5. No Sexual Innuendos. Please be aware that Children may also have access to a Public Board. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
6. No “Copy'n'Pasting” other user's posts, words or Personal Messages (PM’s) onto any Public Discussion Boards without their permission. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
7. No posting of others users' personal information without their permission. Failure to adhere to this may result in you being banned from the Discussion Board, or possibly, banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
8. Do not “Spam” multiple Public Boards with the same information. For example, if you have a Prize Backgammon tournament you would like to advertise it and allow others to know about it, then appropriate places for that post would be only in the “Tournaments Board” and the “Backgammon Board”. It does not need to be on any more Public Boards. It should not be posted on any more than these two relevant boards. A Moderator or Brainking Staff will simply delete any Spamming and you may be warned about future conduct.
9. Post to correct Public Boards. If you have a feature request, post it to the feature request board. If you have a tournament question, post it on the tournament board. If you just want to have some general discussions, post it to general chat. If your query/post is individual to say, Chess – post it on the most relevant Chess Discussion Board – There is more chance of an answer/discussion there from a fellow player.
10. Moderators are assigned to each board to help watch over the board to ensure that the content of the Board satisfies, and upholds the wishes of the Site Owner. In addition, Brainking Staff also have the ability to moderate on any Public Discussion Board. Moderators (and Brainking Staff) have the right to edit and/or remove any post, which does not conform to these Rules. They also have the right to hide or ban any user who continues to ignore the guidelines of the site. Consistent breaking of the Rules or Gross or Deliberate breaking of the Rules may result in you being banned from posting on all Public Discussion Boards.
11. If it is apparent that you have a personal problem with another user on the Public Discussion Boards, you should use the Hide button next to that users name. You must not reply in such a manner as to violate Rule 2. By using “Hide”, this action will remove any posts from this person from your own personal view of a Public Discussion Board. In addition, you can also add this user to your Blocked Users list which will block private messages and in-game chat with this user. This should solve any problems with any other users of the site you do not wish to be in communication with.
12. Taking up personal issues with a Moderator on their board, or any Public Board is unacceptable. If you have a serious issue with regards to a Moderators action on any Public Board, please follow the Grievance Procedure…... Firstly, you must contact the Moderator concerned by PM in a calm manner with your complaint to try and sort the issue out. If this does not work, and you feel you need to take the issue further, you should PM one of the Global Moderators with full details of the issue concerned and copies of all communication so far. The matter will be raised in the Global Moderator Fellowship, discussed and a decision made. The decision is final.

Moderators Guidelines:

1. The job of a Moderator is to watch over the board to make sure other users stay within the guidelines of this site.
2. The Main moderator (the one listed first) is in charge of the board, with the other moderators around to help watch while the main moderator is off-line.
3. If a board is used frequently, the main moderator should try to find 1 or 2 others who can watch the board, hopefully from different time zones so the board can be watched as much as possible.
4. If a post does not fall into the site guidelines, the moderator should:
   1. Edit post for content if rest of the post belongs in the board.
   2. Remove the post if none of the post belongs in the board.
   3. Warn user IN PRIVATE about edited/removed post, and point them to guidelines if needed.
   4. If multiple users are engaged in a flame war, a public post saying "stop" can be used.
   5. If posting continues after a warning, the poster should be hidden for at least a few hours, possibly longer (24 hours or more).
   6. If after being unhidden a poster continues, then a ban of the user can be used.
   7. Moderators are free to take more strict or less strict actions as needed, but should try to follow the above guideline when possible.
5. If the board is getting out of hand, which can happen from time to time with certain topics – the moderator should change the posting right to "Approve all" until things settle back down. The moderator can also change the posting right to "Approve pawns" if it is needed.
6. REMEMBER: This is suppose to be a fun game site, so some off-topic post and fun can be a good thing, so be careful not to over-moderate, and try not to nit-pick every post to find something wrong with it.

Consequence:

The BrainKing staff handle incidents on a case by case basis. Some possible actions that will be taken if necessary are:

• Posting privileges removed (temporarily or permanently)
• Chatting in-game privilege removed
• Reset of ratings / removed from ratings and "top" lists
• Ban from BrainKing temporarily
• Permanent ban from BrainKing

BrainKing staff is small, so if you have a complaint against other users – please be patient with us while we try to look at all the facts. You have to remember that this is a game site, and we try to spend the majority of our time in improving the game site itself.

What to do if you have problems with other users:

1. Put that user on your list of Blocked users.
2. Hide and ignore the other users post. Instead of starting a "flame war" with the user, just ignore them. It takes a bigger person to ignore than try to sink to their level.
3. If it is on a discussion board, privately see if the Moderator will do anything about a post which bothers you.
4. If all the above fails, please contact a Global Moderator privately. AGAIN, this should be a LAST RESORT. The more time that is spent on spats between users, the less time that is spent on trying to improve this game site.

Moderator's Code Of Honour

1. To up hold the BrainKing.com user agreement.
2. To promote goodwill among the members of BrainKing.com
3. To set an example by which other members should follow (stay out of flame wars, no insults, etc..)
4. To be fair and equal to all posters of your boards (don't let friends post stay when you would normally edit/delete)
5. To notify the Mod Squad of any major moderating actions. This will allow all Moderators to be aware of situations in case the overflow onto other boards.

Amendment of Guidelines
The BrainKing staff reserves the right to revise these rules if and when it is deemed necessary. All such modifications take full force and effect immediately thereafter.