- CS Staff have been interested in redoing our rules to help moderators enforce them more effectively and help users understand our expectations better for several years now. However, this project was a gigantic undertaking and needed approval from site founders before it could more forward. Thanks to additional requests from users and hard work from staff we are now ready to announce our new streamlined and updated rules to you!
I would also like to give a special thank you to Lacuna for spearheading this project!
We understand that this is a lot of text all in one place, and may take some time to read completely. However, we are also aware that there was huge community support for more detailed and centralized rules. We hope we have struck a workable balance for everyone! If you have any questions about specific rules or situations after reading through the rules we have created a thread here for you to directly interact with Admins and AAs regarding any rule clarifications. You can also always send a help ticket if you would like a private response.
Please be aware that due to the massive nature of this change there may be some future tweaks and updates to the rules as they currently are shown. Burrito Bunny has also worked to create an update of such changes through time and you can also view a log showing them here!
Most of the rules featured are not new, just reworded and relocated for ease of use. However, there are some new ones, too! Here are specific rules that are either new, changed, or brought forward for easier access:
- Roleplay and Adoptable Character Form Rules: We have significantly relaxed the rules regarding roleplay forms while also making adoptable contest forms slightly more strict. The same rules now apply to both types of forms. We understand that these are large changes from the previous form rules in relation to roleplays, and it may need to be revisited and limited to a certain number of images and/or links in the event that art theft gets out of hand. Please act responsibly so this can be a fun and creative place for all users!
Image Use Rules: Our image use rules remain unchanged, but we will be more strict with enforcement now. Please review the images you are using as your avatar and in your signature and trade rules to make sure they comply with the rules at the top of the Art Rules. Please link back to the source of images you use to make our moderator's lives easier. There is also a newly updated Image Use Guide to help you find images to use.
Debates and Political Discussion: Following up to our statement that Black lives matter we have further clarified our rules regarding debates and discussion of politics in our Code of Conduct rules. Please remove any political affiliation or opinions from your signature or interests in accordance with the updated rules. Please also be aware that we see a distinction between debates and discussions.
Child Friendly Content: We have updated and clarified our rules on gore/bloody content and nude images/art toward the bottom of our Code of Conduct.
Personal Information: These rules have been updated and clarified to include more examples of what you can and cannot share on CS.
CS Free Adoptions: We have added a rule relating to adoption centers that restrict adoptions to certain demographics of players. You can view this here.
Art Contests: We have added a rule banning contests that do not offer a CS prize as well as any contests offering real money/USD prizes. You can view this here.
Roleplay and Writing Content: We have combined and streamlined our rules regarding the stories you write and the roleplays you create on CS. These rules were separate and often considered hidden before, so you may not have even been aware of them if you were not a roleplayer. Hopefully bringing these to light and using them to better define child-friendly content will be helpful to all users! They apply to all writing, character forms/storage, adopt contests, animal roleplays, and human/humanoid roleplays.