Community Rules
The Community Rules (CR) is the central point of reference governing all online community groups wholly managed by Global Furry Television, hereinafter called the Online Communities (OC).
Contents
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Definitions
1. This rulebook may be cited and referred to as the GFTV Community Rules, short for GFTV CR.
- a – Any reference to any CR rules shall be in the format of section-clause-subclause.
- For example, Section 5, Clause 14 subsections biii is written as Rule 5-14biii.
2. In this Online Community Regulations rulebook, unless the context otherwise requires:
“Admins” mean team members of Global Furry Television responsible for managing the Communities;
“Advertisements” or “Ads” means promotions of content, initiatives and products made by an individual, group or organisation; “any form of communication” means content online and offline inclusive of but not limited to, text, audio, image, video, web links, flags, symbols and slogans.
“Appeal” means if a Member feels they were unfairly punished, they have the right to present their case and potentially, subject to the Admins’ approval, have the decision overturned or amended;
“Ban” means permanent revocation of access to GFTV’s Online Communities and Community Events;
“Borderlines” means any item, be it in the form of text, images, videos or audio, that contains subtle double meanings or tries to blur the boundaries between two things;
- “Borderline NSFW” refers specifically to any form of communication showing portraying or including NSFW content, in a subtle way; as a double entendre.
- Examples include but are not limited to deliberately paused moments of a video, or an angle of a picture suggesting explicit sexual concepts
“Background” means, and is not limited to, an individual’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property, age, nationality, marital status, disability, place of birth, place of residence within a country, sexual orientation and gender identity;
“Bullying” means singular or repeated acts by one or more individuals, be it sexual or moral, that hurt or threaten others through any form of communication, including but not limited to name-calling, insults, trolling, violence, discrimination, exclusion, shaming, harassment and threats, that:
- causes physical or emotional harm to such person(s), worsening mental health;
- places such person(s) in reasonable fear of harm to themselves;
- creates a hostile environment within the Communities for such person(s);
- substantially disrupts peace in the Communities.
“Communities” or “GFTV communities” mean all online social spaces of Global Furry Television;
“Community Events” or “CE” means any events, meetups or furcons solely hosted by Global Furry Television;
“Members” mean any individuals inside GFTV Communities;
“NSFW” means not-safe-for-work, content that’s mainly aimed at adult audiences 18 years of age and above. It includes the qualities of a Mature Audiences (MT) rating and prohibited contents listed in GFTV’s Programme Rating System;
“PM” means private messages; text messaging from person to person in private;
“Rules” mean rules and regulations stated in the Community Rules of Global Furry Television;
“Rumours” mean currently circulating stories or reports of uncertain or doubtful facts based on accounts, hearsay or gossip that cannot be objectively verified;
“SFW” means safe-for-work, family-friendly content suitable for all ages, including minors. Equivalent to General (G) and Parental Guidance (PG) ratings in GFTV’s Programme Rating System;
“Slur” means disrespectful, derogatory or insulting remarks in any form of communication applied to a specific group of people, based on their background.
Section 1 – For an Environment of Kindness, Warmth and Positivity
3. Regardless of any individual’s background, all Members should be respectful and courteous to each other.
4. The Communities should have a positive environment for all its Members.
5. With Rule 1-4, Members are encouraged to share wholesome content in the chat group to create a welcoming environment for everyone.
6. Members are encouraged to create an empathetic and socially supportive environment for everyone.
7. All GFTV Communities welcome and are friendly to individuals regardless of their background, subject to all other rules in GFTV CR.
Section 2 – For an environment safe for minors
8. All Communities are targeted at people of all ages.
9. Putting up NSFW content, or 18+ content in any form of communication is prohibited.
- a – This includes borderline NSFW content
Section 3 – Advertisement of content
10. Advertisements of any form of communication are allowed.
- a. Ads must be SFW.
- b. Ads must not be for, or be used to bully and discriminate against anyone.
- c. Ads must not spread rumours, conspiracy theories and extremist ideologies/activities.
- d. Ads must not be about the following items, including but not limited to
- i. financial programs including, but not limited to, plans, insurance, and stock trading;
- ii. electronic software, medical supplies and other related items that are, but are not limited to, illegal, cracked, hacked, nulled, pirated (or variations of);
- iii. politically affiliated promotions including, but not limited to, seminars, workshops, campaigns, fundraisers, protests and riots, by parties including but not limited to political parties, or politically-leaning organisations, societies and groupings.
11. If the advertisement’s content breaks any rules, it will be removed and the original poster will get verbal warnings.
- a. If said individual still proceeds to post the same advertisement in defiance,
they will be punished with a ban.
Section 4 – Venting
12. The venting of personal feelings is allowed.
- a. If the venting is NSFW, for example including but not limited to sexual encounters, drugs, strong violence, and abuse, please vent in PMs.
- b. Vent in the PMs of Members only when they are comfortable with and/or agree to talk to you about your feelings.
- c. Unless properly qualified individually, Admins and Members are not doctors and psychiatrists. Any advice given by them cannot be called professional help.
- d. Where accessible and needed, Admins and Members can access relevant hotlines (China hotlines, international hotlines) to help individuals at risk of self-harm and suicide.
13. If any venting is used beyond its purpose, such as but not limited to intentionally harassing, bullying or discriminating against others, the individual who posted the content will be punished with a ban.
Section 5 – Harassment, bullying and discrimination
14. GFTV Communities will be zero-tolerant of any forms of bullying or discrimination directed at anyone by anybody.
- a. Individuals outside the Communities will be banned if one or more of such:
- i. instigate or directly contribute to the bullying case, or
- ii. give threats or calls for bullying or discrimination
- iii. against one or more Members.
- b. Individuals inside the Communities will get warning counts if one or more of such:
- i. instigate or directly contribute to the bullying case, or
- ii. give threats or calls for bullying or discrimination
- iii. against one or more Members or individuals outside of the Communities.
- c. Where needed, Admins may report to the authorities using relevant local laws in where the instigator(s) and victim(s) currently reside.
15. Bring all personal arguments to DMs. Failure to comply results in verbal warnings.
- a. Failure to comply with the verbal warning will be punished with a mute until said person(s) contact the admins to be unmuted.
16. The publishing of personal information or messaging to the group for shaming (call-outs), bullying and/or discrimination, through any form of communication, will be punished with a ban.
17. Discrimination based on someone’s background will be punished with warning counts.
- a. Stereotypes in any form of communication, when it makes the target individual feel uncomfortable, will be dealt with using verbal warnings.
Section 6 – Privacy matters
18. Every Member shall be entitled to privacy.
19. Public distribution of other Members’ private information will be punished with warning counts.
20. Any forms of communication with the Admins shall be kept confidential.
21. Unless the Admin gave permission, otherwise, leaking communication with the Admins in any form of communication will be punished with warning counts.
Section 7 – Political Talk
22. Freedom to express political views is guaranteed.
- a. Members must make an effort to ensure all discussions are constructive and meaningful. It shall not involve breaking the rules, including bullying.
- b. Regardless of background, Members must respect each other in political dialogues at all times.
23. Harassing, bullying or discriminating against others in the name of but not limited to their own political views will be punished with warning counts.
Section 8 – OTHER MATTERS
24. Swearing is allowed, but not too much that it makes others uncomfortable.
- a. Excessive swearing, using extremely NSFW language and slurs will be punished with warning counts.
25. Discussions or promotion of ethically questionable activities such as cheating, plagiarism, etc will be punished with warning counts.
26. Spreading rumours against any individual inside or outside the Communities and/or about current events will be punished with verbal warnings.
- a. Members must do proper research on the context of the rumours before posting information. When information is insufficient, it must be pointed out.
- b. Prior experience, or “In good faith” are not valid reasons to skip factual research. Members may abstain from topics where self-care takes priority.
- c. Members who continue to spread rumours in defiance of the verbal warning, with no intention to correct themselves will be punished with a ban.
27. Mentioning @everyone, the admins or a specific person incessantly without proper reason will be punished with verbal warnings.
28. Repeated and unnecessary tagging of admins will be punished with verbal warnings.
Section 9 – INFORMATION ON OFFENCE VIOLATION
29. Anyone who suspects an offence is being, has been or is likely to be committed may only report straight to the Admins.
30. Anyone who speaks about suspicions of rule violations outside of PMs with Admins while investigations are ongoing will be punished with verbal warnings.
31. Unless proven guilty, the accused is to be deemed innocent.
32. Anyone who acts under Rule 9-29 without good faith or deceptive intent will be responsible for any liability of but not limited to defamation.
Section 10 – PENALTIES
33. The punishment for violating the rules will be warning counts unless a rule state otherwise, subject to Rule 10-36.
- a. All punishments shall only be given based only on the way in which the evidence has broken the rules.
34. The maximum count of warnings issued per count of offence is 3.
- a. Verbal warnings will be given twice. After this is exhausted, warning counts will be used unless stated otherwise.
35. A total of three broken warnings shall amount to a ban from the Communities.
36. A ban will supersede warning counts if one count of offence unfavourably leads to consequences that are not limited to:
- a. disrupting the peace in the Communities;
- b. cause near lethality or lethality of one or more individuals;
- c. put one or more Members’ mental health in severe jeopardy, for example, but not limited to traumatisation.
Section 11 – GOVERNANCE OF COMMUNITIES
37. Admins shall make decisions based only on the rights and powers conferred under GFTV CR at all times.
38. Decisions made by Admins shall be final.
- a. When acting under Section 10, Admins shall clearly list out what rules are violated, how they are violated and what is done about it.
- b. Members punished under Section 10 may appeal by contacting an Admin within 14 days of the decision being made.
- i. Admins can revoke the right to appeal on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the offence.
39. In matters relating to how the group is governed daily which is not expressly included in GFTV CR, the Admins can use their discretion on a case-by-case basis.
Section 12 – CHANGES TO THE COMMUNITY RULES
40. Whenever necessary, Global Furry Television shall reserve the right to make changes
to the GFTV CR at any time.
Change logs
Aug 4, 2023
- Section 11 (Governance of Online Communities) is renamed to Section 11 (Governance of Communities)
- Section 12 (Changes to Rules and Regulations) is renamed to Section 12 (Changes to the Community Rules)
July 10, 2023
- The rulebook’s name changed from the Online Communities’ Regulations to the Community Rules.
- Section 7 (Political Talk Regulations) is renamed to Section 7 (Political Talk)
- Section 8 (Other offences) is renamed to Section 8 (Other matters)
- Added new definitions for terms used. Clarified and added new details to existing terms and rules.
- Reworded Rules 1-3 to 9-30, 10-32 to 12-40.
- Expanded Rules 2-9, 3-10, 3-11, 4-12, 5-14, 5-15, 5-17, 7-22, 8-24, 8-26, 9-30, 10-33, 10-34, 10-36, 11-38.
September 21, 2020
- Newly added Section 4 (Venting) to Part I – Chat Environment and Section 11 (Governance of Online Communities) to Part III – Miscellaneous.
- Rule 35 (Admin discretion rule) has moved from Section 10 (Penalties) to Section 11 (Governance of Online Communities).
- Section 9 (Information on Offence Violation) and Section 10 (Penalties) have moved from Part III – Miscellaneous to Part II – Offences.
