Terms of Service

The One Ring is a “family friendly” site. We welcome people of all ages to our site. Because of this, keep chats, posts, messages, and comments “clean”. Do not engage in sexual innuendo, excessively crude talk, violent or threatening talk, foul language, or personal attacks. Posts containing any of the above may be removed or edited without notification. Conversations which degenerate into disruptive battles, “dirty” talk, or which in any other way violate a “family friendly” atmosphere may be removed.

We encourage enthusiastic and spirited discussion. Disagreements can make for good discussion. People are allowed to disagree and state opinions strongly. However, hostile messages, or a pattern of hostile messages, which disrupt the level of conversation on a thread may also be edited or removed, and action may be taken against offending posters.

If another poster violates the Terms of Service, it is better to ignore the post. Debating with a hostile poster about their behavior only causes conversation degeneration. Stick to the topic of the thread, rather than the personalities involved. Often “removing the audience” causes an offending poster to stop hostile tactics, as they no longer bring attention. Another person’s poor behavior is not an excuse to misbehave.

We are a site dedicated to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Let’s make sure our discussions are of a level he would have appreciated.

Details

Foul Language: Orcish language is not welcome at The One Ring. Strong language will be removed, and a continued pattern of foul language may result in the member being banned. Masked but recognizable foul or crude language, (such as replacing a letter with an * or changing a letter), is still considered a violation of Terms of Service.

Attack: “Flaming” or personal attacks are not permitted on The One Ring. Disagreement is not the same as attack. We are people of varied opinions, and will naturally disagree at times. A certain amount of “thick skin” is necessary in any exchange of ideas. Do not take a strong statement of opinion as an attack. But attacks on another poster (as opposed to their argument) violate these Terms of Service. A member who engages in such personal attacks may be banned from The One Ring. A personal attack may be defined as any behavior designed to make a member feel unwelcome. This would include, for example, racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual slurs, or scorn directed at another member, or attempts to drive another member off. Conversations with the purpose of criticizing or insulting another member will be removed.

Disruption: Disruption can take a variety of forms. Continual disruption of a conversation due to personal bickering, hostility, spam, etc, may result in the conversation being locked, removed, or the members involved being banned from the site for a period of time.

Violence or threats: These are absolutely not tolerated. Even suggested violence in jest, against members or any other real person, public or private, will be removed.

Multiple Member Identities: The use of alternate multiple member identities (aka usernames) with the intent to deceive other members of the forum is not permitted. Members with multiple usernames must publicly disclose their ownership. Multiple usernames for role play “characters” in our Role Playing forums is permitted insofar as the original ownership is also publically disclosed. We reserve the right to lock, ban, or delete any multiple usernames registered to the same person if we determine said usernames are deceptive or acting maliciously.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Illegal Substances: The One Ring has a zero tolerance policy on conversations promoting the use of illegal substances and underage use of tobacco or alcohol. However, conversations containing information or references to responsible alcohol consumption or tobacco usage in appropriate settings by persons of legal age are permitted.

Links: Any link found to lead to a site that does not hold to the same family friendly standards as The One Ring will be subject to edit or deletion. Members posting such material may be subject to a warn or other measures.

Personal information about our members: The staff of The One Ring cares deeply about our members and are interested in providing a safe community. It is unwise for persons of any age to give out personal information about themselves. Adults may choose where and how many personal details they wish to discuss. However, persons under the age of 18 may not discuss their ages, specific locations (nothing more specific than state or province) or legal names. Please refrain from asking others their age or specific location. Persons who appear to be inappropriately curious about our member’s personal information may be subject to warning or ultimately member banning. If the staff of The One Ring has reason to believe an individual is attempting to gain improper information about another person for criminal purposes he/she will be reported to the proper authorities.

Inactive Email Addresses: Each member must have a working email address. If it is found that a member has registered under a false email address, The One Ring may cancel that member’s account without prior notice or warning. It is the member’s responsibility to maintain a current and active email address. Email addresses can be update by going to “My Info” in the community section.

Advertising/Soliciting: Advertising and sales are not permitted. No “spam”.

Please note that intentional disregard and/or willful violation of these terms can and will increase the severity of the administration’s response, and may be grounds for permanent removal from the community.

The The One Ring staff will determine when a poster has violated TOS and what actions, if any, shall be taken.

 

Membership
Memberships are non-transferable and non-refundable. A member who has been banned forfeits any use of that membership and may not transfer it to another member. A banned member may apply for reinstatement and thus regain his/her membership.

Underage Memberships
No person under the age of 13 may register or participate at The One Ring without express written permission of a parent or legal guardian on file in our offices. Any member found to be under 13 years of age without this permission form on file will have their membership revoked and privileges suspended until we either receive the form from the authorized person(s) or the member reaches the specified age.

Plagiarism and Intellectual Property
The staff of The One Ring encourages respect for the work of others. Inappropriate use of another person’s intellectual property (this includes all forms of media and written materials) may result in the removal of the item and discipline of the member up to and including revocation of their community privileges. This rule applies to anything discussed, posted, or uploaded to any part of the community. Before submitting any item for publication please either obtain the owner’s written permission or ensure that the image is not copyrighted. If you are the owner of material that has been used on this site without your permission please contact us at info@theonering.com.