GameFAQs Help: Board Basics

The message board rules are spelled out clearly in the Message Board Terms of Use, or TOU. The TOU is enforced strictly, but the majority of the rules are common sense, and the large majority of board accounts are never found violating them. It is highly recommended that all new users read the Board Etiquette page at least once before posting on the boards.

Karma is the numerical representation of your board status. Accounts level 6 or higher earn Karma at a rate of one per day that the account is logged in and visits the message boards at least once.

Karma is lost when an account is used to post messages that are in violation of the TOU; 3 Karma for a "Notification", and 10 Karma for a "Warning". For a Timed Suspension (given out for very serious violations), any amount of Karma can be lost. Once karma is lost, it's lost forever, and will not be restored unless the moderation is successfully contested.

As your Karma increases, so does your board level, which grants additional privileges and features on the boards.

Board levels indicate the amount of karma that a user has and the privileges that come with that amount of karma or the current restrictions on the account due to violations of the Terms of Use. Restrictive levels are only removed during the normal daily user level update at roughly 7pm pst.

• (-4) Closed - Account closed by user. Closed accounts cannot be re-opened under any circumstances.
• (-3) Blocked - Account blocked from message boards.
• (-2) Banned - User has been banned from posting messages for one or more Terms of Service violations.
• (-1) Suspended - User's posting privileges have been suspended for one or more Terms of Service violations, pending review by an Administrator.
• (1) Read-Only - Account can only be used to read messages on the boards.
• (2) Locked - Account locked by an administrator to prevent abuse.
• (3) Purgatory - Account suspended for a set period of time by an admin for numerous and/or severe TOS violations.
• (4) Pending Review - Account activated, but pending review by an administrator before use
• (5) Warned - User on "parole" for one or more major Terms of Service violations. Can only post 3 messages per hour (10 per day), no topics, restored after 48-72 hours.
• (6) Negative Karma - User has karma of less than zero. User can post a total of one message per day, and any further TOS violations are grounds for banning.
• (10) Provisional (1) - New account with less than 3 karma. Can post 1 topic, 10 messages per day (3 per hour)
• (11) Provisional (2) - New account with less than 3 karma. Can post 1 topic, 15 messages per day (5 per hour)
• (12) Provisional (3) - New account with less than 3 karma. Can post 2 topics, 20 messages per day (10 per hour)
• (13) Provisional (4) - New account with less than 3 karma. Can post 3 topics, 30 messages per day (15 per hour)
• (14) Provisional (5) - New account with less than 3 karma. Can post 4 topics, 40 messages per day
• (15) New User (1) - Awarded to users with at least 3 Karma. Can create 5 topics, 50 messages per day. Can delete own messages, close topics.
• (20) New User (2) - Awarded to users with at least 20 Karma. Can create 10 topics, 75 messages per day. Can now mark messages for moderation and view own posting history.
• (25) New User (3) - Awarded to users with at least 40 Karma. Can create 10 topics, 100 messages per day.
• (30) Regular User - Awarded to users with at least 75 Karma. No level posting restrictions, can edit posts, use advanced options.
• (31) Veteran - Awarded to users with at least 150 Karma.
• (32) Legend - Awarded to users with at least 350 Karma.
• (33) Elite - Awarded to users with at least 700 Karma.
• (34) Icon - Awarded to users with at least 1000 Karma.
• (35) Idol - Awarded to users with at least 1500 Karma.
• (36) Ancient - Awarded to users with at least 2000 Karma.
• (37) Sage - Awarded to users with at least 3000 Karma.
• (38) ? Block - Awarded to users with at least 5000 Karma. Wow.
• (39) ??? - Awarded to users with at least 10000 Karma. Seriously?
• (41) VIP - Media - Verified Industry Poster - User confirmed as a professional member of the gaming media.
• (42) VIP - Industry - Verified Industry Poster - User confirmed as a member of the game industry, although not directly involved in game production.
• (43) VIP - Production - Verified Industry Poster - User confirmed as a member of the game industry, involved in game production.
• (50) New Moderator - Moderators new to the moderation staff
• (51) Moderator - GameFAQs Message Board Moderators, handle marked messages and user issues
• (52) Veteran Moderator - Moderators who have been on the staff for 4 or more years
• (53) Lead Moderator - Moderators who also handle some administrative duties
• (60) Administrator - Administrators can review and ban suspended users, as well as controlling all other aspects of the boards
• (70) Data Administrator - Account used for Coding/Testing of Boards

Any user level 20 or higher can mark messages that violate the TOU for moderation. By clicking on the "Message Detail" link right above each message, you'll be taken to a new screen that allows you to report the violation to the moderation staff. The moderators then will review the message, and if they find that it does indeed violate the TOU, it will be deleted.

You can go to your User Preferences page simply by clicking on your username in the blue bar at the top of each board, topic, or message listing. From there, you can adjust your settings and make changes to your signature or quote.

The quote is shown only on your user information page, and does not appear in your posts. Your signature is the text that is appended to any message you post.

You can use the standard HTML bold and italic tags. <B> marks the beginning of bold text, </B> ends it. <I> marks the beginning of italic text, </I> ends it. Be warned, however, that posts made in all bold or all italic could be considered disruptive, and would be deleted as TOU violations.

If your account was set to Read-Only and you feel like it shouldn't have been, you can fill out this form to attempt to get it upgraded. If you currently have banned/suspended accounts on your usermap, have an offensive username, are using an abused ISP or proxy, or are abusing the account creation system in any other way, your account will not be upgraded.

Once you've created your account, activated it, and logged in, you should see a link in the blue menu bar near the top of the screen saying "Create New Topic" or "Post New Message" wherever you're allowed. If you don't see either of those links, then the problem may be that you're not logged in with an active account, or the message board you're reading doesn't allow you to post or create topics at your level.

Once your account is Level 15 or higher, you can click on the "Message Detail" link for your own message and use the deletion option there. You cannot delete any topic that contains more than your own first post, nor can you delete the message that was used to create the topic.

If nobody has posted in your topic for a few minutes, you can close it. Simply click on the "Message Detail" link for your first message in the topic and use the close option there.

If you feel like you would make a good moderator for the message boards, you can fill out an application here. Please read everything carefully to ensure that you qualify for the position before filling out the application.

If your account is two years or older and you meet a very specific set of circumstances, it may be possible to change your name. For more information, see the feedback form here. Outside of this criteria, account names may not be changed. If you are unhappy with your username, you may register a new account with your desired name.

No. Karma is tied to one account, and cannot be transferred.

Spoiler tags can be used to hide plot-sensitive information in your post without spoiling it for people who might not know about it yet. To view a spoiler, you can simply highlight the message text, or on GameFAQs mobile, just click it.

In order to post spoilers, enclose the text you wish to hide using <spoiler> and </spoiler>. For example:


<spoiler>John Dies at the End</spoiler>

becomes

John Dies at the End

Quote tags are a better way to highlight text posted by another user included in your post. When quoting another user, the quote tags are automatically added around the quoted text, but if you want to customize the quote, you can use the tags on your own.

<quote>That's what she said.</quote>

becomes

Remember, attempting to hide TOU violations inside of spoiler tags will be considered an intentional violation, and will be moderated much more harshly.