The Lounge Rules and Guidelines
The Lounge is ATRL's general discussion forum. You should be mindful of a few things when creating threads here. We've outlined them for you below.
Post in
ATRL HQ if you have questions about these guidelines or wish to discuss them.
Conduct
When creating threads:
– Try to be inclusive. Everyone on ATRL should be able to contribute to the discussion. Don't go out of your way to exclude people of a certain sexuality, race, etc.
– Use a neutral and informative title. Don't use disruptive formatting or shock value in order to lure people in. Don't capitalize words when it's not needed.
When discussing:
– Be respectful. People are entitled to their beliefs. Use arguments instead of insults, smilies and GIFs.
Banned threads
The following is a list of threads that are not allowed in The Lounge (or anywhere else). This list can be expanded at any time. You can get warned or banned from The Lounge if you repeatedly create threads that are off-limits.
Do not post:
– Disturbing news articles, particularly those involving children, gruesome deaths/injuries, incest, pedophilia and/or rape
– Endless spam threads (e.g. "person above you")
– Threads to discuss or promote random pictures or GIFs
– Is <random celebrity/model> hot?
– Threads that are very similar to other currently active threads
– Threads that call out a specific member or group of members (use ATRL HQ or Blogs)
– Inane threads where no serious replies can be expected
– Threads that invite discussions of a sexual nature
– Threads that stereotype groups of people
– Threads that attack or ridicule other websites, particularly forums similar to ATRL
– Random chat threads (use Random Thoughts)
– Threads about chat websites like Tinychat and Omegle
Sensitive topics
ATRL does not completely disallow discussion of sensitive topics such as religion, politics, abortion, euthanasia, discrimination, etc. However, history has shown that such threads can quickly get out of hand. In this case we prefer closing them in addition to punishing the disruptive individuals. Do not be surprised if your thread about a sensitive topic gets closed with no further explanation.