Please note that this is a very general document, and is not meant to cover each and every possible instance. Its sole purpose is to more clearly define some of the terms used on the Forums (such as Notification, Caution, and TAC Warning) and to provide some general knowledge to the poster populace regarding various types of situations in which a post will be removed.

Notification - Mainly used when the reason for removing a post is "no big deal", or when it's not considered an issue at that point and time. Various reasons for removing a post and issuing a Notification could be:

Advertising
Bug squish
Doubled message
In-game Puzzle Answer
Off topic
Out of context
Spamming
Thread hidden

Note that, in some cases, a reason that would normally be issued a Notification can escalate to a Caution or a TAC Warning if the situation warrants. An example of this would be someone repeatedly spamming after attempts to squelch the behavior.

Caution - The "default" used when removing a post "for cause." In general terms, it means that the cited behavior is unacceptable for the Forums and should cease immediately. Failure to cease the behavior will escalate the issue to a TAC Warning status. Various reasons for removing a post and issuing a Caution could be:

Disruptive
Flaming Simutronics
Harassment
Illegal Activities
Impersonating Staff
Incitement to PvP
Inflamatory/Flaming
Masked Vulgarity
Mechanics Abuse
Sexually Explicit
Vulgarity/Obscenity

TAC Warning - Used when unacceptable behavior has been addressed and still continues despite having been addressed. Also used when a posting account's history shows a predilection towards policy-violating behavior. Repeated TAC Warnings can result in removal of a posting account's privilege to post.

Documentation of removed posts is made part of the account's permanent record regardless of the level of notification (Notification, Caution, or TAC Warning).

As clearly stated in the Forum Policies link in the upper right corner of the Forums, Simutronics reserves the right to remove any message it deems objectionable or that is not in Simutronics' best interest, and Forum Moderators are given the discretion to remove posts which fall into that category. Each post that is removed by a Moderator (or a member of GM staff so empowered) is reviewed by the Moderator Manager for compliance with general procedures for removing posts. Posters wishing to question removed posts can follow this general "Chain of Command":

The Moderator who removed the post > The Moderator Manager (currently GM Emeradan) > The Moderator Manager's SGM (currently SGM Isten) > Feedback.

Discussion regarding this document can be focused in Front Ends, Forums, and Computer Help
-> Forums Discussion, a link to which is provided below:

http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=102&category=3&topic=5

~
GM Emeradan
GS4-EMERADAN@PLAY.NET
GemStone IV Forums
~
Clark: "So you killed him?"
Kara: "He didn't feel any pain."

GemStone IV: One MMORPG to Rule Them All.