What are the messageboard rules?

The most important rule: Don't be a jerk. We want our messageboards to be a fun and friendly place.

Users who participate in our message boards agree to not: post any content that infringes and/or violates any patent, trademark, copyright, or other proprietary right of any third party; use profanity or any type of vulgar speech; make any bigoted, hateful or racially offensive statements; defame, abuse, stalk, harass or threaten others; advocate illegal activity or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them.

Who owns my comments?

While Paizo Publishing does not pre-screen message content, Paizo Publishing does reserve the right to edit or remove submitted messages or material at any time. Paizo Publishing is not responsible for the content of messages submitted by users of the site. Users posting messages to the site automatically grant Paizo Publishing the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, sublicense, copy and distribute such messages throughout the world in any media.

How do I report an offensive or inappropriate post?

If you see a post that breaks our messageboards guidelines, please click the "flag" link. You'll get a drop-down menu where you can select the reason you're flagging the post. When you flag a post, you'll bring it to the attention of Paizo staff. Once you've flagged a post, please refrain from responding—flag it and move on.

How do I format my messageboard posts?

Messageboard posts can be formatted using markup—our implementation of BBCode. This allows you to use bold or italics, link to another Web page or an email address, quote another post, and a few other things.

BBCode tags you can use:

[quote=The PostMonster General] Quoted material here.... [/quote]

This is [b]bold[/b] and [i]italics[/i].

Go to [url=http://paizo.com]Paizo Publishing[/url].

Contact [email]customer.service@paizo.com[/email]

[list][*]one[*]two[/list]

This is [bigger]bigger[/bigger] and this is [smaller]smaller[/smaller].

This is [ooc]out-of-character commentary[/ooc] for play-by-post threads.

[spoiler=Movie plot spoiler]This is a spoiler, such as revealing who really did frame Roger Rabbit.[/spoiler]

[dice]1d20 + 3; 1d6 + 2[/dice] This is a dice expression.

How do I change my avatar name? Why can't I change my avatar name?

You can change your avatar name on the Messageboard Settings page, or click on My Account and then Messageboard Settings. You can change your avatar name at any time until you have posted 10 messages to the messageboards.

What about avatar icons?

To pick an avatar image, click here, or click on My Account and then Messageboard Settings. Periodically we add new avatar images. Custom avatars are not available at this time.

Why can't I edit my post?

You can edit your post only during the first hour after it's posted. This limitation prevents people from "rewriting history" by retroactively changing posts that have already generated discussion. It also helps ensure that regular messageboard readers aren't in a situation where they could miss new information buried in posts they thought they'd already read.

Why can't I include a signature with my posts?

We're trying to keep the appearance of our messageboards as clean and streamlined as possible. Signatures that get repeated over and over on a page detract from the main conversation, and we'd prefer that you not manually insert them into your messages.

How do I get a title after my avatar name, like "Editor-in-Chief"?

Get a job at Paizo! Seriously, though, Paizo employees are identified on the messageboards by their full name and job title.

If you're a reviewer, illustrator, or another type of contributor to one of our products, please don't include your title in your avatar name. Contact your editor to have a title added to your account.

What are aliases? What are they for?

For those playing in play-by-post games, or just those interested in sockpuppetry, you can create multiple messageboard aliases. To create or modify your aliases, go to your My Account page (link at the top of every page), and click the "Create new messageboard alias" link. If you've already created multiple paizo.com accounts, contact us at customer.service@paizo.com.

What's up with the dots?

They indicate threads you've recently posted to.

What are the triangles for?

If you're signed in, you'll see triangles next to the header for each forum. Clicking the triangle lets you "collapse" that forum so you no longer see its recent posts or subforums. Collapsing a forum also filters recent posts from that forum out of the Messageboards box on the front page.

How does "(x new)" work?

The x is the number of new posts in that thread since you last read the thread, or the number of posts in a thread created since you last visited paizo.com.

What is "focus," where do I find it, and what does it do?

Click the "focus" link to hide all threads in a forum except the ones you're most likely to be interested in—threads with dots, or threads with "(x new)" posts. The focus link is at the top of the main page for each forum, below the "add new thread" link.