Community Guidelines

Hosted on this page are Paizo's guidelines for conduct. These guidelines apply to the paizo.com forum community and are included in policies supporting Paizo conventions and events.

An Open Letter from Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens

Posted Friday, March 22, 2019

When allegations and accusations of sexual harassment or assault are made against individuals in the gaming industry, I make it a priority to investigate and determine the best course of action or response that will work towards a safer community. Over the last several years, we have created, updated and enforced our code of conduct for our own conventions and organized play, and revise it annually as we learn and grow. We are actively developing a more robust set of standards and guidelines for our community's forum. We have banned people from paizo.com. We have banned people from participating in our organized play activities. We have stopped doing business with individuals. We have banned people from being able to attend PaizoCon. And we will continue to take actions against individuals as needed.

As a woman and a survivor of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape, I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of these attacks. I know what it is like to feel the shame, the terror, how it changes your life forever. I know this pain and I will not stand for my company to ignore or tolerate this behavior.

Please be aware that we treat these issues with tremendous sensitivity, both for legal reasons and for sensitivity to the victims involved. We only disclose the specifics and resolutions of any such incidents on a need-to-know basis, even within Paizo or with our legal counsel. We do not and will not discuss these matters publicly. Every instance that I am aware of has been thoroughly investigated, and appropriate actions have been taken. If you feel there is an incident or issue that Paizo may not be aware of, we encourage you to reach out to us so that we can take appropriate measures as needed.

Thank you for letting all of us at Paizo learn, grow and game with you over the years.

Note: In 2017, I wrote an open letter with similar sentiments posted on the paizo.com forums. In retrospect, the forums are an inadequate place to host this kind of message and I have decided to make a living document at this permanent location. Please feel free to post the link to this message anytime there is a question about where Paizo stands on the issue of sexual harassment or assault. This statement covers how we react to reports of sexual harassment or assault in the past, in the present, and in the future.

Paizo.com Forum Guidelines

The paizo.com forums are a friendly and fun place where the community and Paizo staff can interact. Our community is always growing, and we've come up with a few ground rules to consider when posting.

The Gaming Community

There are all kinds of gamers here on paizo.com. Use of derogatory labels for other gamers can be hurtful and isolate others who enjoy different styles of play. You may find yourself in a debate on our forums, and disagreements are bound to happen. Focus on challenging the idea, rather than the others in the conversation. Remember that there's another person on the other side of the screen. Please help us keep it fun!

House Rules

Some of the forums on our forums have specific guidelines for posting (for example, the Pathfinder Rules Questions forum). These can be found in the sticky threads of each forum respectively and should be reviewed before posting.

Harassment

Do not abuse, defame, harass, threaten, or stalk others via our forums or private messaging system. Community members should feel welcome while they're on paizo.com.

Baiting

Posts or threads made solely to provoke a strong negative reaction or conflict do not contribute to the inviting place we'd like our community to be. Threads with provocative titles will be locked, and posts removed as necessary.

Profanity/Vulgar Speech

While certain language may not be offensive to you, please consider that some phrases may have a completely different effect on someone else. Trying to get around our profanity filter or purposefully obscuring profanity/vulgar phrases is not acceptable.

Malicious Speech

Posts that contain content that endorses hatred or violence on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexuality, or for any other reason are not welcome on paizo.com.

Impersonation

Creating accounts or aliases claiming to be other community members is considered harassment. Duplicate or multiple accounts may create confusion within discussions on our forums and hinder our ability to provide optimal customer service. Please utilize "aliases" rather than creating more than one account. Multiple accounts for the purposes of character/event reporting are in violation of Organized Play rules.

Personal Content

When posting to our forums please use your best judgment when disclosing information about yourself. We try to keep paizo.com a safe environment to post, and may remove any posts that reveal sensitive information such as addresses, phone numbers, or real names.

Spam

Spam can include cross-posting the same information in multiple threads across multiple forums, repeated advertisements in several threads, or posts containing less than helpful content (such as "+1", "first post", or "grabbing popcorn"). We encourage meaningful conversations on our forums and spam posts are often counter to this goal.

Copyright/Trademark Infringement

Please respect the copyrights and trademarks held by Paizo and other publishers. Posts that contain copyrighted/trademarked material or links to third party hosting sites containing material that infringes on copyrights/trademarks are not permitted. This includes content that infringes or violates any copyright, patent, trademark, or other proprietary rights of any third party.

Illegal Activity

Do not advocate or disclose intent to commit illegal activities on paizo.com. This includes (but is not limited to) posts that encourage fraud, piracy, or violence.

Violating any of these guidelines may result in individual post removal, temporary suspension, or permanent removal from our community. If you have a question regarding any portion of these guidelines, please post to our Website Feedback forum or email community@paizo.com.

Remember that the above guidelines are not hard and fast rules for every situation that may arise. These guidelines are also subject to change as necessary.

Paizo.com Community FAQ

How do I report an offensive or inappropriate forum post?

If you come across a post that violates any of the Paizo's guidelines, click the "FLAG" link on the individual post. 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.com moderators. Once you've flagged a post, refrain from responding to it or posting that you've flagged the post—flag it and move on.

I don't see a flag that fits with why I'm flagging a post. What do I do?

You can use the "Break other guidelines" flag or email community@paizo.com to provide additional context.

How do I flag a community member?

If you feel that a particular individual is causing trouble on paizo.com, send an email to community@paizo.com.

Why didn't a moderator respond to my flag?

There are some conditions under which we don't respond to flags (the most common reason would be posts that appear to be misflagged). Moderation is largely a judgment call and not all flagged posts may require action on our part. If you feel there is something we may have missed, let community@paizo.com know.

Why can't I private message certain users?

All users on paizo.com have the option to enable or disable private messaging. If you do not see a link to message an individual, they have likely opted out of private messaging.

Why was my post removed?

If your post was removed and does not match the description of the post removal notification by a moderator, it is possible that it was either quoting or in response to a removed post.

Why didn't you just edit my post?

We feel that editing posts is not the most honest or time efficient way to moderate our community. Moderators will only ever edit posts to correct thread titles, add spoiler tags, or to remove personal information.

Why was my thread moved to a new forum?

Posts are moved occasionally to the most appropriate forum based on the individual topic. If you feel that your post was moved in error, please post to the Website Feedback forum.

Is it okay to post in languages other than English?

No. Moderators need to be able to quickly read through and understand the content of posts. Lengthy posts or threads in languages other than English are not something our team is able to moderate.