Intro

Below are Rules and Guidelines for using the Stranded Deep forums, please read them before posting. At the bottom there is also a link to the Terms and Service. You must agree to abide by the Rules and Terms of Service in order to use these forums.

Accounts and Security

You must create a user account in order to post on the forums. Only 1 account per user is permitted. Duplicate accounts will be deleted and may result in ban.

Beam Team and Staff hold no responsibility for an individual user’s actions. However for user’s own safety and security we would advise that you never share your password with anyone and refrain from posting personal identifiable details on the forums (real name, phone number, address etc). Posting personal information about another user is strictly prohibited.

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

When posting a new topic, take time to look through recent topics as there may be a discussion you can join before creating a new one on the same topic. Frequent and repetitive topics may be locked if an active discussion already exists,

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

  • Name-calling
  • Ad hominem attacks
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
  • Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation. Posts that do not add to the conversation, troll or aim to start a flame war will be removed and accounts may be suspended and multiple offenses may result in a ban.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.

In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts; the moderators, site operators, Beam Team and Staff take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

Always Be Civil

Remember before posting:

  • Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
  • Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
  • Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
  • Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place and stick to the post guidelines below, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up.

  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
  • Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
  • Don’t divert or derail a topic by changing it midstream. Discussions that go off topic may be cleaned up or simply locked. Deciding if a post has gone off topic is at Moderator and Staff discretion.
  • Don’t post non constructive filler such as multiple short posts in a row or intentional nonsense posts.
  • Don’t spread misinformation.
  • Don’t sign your posts — every post has your profile information attached to it.
  • Don’t revive older threads. (aka: “Necroposting”) As there are regular updates to the game, in order to keep the discussion up to date please create a new post if the most recent similar discussion’s last reply is 1+ months old or if the topic concerns something addressed in a newer update released since the last reply. Please acknowledge and link back to any similar discussion you are continuing or are referring to in your post.
  • Don’t post duplicate threads or topics if a current discussion already exists. (Please check Bug Reporting Rules for exceptions)
  • Don’t post unsolicited critique of a user’s spelling or grammar etc.
  • Don’t “Bump” a thread.
  • Don’t use annoying or hard to read text styles. For example: Intermittent caps, all caps etc.
  • Do not use link shorteners to post links, post direct links only when sharing content.
  • Avoid single word or minimal replies. Rather than posting “+1”,“Agreed” or a single emoji reaction, use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a Linked Topic.
  • As our Staff and Moderators are all English Speakers, please avoid using other languages. We need to be able to read everything posted in order to effectively run the forums. If you are unable to or do not feel confident writing in English, please use an online translator. If you are concerned about your post being mistranslated you may post in your preferred language on the condition that a 1:1 translation accompanies it.

Some topics are off limits entirely. Posts will be deleted or locked and repetitive posting of off limit topics may result in suspension or a ban. These include:

  • Piracy - Of any kind.
  • Religion and Politics
  • Previous discussions or topics that were closed or locked by a Moderator, especially if it was for inappropriate behavior.
  • Discussions of moderator actions. If you wish to discuss or appeal a decision, please contact staff directly.
  • Announcing you are deleting/leaving the game or the forum due to dissatisfaction.
  • Announcing your forum actions. For example: blocking, reporting, flagging.
  • Outright calling for a ban eg: “ban me if you want”
  • Calling out other community members either via forum username or game ID. If you have an issue with a user on the forum, flag it.
  • Slanderous accusations and presumptions about Staff or their actions.
  • Discussing the status or personal lives of Staff members.
  • Non constructive doom and gloom posts. “This Game is Dead” etc. This does not include genuine negative feedback and discussions about features you do not like which are welcomed.

Private / Direct Messaging

Any private / direct messages sent between users on the forum are subject to the public posting and problem reporting guidelines. They are for the intended users only and should not be posted publicly. However, Moderators and staff can inspect them if they are flagged for inappropriate behavior.

Please refrain from sending messages to staff about bugs, questions about updates, feature requests etc. unless they specifically reach out to you. Repeat offenders will be suspended.

Content Posting

We encourage users to only post their own content on the forums. Please use the posting guides to credit all posted content as either your own or someone else’s. Avoid titles that could falsely imply ownership of content

As per the Keep It Tidy section above, when sharing external content, do not use shortened links on the forums. Shortened links may be removed and you may be asked to resubmit a direct link.

You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

Powered by You

This site is operated by your friendly local staff and you, the community. If you have any further questions about how things should work here, open a new topic in the [Suggestions] area, include [Forum Guidelines] in the title and let’s discuss! If there’s a critical or urgent issue that can’t be handled by a topic or flag, contact us via the staff page.

Warnings, Suspensions and Bans

Breaking the rules of the forums or repeatedly straying from the guidelines disrupting the forums will result in Moderator action. Generally speaking, the rule of 3 applies.

  • If you break the rules or disrupt the forums you will receive a warning.
  • 3 warnings within a short time frame will result in account suspension for 3 days.
  • 3 suspensions will result in a permanent ban.

Circumventing suspensions by creating new accounts will result in an instant ban of all accounts involved. Moderators also reserve the right to go straight to a suspension or ban without warning if the rule breaking is deemed severe enough.

We understand sometimes mistakes are made or things can be misinterpreted, if you wish to appeal the decision made, please contact a member of staff to open a civil discussion on the issue - non civil messages about actions taken by Moderators will not be entertained.

Terms of Service

Yes, legalese is boring, but we must protect ourselves – and by extension, you and your data – against unfriendly folks. We have a Terms of Service describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our TOS.