Posting on the Official Forums

Welcome to the official Matrix Online forums!

Please note that you must have an active game account to post and send private messages here on the official forum.

Forum Rules

Message Board Code of Conduct

In addition to the Station's Terms of Service, we expect you to follow some additional rules.

Generally, you may post anything written in a courteous and mature manner, providing that it is on-topic for the forum.  This includes posts that disagree with the way that the developers operate the game.  We won't interfere with your communication so long as the presentation is constructive and appropriate.  Here are some Do's and Don'ts to follow-

Do's and Don'ts

• Do stay on topic for the forum or thread you are in, and keep it relevant.
• Do be courteous and mature in your posts.
• Do feel free to disagree, but keep it constructive and appropriate.
• Do be welcoming of newcomers.
• Do ask if you have questions. We're here to help!
• Do keep it legal.  Don't post anything unlawful, libelous or that infringes upon any intellectual property rights. 
• Don't use your post or signature to attack or insult someone.
• Don't turn your disagreement into an attack on another person or group.
• Don't engage in name-calling, harassment or threats.
• Don't post anything that contains obscenity, vulgarity, profanity or sexual content.
• Don't attempt to bypass the obscenity filter.
• Don't disparage any religion, race, nation, gender or sexual orientation.
• Don't infringe upon another person's privacy rights.
• Don't post anything off-topic for the forum you are in.
• Don't make multiple posts on the same topic for the purpose of getting attention.
• Don't post comments in threads for the purpose of drawing attention to another thread on a different, unrelated subject.
• Don't bump, sign, quote for emphasis (QFE), "first", or "second" any thread.
• Don't cross-post the same topic to multiple forums or post the same message to multiple threads.
• Don't reserve-post to a non-guide thread.
• Don't be a troll. "Trolling" is defined as: Posting with the intent of stirring up trouble or to incite disruption. An example of trolling would be posting to a thread without the intent to provide constructive suggestions or comments and instead making disruptive comments.
• Don't post topics addressed directly to another player. Send a private message instead.
• Don't post topics addressed directly to a developer.
• Don't use the forums to discuss private issues. If you have an issue with another player or group, take it up with them personally.
• Don't use the forums as staging grounds for planning disruptive activities or to promote general unrest in the form of sit-ins, polls, petitions, etc.
• Don't post exploits, cheats, hacks, or links to websites or other forums that contain such material. If you want to let the MXO team know about an issue like this, please send a private message.
• Don't post images or information obtained by hacking or parsing the client files.
• Don't use the forums to advertise the sale of characters, items or in-game currency for real-world money.
• Don't advertise websites with content that violates these rules, the The Matrix Online EULA or the Station Terms of Service.
• Do not post - or place in a signature - material (threads, posts, links, images, videos, ect), that promotes the use of, demonstrates, or endorses illegal substances as determined by substance abuse laws in the United States of America.
• Don't advertise products or websites that are not related to The Matrix Online or Sony Online Entertainment products.
• Do not make posts that inquire about, contain the same information as, or comment on other removed or locked posts/topics - provided that a Moderator has not said so otherwise. If you have an issue with a Moderator action, send the respective Moderator a private message.
• Don't make posts soliciting feedback about Customer Service resolutions.  All requests and feedback about Customer Service issues should be handled through petitions or emails using the Knowledge Base. (www.station.sony.com/kb)
• Don't make posts about Politics or Religion (including the off-topic forum)

These rules apply to the forums as well as the private message system.  Please note that these rules also apply to communication to any Sony Online Entertainment employees, including email.

Consequences

If you fail to adhere to the rules, here are a few of the actions that might be taken against you, based on the severity of the violation.

• Editing of post or signature
• Removal of the ability to have a signature or link and image posting privileges
• Deletion of the post or thread
• Locking of the thread
• A warning on record attached to the player's account. Warnings are given for less severe message board infractions. Any player that receives three warnings for misconduct will be banned.
• Suspension, resulting in the user being unable to access any Matrix Online forum, or play The Matrix Online for the duration of the suspension at the discretion of the community team. Any subsequent warnings after a suspension will result in banishment.
• Banishment, resulting in the user's forum posting privileges revoked. At the discretion of the community team, the user's access to The Matrix Online may also be removed along with their Station account closed.
• Legal action

Those who violate the rules of the message boards may or may not receive any warning before action is taken.  In the event that a warning is given, the warning will be recorded on the player's game account and may result in further action should the player show a pattern of engaging in prohibited conduct.  Philosophically and administratively, there is no difference between conduct in-game and conduct on the Official Forums.

Helpful Guidelines

Here are a few tips and hints on proper forum etiquette and a couple of helpful guidelines to get your post noticed. 

• A well-written post will get a lot more attention than a grammatical topic trick any day, so let common courtesy prevail.
• Keep your thoughts short and sweet.
• Negative comments are completely acceptable, but only when done in terms of constructive criticism. If you've got a beef with something, make your case clear and propose alternatives.
• Please don't call out MXO team members. We may not always be able to respond to every thread posted to the boards, but we do read the overwhelming majority of them.
• Avoid sending private messages to developers asking gameplay-related questions. When we can answer questions posted about general gameplay, we will. We won't however, reveal anything privately that we won't reveal in public.
• Don't send private messages asking SOE folks to read a particular thread.

SOE Forum Usage Guidelines

SOE provides these Forums as a service to its subscribers, to provide a friendly, positive family-oriented environment, where members can help each other and exchange ideas, tips, information, and techniques related to the game. Like any community, these Forums are most valuable when everyone obeys certain basic guidelines and rules for online behavior. These guidelines and rules are presented here so that you know what is expected of you and what you can expect from others. Please help keep the SOE Forums a clean and friendly community. And, above all else, have fun!

Rule 1: We Are All Here to Help
The purpose of these forums is to enable the members of the community to help each other in a constructive and positive atmosphere. If you are new to the forums and are unsure about anything, just ask! If you are an old hand and see new participants joining the forums, please welcome them and feel free to help them find their way!

Rule 2: Be Friendly and Courteous
Everyone wants to have a positive experience while on the Forums - please make sure that you contribute to it. Please do not post anything harassing, threatening, abusive, lewd, or inflammatory. Flaming people, products, or organizations is never acceptable. Neither is trolling. Instead, be friendly, helpful, and supportive.

Rule 3: Be Relevant
Please stay on topic. These Forums are provided to enable members to help each other in sharing their passion for the game. Please refrain from discussing personal matters, abusing any company or product, or, in general, from posting in a manner unrelated to the direct purposes expected in the Forums.

Rule 4: Be Legal
Please do not post anything unlawful, libelous, defamatory, or that infringes upon any intellectual property rights. Do not conduct any activity that may be illegal, or harmful in any way, to people, to software or hardware, such as hacking, flooding scripts viruses or Trojan horses. This includes posting of any images in any form in our forums.

Rule 5: No Spam
Please do not use the forums in any way to promote third party services, products, websites, or organizations. Spam is also posting repeatedly and off-topic in the forums.

Rule 6: Enforcement
Your participation in the Forums is subject to modification, deletion, access limitation or ban, by moderators, at their sole discretion, without notice or appeal. While SOE does not generally monitor content, it retains the right, at its sole discretion, to edit content and limit users' access that it considers inappropriate. SOE is not responsible for any failure or delay in taking such actions

Rule 7: Limitation of Liability
You understand that members like you contribute the content of these Forums, that SOE does not control and is not responsible for it, and that SOE does not in any way guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, legality or completeness of any such content. You expressly agree that you bear all the risks associated with such content and that SOE is not liable in any way for such content, for its errors and omissions, and for any losses and damage incurred as a result of accessing or using such content. These Usage Guidelines are in addition to, and not in lieu of the rights and obligations contained in SOE's Community Policies, SOE's Terms of Service, and the SOE Privacy Policy. SOE reserves the right to change its policies at any time.