# GTA Online Discord Policy

This policy document explains the processes behind moderation policy in the GTA Online Discord server. It's important that you understand this full policy document, as it will explain to you how to behave and act in the server so as to avoid being punished. This document provides in greater detail the choices behind specific policy elements.

## Overview

1. Rules
1. Punishment Guidelines

## Rules

These rules are not a comprehensive guide of how to act, and staff will moderate content which they believe to violate the spirit of the rules at their own discretion. If you disagree with a staff decision please contact Modmail. Staff reserve the right to perform moderation actions without additional warnings, depending on the situation at hand.

Failure to comply with a moderator's request to cease specific behaviour will result in an escalation of punishments and will potentially result in a ban if it happens repeatedly.

Most rules can be summarised by "apply common sense," and moderators will consider this heavily when dealing with cases. Non-explicit rule violations that break this common rule will be punished the same as explicitly defined rule violations.

If you believe you have been punished unfairly please DM @Modmail with an explanation of what you believe to be the issue so that we can resolve it. If you are banned you may join the ban appeals server at https://discord.gg/5ypbk4a and send a DM to @BanAppealsHere.

### 1. Treat everyone with respect.

GTAO aims to be an inclusive and welcoming community, and as such you may not harass any other server member, no matter what reason you have to do so. If another user is harassing you please report it to Modmail immediately. Race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected group is never an acceptable reason to harass or make fun of someone. Excessive swearing and general toxicity are also included under this rule, and won't be tolerated.

### 2. NSFW or objectionable content of any kind is forbidden.

Due to being a partnered server we cannot allow posting of any NSFW content. This includes in NSFW channels. Our server allows for members of 13 years old and older, and as a result posting any materials considered "adult only" or objectionable are strictly forbidden.

### 3. The use of alternative accounts, avoiding, or attempting to avoid punishments is forbidden.

Attempting to avoid any punishment such as a mute or ban by any means is forbidden and will result in an increase in the severity of your punishment. Evading a ban will result in a permanent and unappealable ban of both your main account and the account(s) you evaded the ban on. Using alternative accounts to evade a mute will result in the alt account being permanently banned and your main account being temporarily banned for twice the duration of the mute without chance to appeal. As an extension, alt accounts will always be permanently banned, regardless of whether you are attempting to evade a punishment.

### 4. Impersonation of users, staff, public figures, or bots is forbidden.

Members who are found to be impersonating users, staff, public figures, or bots will be asked to change their profile to not impersonate the targeted entity. Failure to comply with a moderator request to do this will result in an escalation of punishments.

### 5. Advertising, begging, and trading are forbidden, with the exception of trading strictly in-game GTA content or services.

This applies to any content you post in chat or communicate via our voice channels as well as your profile picture, banner, or status.

Advertising includes but is not limited to:

1. Advertising any channel on any platform. (e.g YouTube, Twitch.)
1. Advertising any social media accounts. (e.g Snapchat account.)
1. Advertising a GTA crew.
1. Recruiting players for any clan or faction. (e.g Fortnite clan.)
1. Advertising any type of server. (e.g Discord server, Minecraft server.)
1. Advertising GTA recovery services.

Trading includes but is not limited to:

1. Offering real life money for GTA content or services (e.g Paypal for Heist runs) or offering GTA content or services in exchange for real life money.
1. Exchanging items or services outside of GTA (e.g Fortnite skins for CS:GO skins.)

### 6. Don't degrade chat quality.

To maintain a welcoming and enjoyable community it is important that we enforce a reasonable level of chat quality. The following behaviour is therefore forbidden, and may result in moderator action:

1. Excessive profanity. The use of swear words not blocked by the spam filter is allowed, however you should not use them in a way which is excessive or irritating. They should also not be directed at other users. For example, it is acceptable to say "my internet is shit," however it is not acceptable to say "you're a fucking cunt."
1. Excessive immature chatter. It's acceptable to chat and banter casually, but you should avoid doing so in a way that irritates other people or drowns out other conversations in a channel.
1. Excessive emoji usage. The use of emojis in chat is allowed, however you should ensure that you don't overuse emoji. For example, filling up your chat bar with emojis and sending it is not ok.
1. Material that may affect photosensitive users. Any emojis, videos, or gifs with flashing lights which could affect users who are sensitive to flashing content is forbidden. Bear in mind that even slowly flashing media could have an effect. Under reasonable contexts, such as discussion around a video, you may post this type of media provided it is wrapped in a spoiler tag with a clear warning.
1. Excluding users. Excessive use of inside jokes or other forms of excluding users from conversation is forbidden to promote a healthy and active community of all users who wish to participate. If a new user is starting a conversation attempt to join in, rather than steamrolling their conversation with your own.
1. Shitposting. With the exception of the dedicated memes and shitposting channel you should not shitpost in chat. Shitposting is a failure to post something constructive or interesting.
1. False information. Spreading false information is forbidden. If you are told to stop spreading false information and you continue to do so you may be punished by the moderators.
1. Politically charged or inflamatory topics. You may only discuss political topics within the #serious-discussions channel. In all other channels this is prohibited to maintain high chat quality.

### 7. Only use English.

English is the only language that enough of the moderation team speaks fluently, and as such we only allow discussion in English to allow us to effectively moderate the community.

### 8. Always use the correct channel.

In order to maintain chat quality in channels, we enforce that discussions within them must be on topic.

### 9. Nicknames must be mentionable, and must follow our other content rules.

Nicknames should not contain special characters such as zalgo and emoji which make them difficult for other users to mention.

### 10. Do not abuse spoiler tags.

Spoiler tags are enabled to allow members to discuss content others may not want to see, for example movie spoilers, but should not be abused or overused. Abusing spoiler tags is strictly prohibited.

An example of abusing spoiler tags would be a message such as `ni||ce ca||r`.

### 11. Only mention @Server Staff in an emergency.

Staff pings are enabled so that members can contact staff rapidly to alert them to an emergency in chat, such as NSFW content or active harassment. Do not ping server staff for non-emergencies - use ModMail instead. Abuse of the ability to ping server staff will result in moderation action.

## Punishment Guidelines