These are Voltra's website rules, they apply throughout the entire website and breaking them will result in a warning. Continuously breaking these rules will result in a ban to your account, which will make you either temporarily or permanently lose access to the website. The type of ban you receive will vary, you might lose your account or entire access to the website.

DISCLAIMER

By posting in the forums you acknowledge that you have read and that you understand these rules.

Voltra has the right to edit this document to change, remove or add rules in the future. Announcements will be made of these changes and continued use of forum features means you acknowledge these changes.

Although there is a warnings system in place, all of these will be judged on a case by case basis depending on context. In some cases, warnings might be skipped and the punishment will go straight to a ban on your account.


RULES


Content Rating

Please keep content and discussions rated PG-13. This means no explicit mention of sexual content, drugs, or inappropriate images. This rule applies to the entire website, including but not limited to: Forums, Private Messages, Profiles, Etc.

The minimum age to join Voltra is 13 years old. If you are found to be younger than this, your account will be frozen until you've reached the age of 13 and are able to legitimately join Voltra.


Forums

Individual Forums and their subforums may have additional rules that apply only to them. Make sure you read and abide by these rules while using those forums. These rules might refer to Spamming exceptions, Changes in Content Rating, Specific posting themes, etc. Be sure to read and follow these rules in their respective forums, failure to comply will result in a warning. By posting on those forums you acknowledge that you've read these rules and understand them.

Spamming is not allowed on Voltra. Posting off-topic, Duplicate topics of discussion, Continuous nonsensical comments, Posting only emotes, Posting in the background color, Using unreadable text to make posts longer, Triple posting, Using two accounts to talk to yourself; are a few examples of what counts as Spamming and is not allowed on Voltra. Bumping your original topics once they have left the first page of their respective forums is allowed. Posting multiple times in a row to set up a thread's first page is allowed.

Triple Posting is allowed in regards to the following scenarios:
Bumping your topic if it’s fallen off the first page of its respective forum

Posting multiple times in a row to set up a thread’s first page

Updating another party about your current trade/exchange
(ie. You’ve completed an art order in the mini-shops forum, you can ping the customer to notify them the art is ready, even if you were the last two posts.

A window of 12 hours has passed
(ie. You completed a new piece for your art gallery. If the last two posts were you, after 12 hours from the previous post you are able to post the update for others to be aware.)


Posting on threads that have been inactive for a total of 6 months since their last post is not allowed and will be considered necro-posting. If it has been over 6 months, you are free to recreate a thread akin to the inactive one. If caught necro-posting you will receive a warning. Exceptions to this rule include the Artist Galleries and Role-Playing forums.

Users must use English as the main language of Voltra. If another language is used, you must make sure to avoid spelling mistakes so that it can be easily translated for review, or that you provide a translation alongside your main post inside a spoiler.

This is a PG-13 website. As such, please be mindful about excessive swearing, using slurs, directing hateful words at others, etc.

Posting comments, pictures, or other content with the intention of offending other users or incite rage is not allowed on Voltra Online. This will be considered 'trolling' and you will get a warning about your behavior.

Posting insults or other unnecessarily abusive content is not allowed on Voltra Online. This includes discriminatory messages against someone's personal life style, be it related to religion, politics, race, identity, and other personal identifiers. Be respectful to others.

Harassment is not allowed on Voltra. This applies, but is not limited to, repeated attempts to contact another user by stalking them through their forum posts or by sending messages, when that user has previously requested this behavior to stop.

Any flammable content is not allowed. This includes the act of ranting, commenting, complaining, or negative behavior against any member of the site, and/or any infractions made on your account.

Topics relating to explicit sexual natures are not permitted on Voltra, even less when they are unsolicited. Voltra is not responsible for contact and discussions which occur away from the website and associated discord.

If this behavior continues after notifying another user to cease contacting you or even after making use of the blocking features against them, contact a moderator or admin and appropriate steps will be taken, which would be either a temporary ban or a permanent one, depending on the case.

Topics created to advertise someone's for profit activities is not allowed. You may have a link to your personal website, commissions page or store in your profile or signature, as long as it adheres to all other rules, most importantly that it is PG-13 in nature. You may also be allowed to link to a shop if it's in context of the conversation, as long as it adheres to all other rules. Do not link illegal content or anything rated above PG-13. You may contact a member of staff if you are unsure of this.

Linking to websites of the similar nature to Voltra Online (I.E. Avatar Communities/Forums) is not allowed, with the exception of mentioning your identifying username, with the name of said website, on your own Voltra profile. Business owners caught promoting their business through account usage could face a permanent ban. However, references to these websites is permitted in context of conversation.


Accounts

All individuals are allowed a maximum of 3 accounts. Users found in violation of this rule may have some or all of their accounts banned. You will be contacted for clarification and in the event of shared IP connections, you may be asked to provide evidence of all other individuals sharing the same IP connection.

If you share one account with other persons, it is by your own agreement with any involved parties and we are not held responsible for any damages occurring to your account.

Attempts to scam or hack other users, abuse site glitches or bugs for profit, and/or do offsite trading with Voltra items and/or currency will all result in an immediate ban.Some cases are more severe than others, and they will be discussed on the severity of the ban.
Offsite trading is exchanging Voltra items or currency, for another website's items or currency. Because there is no way for us to track these or make sure they are fair or legitimate, they are not allowed. If you went against rules and traded, we are not responsible for any loss to your account, and are at the risk of being banned.


Impersonating Staff

Anyone caught impersonating a Staff member in any form can result in an immediate ban to their account. Anything on your account that implies you are part of staff, be it an image or text, is prohibited.

Do not backseat moderate. If you see an user breaking the rules, let a member of staff know so they can handle it. This is made to avoid issues between users and to prevent possible misinformation about rules.

Images | Media

Some copyrighted content is not allowed to be shared. This applies to sharing illegally downloaded materials, media, streaming websites, sites used to download such content, and the like. Exceptions apply to Youtube videos, and pictures as long as they are legitimate sources that do not use stolen material or break any copyright laws. Websites used to stream media to groups are not allowed to be shared in Voltra, with the exception of personal streams used to share original content.

Tracing:
What is considered Tracing? If in the process of drawing you are layering a canvas/paper over someone else’s art and replicating the line art from the bottom layer drawing. That is considered tracing. Even if you are only tracing the pose, it still qualifies and should be credited.

Tracing on Voltra for personal growth is permitted under the condition that you give FULL credit to the original artist and the art piece that you traced.

If Voltra is contacted by the original artist of the piece traced and is requested to take it down. We reserve the right to act upon this request. We will inform you that a request has been made by the original artist and the art has been taken down and should not be re-uploaded in any shape or form on Voltra.

If you are reported for tracing and not crediting the original artist or admitting to tracing, provided with evidence. You will be issued a warning.

Reporting a tracer. DO NOT PUBLICLY CALL THEM OUT. Report it to a moderator or an admin and we will deal with the case. If you publicly shame the tracer you will receive a warning as well (because this is considered flammable content).

References:
Drawing from a photo reference is not considered tracing as you are re-drawing what you see from scratch. We understand that each artist needs to use references to study and grow their skills.

If you re-create a photo that is anything between 50%-100% identical you should credit the original piece.

Mini Shops:
It is against Voltra rules to sell traced art. If you are reported, provided with evidence, you will receive a warning.

Using bases is ok under the condition that you have proof of the original artist giving permission for their bases to be used. This means that the artist giving consent created the base from scratch and has the rights to give permission.

Bases that are traced from anime screenshots, manga panels, comic panels and or other artist’s work are not permitted. As the Tracer does not own these and cannot give consent to use.

Images used on post styles must not exceed 300px in height. They must not exceed 200px in height for signatures. For all other images, the forums will auto resize them to the set limit of 906px width and 1080px height, and they are allowed as long as they are not constant, or stacked together in a single post. If you have various large images in a single posts, make use of the BBCode for Spoilers and hide them from the regular view.