Section 1 – Chat Rules

Chat is a key aspect of this discord community. Please remember to always be respectful to other members so we can foster an open and welcoming community. Some guiding rules:

RULE 1: Keep chatting civil as we want to uphold a friendly and inclusive environment.

(a)    Sensitive topics e.g., politics, religion, large world events, NSFW should be a avoided.

(b)    There should also be no promotion of breaking Niantic’s Terms of Service (found here: https://nianticlabs.com/terms/en/. The one exception to this rule is that we do allow discussion relating to multiple/alt accounts.

RULE 2: No racism, discrimination, trolling, or any harassment.

This includes spamming or tagging excessively. If you need to tag a user or a role (e.g. moderator, helper), tag once and wait for a response.

Do not ask for or post any other user’s personal information without their consent. We take this very seriously on this server, please respect the privacy of others.

RULE 3: No inappropriate material. This includes both textual as well as digital content (e.g. emojis, images, gifs).

RULE 4: No excessive swearing or capitalization. Please note that the keyword here is excessive. We all have our ‘oops’ moments, but please be mindful of how you communicate with other users on the server.

RULE 5: No promotions or recruiting of any type. Do not exploit the users on this server for your own personal purposes. However, if another user has requested some specific information (e.g. shiny rates), it is perfectly fine to link well-established sites that provide this information.

RULE 6: No “looking for raid” posts.

(a)    If you’re looking for a specific raid, go to #select-raid-roles and react to the Pokémon you’d like to receive notifications for. This rule applies in all chats.

(b)    This rule applies to both public chats and DMs. Do not DM hosts or other users asking to be added to their raids if you did not get selected by Raidbot.

RULE 7: Your in-game name and friend code registered in Raidbot must match the Pokémon Go profile for the account you are raiding with, whether it is a main or alt.

(a)    You may raid with alternate accounts; however, you will need to change your name in #profile-setup before you react to a raid. Otherwise, hosts have the right to exclude you from the raid.

Section 2 – Rules for Joining a Raid

It should go without saying that when you react to a raid, you must commit to joining the raid. Please ensure you have the means (e.g. raid passes, sufficient time, charged phones) to join and complete a raid before you react to one. You are given up to 3 minutes to add a host before you are considered to have not committed to the raid and can be replaced/excluded from the raid.

Please also note that weather-boosted raids are not regulated on this server due to complications that may inadvertently arise due to the weather and Niantic’s cell system, particularly when using remote raid passes. There is always a risk that a weather-boosted raid may not turn out to be weather-boosted.

Please also take note of these additional joining rules:

RULE 8: Members of a raid cannot ask for a friend or alt account to get invited unless a raid member leaves or is unresponsive after 3 minutes.

RULE 9: Do not chat in the raid channels. (You can chat in raid lobbies).

(a)    This only applies to channels listed under the “RAIDS” category (e.g. #mewtwo), and not the raid lobbies that you get added to after successfully being picked for a raid.

Section 3 – Rules for Hosting a Raid

You should only host a raid if you have a live and active raid that you can invite other members to. You must invite all members who have been selected for the lobby to your raid. Do also note that while failed raids are uncommon, they remain a possibility. Be prepared to reinvite your raiders if they request for a reattempt after a failed raid so that their raid passes can be saved. Please ensure that you have the means (e.g. remote passes if you’re not at the location, sufficient time, charged phones, consistent GPS signal) to host and invite all members selected for the lobby to the raid. Raiders are given up to 3 minutes to add you before they are considered to have not committed to the raid and can be replaced/excluded from the raid.

Please also take note of these additional hosting rules:

RULE 10: Hosts cannot deny people based on their level or team, nor can a raid be cancelled due to user levels before attempting (unless a raid member is not responding).

(a)    If, for some reason you have valid concerns regarding the successful completion of the raid with the selected lobby members, please ping a Moderator in the channel and seek their advice. Do not make the decision to cancel the raid or rehost on your own.

RULE 11: Raids must have at least 10 minutes left. This is because players cannot accept invites if the raid timer runs out, and extra time allows for a 2nd attempt if the raid is aborted for any reason. Hosts must also attempt the raid again if it fails.

(a)    The 10-minute rule applies to the point of host, which means, at the point where the -host command is entered, the raid must have at least 10 minutes on the timer.

(b)    Do note that while hosts are obliged to re-invite members again if it fails, members may choose not to re-attempt. While this may seem unfair, it is because the host has the sole power to get raiders back into the same gym and save their passes. If you need to find replacements for a failed raid, try asking in the legacy raid channels if anyone wants to reattempt.

RULE 12: The raid must be active (the egg must be hatched) and you must be at the gym. (unless it is remote)

(a)      Active means that the egg must be hatched, and the raid boss can be battled at present time. Do not make raiders wait unnecessarily.

RULE 13: You must use -rehost when hosting a gym multiple times. You may not host multiple raids with the same raid group. (More information on that command can be found by using -help). Please wait to see that the raid is successful before rehosting for 5-star and mega raids.

RULE 14: In Legacy Raids, hosts must take the first x number of people that signal that they are in (where x is the number of raiders requested for). Whoever was first on the host’s Discord screen gets in. Hosts can post a screenshot if there is a dispute.

Section 4 – Misc

RULE 15: Do not violate Discord TOS. We will ban anyone for anything we deem to be against TOS.
https://discord.com/termshttps://discord.com/guidelines

Additional Recommendations and Etiquette:

1.       Be patient. There will always be new people on the server who may struggle to get acquainted. Where possible, please try to be patient and help others out when you are more knowledgeable about certain matters.

2.       Communicate well. Many unnecessary disputes arise from miscommunication. Sometimes it’s a language barrier, or a simple misinterpretation.

Some examples include:

·         Being responsive in raid lobbies so everybody is on the same page (both raiders and hosts). While it’s not mandated to say “added” or “sending raid invites now”, it will help a lot if a dispute arises and generally helps other raiders to get an update on the raid status.

·         Being clear with your intentions or statements in public chats. As we all know, sarcasm doesn’t always translate well through text, and cultural differences can mean that certain things may get interpreted the wrong way.

3.       Be the bigger person. There is no need to continue unnecessary arguments, and sometimes members disagree on certain subjective issues (e.g. best shiny Pokémon). It’s fine to just move along, you don’t always need to have the last say. If someone is being overly abrasive, do ping/contact a moderator or block the offending member.