Welcome to the AnimeUSA forums!  Like many other places out there, we have rules as well, and we'd like to make you aware of them.  That being said, here's our set of rules.

1. No trolling, flaming, spamming, harrassment or threats allowed.  Seriously.  We don't like to clean up messes and we really hate having to swing the ban hammer.  That being said, if warranted, we will.  But since we prefer not to, please don't take it to that point.

2.  Politics are not allowed on the forums.  Yes, we're all sure you want to save the country from the other party, but bear in mind that we are a 501(c)(3) organization and political activity of any kind on our boards gets our non-profit status revoked.  Anyone who does this will be known as "the otaku who killed AUSA" and will be subject to a lot of hate-on by thousands of otaku everywhere.  Since we're sure you'd like to be spared this travesty (as well as attacks by lawyers), please avoid this.

3. While we're now allowing both animated avatars and signatures, please keep it reasonable.  If your signature is measured in megs, we're gonna have to kill it.  Plus, per the rule below, keep it clean.

4. No links to inappropriate content. This means no hentai, porn or torrent links.  In the case of the former, this is a family-friendly and spam-free board and we'd like to keep it that way.  As for the latter, industries do tend to watch anime boards and while some boards can get away with it, anime convention forums are not those boards.  Since we all want to remain in their good graces (or else we get no anime or manga), please abide by this.

5. No selling, trading or soliciting allowed on the forums, with the exception of the appropriate forums.  We do allow exceptions for the roomsharing, ridesharing, promoting your panels or workshops, listing what you may have at the Otaku Swap Festa or at your table at Artists Alley or the artshow, but that's it.  You violate that, we have mallet-sama on standby, capiche?

5a. Do not post links to auctions or to store sites.  While you may inform someone about something ("You can usually find X on eBay") posting a link is quite another.  If you have any questions about what is okay or not, please contact one of the staff.  They'll be more than happy to answer this.

6.In most cases, we will warn before we ban someone.  There is a general warning for more minor offenses and a much more strongly worded warning for major offenses. Bans depend on the offense.

7. if you see something broken, please let someone from AUSA staff know.  Also, like any forum, we'll take the forums down from time to time for maintenance; we will try to let you know plenty of time in advance before we do so.