Set of rules

- Preface -

The OMSI-WebDisk is a public forum in which all members can participate, provided they agree to the terms of use. All users of the OMSI-WebDisk share a common hobby - OMSI and public transport. With the OMSI-WebDisk, we team members provide a discussion area for these and related topics, as well as an area for players and modders seeking help.

We maintain a friendly and constructive interaction with each other and follow the philosophy "as few rules as possible". Moderators do not promote a friendly atmosphere alone, but everyone can contribute to it. The following regulations are intended to promote the community and the atmosphere through clear rules and structures.

We team members are active here in our free time and do not pursue any commercial intentions with the OMSI-WebDisk. All income from advertising and donations goes into the OMSI-WebDisk itself.

0. General rules

The laws of the Federal Republic of Germany apply, including copyright law and the Youth Protection Act..
1. What is permitted under German law does not necessarily apply to the OMSI-WebDisk.
2. The right to freedom of speech does not apply to private websites.
3. The issuing of a "virtual house ban" is permissible (LG Munich I, AZ 30 O 11973/05). As the operator, we have domiciliary rights on our platform.
4. Non-adult content may not be distributed.
5. No political, offensive, extreme or racist content may be disseminated.
All users are responsible for their own misbehaviour. If a user does not adhere to the rules, sanctions may be imposed by moderators.
Unwitting offences are just as valid as witting offences. The principle "ignorance is no defence against punishment" applies.
In addition to the rules mentioned here, there are special rules for certain areas. These are highlighted at the top of the page and marked with an icon - in forum areas, additional rules are pinned to the top of the page.
The rules may change at any time and without notice.

1. Membership and registration

Registration is a prerequisite for active participation in the OMSI-WebDisk. By creating a user account, you agree to the terms of use and the privacy policy.
It is not permitted to use the OMSI-WebDisk via a VPN or comparable technology.
Your user name must not contain any offensive, politically radical, misleading or hurtful phrases, nor any personal data such as e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. The user name must not suggest that you are a member of the OMSI-WebDisk team or an employee of Aerosoft GmbH or Halycon Media GmbH. The user name must also not infringe any trademarks or imitate third parties or institutions.
E-mail addresses
1. You must be able to regularly access the e-mail address you have provided. If your e-mail address changes, you are obliged to change the address in your user profile.
2. Accounts with e-mail addresses whose mailbox is overflowing will be disabled.
Each user may only have one account on the OMSI-WebDisk. Unauthorised duplicate accounts will be disabled.
1. If you have problems with your account, use the „forgot password“ function and, if you have further problems, use the ticket system instead of creating a new account.
2. Let the team know if another person in your household also uses an account. This ensures that accounts are not incorrectly recognised as duplicate accounts and disabled due to the IP check.
Each account may only be used by one person. You undertake not to pass on any login information such as passwords and 2FA codes. Team members will never ask you for this data.
You can delete your user account yourself. In this case, the account will be deleted after 7 days.
1. After deleting the account, your account will be deleted with all personal data and profile.
2. Your created content (forum posts, download and wiki entries as well as comments) remain unaffected by the deletion.
When you register, you will receive a user profile. All public information on the profile is voluntary.
Avatars and signatures should be unobtrusive and must not suggest that you are mistakenly a team member.

2. Community rules

These rules apply to the entire OMSI-WebDisk platform and are intended to contribute to a positive atmosphere.

Pay attention to moral behaviour, respect, friendliness and tolerance.
1. Refrain from insults as well as vulgar and inappropriate language.
2. Argue objectively and respectfully if you have a different opinion. If the other person has a different opinion, you should respect it.
3. Criticism should be constructive and contain suggestions for improvement.
4. Pay attention to appropriate spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Make sure you create your posts, topics and entries in the right areas. All forum areas have a description of what the area is about. The signpost also provides assistance with this.
1. Avoid off-topic / "OT" posts outside the designated areas.
2. Support and help requests belong in the support/help forum. Especially not in the user chronicles.
Refrain from publishing personal data. (Names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc.) No-one can check whether this data is really yours or whether you want to harm others with it. Links for anonymous or pseudonymous contact such as via Steam, Discord and similar services are permitted.
Posts with meaningless content (including spamming) are undesirable, as is the excessive use of repeated words and excessive use of smilies.
Only use italics, bold or coloured highlighting and resizing for individual text passages. Capitalisation of whole words (capslock) is also not permitted.
1. Only moderators are authorised to use the moderation boxes.
2. Due to the different styles, you should use colour highlighting sparingly. Explicitly set white (or very light) and black (or very dark) fonts cannot be read without errors in all styles.
Advertising is generally prohibited, even via private messages. An exception is your own profile including signature, which offers sufficient opportunity to advertise your own homepage or your own projects, for example. However, this must be in connection with the topic of OMSI / public transport.
Only use the report function if, in your opinion, the content violates the terms of use.
1. In the event of a breach of the rules, only the moderators will deal with the matter; auxiliary moderation is not permitted.
2. The reporting function must not be misused for deliberately false reports or personal disputes.
Private matters are resolved privately; the forum climate should not suffer from private disputes. If in doubt, contact mediation.
Do not disclose any private information to the public or other users, including private conversations within the OMSI-WebDisk and content from internal (project) forums.
Do not share links to sites that violate copyright law, spam links or links that lead to malware or similar.

3. Team members and moderators

Team members and moderators within the meaning of the Terms of Use are all users of the following user groups: Management, Mediators, Administration, Inspectors, OMSI Experts, Discord Mods
1. The managers are the project leaders, represent the OMSI-WebDisk externally and are the contact persons for external parties.
2. The administrators are the central point of contact for all users: they have far-reaching authorisations across the entire platform.
3. Filebase reviewers act as moderators in the filebase and check all files, comments and reviews for conformity.
4. The OMSI experts have moderation skills in the help/support and presentation areas.
5. The Discord mods only have moderation capabilities on the Discord server. They must be followed on the Discord server.
6. Mediators mediate between users. They also have moderation rights as part of de-escalation measures.
Follow the instructions of the moderators, especially the moderation instructions with the icon () and indications.
Moderators may delete and edit user content within the scope of their rights and responsibilities. After a moderator has edited a post, the editing of the post is disabled.
Moderators decide at their own discretion and according to the severity of the offence whether to delete or not to activate, admonish or warn content that violates the rules. They can also decide to deliberately not remove content.
1. Contact the mediators or another moderator if you feel you have been treated unfairly.
2. Issues with the team will not be discussed publicly. We will also not expose any member for misbehaviour.

4. Forum

These rules apply in addition to the community rules for posts in the forum.

Make sure to create topics in the right area, especially support and help requests for OMSI.
1. Before creating a thread, use the search to see if there is already a thread on the topic.
2. Before you create a support thread, check whether there is already a thread here (for commercial add-ons) or here (for freeware add-ons and mods). Use the existing threads instead of creating your own threads and commenting in the filebase.
3. Support requests do not belong in the author's chronicle.
The forum is not a chat portal. Use the "Edit" function to edit a post afterwards. Only use the quote function if it is necessary to understand the context. Direct quotations should be avoided.
Post longer text, code sections and log files in spoilers or code blocks.
Follow the template in the support forum and fill it out truthfully. For support requests, attach a log file and, if necessary, screenshots showing the problem.
Refrain from asking about the status of a project and the release date. You can find more information here.
Created threads and posts cannot be deleted by the user. Please use the report function for this.
If you would like to present a project in the WIP area, please provide a meaningful description and images. WIP threads that only consist of a concept but nothing presentable will be removed by the moderators. There is no room for repaints and similar small projects in the WIP area.
If you provide a project, upload it to the filebase. External links for your own projects to other hosters are not permitted.

4a. Discord server

In addition to the website, the OMSI WebDisk operates a server on the "Discord" communication platform.

This set of rules also applies to the server. The following rules apply additionally or override them:

Only use the language of the corresponding category.
Advertising is also generally prohibited on the Discord server (especially unwanted invitations to other Discord servers). Exceptions are YouTube videos in the corresponding channel and links that are useful in the context of the conversation.
Support requests are only permitted in the support channels (#support-de, #support-en or #support-fr for different languages). The team reserves the right to delete support requests in other channels without comment.
The "irrenanstalt" channel in the German section serves as a channel for more petty and jokey, toxic communication. GIFs and "Pepe" emojis can be used there in excess.
1. Spam (z.B. Sending the same GIF five times in a row) is still prohibited.
2. Due to the toxic communication method, which could disturb a user, the Discord account must be connected to the WebDisk account in order to gain access to this channel.
3. Furthermore, the remaining regulations (in particular 0.1. and 2.1.1.) also apply in this channel.
The Discord server has its own ticket system, which can be used from the #tickets channel. Please note that the ticket system is not suitable for support.
For problems that require moderation, use the /moderation report command. If there are critical incidents, ping the Discord-Mods role so that they receive a push message and can react immediately.
The use of voice changers is prohibited.
You can be warned, kicked or banned for breaches of the rules. For minor offences, your writing rights may be temporarily withdrawn ("timeout"). Serious offences will also affect your account on the WebDisk.

5. Filebase

These rules apply to uploaded files and entries in the download archive.

The filebase is used to make files available to the public. Any content created there is made available to the public after a review.
1. After each upload, the file is checked by an inspector. As not all inspectors are always online, please refrain from asking about the status of the activation. If something is not correct, an inspector will contact you via PN and give you the opportunity to correct the entry.
2. Let the responsible inspector know as soon as you have corrected the upload.
3. Entries that have been objected to by an inspector and not activated will be deleted after one month if they are not corrected within this time.
Uploaded archives with files that are to be added to the OMSI main folder must have one of the following folder structures. This is important so that newcomers can easily install mods.
1. [Archive] \ OMSI 2 \ [Subfolder]
2. [Archive] \ [Name] \ OMSI 2 \ [Subfolder]
3. [Archive] \ [Subfolder]
4. [Archive] \ [Name] \ [Subfolder]
5. "Subfolders" refer to the folders in the main directory of OMSI.
6. The folder "OMSI 2" must be written exactly as specified, i.e. with the space character.
An English description is the minimum for all entries (except for the categories Repaints, Miscellaneous and Exchange). If you need help with the translation, online services such as DeepL and our translators.
A preview image and additional screenshots for the entry are mandatory if there is something to see.
Each entry must be related to OMSI. Other entries will not be activated and will be removed.
If you upload something to the filebase, you confirm that you are the sole author, that you have permission from the authors or that the authors have agreed to the distribution by means of a corresponding licence.
1. In particular, the download must not contain any original OMSI files or content from official add-ons.
2. The licence must always be observed when modifying and re-uploading modifications. If there is no reference to this on the original download page, German copyright law applies. The German Copyright Act must also be observed in all other cases.
3. If requested by the moderators, you must be able to provide an authorisation, e.g. as a screenshot of a message.
Uploaded files cannot be deleted by the user. Please use the report function for this.
1. Old versions will not be deleted as we want to create a permanent download archive with the OMSI WebDisk. Individual cases (serious errors or copyright infringements as well as personal requests) are excluded from this.
2. Should you delete your files for personal reasons, frustration or similar. If you delete your files for personal reasons, frustration or similar, we reserve the right to revoke any trophies and ranks you have achieved through the upload. We consider this to be behaviour that is harmful to the community.
3. Irrespective of the above points, we naturally ensure that the authors' rights to their work are respected. In the case of deletion requests, we will first try to have a clarifying discussion. If you continue to insist on deletion, we will comply. We reserve 24 hours as a grace period.
Password-protected archives are possible, in which case the password must be included in the description of the entry, in a separately uploaded readme or in a readme in the archive that can be opened without the password.
If original files from OMSI or from official add-ons are overwritten, you must indicate this in the description text.
Uploads must not contain any viruses, Trojans or other malware.
If you need support or help with a filebase entry, first check whether a thread is already linked as "WebSite / Support". If so, use this thread for your request.

5a. Reviews

These rules apply to the writing of reviews for file entries. You can find more details here.

All reviews are activated manually by the inspectors, similar to files.
A review should be objective and verifiable. Points of criticism should be adequately explained so that they are verifiable for everyone and can be taken up by the author as a suggestion for improvement.
Detached from personal feelings, a review should only evaluate the file itself. Reviews offer no room for personal differences or reactions to other reviews. (Example: Someone writes a positive review based solely on the fact that someone else has written a negative review).
For comments of all kinds, including comments that are not permitted as reviews, you are free to use the comment function at any time. We expressly encourage a constructive discussion culture here at WebDisk, in which everyone can express their opinion. However, there are higher hurdles for reviews.

6. Warning system and penalties

Admonitions and warnings are issued by the moderators in the event of breaches of the terms of use. An admonition/warning is communicated via PN and recorded in the profile. They can only be viewed by the admonished/warned person and the moderators.

Warnings without points are binding notices without penalties, similar to moderation notices. They are issued, for example, for minor and first-time offences.
A warning contains a certain number of points that are credited to the warned person for a certain period of time. Warning points are not to be confused with activity points, which users receive depending on their activity (posts, file entries, etc.). If a certain number of points is exceeded, the following penalties apply:
- 25 points: Temporary exclusion for one week
- 50 points: Temporary exclusion for a fortnight
- 75 points: Temporary exclusion of four weeks
- 100 points: Permanent exclusion for life
In addition to the automatic penalties (see above), moderators can impose temporary and permanent exclusions at their own discretion and depending on the severity and number of offences.
If a user's avatar violates the terms of use, the user's avatar can be disabled; the same applies to the signature and the profile background image.
Individual cases of admonishments/warnings or penalties are not discussed publicly. If you wish to have an admonition/warning reviewed, consult another moderator or a mediator. It is not permitted to make such private discussions (e.g. from a conversation or a ticket) accessible to others.
Exclusions ("bans") affect both the OMSI-WebDisk website and the OMSI-WebDisk Discord server.
Penalties, in particular temporary or permanent exclusions, may not be circumvented by creating another account or similar. In the event of non-compliance, a penalty may be extended.

7. Miscellaneous

All moderators act at their own discretion and have room for manoeuvre in their moderation activities. In particular, they can also sanction behaviour that they consider to be harmful to the community if there is no explicit rule in the terms of use. They can also make deviating arrangements with individual persons or groups of persons that apply in addition to the terms of use or determine exceptions.
All team members always try to act in the interests of the common good of the community and consult with each other. You can therefore assume that the moderators do not make any important decisions on their own.
We ensure that all moderative actions are appropriate to the offence in question. In particular, the previous activity of the user is taken into account. (Example: If a newcomer violates the filebase rules, e.g. if the folder structure is incorrect, the responsible inspector leaves it at a message without further consequences).
Remember that all team members are human, even if they should always behave in an exemplary manner. Decisions made by the team, including moderating instructions, warnings, reprimands and sanctions, can be reversed or changed. However, this is no reason to disrespect the team member and question their position.
We are always open to suggestions for improvement, questions, comments, but also complaints if something is not going well.
The ticket system can also be used by blocked users as guests and non-registered users and should preferably be used instead of the contact form.
Team members will never ask you for your access data or account details (including from other services) or demand money from you. In this case, you can assume that it is phishing.