Code of Conduct & Blacklist

The Code of Conduct lays out basic guidelines to follow in the Equus Ballator group. These are not all of the group rules, but rather, rules to be followed by each member.
If you decide to be a member of the Equus Ballator community, there are certain expectations that we expect our members to adhere to. This is to ensure peace in the community.

Code of Conduct

 

1. Members are to show respect towards other members of the community or EB staff members.

  • Disrespect/bullying includes public shaming, bashing journals, flaming, spreading rumors, harassment, or targeting people.
    It does NOT include disagreeing, arguing, debating, differing opinions, or speaking about that member to another user.
    If you have a problem with someone, talk to them privately, and/or view our process with dealing with people who have upset you in the FAQ, on the bottom of the journal.
  • Respect of the admins also includes respecting that they are doing their jobs to the best of their ability. Disrespect/rudeness towards the admins on a frequent basis will not be tolerated. Please remember admins are humans – not bots. They dedicate their own personal time to the EB Group on their own free will in order to help the community.
    Members are to follow the individual rules for each aspect of the group; if you have a question, please ask in our #questions channel in our discord or create a thread in our Notes & Troubleshooting forum.
  • Any instructions given by EB staff regarding correction of designs or other group-related aspects are to be followed, as this retains order and consistancy. Please give us at least one week to review foal/reference/submissions/breeding notes before noting the group about it. Repeated submissions/Notes/PM’ing admins, frequent fighting of the rules, or attempting to persuade an admin to allow an incorrect design/stat count/etc, when you have already received an instruction/answer will fall under harassment. Blocking admins is prohibited — if an admin is blocked, you may not participate in group functions.
    Please do not note admins on their personal accounts unless you have permission. Send them a Skype/Discord PM, or note the group.

2. Theft and/or fraud will not be tolerated in any sense.

  • Any member found stealing slots, Ballators, exactly copying designs, stealing from the group in any way, or cheating members out of payments will not be tolerated.
  • No member shall trace, copy, re-use, or reference art without express permission from the artist, and all members must properly credit stock images. Stock image use must follow the rules of the photographer.
  • Any member found behaving fraudulently or committing fraud  or theft in any sense will be permanently banned.
  • Commissioners are expected to follow through with commissioned work. Members who are shown to repeatedly not deliver on advertised and agreed upon artwork will not be permitted to post in advertisement sections of the group/Discord chat until all artwork has been delivered or members refunded. Warnings may be given in addition for any artwork not delivered in over a year’s time.

3. All secondary accounts must be made known to the group.

  • Any member using a secondary account must have it made known to the group via noting the group.
  • Any member using a secondary account to purchase multiple imports, use more breedings, or attempting fraud will be banned.

4. Breeding rules are created at the owner’s discretion.

  • If you breed to someone’s horses, you are under their rules. Some owners require signing of these rules, and that is up to both the Owner to make and the Purchaser to decide if they will sign. If you sign any breeding rule, you are bound to follow them. 
  • The group will not step in with private matters regarding breeding rules unless there is apparent theft or fraud.
  • If a horse is sold to a user, and users other than the new owner hold slots, the previously purchased slot owners do not have to agree to the new horse owner’s rules. The new owner may not impose new rules on previously purchased slots.
  • On that same note, a horse is not ‘alive’ until they are registered. This means they cannot breed and have no slots, nor can they participate in events. Do not sell or buy slots to horses if they are unregistered.
 

Consequences & Warnings

 

Each member is allotted 3 warnings over the course of their membership with the group. At times, if good conduct is shown, a warning may be removed. Some members, however, will not receive any warning (as in the case of Theft or Fraud) and will be banned immidiately and permanantly or they may be given a temporary ban. Each case is reveiwed on a case-by-case basis.

  • Warning 1 – Depending on the severity, this may lead to a 1-2 week ban, or simply just a warning. We will pay close attention to be sure behavior improves.
  • Warning 2 –  Depending on the severity, this may lead to a 2-3 week ban, with all Ballators being frozen and the user not able to participate in any group activities.
  • Final Warning – Complete group /ban until behavior improves
  • Complete Ban – all three warnings ignored/terms not met. Member will be given approx. 2 weeks to force 3 previously paid for breeding and sell or decease all Ballators before all of their Ballators are deceased and they are banned from the group.
  • Any previous member who has been banned and is found to be attempting to re-join the group under, for example, a new account, will be reported to DeviantArt for ban evasion.

Public Blacklist

Below are members whom have been banned permanently from the group. They are listed publicly, so that members of the group may know to be aware and not sell anything Ballator-related to them. It is not intended for harassment, nor should any member harass the users below. Anyone found to be harassing the users listed below will be subject to the group’s punishments.

The blacklist is periodically wiped when the group sees improvements of people’s behavior, and they can be invited back into the community.
You may not inquire as to why these people were placed on the list.
If you know if any of the mentioned accounts have joint accounts,
 please contact us. Thank you!

  • Loba-Sombra / ShadesSanchez
  • The-Night-Court-Art / Goldryn-Art / Art-By-Goldryn / Ouroboros-DArt
  • SmithLauren
  • MedusasCascade / avic-avic
  • Marlene1snell
  • ThaliaEGA
  • Verfalo / ThunderSeeker / Dolcevi / NoOryxEmoji
  • AngeliqueHessler / markiplier03 / TaintedWolfHeart
  • Grimhoof / SeekerOfGlory / Uktenah