Rules

Server Rules
Punishment: Players will receive one warning from staff. Any subsequent use of hacks or mods will result in a ban, which may be appealed.
 * No hacking or cheating will be tolerated. Only players with the rank of VIP or higher are allowed to fly, and they are granted the use of the /fly command. Players with access to /fly that are using the Spoutcraft client may set their flying speed to whatever they wish. Only players with the rank of VIP Diamond or higher may use third party mods like Zombe or CJB and even then, their use is limited to minimaps, fullbright, and flying.

Punishment: Players will receive one warning from staff. Any subsequent spamming will result in either being muted or Temp banned for 1-24 hours at the staff's discretion. Repeat offense will result in a ban which may be appealed.
 * Spamming in the game or on the forums will not be tolerated. Please be considerate of others.

Punishment: Players who make statements like the examples above should be given one warning not to talk about such things. Players who actually say the name or IP of another server will be banned with no chance for appeal. This is one of the two offenses which result in permanent banning with no possibility of ever being unbanned.
 * Advertising, promoting, or discussing other servers is strictly forbidden and is one of the two things that will get you permanently banned with no chance of appeal. Statements like "Have you been on the other server?", "I was just on Badmin's server," etc are also not allowed.

Punishment: Staff should respond to these incidents on a case-by-case basis. Players involved in drama or negativity should be given a single warning to stop the behavior. If they fail to do so staff can choose to either temp ban for 1-24 hours or just ban them outright. These bans may be appealed. Repeat offenders that have been punished for this behavior in the past should be banned.
 * Bad attitudes, negativity, or anything else that makes the game unpleasant for others is not welcome. Save the drama for your llama!

Punishment: The severity of the griefing should determine the degree of punishment required. Each subsequent offense should result in a more severe punishment than the previous. First offenders should be jailed for 15-30 minutes. Second offenders should be jailed for 30-60 minutes. Third offenders must be banned no matter how severe the third offense was. Three strikes, you're out. These bans may be appealed. Staff must take screenshots of all griefing. They are not obligated to post the screenshots in the punishments forum, but they are expected to keep the wcreenshots in case they need to be presented at a later date, such as during a ban appeal. In the absence of a screenshot, a staff member's word shall be accepted as evidence though staff are asked to please take screenshots at all times.
 * Griefing (the unwanted destruction or modification of blocks, items, or creatures) is strictly forbidden in all areas of the server.

Punishment: Players found to have violated this rule will be banned with no chance of appeal.
 * Items spawned in the highlands creative world are only to be used for builds within that world. Duplicating or fraudulently spawning items is strictly forbidden. Abuse of creative mode which may be given to work on official server projects is considered a violation of this rule as well.

Punishment: A plugin currently in use blocks certain words and phrases from being spoken, and automatically punishes players that try to say them by striking them with lightning or causing them to explode. In the event that players use inappropriate language that is not filtered by the plugin, they will receive one warning from the staff. If they do not stop, staff can choose to either mute or temp ban the player for 1-24 hours. Repeat offenders will be banned. These bans may be appealed.
 * Excessive foul language will not be allowed.

Punishment: Buildings in high traffic/high visibility areas determined to be abandoned/incomplete or an eyesore will be marked for removal. Staff will place a sign on the property giving the owner 2 weeks' notice that it is to be removed. During this time the owner can either appeal the decision to remove it, or salvage the materials. After the two week period is up the building will be world edited out of existence. Materials will not be reimbursed once this happens.
 * At no time should any player build in the immediate vicinity of spawn without first getting permission from server staff. The area around spawn is protected by a Towny region, requiring anybody that wants to build within it to be added to the "town" by an Admin. Building in high visibility/high traffic areas such as the main roads around spawn is permitted. Incomplete, abandoned buildings or buildings deemed by the staff to be an eyesore are subject to removal.

Punishment: Non-VIP players found in the highlands should be jailed for 60 minutes. Repeat offenders should be banned. These bans may be appealed. Staff will remove builds deemed inappropriate. Materials will not be reimbursed in these situations.
 * The Highlands world is meant to give our VIP+ players a chance to show off their building skills. Non-VIP players are not allowed to enter the Highlands. Please do not build anything that may be deemed offensive or obscene. Please do not make random eyesores such as piles of junk, pillars to the sky, etc.

Server Policies
Warp signs and /warp destinations are no longer being created. VIP Diamond's /tp and /t spawn are the only methods of teleportation now allowed.
 * Warping/Teleporting

Mob spawners are to be awarded from arena victories only, and to be set by admins AT THE TIME OF PLACING to either Zombie, Skeleton, Spider, Chicken, Pig, Cow or Sheep. No other mobs. The staff can not move or modify spawners once they have been placed, or if you find one in the wild.
 * Mob Spawners

If a player is punished for three separate offenses, the punishment for the third will be a ban regardless of what that final offense may have been.
 * Three Strikes Rule

Staff will hand out increasingly severe punishments to repeat offenders. Each successive punishment for an offense should be more severe than the last punishment the player received. Staff will keep track of all punishments in the proper forum. Punishments not recorded in the forum never happened, even if they did.
 * Escalating Punishments

Clients created and distributed for the sole purpose of hacking or griefing (meaning those clients with built in griefing tools and hacks) are forbidden. Anyone found to be using one or distributing one to our players will be subject to banning with no chance of appeal.
 * Hack Clients

The Badlands adheres to a "no drama with other servers" policy. Anybody found causing trouble on other servers or their websites will be subject to discipline under our no drama rule.
 * Drama with the Outside World

Players caught stealing will be punished in accordance with the no griefing rule. Items will not be reimbursed to the victim if they were stolen from an unlocked chest. To protect themselves from this situation, players are strongly encouraged to lock all chests with LWC. The cost is $1000 for citizens and $500 for VIP's.
 * Theft

Mumble voice chat is subject to all the same rules listed in this thread. There will be no tolerence for excessive foul language, harrassing/bullying, posting gross images, discussing other servers, etc. Anything that would get you banned in game will get you banned if you do it on Mumble (i.e. discussing other servers, excessive drama.) Players whose behavior on Mumble is worthy of action will be banned from Mumble, and an offense which counts towards their "three strikes" will be recorded.
 * Mumble

Permabans can be overturned if both Owners are in agreement on the matter. Proposal of a Permaban Repeal are to be made by staff only, and are to be decided by both Owners after reviewing all evidence.
 * Permaban Repeal

If a player breaks the server rules and leaves a sign, or other means of communication, boasting their doing so, the player in question shall recieve an automatic ban. Our rules are easy to access for everyone. This kind of behavior is a deliberate dereliction of the rules, and as such, the Three Strikes policy will not be extended to those involved.
 * Calling Card Policy (Coined by Eldergroan)

If a player uses the /helpmod command for anything other than asking for staff assistance, the player in question may be muted, jailed, and/or kicked at the discretion of the staff member online.
 * Staff Help Channel

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: On the old server it was against the rules to stand on one foot while playing the trumpet unless dressed as a Rainbow Trout. Is that still illegal now?

A: No matter what may have been a rule in the past, it's no longer in effect unless it is listed above.

Q: I just saw a staff member teleport somebody / perform some other service for money. Is that allowed?

A: Within reason, yes.

Q: I just lost all my items due to a freak accident. See, this llama stampede trampled my house and unplugged by modem and my internet crashed at precisely the moment I was logging in so my whole inventory got wiped out. Can you please replace my items? I had 94 diamond blocks, 800 solid gold Ferrarris, 87 billion dollars, and...

A: Sorry, but the answer is no. We get these requests every day. We are not in the practice of restoring lost items unless they were lost because of something specific we did (i.e. somebody accidentally pasted your house/secret underground lair/statue of a llama made of diamond blocks incorrectly and messed it up, causing you to lose your items.) Data loss from a server crash is exceedingly rare, but it's a fact of life. Let's face it, Minecraft isn't the most stable game to ever exist. Stuff like that does happen from time to time no matter how well we maintain the server. We don't like it any more than you do, but we do not restore items lost due to plugin or server glitches. We only replace items one of us staff members caused you to lose.

Q: Last week I got banned for griefing. Well, I just wanted to let you guys know that it wasn't me. It was a brother's cousin's piano tuner. He's a real jerk, and he logged in to my account and broke those rules. Can I be unbanned plzzzz?

A: NO! If you use the "someone else did it on my account" excuse you forfeit any chance of a ban appeal immediately.