Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to Canterlot Avenue!

We hope that your stay here is a pleasant one, and we hope to see you around the site as well. But, much like any other place, there are rules and regulations that everyone must follow, in order to make this place a more enjoyable experience for everyone. These rules are meant to assist users and staff in making sure that our times here are memorable. Please read each section carefully.

If you have any questions or concern about any of the guidelines set in place here, please feel free to contact one of our staff members by reaching us through our Staff Page.

Of course, please keep in mind that these rules are subject to change at any time, the staff reserve the right to the final interpretation of these rules, and every user is responsible for periodically checking this page for any changes. Being unaware of the rules is not an excuse to break them.

Hope to see you around!

Administrator’s Clause

Unfortunately new situations happen all of the time in an ever evolving site, and those situations may not be covered by the current rules. We reserve the right to create new rules in the interim if the situation is deemed necessary to make amendments to the current rule set for the betterment of the community. Any new rules or amendments created under this clause will be added to the rule set once finalized by the administration.

NSFW Content

NSFW Content is not allowed publicly on Canterlot Avenue, as the site is designed and intended to be age 13+ friendly. We understand that not all of the content which is against the rules here is considered to be “NSFW” to all groups and ages, but we ask that you respect the rules and take these things off-site regardless.

If you would like to know if your content is suitable for sharing, please contact a staff member, and they will determine its appropriateness.

Canterlot Avenue defines “Not Safe For Work (NSFW) Content” as any of the following:

• Suggestive or Sexual images, including:

• Art containing suggestive poses/facial expressions, such as an obvious focus on the butt, breasts, or crotch.
• Art where characters are only clothed in undergarments such as panties, bra, or other sorts of clothing which normally cover specific, sex-related areas of the body. Lingerie is also included.
• Naked characters (Naked being defined as “Having parts uncovered that ought to be covered”, such as breasts or genitals, even if it is not suggestive)
• Cleavage, or any other obviously suggestive displays of skin that are purposefully accentuated.
• Greatly oversized butts or breasts/visible nipples and nipples pressing through clothing

• Obvious fetish content (subject to interpretation of context), including:

• Vore
• Scat/Watersports
• BDSM/Slave/Pet/Bondage play
• Various “Body Transformation” fetishes
• Pregnancy fetish
• Diaper/Infant fetish
• Breeding/Heat/Any sort of feral sex concepts
• Zoophilia
• Ahegao
• Any characters specifically associated with pornographic content (Including the SFW variant images)

• Sexual acts, Impending sexual acts, or obvious sexual tension, including:

• Sexual toys, masturbation, or any references thereof
• Wing/Horn play (e.g.: “wingboners”)
• The usage of words like “Porn” and “sex” are taken on a case by case basis
• Rape, implied or otherwise
• Heavy innuendo
• Reference to genitals or other inappropriate areas of the body
• Violent content, including:

• Excessive gore/blood, or visible internal organs
• Torture or abuse
• Mutilation, self-inflicted or otherwise
• Suicide

Anthro/Bipedal

Anthropomorphic/Bipedal characters (and character references) require clothing to be allowed on the site (There are exceptions. Read final point). Clothing needs to cover areas such as the breasts, rear and crotch area. In general, clothing such as undergarments are considered suggestive. But there are exceptions due to more innocent or coincidental portrayals. Partial exposure of these pieces of clothing that aren’t intended to be provocative, such as a character wearing ‘punk’ or disheveled clothing would be fine. Images depicting torn clothing that exposes sensitive parts of undergarments will be handled on a case by case basis depending on what parts of the outfit are exposed.

Bikinis and other swimwear are taken into consideration depending on the context of the image and it will be down to on whether the content of the image looks provocative or risque.
- Example:
A character in a float toy in the water, splashing and having fun IS allowed. A character exiting a swimming pool with the water dripping off their body looking alluring towards the user is NOT allowed (This is an example and is intended to give an idea between what is ALLOWED and NOT ALLOWED not to be definite).

Lingerie is not allowed.

Keep in mind that the other rules that apply to feral characters also apply here as well, we’re just being more specific on a few more limitations.

If the anthro does not have breasts, sheaths or a visibly featured crotch and is innocently portrayed as a bipedal without a provocative pose in pictures, it is allowed. This mostly covers show style characters and other nondescript reference character materials.

Screenshots/cropping

Screenshots of feral/anthro/bipedal characters that are clearly taken from a NSFW image are not allowed. This includes if the breasts were visible in the original image, crotch or anything that provokes a sexual response. Reverse image searching is not strictly required in order to remove a crop. In some cases, image searching does not work but if the source image is found to be NSFW, the crop/screenshot will be considered NSFW under this rule.

All content defined above as “NSFW” content is not allowed to be shared or posted in any public manner on Canterlot Avenue. Staff may take down content that is believed to be in violation of the rules stated above.

If a cropped NSFW image stands immediately questionable at first, or even second glance, the image will be subject to a reverse image search. If the original image is indeed NSFW, then it will be subject to removal and strike. If the image in question has a SFW copy and a NSFW copy, we will remove the image on the notion of the NSFW copy, unless the SFW copy has been purposefully altered by a third party to become NSFW (the edit would have to be obvious).

General OOC Behavior

Everyone is expected to have good behavior on the website. There are certain types of behavior that are not tolerated or appropriate on Canterlot Avenue.

This is including but not limited to:

• Hostile or overly aggressive behavior, such as:

• Insults based on race, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or political views.
• Disrespecting other users or staff and stepping beyond a primarily civil, polite discussion.
• Threats or attacks of any kind directed towards other users or staff.
• Trolling, spamming, or acting in an otherwise disruptive manner, such as:

• Abuse of the report system
• Excessive profanity
• Encouraging users to engage in rule-breaking behavior. This is not limited to just usage of Canterlot Avenue, but also promoting activities that break rules on other sites, such as organized spamming or ‘raiding’
• Custom text or languages aside from English

• Mini-Modding (When a Non-Staff member takes the job of any member of staff to try to enforce the rules, warn or punish users). This applies to artists who have had their content stolen, and/or modified. Please refer to the Copyright/Plagiarism Policy section for instructions on how to report art theft and please take a moment to review out art theft policy.

• Necroposting and bumps:

• Necroposting is the action of taking a post that is inactive and older than 60 days and purposefully commenting on the post to bump it up in the feed. Exceptions include if you have not been active on the site for a long period of time and you are commenting on the post for the first time.
  Official staff business posts are exempted from this rule, if the post is related to events that require further reminders past the 60 day time frame.
  Bumps occur when a user intentionally pulls up a status to the front of the site for it to be seen by users. This can be classified as spam and is not allowed.

• Publicly sharing private information on the feed or with users not involved without permission of the owner of said information. This is including, but not limited to:

• Name
• Email
• Physical Address
• Private Message Logs (Including off-site Private Messages such as Discord)
• Photos of users in real life

• Selfies (images which have the admin of the character as the focus point) are not allowed on the public feed, profiles/profile pictures, pages, contests, forums, or any other sections, except the Private Messaging System of Canterlot Avenue; however, photos such as scenerios, or images utilized for casual photography purposes are allowed.

• Impersonating other users (without permission) or staff (with or without permission). Impersonation may include copied traits such as their Username/Display Name or Profile/Avatar.
• Statuses, images, videos, music, links, events, pages, contests, and polls containing/ referencing to any of the following:

• Illegal content
• Mention of alcohol & marijuana outside of RP
  Posts referencing alcohol, marijuana, vaping , and tobacco products of any kind are not allowed in an OOC setting. However, if the substances are not the central focus they are allowed in an RP setting, so long as they’re not being abused.
• Racism (Slurs, Supremacy, and Racial Issues) applicable to the real world
• Political views (for example, views on individual politicians, views on sexuality, derogatory slang for a certain political view, political memes, etc) applicable to the real world
• Past events that are likely to cause drama (for example, 9/11, mass murders/genocide, etc)
• Offensive names
• Self harm and suicide
• Religious views
• Mockery of potentially inflammatory subjects such as race/religion/disability, etc
• Mockery of disabled individuals
• Other questionable content (subject to staff’s discretion)

Arguments that do not violate the rules are not likely to be subject to any disciplinary action. Having an opinion or disagreement does not constitute a strike, so long as things are kept civil and respectful.

If you have an issue with another user, please resort to using the “Block User” button instead of causing a scene on the website. The staff is not responsible of maintaining harmony between users on the site, but is responsible for maintaining public civility.

For any issues or concerns, you can contact a member of staff at: pr@canterlotavenue.com making sure to label on the email if the issue is for a Moderator or Public Relations.

For issues that have higher priority, you may contact an administrator at: administration@canterlotavenue.com.

Taking matters into your own hands will not be tolerated.

General Roleplay Behavior

You are free to roleplay in Canterlot Avenue, but under the following guidelines:

• Private Erotic RP with users under the age of 18 is NOT allowed.

• Staff does not actively monitor messages sent through the Private Messaging system unless reported; however, you, the user, is responsible for reporting any violations that may occur in your use of the Private Messaging system.

• Wall RPs and character images may not contain or have references to:

• Racial slurs applicable to real life
• Illegal content
• Illicit Drugs
• Real Life political views
• Past events that are likely to cause drama (i. e. Terrorist attacks, Genocides)
• Offensive names
• Self harm and suicide
• Real religious views
• Content that mocks disabled individuals
• NSFW Content

• Disrupting others’ public role plays with OOC discussion is not allowed.
• Custom text or languages aside from English are not allowed.

Staff takes no responsibility for whatever occurs between users on Private Messages, unless the issue is reported.

Pages & Groups

In this section, we want to provide a set of guidelines aiming to aid users’ understanding of the limitations of content that is not allowed on pages and groups that are created and/or promoted on Canterlot Avenue.

Content

Statuses, images, videos, music, links, events, pages, contests, and polls containing/referencing to any of the following is disallowed:

• Illegal content

• Offensive names

• Mention of alcohol & marijuana outside of RP

• Posts referencing alcohol,marijuana, vaping, and tobacco products are not allowed in OOC. They are allowed in an RP setting as long as substance abuse is not present

• Generally contentious topics:

• Racism
• Politics
• Religion
• Conspiracy Theories
• Past controversial events (ex: 9/11, Holocaust, Tiananmen Square Massacre, etc.)

• Mockery of inflammatory subjects:

• Race
• Religion
• Disabilities

• Real life sports teams & related sporting events

• Fan pages and groups for popular non-pony music artists

• On-site musicians are allowed to have pages or groups (Non-pony related songs created by site users are fine)

• Out of character personal experiences with situations that may be constituted as disturbing such as:

• Violent public disturbances (Riots and Mob activities)
• Shootings
• Witnessing of illegal activity in general
• Witnessing suicide
• Law enforcement misconduct
• Posts about self harm and suicide
• This list is non-inclusive, and may be applied to other extraneous circumstances as disturbing content is redefined with changes in culture.

• Any links or videos that redirect to pornographic content.

Copyright/Plagiarism Policy

No content is allowed which may infringe on intellectual property rights of others, or whose source(s) explicitly prohibit distribution on other sites.

Before uploading content that is not yours (including recolors), we ask that you:

• Review our Art Theft Policy.
• Confirm that the original artist or copyright holder allows distribution and/or modification of the content
• Include any credits or links back to the artist or copyright holder of the content

Content posted without following these rules is subject to removal.

When dealing with stolen or infringing content, do NOT harass, spam or otherwise attempt to "correct" the user suspected. Doing so will be treated as harassment according to our rules of conduct. Instead, follow the instructions given below to report the content, and allow our staff to handle the situation.

If you are the original artist or copyright holder:

• Send an email to administration@canterlotavenue.com with the following information:

• State the claimant's name and address
• Identify the copyright material that is alleged to have been infringed and the claimant's interest or right with respect to that material
• Specify the location data (e.g. the web address or Internet address associated with the alleged infringement)
• Specify the infringement that is alleged, and
• specify the date and time of the alleged infringement.

If you are not the original artist or copyright holder:

• Report the infringing artwork.
• Please keep in mind that action will not be taken pre-emptively, and that full proof of a violation of any sort is required before we will take action.

If you have any questions about the Copyright/Plagiarism Policy enforced in Canterlot Avenue, please refer to the following link, in which explains by detail the Canadian Notice to Notice law. Click Here

Art Theft

Here on Canterlot Avenue, we take art theft very seriously. We do not condone, nor tolerate art thieves, as we value the effort of our artists on this site, and the integrity of artists who do not use Canterlot Avenue.

If a user reports an image that they suspect as art theft, the user reporting the image must provide a link to the original image of the stolen art, as well as provide a means (Email, Deviantart, Instragram, etc.) to contact the owner or artist, if they can.

If the artwork has been recolored, traced, stolen, or taken credit for, appropriate staff action will be taken.

However, if a user is using a character they do not own, the user being reported can verify that they have permissions to use said art or character, either directly from the owner themself, or by showing screenshots of the owner giving said permission. The user will be given three days to verify permission. If the user cannot verify, or refuses cooperation, then appropriate staff action will be taken.

Since three days can be enough time for someone who didn't have permission before to get permission, if they can in fact get permission to use the character or art, then we let them off with a firm warning. But at the same time, they will have to admit they are using the art to the owner, and the owner can refuse. If the owner refuses, appropriate staff action will be taken.

The reported user must provide screenshots verifying permissions with the owner of the character or artwork.

If a user has permission, or has been given permission within the three days of verification, then the user must credit the owner of the character or artwork on their profile and state that the character or artwork does not belong to the user, and is using the character or artwork with the permission of the owner.

Forums

Canterlot Avenue has various places to freely socialize and roleplay, and the forums are divided into many sections to choose from; however, much like the general site, they too contain their guidelines. The guidelines for forum use are as follows:

• OOC chats are meant for OOC discussion of the RP

• Keep chat not relevant to the RP to a minimum

• Disruption of roleplaying forums by entering without authorization is not allowed
• The thread creator is responsible for moderation of his/her thread

• They are also responsible for making sure the members and the content follows the rules of the site. In any case that staff figures out without a disclosure from the thread creator, they are subject to receive a strike.

With that said, the moderators and admins are also available in the event that a thread owner requires the assistance of the staff.

• Global website rules apply to the forums as well.
• Content in the forums must be relative to the topic of the thread at all times.

If you have questions or concerns about these guidelines, please contact a member of staff or administrator for assistance.

IMs/Chat Rooms

Canterlot Avenue provides users with the option to access our Instant Messaging system, as well as Chat Rooms. Keep in mind that having access to these features is a privilege and not a right. Canterlot Avenue staff has the right to revoke a user’s ability to use this system if the user has repeated offenses in which violate the following set of rules.

• General rules of behavior and roleplay, as well as Copyright Policies apply to all areas of the Instant Messaging System & Chat Rooms.
• NSFW content of any kind is not allowed in any private or publicly accessible Chat Rooms.
• Disruption of roleplays in IC (In Character) chatrooms is not allowed
• Exploiting any bugs or attempting to hack the Instant Messaging system is prohibited

• Each case will be handled on a case-by-case basis and appropriate action will be taken depending on the severity of said case.
• Report any bugs that you may encounter to a developer or any user that may be exploiting any bugs to a moderator.

• Do not abuse the report system
• The Chatroom creator is responsible for moderation of his/her chatroom

• They are also responsible for making sure the members and the content follows the rules of the site. In any case that staff figures out without a disclosure from the chatroom creator, they are subject to receive a strike. Repeated offenses could lead to the termination of the creator’s chatroom. Keep in mind that CA staff has the right to join any private/public chat Rooms and enforce site rules, and/or kick any members of the chatroom that may be violating the rules.

• Chat Rooms that are inactive for more than 15 days will be deleted by a member of staff.
• Erotic RPs are not allowed with users of any age in public or private Chat Rooms; ERPs with users under the age of 18 is prohibited on all sections of the Instant Messaging system.

• Staff does not actively monitor messages sent through the Instant Messaging system unless reported; however, you, the user, is responsible for reporting any violations that may occur in your use of the Instant Messaging system.

• Users must specify if a chatroom is IC (In Character) or OOC (Out of Character)

Advertisement

- Discord servers [ Allowed on personal profile information ]

To avoid your Discord server advertisement being drowned out in the news feed, we advise advertising on your profile information or using pages.

- Commission sheets [ Perfectly fine on Pages & Journals ]

Using Pages and Journals to write and post your commission prices for art is more useful for you and other users to access, edit and search for. Posting in the news feed will more often than not be drowned out, difficult to edit and refer to, hard to search for and link to users.

- Open requests for art [ Perfectly fine on Pages & Journals ]

Open requests for art is more typically appreciated when advertised using Pages and Journals. It is not likely that a post in the news feed will result in being lost, however it comes at your own risk (And by meaning lost, it means being pushed down in the feed so users can't see it).

- Role Play [ Fine on all platforms ]

Advertising that you are open for role play and are seeking certain types of RP and partners is okay. Asking for/ suggesting ERP is NOT allowed.

- Competing websites [Ask staff permission or on Journals & PMs]

If you wish to advertise another website that proposes a means to draw more user attention away from Canterlot Avenue, staff should be notified first and spoken with. Creating pages dedicated to competing sites can be taken as a means to herd user base somewhere else. We understand if the site is shared discretely and is perfectly fine to share a link in a description on a personal information page. Public sharing in news feed is very low brow and will result in removal.

- Partnerships [Ask staff for potential site partnership ]

If you believe you are ready to partner up with Canterlot Avenue and work together to advertise each other, we encourage you to contact our administrators to discuss further.

Disciplinary Action

Users who disobey the rules will receive a punishment based on the context of their issue.

This is down to the judgment of the staff; these punishments can be one of the following:

• Verbal Warning

• This is sent by our staff to try and educate you on what rule was broken, why it is a rule, and what you can do to avoid repeating your mistake. These messages are always meant as an educational tool and are never an official warning.

• Official Warning

• This will be sent via the "bot" account, which all our admin systems are linked to. It will explain in a more professional way what you did wrong, why it is wrong, and what you can do to avoid it happening again. Depending on the severity and frequency of strikes, a user may be allowed between 1 to 3 official warnings.

• Infraction

• This will be sent via the "Sunshine Serenade" account, which our moderation system is linked to. An infraction is the next step after an official warning. It is a very severe form of punishment and is just one step away from a ban. Receiving one of these places you in a direct line to your next issue resulting in an account ban. Infractions have a 90 day limit, in which if the user goes without any issue during that time, then they will resort back to receiving an infraction in their next strike.

• Ban

• Banning is split into two different types. Account & IP.

• Account bans are given to accounts that have proven to be serious offenders in their usage of the site, that it warrants their removal.
• IP bans are given to IP Address that are being used to disrupt the site, and/or avoid bans on accounts, and/or other related offenses.

If the user is found frequently breaking the rules (within the staff’s own interpretation), then they can be placed under probation. Probation periods can make a user jump to a more serious offense within their next strike. Probation periods typically last 30 days, but the length can be shortened or raised. During the duration of the ban, it is not permitted to create additional accounts. Any accounts created during that time will be permanently banned along with an extension of the punishment on the original. Should the staff feel it's justified, your IP access may also be banned. If for any reason a punishment was made unfairly, you did not agree with it or you felt you wanted more information on said punishment; send an email to administration@canterlotavenue.com

During the duration of the ban, it is not permitted to create additional accounts. Any accounts created during that time will be permanently banned along with an extension of the punishment on the original. Should the staff feel it's justified, your IP access may also be banned.

If a user intentionally breaks the rules after a counseling from staff, the user is subjected to a 3 day ban

If for any reason a punishment was made unfairly, you did not agree with it or you felt you wanted more information on said punishment; send an email to administration@canterlotavenue.com

Be sure to include all important information such as the username, the action being committed, and a reason why the account should be reinstated. These appeals will be reviewed by our appeals team.

• An apology is not an appeal, it can be used in an appeal to help us show that you understand the rule breaches you committed, but it cannot be an appeal.
• Appeals should also be done both professionally, and calmly. Whilst the staff understand that you may be upset; or angry by a ruling, our staff have the right to deny an appeal should you threaten, attack, or lash out at them.
• The appeals team do not handle your punishments, and as such are not responsible for the punishment you have been given.
• Depending on the type of punishment you are appealing, your appeal can be looked at by either the appeals team or by a higher admin of staff.

If at any point in time during work on your appeal you feel you need another viewpoint on the situation, you are free to request one; and another staff member will come, and review your appeal.

If you have questions or concerns about the guidelines given above, feel free to reach out to one of the staff members or contact an administrator by sending them a Private Message.

Naming Policy

Canterlot Avenue allows the ability to create usernames for your profile, along with Display names. Names must be alphanumeric, which means letters A - Z, and numbers 1 - 9. The following name usage is not allowed, including, but not limited to

• Names with racial slurs.
• Names associated with degrading, or offensive content.
• Names containing Soviet Communism, Nazism, extremist political views, religious beliefs, gender/sexuality, past events, or sensitive topics.
• Names containing symbols that are not accessible on a standard keyboard.
• Names with invisible/unreadable text.
• Names using Zalgo text font or other obfuscated fonts
• Names containing the use of alternative (Ä, ì, etc) English letters.
• Names containing symbols such as “! @ # $ % ^ & *” etc.

If you have any questions or concerns about these guidelines, please contact any member of staff for assistance.

CSS, BBCode, Unicode, Custom Languages & Bugs

Your cover & CSS are exempt from the general rules in what content can be applied to them, providing that they do not break our rules on mature and NSFW content. As such, you are generally free to customize your profile to a large degree to make it feel more at home for yourself.

There are, however, certain restrictions to what you can do with your CSS:

• CSS that rotates the page in any orientation other than default is not allowed
• No CSS that hinders the ability to contact a user in any way
• CSS that removes the ability to add/remove or report a user.
• CSS that hides or alters the membership of users
• CSS used to hack or hinder the performance of the website
• CSS that could potentially cause seizures or trigger light sensitivity.

Use of BBCode is allowed for the purpose of customizing your profile, blogs, forum posts, and PM's. BBCode is allowed on status posts and comment threads with the exception of the following.

• Rainbow text
• Text size
• Text color
• obfuscated text

If you use BBCode on your profiles, you are solely responsible for the issues it may cause to your profile, thus making you, the user, responsible for fixing the issue.

Custom Text/Languages (aside from English) are not permitted in all areas of the website (outside of Private Messages.)

This is in place because Canterlot Avenue's standard language is mainly English. While we do understand that there are users from many countries, we also understand that many users would not appreciate having the global feed filled with statuses and comments of different languages that they will not understand and may report them as Spam.

Unicode, with the exception of Emojis and accents, is not allowed across the site, except in Private Messages.

Keep in mind that the staff reserves the right to remove all CSS from user’s profiles if it is found to be in violation.

With any website, there’s always the possibility for bugs. Choosing to exploit bugs or vulnerabilities found within the software of the site is against the rules and will be punished.

If you find any bugs or exploits that affect the user experience at Canterlot Avenue, please contact a member of the Development team from our staff page, or email us at administration@canterlotavenue.com