The Rules

While there are inherently gray areas in any set of regulations (who hasn't bent the Prime Directive a bit now and then), these are the rules for the Unix Avengers. It should be pretty easy to avoid a boot using common sense but some things still need to be spelled out.

No Trolling
You probably wouldn't be here if you were one, but trolls can slip through even the most well crafted of tachyon detection grids.
 * Active hostility or discrimination is an instant boot.
 * Purposefully harming someone's game play experience for your own amusement is an instant boot.
 * Continually being rude and/or intentionally unhelpful will lead to a boot.

Karma and the Fleet Bank
First and foremost: If you are able to withdraw it, you are allowed to withdraw it.

That said, the fleet bank operates on a karma system. You do not have to make a deposit for every withdrawal. If, however, you are only making withdrawals and contributing nothing in return, you will get warned and eventually booted. Examples:
 * If you regularly withdraw large quantities of high value items, deposit nothing of value in return, and have a lifetime contribution rating of 0 or near 0: You will get booted.
 * If you regularly withdraw high value items but deposit a remotely fair amount of equivalent items in return: you are probably ok.
 * If you regularly withdraw high value items, deposit nothing, but have a significant lifetime contribution rating: you are probably ok.
 * If you withdraw a ton of high value items to gear something up (like a BOFF or new ship) but aren't doing this more than once in a while, you are probably ok even at a fairly low contribution level.

All members are free to withdraw at least one item from almost every tab at any fleet rank. These are the guidelines for any interaction you have with the fleet bank:
 * Only deposit items in the appropriately labeled tab.
 * The "Admin" tab serves two purposes:
 * Stockpiling resources for future high cost holdings projects.
 * "Bonus" pool for high rank officers. Basically, if you have enough invested in the fleet to earn Captain or Admiral you get access to occasional very cool stuff, resources for your DOFF missions, and things that are specifically useful for fleet projects.
 * If you are a Tribble farmer, Tribble geneticist, or Tribble afficionado of any kind, please keep your Tribble related activity confined to the "Tribbles and Boxes" tab. Unix Omega already has something of a Tribble problem (as you'll see for yourself when you visit, thanks to one of our many Starbase Upgrades), so the last thing we need is those little guys overrunning the fleet bank.
 * If you need to gear up a new ship or Bridge Officer and need to use fleet supplies to do it, that is perfectly acceptable. Just remember to put some of the booty you earn back in the fleet bank.
 * If you have something really amazing to put in but there's no room; go ahead and use a withdrawal to make room. If you do this often or feel like it is a burden, contact a Fleet Admiral and they will arrange compensation. Also, if an item is particularly useful or valuable, you can put it in the wrong tab for an officer to move later but be aware that it will be subject to the access permissions for that tab.
 * If you are regularly selling fleet bank items on the exchange, you are expected to put the vast majority of your profits back into the fleet bank. If you need some quick EC and take a high value item to sell instead, the rules for EC withdrawal also apply.
 * If you need EC for something specific, take it. But the fleet bank is not a source of income. If you are regularly taking large amounts of EC out and do not have a very high lifetime contribution rating; you may be treading into boot country.
 * DO NOT WITHDRAW lower rank player items (Commander/Level V and below) unless you actually need them. Generally speaking, if you wouldn't equip it; leave it.
 * Your withdrawal privelages increase as you rise in fleet rank. Players with a vested interest in the fleet (remember, some of us have actual real world money invested in this stuff) are allowed to reap greater benefits. That is not to say there aren't limits. For a clearer idea of what this means for your fleet rank, see the Fleet Rank Explanations.

Provisioned Fleet Stores
Players ranked Captain and higher are able to buy from provisioned fleet stores. High volume purchases from provisioned fleet stores are treated the same as bank withdrawals. Since you can only make purchases at these stores with Fleet Currency, the potential for abuse is limited. However, the provisioning for these stores comes directly from fleet project donations so the resources there are limited. For a clearer picture of the way these stores work, see How The Fleet System Works. If you are personally responsible for clearing out a particular provisions slot, you are expected to donate to the mission that re fills it.

Promoting, Demoting, and Booting Other Members
The Fleet Rank Explanations page has a detailed explanation of what the different ranks actually mean. This section details who may promote/demote and why they should or shouldn't do this.
 * Players ranked Lt. or higher may invite other players to join the fleet. Feel free to use this to invite anyone you think deserves it.
 * If you are an Ensign, Lieutenant, or Lt. Commander you do not have the ability to promote.
 * If you are a Commander, you have gained the ability to promote people. You can promote someone to LT for playing regularly to their actual contributions. Promotion to LT Commander should usually be accompanied by at least some significant contribution to fleet projects.
 * If you are a Captain You are allowed to promote to Commander. Commanders are considered Fleet Oficers and are given a bump in access. As a result, they have crossed a threshold where they could potentially do some damage. Carefully review the Fleet Rank Explanations before promoting to Commander. You have also gained the ability to demote players. This should basically never be used; but if you see someone really causing trouble, you have the authority to act. Simply wihdrawing a lot of high value items from the fleet bank is not necessarily an instant boot. We can (and do) track who is withdrawing and depositing what and if a pattern emerges, that gets the boot. If you think you have detected a pattern, PM or Mail an Admiral and let us know.
 * If you are a Vice Admiral you have earned broad discretionary powers in terms of promotion. Don't give away the store, but promote as you see fit. You have the ability to boot players, but this should only be used without consulting a Fleet Admiral if someone is actively harassing people or is actively engaged in some sort of attack or infiltration. If you beleive a member truly deserves the boot but aren't sure you should act alone, you may demote them to Ensign, place a brief officer comment on the incident, and mail the Fleet Admirals with a more detailed explanation. This should not (and has never) been necessary.
 * Fleet Admirals, by definition, have the ability to do anything they want. It is expected that Fleet Admirals will explain themselves via PM, Chat, and/or Fleet Mail when booting, demoting, or promotng to Vice Admiral. It is also strongly reccommended though not technically required that Fleet Admirals keep at least one of their other characters at or below Commander.

Fleet Mail, Chat, Invites, and Spamming
There are a number of ways for fleet members to communicate with each other in game. Each have varying degrees of formality and rules for use.

Fleet Mail ​
 * Fleet Mail (unlocked at captain) should only be used for messages that you really feel every member of the fleet needs to see. It is fairly easy to accidentally send a Mail message to the entire fleet. Before you click send, triple check every word. When sending any Mail messages make absolutely certain you have not somehow accidentally clicked fleet while selecting an individual handle from the popup menu.
 * There is a hard limit set by the game to how many Fleet Mail messages you can send in a day. Even Fleet Admirals are subject to this. As a result, it is not too subject to spamming if you use good judgement.

Fleet Chat
 * Fleet chat is informal and can be used to communicate with other fleet members. All members have access to Fleet Chat and are encouraged to use it to ask questions, form teams, talk strategy, or just converse with other members.
 * If you do not want to be bothered by Fleet Chat, you can disable it in your chat settings.
 * If you leave it on but choose not to participate, you are expected not to complain about the chat.
 * If you leave it on but choose not to participate, you have the right to be ignored. Do not hassle players who choose not to chat.
 * Due to the "family friendly" tag on our fleet, keep chatter to a "PG" rating... okay okay, "PG-13."

Channel Unix 47
 * There is no Channel Unix 47.
 * Due to the previous rule and it's invite only status, chatter on Unix 47 can be "soft R."

Invites
 * Blind invites are generally a no-no. Remember when you first started out and all you kept seeing were big red notifications in the middle of your screen? Don't be that guy.
 * That said... at least some of us actually clicked join on one of those. So if you think someone looks cool, feel free to invite them. You are highly encouraged to PM them and ask if they want an invite rather than just clicking invite out of the blue; especially high rank players.
 * If you have been playing or chatting with someone and they seem cool, invite them. We can always use more active players.
 * If you have friends not in a fleet, invite them. A friend of yours is a friend of ours.

Private Messages
 * Private messages... are private messages. You are the only one who controls how you use them. The rules for chat very loosely apply when PMing a fleet mate.
 * If someone feels the need to block PMs from you, you are probably the one in the wrong.

Spamming In General
 * We all know it when we see it. When using any of these tools in a way that you know is unwelcome and excessive, you are spamming. It has never been a problem, but if you feel like anyone is spamming you, mail the Admirals and we will look into a boot.

The Fleet Wiki
While the rules of conduct apply to the Fleet Wiki, there is no rank here. It's a wiki. Anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute. If you are unfamilliar with wikis (aside from just checking wikipedia ) please familiarize yourself with them a bit before you go edit crazy. The STO Wiki is a great place to start if you have somehow missed it thus far. While there are no specific rules for the wiki per se (aside from the wikia terms of use) the No Trolls rule still applies.

LEAVE EDIT SUMMARIES! These tell us what you are changing. If you are adding a new page or filling in a blank page, you can ignore this as your edits will be obvious. If you are fixing or adding to existing pages please leave a very brief summary of your changes. Examples include: Also, please remember that "minor edit" is for things like spelling and punctuation or other similar cases where the actual content of a page is not changed in any real way. Rewriting a sentence with the existing information to make it more readable is considered a minor edit, doing that to a whole page is not.
 * "added alternate strategy to mission page"
 * "removed strikethrough on newly unlocked item" (minor edit)
 * "updated info to reflect latest patch"
 * "fixed spelling and grammar" (minor edit)
 * etc...

Special Protocol 31-A
Special Protocol 31-A is designed to prevent and automatically counter any incursion, invasion, or disruption of Fleetwide activities.

[ALL FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING PROTOCOL 31-A IS RESTRICTED TO HIGH RANKING OFFICERS WITH FLEET SECURITY CLEARANCE]

Have Fun!
It's a video game where we all get together and play Star Trek. If you feel like any aspect of the fleet system or the game in general is stressing you out; take a deep breath, relax, and go blow something up :)