Here it is again: http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/210342985-Novice-Areas
Posts made by Logxen
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RE: Room signs failing to prevent novice zones from appearingposted in Technical Issues and Bugs
So the devs so far have stated that there are no rules for this ... but that the rules were strictly followed. Hm.
There is indeed a pretty clear statement towards the bottom of the Novice Area page: http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/210342985-Novice-Areas
That is not some random forum. That sure looks like part of the game's core docs to me.