Rules and Guidelines

Rules

These rules are here to make sure this site remains safe and inviting to all of our members, but that doesn't mean everything here is set into stone. If you feel there's something we're being too strict on, or that needs to be added, don't hesitate to let us know.

Also, these rules are in effect for the entire site, including all the forums, PM's, and every other area.

Breaking these rules can lead to an increased warning level, and if rule breaking continues even banishment from our site. If you have been banned and would like to re-join our site, please send the board administrator an e-mail explaining what you did wrong, an apology for that action, and why you won't do it again.

1) Absolutely, positively, no plagiarizing! It just goes against the whole point of this site.

2) No flaming. Basically, no posts containing hatred or discrimination against someone or groups of people.

3) Please no spamming. Examples would be "First!", "lol", or blank posts. Spamming contributes nothing to the discussion and only uses up unnecessary space. We encourage you to report any spam posts you see so that they may be deleted.

4) Keep the language to a family-friendly level. We have younger members on this site, so please keep that in mind. Remember the grandmother rule: if you wouldn't say it in front of your grandmother, you probably shouldn't say it here.

4a) Remember that the word filter is here for a reason; by-passing the word filter will lead to negative consequences.

5) Posts discussing or promoting illegal activities, terrorism, adult activities, hatred, or conspiracy theories will be deleted immediately, no questions asked.

5a) No linking to or discussing other websites that contain and/or promote illegal activities, hatred, terrorism, conspiracy theories, or adult material. If you choose to advertise your own website, please contact the editors first so that we can be sure it doesn't violate this rule.

6) While there isn't an explicit ban, please try to steer away from discussions on religion or politics, since those topics can sometimes lead into heated arguments. If a religious topic is opened and all of the discussion in it remains civil, then it can remain open.

7) Please be respectful to your fellow members and the staff.

8) Please respect everyone's property and do not reuse our ideas. If you had created a website and used some new ideas, and someone followed and took your ideas, you would be upset, wouldn't you? That is how some of the editors feel, after others have taken our ideas and used them as their own.

9) To keep the forum from slowing down, please remember that there is a limit of 25 KB for each avatar, and a maximum of 10 lines for each signature. If an avatar is too large, it will be removed. However, if the avatar is larger than 25 KB, but uploaded to an image hosting site and linked here instead, then that will be fine.

Remember breaking any of the rules can lead to warnings, eventually leading to banishment if perpetrator continues to ignore the warnings and rules. If someone creates another account after banishment and continues to break the rules, we can and will block their IP address.

Forum Post Guidelines

Double-posting:

Posting more than once in a row is allowed, however, a user cannot make over five posts in a row.

Post Length:

There's no limit to how long a post can be; however, we would prefer if you kept you post more than just a few words. Posts containing only a single word, such as "cool", "lol", "yay", etc., will be considered spam and deleted.

Staying on-topic:

When posting a reply to a topic, please stay on subject. When giving a review to a story, don't advertise your own story; when replying to a topic on music, don't suddenly change the subject to dinosaurs; etc.

Dupe Topics:

If you make a topic (let's say on computers), but a topic on computers has already been made by someone else, then the topic you created will be closed. There only needs to be one topic to a specific subject.

Forum Topic Guidelines

Home

New Members Area:

If you are unsure about anything on the site, please post a topic here. Other members and editors can then give help, with the topic being closed once the question has been answered. Also remember that you can receive points for helping answer questions in this forum.

Welcome:

If you're a new member and would like to break the ice, this is where to do it. You can start a topic talking a little bit about yourself, as well as a snippet of some of your work if you want.

Newsletter:

This is where the site's newsletter, the Write Stuff, is published in .pdf format every issue (generally every two months or so)(if, for some reason, you are unable to open or are unfamiliar with the .pdf file format, please contact a site admin through PM or e-mail.) If you have an article you'd like to submit to the newsletter, but cannot send it through e-mail to the editors, you may also create a topic containing the article and which issue you'd like to have it published in.

Updates:

This is where all of the latest major updates and events to the site will be posted.

Writing

Writing and Publishing Tips & Tricks:

This is where you can share your knowledge with your fellow members. If you're going to link to a site, we the editors will be sure to check them all to make sure they remain appropriate. If they fall below our rule standards, the links will be removed.

The advice given can be on ideas, plot structure, publishing, and any other useful bit of writing-related information you think other members' could use.

Poetry:

This is where you can post poems of various lengths. Tankas, limericks, free verse poetry, sonnets, haikus, villanelles, and all the many other genres of poetry would belong here.

Short Stories:

This is where you can post stories of various lengths, but aren't part of a continuous series (in which case it would belong in the Epics forum).

Epics:

This is the forum for the long-story, or story broken up into many parts. Each chapter of the story must be a part of a single post, with a separate review topic created for people to post their reviews on that story. You may have anywhere from 5 to a hundred chapters in your epic.

Fan Fiction:

If you're a fan of, say, the Harry Potter or Star Wars series, this is the forum where you can post stories based in the same universe as those series, and even use the same characters.

Comedies:

In this forum you can post comedic stories, joke series, parodies, or even just jokes. Please refrain from potty humour.

Plays:

This forum is for the various plays that you may write. They will generally be in the format used by Shakespeare and play directors today, namely:

Person 1: Hello.

Person 2: Oh, hey there!

*Person 2 jumps in surprise*

Person 1: Didn't mean to scare ya!

And so on.

Journalism:

This is the forum for articles on current world events, or even events in history. If you wish, you can submit the articles you write here into the newsletter. Photojournalism would also fall into this forum.

RPGs:

This is where a topic starter may create a topic stating which details the world/land that a game will take place in, the species/races players have to choose from, the various weapons and technology used, the nations/tribes/kingdoms/organizations they can be a part of, and any other information the topic starter feels would be necessary for the game. After a game has been started, players may join at any time, establishing a character they play as (players may have more than one character for each game unless stated otherwise by the topic-starter.) Each player will usually post a paragraph or two describing their character and how that character is interacting with the current situations or other characters. When creating a character, please do not create a Mary Sue, or someone flawless. Also avoid the Deus ex machina when continuing the storyline of a game.

If a game is left inactive for more than 40 days, it will be considered over and closed. After a period of time, the topic-starter may re-create the game if they choose.

"godmodding", or writing as other people's characters, is allowed on a base-by-base case, depending on the topic starters' wishes.

Reviews:

This forum is where you can post your reviews on books, articles, short stories, poetry and whatever else writing related. You can review work that's been published by non-members (i.e. the latest Stephenie Meyer or Stephen King novel), or on the work posted on this site (though we'd prefer if you'd post reviews for works as a reply to the topic they are posted in.)

Drabble:

A relatively new concept on this site, this is where you can post your works that are 100 words or less. Drabble can be thought of as a sort of poem with the structure of a short story. The word limit for a drabble story is 100. Please do not post work much longer than this. Thank you.

Other Creative Ventures

Artwork:

This forum will be where you may share your artwork with the site by creating a topic linking to the picture (sites such as Photobucket, Flickr, Image Shack, DeviantART, Brickshelf, and many others offer free image hosting.)

Photography:

In this forum you can post your photography, in the same way you would artwork. Please be careful not to post too many personal pictures however, since, though only members can view the forums, this is still the internet and you never know whose hands it may fall into.

Music:

This is where you can post links to yourself playing music on video hosting sites such as YouTube, post the latest lyrics you've been mulling over, or even tablature you'd like to share that you've written. Please remember, however, that actual discussion on bands, tours, etc. would belong on the off-topic forum, since this forum is specifically meant for sharing music that you've created.

Videos & Animations:

Here you may share your videos and animations. It's pretty straightforward.

Non-Writing Related

Off-Topic:

This is where you may discuss anything unrelated to any of the previous categories. You can discuss books, movies, music, technology, the latest toy fad, fashion, the weather, swap recipes, and pretty much anything else!

Writer's Arcade:

This is where you can start and play in various text-based games with your fellow members. Duplicate games will be closed. RPGs, role playing games, do not belong in this forum, but in the RPGs forum. RPGs posted here will be moved.

Polls:

This is where you may start a topic asking members specific questions, though we'd prefer if you didn't create too many personal questions, such as phone numbers, where you live, or the like, for the same reasons given for the photography section.

Blogs

Blogs are a unique part of the site, separate from the forums and placed in their own page. This is where you may start a topic where you can discuss any topic you want; it's your own blog! Each person may only have one blog topic at a time. When starting a blog topic, please give it an original title in the main name, and then give your name in the topic description. People are able to post replies to your blog; however, if you would prefer the blog to remain response-less, make sure that you clearly state so in your first post. If you state that you don't want responses, anyone who posts in your blog will have their post deleted.