Site Rules.

[Dani]

The Rules We Live By
As defined by Dani and Britt !
Required Reading

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:: General Common Sense ::

Registration .

When registering here, please change your sign in name to the FIRST and LAST name of your character. We will not read applications using nonsense names. Registering with nonsensical names like "Imcool" or "greatrper" etc, makes Administration think that the account might have been made by a spambot and we'll want to delete the account. We will delete the account if nonsense names are used.

Respect .

Please do not argue when the admin ask you to improve an application or advise you on something. It's time wasting and disrespectful. We are of course happy to listen to your point of view and will try to compromise if we can, however, there is no point ever in being rude to us. We have no problem deleting accounts if it happens frequently.

We're all here to have a good time, so we ask that you remember your Pleases and Thank Yous- it really does go a long way to keeping the board running smoothly. This includes RPG menaces. They are not welcome so please keep things polite. We do not want any drama creeping in from real life here, so if your only way of having fun is to create problems and misery for people because you are miserable yourself, then this is not the place for you.

Real Lives .

Please try to be patient when waiting for replies from the administration. We will be on as much as we can, but like you, we are real people and have real lives outside of here also. The same goes for players- don’t flood the cbox with reminders for people to post, it’s rude.

Cursing .

Because we don't have this as an 18+ board, cursing should be kept to a reasonable level. Obviously it has it's place in the English language, but every third word doesn't need to be a swear.

Adult Content .

In regards to writing love scenes, heavy drug use etc. Now, we don't expect your characters to be celibate. But if you want to write the nitty gritty details, then you'll have to take it somewhere else. If you really feel it's vital to your characters, then play it out through email, or an Instant Messaging program. We really don't want to lose the board because someone breeched the Terms of Service. Just try to keep it PG-13, and absolutely NO higher than an R, ok? Just keep it off the board, and that includes through the cbox, or the PMs.

Additional Characters .

So you have your first character and you think- hey, I need one more! And while on Taar we don't have a character limit, before applying for any additional characters, you must complete two points worth of character homework (for a previous character,). When these are finished, simply post them beneath the character application, and send a PM to one of the admins.

Once these are approved (to make sure we don't have a lot of one-liners and things of that nature,) then you're free to complete your new character.

:: Role Playing ::

Miss Mary Sue & Mister Gary Stu .

This horrible creature has infiltrated every fandom, everywhere on the web. She (and her counterpart Gary Stu) kills boards and plots, and the sight of one of her Character Applications has been known to cause the admin here to pull out the proverbial Red Ink.

If you are at all tempted to use the words "perfect" "radiant" "stunning" "gorgeous" etc- you should seriously reconsider posting to this site.

Supernatural Abilities & Races .

Veela, werewolves, animagi, parselmouth… In this world, the possibilities are broad and varied. That being said, if you can’t see a way to make your character unique, except for through the use of one these elements, then you should take a second look at your concept. We will allow them in very limited numbers, and only to exceptional writers who have proven that they can handle the additional responsibility.

OOC Comments .

Occasional OOC comments complimenting a post or explaining something are fine. But don't waste forum space or insult anyone by just posting OOC's or caustic remarks. As well, if you are going to have a character that frequently uses non-English speaking, we ask that you only put the translation if the people listening would understand it. Otherwise, the people you are talking to have no logical excuse to know what you are saying.

Grammar & Spelling .

A certain amount of literacy is required to play on this board. If these things aren't your strong suit, then run it through a Spell Check before submitting- problem solved. Though we aren’t going to penalize the occasional typo, if you are regularly abusing the English language, we will get annoyed.

Post Length .

Board very greatly in the minimum length of their posts. Anywhere between one word, and 1000 words (and though we haven't seen more, it's not to say they aren't out there!)

On Talking About a Revolution, we ask that each post meet a requirement of at least 250 words. That is roughly 2 paragraphs, maybe a little less. As always, feel free to write more. We don't want posting to become a chore, or something stressful. As it's been said, we're all here to have fun.

One liners are acceptable only in the games and other OOC areas. Proper posts with this length will be deleted, and if it persists, the player account will be removed as well.

Third Person .

Very simply, we ask that all posts be phrased in the third person. ie. Joan and Robert walked away. instead of Robert and I walked away.

Birth & Death .

On the topic of death: do not under any circumstances take it upon yourself to end the life of ANY player's character, without the player’s express consent.

On the topic of children: there will be no births of any sort without the permission of the Administration, even if it is part of canon. We don’t want a sudden boom of children running around the board.

Activity & Posting .

Please post at least once a week if you can. This means an actual RP post - logging in is not the same thing. Some active RPs insist on RPing once every two days so we do not think this is too much to ask. (password; Sounds like a whisper!) If you cannot do this at any point, please post a note in the absence box explaining. Inactive members kill a site as many seasoned RPers know. The Administration is going to be particularly paying attention to the players of Canons, and those integral to the main plot.

Open, Closed, & Private Threads .

Now, for most people who have been playing for a while, these terms should be fairly familiar. Still, we've decided to clarify them for the ease of any new players, or those that might not have heard them before.

Open refers to a thread in which anyone can join. However, if several people have been posting back and forth, and there is a plot emerging? It's polite to send them a PM and ask if it's alright for you to join.
Closed threads are something that isn't seen nearly as often. Say your character has a moment, just them, that is vital to their development. A little scene that is stuck in your head, and begging to be written. These are closed threads, and obviously not looking for other people to join.
Private threads are labeled with the name of a specific character, or characters, which are required for the scene. Essentially, they are by invitation only.

All threads should be clearly labeled in the title section. (ie. "Meeting of Minds (open!)" or "The End (Evan|Angel)" or "Moving On (Closed)")

Formatting .

This is Britt’s own person peccadillo. I hate it when people use center alignment in posts, or mess with the colour codes. It's fine in the games, but leave the fancy stuff out of the posts, k? Thanks. If you have the desire to be artistic, then by all means, channel it into something more productive then using unreadable lime green font.

Time Appropriate .

The United Kingdom in the 90’s was very different from America in the new millennium. Keep in mind the character's background- dyed hair, piercings and tattoos will be more common amongst students that interact more often with the muggle world. The magical population, especially traditional pureblood families, won’t have the same interaction.

:: Graphics ::

Avatars & Signatures .

We all love them, the pretty pictures that reflect our characters. But in order to keep the board neat and tidy, we do have to put down some guidelines.

- No nudity, or related adult content. These images can be seen by nearly anyone that joins the site, so they have to be kept to PG-13.
- Avatars cannot be larger than 100x100
- Signatures cannot exceed 250x500

Playbys .

Playbys must be real people, not cartoon or sketch images of any kind. If representing a youth, keep it realistic. An actress or actor that could pass for an adult should perhaps be kept as a playby for a adult character. Yes, it sounds simple. You'd be amazed how often it becomes a problem. If your pb is 35, and your character is 15, you should probably just keep searching.

Hollow Art is an incredible resource for people searching for playbys.

Credit .

We ask that you don’t steal sections of formatting, code, or text from this site. We have worked hard to make it all, and if you wish to use something, PM either Dani or Britt, and ask politely. If we are given credit, we don’t usually have a problem with it.

The same goes for graphics that you didn’t make, plotting pages etc. Give credit to the people that have worked hard to make it.

:: Cbox Rules ::

No Spamming, no discrimination or hurtful comments of any kind, no cursing, no offensive language, ABSOLUTELY NO ADVERTISING OF YOUR SITE OR ASKING MEMBERS TO JOIN. You will get a warning and if it continues, we will delete your account.

This site tends to be fairly close knit, and the cbox is one of the easiest ways to keep in contact with our other players. It’s sometimes random, often humorous, and probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Introduce yourself, there is usually someone passing by to say hello, and it’s one of our primary ways of figuring out new plots.

Thank you so much for your time, and we hope you have an amazing experience here on TAAR !