Post by Will Belacqua on Feb 23, 2015 21:28:51 GMT
Welcome to Hogwarts for Eternity. As usual, no site could function to its full standard without some ground rules. We would appreciate it if you could go through all of these rules before you decide to join the site to make your stay far more enjoyable and perhaps get you out of unwanted sticky situations.
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SIGNING UP
- AGE LIMIT. You must be at least 13 years old to be a member. This is in respect of Proboards' Terms of Service, as well as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was created so that information of children under the age of 13 would not be given out. We do not want to be deleted for TOS because of your mistake.
- USERNAME. You must edit your username to a proper name once you've signed up.
- POSTING BEFORE SORTING. You must wait until your character has been sorted before posting anywhere other than in the appropriate application thread, Celeb Claim or Ministry Application board, otherwise your character will not get sorted. I know it can sometimes be frustrating having to wait but what you apply for isn't always what you get.
CHARACTER
- NAME. Your character must have a proper first and last name before you post in the Sorting Ceremony or the Staff Applications. For example, your display name should be Mary McDonald -- not hpfreaklol12345. These characters will not be accepted. You may modify your display name from the modify profile screen.
- AGE. Your character's age must correspond to that of your character's year. If your character is a first year, he must be 11 or 12; if he is a second year, he must be 12 or 13; etcetera. Your character's age has absolutely no bearing on your own age -- this is a character, whereas you are not.
- LIMIT. You can create as many characters as you wish to create, provided that you can keep these characters active. If you don't, you risk losing your play-by claim.
- PLAY-BY. We only accept celebrity play-bys. That means that you're not allowed to use your own picture, anime or cartoon characters, etcetera. All of your celebrity claims must be posted in the celebrity claim thread or we would consider the celebrity you're using is still claimable if at any point in time another member would like to claim. Inactivity would risk you losing your claim. Please check the claim list for further information and all celebrity claims must be over 13 years old in real life. This isn't our rule, it's actually the law so we all must abide by it.
- CANON. Canons have recently been added to the site so they are now all available to play, just make sure you check out the canon list to check the one you want is available before signing up as a certain character. Inactivity for more than three weeks may result in you losing a canon character.
- DOUBLE CHARACTERS. One character per account. That's it. If your characters are twins, make another account, or better yet, have someone else play the twin. Do not RP your twin character inside the other twin's posts. We treat each account as a separate person, so should you. Plus, it's just too confusing to read about two different characters in the same post.
- SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. It's going to happen, we know that, all we ask is that you don't go into detail about what actually happens - simply fade out and then back in - but make sure that the characters involved are of age, i.e. over 16 years old. Anyone having this kind of relationship with under-age characters will be in trouble.
- SPECIAL POWERS AND NON-HUMANS. We don't care whether you're a water nymph by birth or were related to the great big bang, etcetera. All special powers or non-humans must be approved by the admins and should only be requested in an appropriate way - i.e. you must specify the character's species in your application and then complete the appropriate Ministry of Magic application so we have a record that is easy to access. If in any case we decided to deny your application, do not throw a fit; review your application and ask us for pointers - we won't bite! For more information on powers, please refer to Special Power Information threads.
- DEATHS. Yes, we allow you to kill a character here. There are, however, a few strings attached. The deaths must be discussed between the killer and victim and approved by the admins. If the admins disagree, sorry. Killing characters results in trial threads and, for the killed person, being a ghost -- but keep in mind that ghosts are non-human creatures, and therefore, they require permission.
- NO SUICIDE! Suicide is a very tender subject, and it simply is not necessary. This includes attempted or premeditated.
- CANCER. Like suicides, this is a very tender subject and it affects most people at some point in their lives, whether directly or indirectly. It is a very upsetting topic and it is for that reason that we ask you do not do any plots involving this particular illness.
- PLAGIARIZING. We take this very seriously. If by any chance we find that your character was not originally created by you, we will ban you. Have some respect to those who did take their time to create their character.
IMAGES
- DECENCY. It is a Harry Potter RPG. It means there are children on site. We expect you not to post any vulgar or disturbing images that are not suited for children's views.
- SIGNATURE. Your signature must not exceed 500 pixels in width by 400 pixels in height. Keep in mind that just because you have high speed Internet doesn't mean everyone does also. Have mercy on their souls.
- SIZE. Yes, we know you like sharing. However, please resize all pictures before you post them in a thread. It is extremely irritating to have to scroll from left to right just to read what everyone else had written if the page is all stretched out.
ROLE-PLAYING
- LANGUAGE. We do allow mild swearing, but try to keep it to a minimum level. There's really no need to curse for a full paragraph. Please think before you write and then click that submit button. A truly intelligent person doesn't need to use foul language to make themselves heard.
- DRUGS/CIGARETTES AND DRINKING. It's Europe; we get it. That doesn't mean we want to see a couple of first years getting drunk and throwing up over the barrel just outside the Leaky Cauldron. Be realistic, and be smart. The same applies for drugs -- we don't encourage kids doing drugs, and while it does happen, this is also Harry Potter so keep it to a minimum. How many times to do you hear about the trio smoking (or anybody, for that matter)? None.
- GOD-MODDING. Think carefully before you post. Do not G-mod another character without their permission. Just because you have been granted with special powers doesn't mean the world is your oyster. If you abuse your granted special powers, we will strip you of them and will not approve any future usage of it by you or any of your characters.
- GARY-STUS AND MARY-SUES. We do not permit these types of characters on HFE. Nobody's perfect in real life, so characters shouldn't be, either.
- ENGAGEMENTS, PREGNANCIES, ETC. Want one of these things to happen for your character? Simply PM any admin or post at the Ministry and they'll let you know whether you can go ahead with it now or whether you should wait a little while.
OUT OF CHARACTER
- ADMIN WORD IS FINAL. Yup, that's basically it. Trying to sweet talk us . . . there's really no use. So, try to keep your nose clean, alright?
- ADVERTISING. We have a board for that. See, aren't we nice? However, if you advertise using the PM function, we will ban you without warning. Begging one of the admins to join will cause you to be booted off as well. Just post in the reserved area, and if anyone cares to join, they will.
- RESPECT. I don't care if someone insulted your bald-headed granny -- you are not to argue out in the open. Take it to PMs, messenger, etcetera; do not argue in the actual forum or the chatbox areas. This will result in a ban for all persons involved. If the problem persists and you want "help," contact an administrator.
- OOC VS. IC. Treat it like Vegas: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So, what happens in RP stays in RP. Do not bring your character problems into the OOC area. Just because your character hates that character doesn't mean you have to hate the puppet master as well. It's just RP -- not life.
- HARASSMENT. We take this matter very seriously. If you feel someone is harassing you, please report to any available admin immediately, and we will look into the matter. Again, just because one person doesn't share your view, that doesn't make them defective. It just makes them opinionated. Try to be sensible. We believe that at 13 and above, you can already think for yourself.
CHATBOX
- No spamming, obviously.
- No advertising, please. There's a board for that.
IN CHARACTER CHATBOX
- Obey the rules. You may have noticed our new ICBox! If not, you need only click that link. Regardless, these rules apply to everyone. These rules are just as severe as breaking any of the other rules because, simply, they are rules. On that note, all of the aforementioned rules apply -- drugs, spamming, arguing, etcetera? Not tolerated.
LAST UPDATED: 23rd February 2015.
The Hogwarts for Eternity Administration team reserved the right to add, alter, or terminate any of the above rules without any notice via mass PM or email.
© The administrators of Hogwarts for Eternity