Post by Alisha on Jun 18, 2012 6:13:49 GMT -5
THE RULES
The staff here has taken a great deal of time and care to make this site what it is. With that being said, we would appreciate it if every member, both old and new, take the time to read and understand each and every rule/guideline we have outlined for you below. These rules must be followed by every member on this site, both regular and staff. If you have any questions, feel free to private message any member of the board staff.
[style= text-align: center;]Disclaimer: These rules are subject to change any any time by any member of the staff. Please watch for changes or additions, which will be announced in the News & Announcements box or Update Twitter page.
General Rules
■ First and foremost, everyone, we'd like to let you know that this is a single account role-play forum! What that means is that every person has one account to role-play from. When you create more than one account, it can get very confusing for the administrators and moderators who run the site!
In summary, you get one account!
■ We’d like for everyone here to understand the difference between IN CHARACTER and OUT of CHARACTER and react accordingly. The person behind the monitor is probably very different from the persona they’ve chosen to play on this board. In Riverside, we have a wide variety of personalities. They range from sensitive and shy to impolite and aggressive. Your character should behave appropriately to a given situation. Here at Riverside, we are not responsible for ‘hurt feelings’ if you cannot separate another character’s actions from the player across the interwebs.
In summary, what their character does to your character has NO connection to your relationship with that player!
■ The previous rule also applies in the opposite scenario. You must realize and remember that some characters might not mesh as well you thought they would, and some things won’t work out. This does not give you a reason to dislike the person, or say rude things about them. We strive to be an open community, and hope that all members involved will be mature and speak their mind when it comes to storylines. While it is okay to express unhappiness to your role-play partner, it is unacceptable to intentionally bash their characters or writing abilities. Be calm, mature, and talk things out in a safe, private environment. Staff members will get involved if a situation gets out of hand. More so, if you feel like you have been threatened on this forum, please formally report this to an administrator.
In summary, so what if that relationship/friendship didn't work out? It's not the end of the word! Be nice and you won’t have any issues.
■ We expect each and every member to treat each other in a respectful manner. Slanderous posts towards any other member regarding race, personal beliefs, religion, writing abilities or characters on the forum or in the chat box will not be tolerated. Repeated offences will result in a ban from the forum. Please leave all past indiscretions, pretenses, and judgments at the door, and be polite here at Riverside.
In summary, follow the kindergarten code: treat people how you want to be treated. No mean words to others, or you'll go bye bye!
■ In regards to photos and signatures on this forum, we do have size limits. We worked very hard on our skin, and do not like it to be stretched and distorted by large pictures. Large photos also add to load times, which is never a good thing. All photo’s posted on this forum must be no larger than 600 pixels wide. Anything larger will be taken down, or resized automatically using a code we have in place. Signatures must be no larger than 600 pixels by 250 pixels. Many of our members use animated Gif images to fit more pictures onto their signatures. This can be done using online generators, or you may visit Alisha’s signature request thread and request one there. Avatars must be no larger than 100 pixels by 100 pixels. These rules must be followed. If you are in violation of any the graphic size guidelines you will notice a "This image has been resized to..." link above your pictures. Please resize these images to reduce page loading times on the site.
In summary, avatars: 100x100px, signatures: 600x250px, and other images: 600px wide or less.
Character Creation
■ We have no character limit here at Riverside, but we do have some guidelines to apply to character creation that we'd like you to follow. A few very well developed batch of characters is much better than many clones of the same character. This does not mean you cannot create 30+ characters; we would just appreciate it if each and every one is well developed.
In summary, less is more! Developed characters are more appreciated than the ones with no pizzazz!
■ On this site, we discourage the excessive addition and removal of characters. In the past, members have been known for the removal and addition of large amounts of characters in a short amount of time, so much so, we feel as if we have to make this a rule. While making new families is fine and dandy, please be sure about these additions before making them. If these additions/removals are made even every month, it begins to affect other member's storylines.
In summary, only make em if you're going to keep em!
■ Yes, Riverside is actually an average human suburbia. And yes, this also means that every single character role-played on this forum is in fact, human. No other-worldly abilities, no vampires, no psychics, and no supernatural powers. Supernatural abilities are STRICTLY banned from any group thread on this forum, other than the ones located in the Supernatural Role-play board. If you feel the need to role-play your supernatural characters, there is a board specifically designated for this purpose, and it is located in our Alternative Role-play category. Supernatural characters may also be role-played in the confines of your own housing board. However, this may not interfere with the threads of other members on this site. You must make sure it is okay with your role-play partner before going supernatural on them. You may role-play these types of characters in the areas outlined above, and only in those areas. Violations of this rule will result in the removal or relocation of the thread in question.
In summary, keep that supernatural stuff where it belongs, in the supernatural board, and you won’t have that hand slapped!
Posting/ Introduction to Role-play
■ Here at Riverside, we pride ourselves on writing our posts as one would read a book. This means proper spelling, grammar and punctuation in every post. Because of this, chat speak will not be tolerated anywhere on the site unless the situation calls for it. "U" is "you", "4" is "For", etc. Keep in mind that typos happen even with spell check and can be overlooked. If you do catch one though, there's no harm in correcting it! This applies to both IC and OoC.
In summary, write out your words, and practice proper spelling, grammar and punctuation!
■ Post lengths are flexible but we ask that you try and mirror a role play partner's post length if only to give them something to base their reply off of. There is nothing worse than writing something extravagant and getting a single sentence in reply! Courtesy is the best policy when regarding post length!
In summary, try your best match your partner’s posts!
■ Be descriptive! Have fun with your writing. At Riverside, we welcome many different post styles, from the brief paragraph to those long-winded novellas! Because of this, we highly encourage you to embellish your post and paint a picture for us. For example:
Before: “You’re beautiful.”
After: He leaned forward, raising a hand to caress the curve of her cheek. “You’re beautiful.” He murmured.
In summary, make that post pretty(imagery wise)!
■ Everyone thinks. It would be presumptuous and rude for us, here at Riverside, to think otherwise. With that being said, try to keep thoughts and the like to a minimum in your posts. The reason for this is because it can create the potential for someone to accidentally god-mod. This is not to say you cannot include thoughts in your posts, by all means do so, but we'd like to make sure thoughts are not all that you are including. Instead, try to convey thoughts and feelings through body language and facial cues. People can’t react to thoughts. They can, however, react to blushing cheeks and an averted gaze.
In summary, actions speak louder than thoughts. Meaning, they can think, but nobody can hear those things but them!
■ Respect the ‘Post Order’. What that means is that after you’ve posted once, don’t tack on more posts. It’s considered bad form and won’t encourage anyone to reply faster. If anything, it can get confusing and bog the thread down!
In summary, post when you're supposed to. No sooner, no later!
Disciplinary Actions
■ Warnings will be given in a formal manner, by a staff member via private message. A member will receive three warnings before their account is deleted and they are banned from the forum. Warnings will include a formal account of what rule you are in violation of, what you are doing to violate that rule, and a suggestion to fix the violation and prevent any violations in the future.
In summary, you get three scary PMs before you're booted out.
■ The staff wields the power to suspend any account they deem in violation to any of the rules outlined above. While some rules are more important than others, any and all violations will be cataloged in your account notes for future reference.
In summary, staff members can suspend you for any violations!
■ After the third warning is received, the member will have a chance to plead their case to the reporting administrator, and depending on the magnitude of the offences, the staff will make a decision regarding the member’s fate. All decisions are final. Once banned, a member is banned. We hope that members will never reach this point, but if the time comes, we will not hesitate to ban them.
In summary, after your third warning, you get to ask for forgiveness before you're officially out.
We hope these rules help improve the quality of your stay!
-The Riverside Staff.
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Written by: Alisha with input from Dani, Kelli, and Chrissy on 5/30/12;
Last Edit by Alisha on 7/11/12
Last Edit by Alisha on 7/11/12