General Rules, IMPORTANT

General Guidelines

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1) If you notice that any member is or may be breaking one of the rules listed below, please contact an administrator so they can review the problem. Some things may escape the watchful eyes, so your assistance is appreciated.

2) Just respect the members and use your judgment wisely. You are free to be creative and enjoy yourself, but no one will be allowed to abuse the board and it's members or staff. Just because something isn't listed here in great detail doesn't mean that it will be allowed. Warnings will be given, but people will be banned if they continue to cause problems.

In Character

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1) Utilize basic grammar and spelling.
This is a fully literate RPG, and members are expected to have a solid foundation in grammar and spelling. We all make silly mistakes sometimes, and typographical errors will occur, but keep your posts readable. If you tend to make quite a few noticeable spelling errors, just toss your post into a spell checker before you send it. There are free ones online if you do not have a word processor on your computer.

2) Make descriptive posts which your fellow players can respond to.
That's not too much to ask. One-liners are not necessary or desired here as Meliora is written in a story format (speech, actions, description of surroundings, etc.) rather than script format (almost entirely speech). It is highly recommended that you keep your posts at or above 200 words. Since we do not have a word counter on the site, this minimum will not be strictly enforced, but please do your best to reach this minimum so we can try to ensure that our standard of writing is maintained. If it is determined that you are not writing posts which other players can respond to, you may be contacted by a member of the administration. If you find that another member is posting things which you cannot respond to, please let them know in a polite manner so they have an opportunity to edit their post for you. If they continue to post replies which you can't work with, notify an admin.

3) Refrain from controlling others' characters without player consent.
This means you are not permitted to harm or control another person's character in your posts without permission from their player. Abuse of this rule is something that should be reported because the administration will not be aware of permission given over PM or other forms of communication outside the thread. If you have permission to control someone else's character, please leave a note at the beginning of your post if you remember to do so (just to be on the safe side). This isn't necessarily directed toward minor cases (ex. "Venea pushed the priest out of the way of a large boulder that fell from above without warning) in which it is assumed that a player will have their character react in a certain way, but if a player objects to any details involving the actions of their character in another player's post. . . it needs to be altered or removed.

Also, you are allowed to create joint posts including multiple characters of your own, or characters from different players.

4) Mature content is allowed here to a certain extent, but we also wish to keep Meliora friendly for various age groups and belief systems. In order to be respectful of members that do not wish to read certain types of content, it is important that threads are marked to indicate what level of mature content they contain.
Threads containing graphic violence, excessive use of offensive terms, and/or prominent sexual themes should be clearly marked with an [M] somewhere in the description. If you simply must utilize what one would consider explicit sexual content, do it elsewhere.
This type of content is allowed, but not encouraged in excess. If it is determined by the administration that a member is crowding the board with mature and explicit themes, they will be warned. Abuse of this rule can and will be punished in a way that fits the offense.

We will not be held responsible for any offense resulting from the content in any RP thread. You have been warned that this content may exist here, and any member that fails to mark their thread appropriately will be held accountable for disobeying the rules.

Out of Character

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Basically, just use your head. Rudeness, flaming, insubordination and the like will not be tolerated. Here are just a few things to keep in mind.

1) OOC disagreements should be worked out in PM or IM.
If the problem cannot be settled among the members which it involves, an admin will instruct you on how to continue. As stated above, poor behavior will not be tolerated and it may result in banning.

2) The OOC general chat and other OOC posting forums are not to be filled with spam.

3) If you have a complaint or suggestion, please express yourself in civil language.
Abuse will not earn you the results you desire, and it will not be tolerated.

4) OOC comments in threads that are in character should be contained in brackets of some sort or marked as OOC.

5) Keep advertisements within the appropriate forum, and follow the advertisement rules (explained within that forum).
This means that if a member is caught PMing and e-mailing advertisements, they will be breaking this rule and punished accordingly. If you receive a message advertising another site via PM or e-mail, please notify an admin.

Graphics

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Recommended sizes: 150x200 avatar, 500x150 or 400x200 signature

1) There is no specific limit to avatar sizes. However, you should try to keep them reasonably thin so that they do not stretch the board.

2) Signatures should be no wider than 500 pixels.
Please keep in mind that large images may cause the page to load slowly for some people, and smaller signatures make threads easier to read through.

***If you want to share a very large image here, please place a link in the topic that you are posting it in so it does not stretch the board significantly or cause things to get cut off.