Forum Rules (Work In Progress)

Note that some boards and threads are not available to non-members, so as to prevent underage users from stumbling into the mature-themed sections of the site. It's simply a precaution, and no boards shall be hidden upon registration.

General Forum Rules are as follows, and operate on a three-strike system with punishments varying based on severity of the rule-break. Rules with an * beside them are punishable with the three strike system. Rules that don't have one will allow punishment or warning at any individual administrator's discretion.

Also, please keep in mind that these rules are subject to change at any time, especially during the early life of the site. At the moment, the rules haven't even been entirely finished, not by any means. We will not make exceptions on the basis of you having not "seen the new rules", so make sure you check back here often. Also note however that we will post a global, stickied announcement whenever a change is made to the rules so that all members are made aware. These announcements will stay up for one week before being taken down.

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Out Of Character (OOC) site rules

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1. *Don't spam. If you're going to spam, do it on a spam thread, don't flood the Shoutbox or any other threads.
   
2. *Try to avoid double-posting. We have an edit feature for a reason, after all.
   
3. *Don't be a backseat admin or mod. If somebody is breaking the rules, you may give them a friendly reminder (key word is friendly, don't come off as if you're trying to be a mod). If the issue persist, report them. Reports are always kept anonymous!
4. *Do not under any circumstances insult or otherwise verbally (or text-wise, technically) harass another member. Try to remain civil, and if somebody is insulting or otherwise harassing you, simply report them and an admin or mod will deal with the situation. Do not retaliate with an insult of your own! This only makes the situation worse, and feeds fuel to the fires of conflict. If insults are thrown by both parties, both parties will receive the appropriate punishment(s). In short, don't be rude.
   
5. Racial slurs, homophobic remarks, and other hate crimes will absolutely not be tolerated. Members will only ever get one warning for breaking this rule, and the next offense will result in a one month ban. We take these types of things very seriously!
   
6. *Try to keep anything 18+ (which would mostly consist of sexual content) in the 18+ sections of the site. Failure to do so will result in a possible removal or movement of the thread to the proper section, accompanied by a warning.
   
7. The rules and information regarding canon characters can be found in this thread.
   
8. Posting any sort of sexual images outside the appropriate section of the site, especially those of real persons, will result in punishment based upon the three strike policy. If by chance somebody decides to make some sort of post regarding underage or child pornography, report the post immediately. Anything like that will result in an immediate referral to law enforcement, and an immediate IP and account ban, for whatever good that may do. I should think that this need not be said, but just in case, the rule is there.
9. The formation of cliques or tightly-knit groups that exclude new members is strictly prohibited. Specifically, this means any amount of members from three people and up who are; ignoring, harassing, name-calling (if in a serious way), and otherwise not allowing an individual to join in on an open roleplay. This rule does NOT encompass any IC exclusion (ie a group of ponies ignore someone else's pony IC) as long as it is clearly stated in the RP that the pon(y/ies) are explicitly ignoring the newcomer.

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In Character (IC) rules

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1. *Do not make speak out-of-character in roleplay threads (it is alright if in parentheses).
   
2. *Do not powergame or metagame. This means, simply put: do not injure somebody else's character without their permission. If in a fight, you must attempt to harm your opponent. You may not say, "So&So kicked Tom in the face, snapping his head back and breaking his neck instantly" to give a short example. Metagaming is the use of OOC knowledge ICly. For example, you hear someone discussion an ambush or something in chat, and because YOU know this, your character instantly does as well. This is under no circumstances allowed.
   
3. Do not try to control somebody else's character.
   
4. Canon characters must stay in-character. If they have a set personality, they must stick to it. Small deviations from the personality are allowed, but no making the Mane Six warmongering psychopaths. That sort of thing. If you fail to abide by this, your canon character may be placed under the control of another roleplayer and you may lose your right to use canon characters entirely.
   
5. *Private threads are private. If you're not invited to the thread, don't post in it. Period.
   
6. Any thread marked as "open" can be posted in by ANYBODY.
   
7. *To RP in the canon and non-canon sections of the site, you MUST either have a canon character in your control, or have made an OC and had them accepted by a Mod or Admin.
   
8. *You may not post one-liners. Each post in the canon and non-canon sections must be two sentences at the very minimum, preferably being longer than four.
   
9. *Do not use text-speak in IC. This means things such as: "U" "Brb" "Gtg" "ROFL" "LOL", etc etc.
   
10. *Stick to whatever personality you put down for your character. Your character's personality may very well change over time, but it can't do a total U-turn out of nowhere. If their personality changes, edit your character app accordingly so we all know.
    
11. *Your character cannot be capable of taking down an alicorn from the get-go. They may develop into becoming as powerful as one over time, with rigorous training and study, but by default you don't get to be that powerful, sorry.
    
12. Your character can't be in two places at once.
    
13. Try to use correct grammar and spelling whenever possible. You will not be penalized for this unless you're blatantly going out of your way to do it wrong.
    
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