Main Rules of Beyond

[The Forsaken Subtle Sin Saint]

1. There's a specific area for spam, so don't do it anywhere else, please, and keep ALL ooc comments in the Out of Character board.

2. No double posting. If you posted, then want to add something, modify your post, don't make a new separate one.

3. If rping with several people, don't leave anyone behind if you can help it. By the same token, if you are involved in a storyline and you aren't going to be on for a few days, make an OOC comment as soon as possible, or you will be bumped from the plot and given a warning. It's not cool to make people wait for days for the story to move forward with no word as to what the hold up is.

4. Use T1 MP for battles; the other styles don't work in forums like this, sorry. (Here's a link that explains T1 MP.)

5. We don't have boards for you to create your own rp world, but if you make your own rp world, please ask us to affiliate, we'd be more than happy to do so. This forum's rp is strictly about Beyond.

6. You're welcome to post in languages other than English, just provide translation. Only exception to that is if it's a private convo in rp, but no Terran languages there unless your chara is a human from Earth, lol, and be aware that some of use do speak several languages, so no rule breaking in other languages.

7. L337 SPEAK IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED IN ANY RP SETTING. We don't care if your chara is a native of Planet L337, it had better have a back up language. The ONLY place on this website that you may use it is A. in pms to anyone except staff B. Your own personal exchange diary (you may NOT reply to someone else's using l337 speak) or C. the General OOC thread in the Chat sub board of the Out Of Character board in the Other Interests category. To put it bluntly, violators of this rule will be instantly "pwned, and all your accounts are belong to us. Ph34r us, l337 freaks." EDIT: The exception to this rule is "lol," which means "laugh out loud." It has become such a key part of online conversations that many people actually say "lol" after a funny statement, when they are nowhere near a keyboard! As such, it would be unkind to expect people to break that particular habit of chat speak.

8. We don't have any openings for staff, but if the need arises, we'll ask you, please don't ask us.

9. Don't make unsolicited critical comments about someone's chara. You wouldn't want them saying, "That's not what (insert the kind of chara you play here) do!," to you. If they act OOC while rping, tell us, we'll talk to them. (For instance, if your lawfull good chara suddenly goes on a killing spree for no reason, we're gonna have words.)

10. There is zero tolerance for flaming. EDIT: By flaming, we mean personal attacks on a staff member or regular member of this website or our affiliates. DO NOT argue with people or criticize them ooc, not anywhere. If you can't say something nice to someone, don't say anything to them. If someone flames you, tell us, we'll handle it. Any incendiary posts regarding other members ooc will be deleted, and you will be warned. We eliminated that stupid f#ck!ng karma thing, so don't sweat it, we'll take care of you. By the same token, let your skin be properly thick. That is to say, not every negative comment can or should be construed as a personal attack. Use common sense and don't take things out of context, and when in doubt, ask someone in admin.

11. If your chara commits suicide, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES may that chara be resurrected. I don't care if God/Goddess/Necromancer him/her/itself breathes life back into the chara, if you kill your own chara, it stays dead. No exceptions.

12. Please only vote once per any poll unless asked to vote more than once BY STAFF. Many of us have multiple charas, and it would skew the poll results if we all voted once per chara in the same poll. Please select one chara to vote with, though you may use any of your characters to comment and reply to comments in the area below the polls.

13. We figured we didn't need this rule, since you all know better, but apparently there is a need to spell it out. NO godmoding. This also means no making undefeatable charas, charas with godlike powers that don't have a single weakness or making charas that have hidden powers that make them invincible. When in doubt, ask admin for guidelines.

14. Do NOT post while under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other mind altering substances (including but not limited to prescription drugs). It is rude to the other people who are rping with you, who can make neither heads nor tales of your post and are forced to decipher, not to mention it holds up the plot severely. If you haven't posted and are in danger of breaking a rule, note the admin that you aren't in a position to post, rather than posting under the influence. If you are suspected of violating this rule, you will be informed by admin, and your post deleted. (Chances are, you're not going to remember having made it anyway.) Your post will be copied into the pm, so that you may contest it if you really weren't under altering influences, but you'd better have one heck of a good reason for posting as though you were.

Obviously, this rule applies only to use of drugs that inhibit your ability to post clearly. We do not prohibit the use of life saving or healing drugs (such as meds used for diabetes, other long term medical conditions, or antibiotics or other remedies for temporary illnesses, etc.) while posting. This rule obviously pertains to the abuse of prescription/over-the-counter meds, or the overuse of other drugs, legal or otherwise.

15. Please do not mention members by their real names anywhere except in pms (to that person). Privacy is a big issue for some people, and we respect that. Although most of us know each other personally, not all of us do, and some of us prefer not to use our real names online if it can be helped. This is more a courtesy than a rule, but it will be enforced as a rule to avoid conflict. Thank you.

16. You may not use ooc knowledge of someone else's character ic. This rule is to protect you when you list a fatal (or not so fatal) weakness/flaw in your character profile (usually in order to avoid breaking rule 13.) It can still be an issue for minor characters too, so the rule applies to any and all characters, including NPCs. I'm sure none of you would do this on purpose, but this is a reminder that it's not allowed in this site.

We don't have a lot of rules, but we are ruthless in enforcing them. Three strikes, you're out for two weeks, non negotiable. You come back, you get full clemency (meaning you have three more strikes) If you foul up after your second chance, you're out for good, and we have ways to know if you sign up again with a diff chara, so don't try it. And disrespecting Admin and/or Staff is grounds for immediate banishment; the duration depends on the severity of the offense. This is non negotiable, and will receive zero warnings. You got personal beef with us, take it up offsite, and in private. We show you the same respect.

And the age thing; apparently there's a law that prohibits minors under 18 from becoming members of the site, but that's only if they don't have their parent's permission. If you're under age (but at least 13 or older, sorry youngers) and you want to rp here, get your parents to email the site owner. She'll provide contact info and a downloadable permission form they can sign and mail back to her.

These rules can and will be tweaked as admin sees fit, but never without warning, and never unfairly. We respect you all, or we woudn't have asked you to join us. Let's keep it clean (as in no backbiting, petty quarreling and other ooc skullduggery) and have fun. And please, if this is your first time joining a forum and you're not quite sure how it works, visit this link www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

[The Forsaken Subtle Sin Saint]

There are those who would purposely (or not) misread/skew the intent of some of the rules of this website, so for further clarification, please observe the following:

1. "Flaming in general" has been said by some to be beneficial, but we've never seen anything end well because of it, and have actually seen one site fold under its pressure. In order to avoid that kind of mayhem, our rule stands that flaming of any kind will not be tolerated; like it or lump it.

2. "Suicide" is meant in the simplest, most common way possible; killing yourself. Anything else is ruining yourself, and could lead to your death, but we mean direct, good old fashioned, fall on your sword or drink poison (or some other means of), on-purpose killing yourself, wherein your body dies and your soul/spirit/essence departs from that shell. No hidden meanings there. If you want to keep a character in play, don't kill it on purpose.

If you are forced to kill your character by another character (ie, they're holding your loved one ransom for your life, or your death would save the world), that's not truly suicide. It's called "sacrifice," and if there happens to be a necromancer or someone else legally capable of restoring your soul to your body, by all means, find a way to communicate and come back if you want. Be aware, though, that we won't tolerate "daily martyrs" (so called heroes who get themselves killed and brought back on a regular basis).

3.Some people think that the karma settings can be "very good." We don't. We don't need it, so we're not using it. Again, like it or lump it.

4. l337 speak includes chat speak, internet speak, and all the other similar forms of illiterate communication that abound on the internet. Again, we don't care if you use it in the ooc sections of the website, it just won't be tolerated in actual rp. When in doubt, ask the site owner.

If further clarification of any rule is needed, please don't hesitate to pm the site owner or admin. We can't fix something if we don't know it's broken. If you think it's broken and are mistaken, you'll never know unless you ask. If I sound a little snippy in this edit, it's because the way these issues came to light were rather ridiculous. We don't frown on or punish those who seek to improve understanding/use of the site by questioning our rules, but please don't mistake us for idiots. There are specific reasons for our rules. Our rules mean exactly what they say, no hidden meanings. If you don't understand something, ask. If you think something could be worded better, feel free to offer (polite) suggestions. Some of our rules have indeed been edited as a result of some observations. Others, as you can see here, were clarified. Point out what you think are mistakes/need improvement in a polite manner, and the points of clarification will come with equal grace. Thank you.