Last Updated: 1/1/03

General Rules RPG Rules General Guidelines Signature Guidelines Moderating Policies
Note: An explanation of the RPG System is available on a separate page.

General Rules

1. Please be respectful of old members, new members, and people who happen to randomly stop by. In other words, respect anyone and anything.
2. Absolutely no profanity or anything else that would be inappropriate for our younger members. Anything R-rated (or higher) will be removed with no warning and no exception. To be safe, consider this a PG board. We want the Forest of Shadows to remain an environment where all of us can feel comfortable. If in doubt, ask.
3. Advertise here. Do not advertise anywhere else. Spam will be deleted, ignored, and/or reported.
4. The Administrators and Moderators of the Forest of Shadows are always open to praise, suggestions, comments, complaints, and concerns. However, if you have a problem with the way we run our board, please direct it privately to one of us (via the Contact Administrator link on the main page of the forums or via private messages, available through our ezboard profiles) to avoid disrupting other members.
5. All graphics should be appropriate both in content and in size, and should comply with our signature guidelines.
6. Use fonts and colors responsibly. Special effects should not distract from the content of posts.

Additional rules may apply to individual forums, especially roleplaying forums. Unless they are clearly posted, you are not expected to know them.

RPG Rules

1. All General Rules also apply to the RPG.
2. You must use a registered ezboard account in the RPG. If you use multiple accounts, you must let us know. This is the best way to make sure that the person controlling your character is actually you.
3. Your first character must be human. Your second character (once you complete one adventure) does not need to be human, but you are still required to start with a human character.
4. You may only have one starting-level (i.e. in the first adventure sequence) character at a time. Once your first character has completed his/her first adventure, you may submit a new character in the appropriate place for consideration.
5. The Storyteller is in charge, and may edit posts to make things easier. Salli is the final storytelling authority.
6. Special signature guidelines may apply to the RPG.

Official Forest Storytellers are listed in the Board Profile.

General Guidelines

1. Be mindful of message board etiquette. Including (but not limited to):
   • ALL CAPS IS SHOUTING. Don't shout.
   • If you are responding in a long thread, specify to whom you are speaking when necessary.
   • Use Emoticons as applicable, especially to let us know when you are joking or teasing.
   • Do not overuse images in posts, and don't try to slip in complicated HTML gimmicks. (HTML is disabled for a reason.)
   • I certainly don't expect perfect English, but be aware that your grammar, spelling, and punctuation will reflect upon you, and no one else. Severe lack of attention, especially to spelling, can confuse meaning—we are not psychic.
   • Feel free to emulate your natural style of speech, but remember that we can't hear your tone of voice. Always make your intentions clear.
   • Be polite. There is always a person behind every user name!
2. Be careful about using particularly obscure slang. We have many members who do not speak English as their first language. Try to be considerate of them. (You do not have to have perfect English. None of us do.)
3. If you have multiple user names, don't try to pretend they belong to different people. Sooner or later we will catch on—probably sooner.
4. Please avoid using the term "newbie". On many boards it is synonymous with "newcomer", but for many of us the term has negative connotations, i.e. referring to someone who not only does not know the rules, but also does not care. Since you can never know beforehand which interpretation a particular person associates with the term, you should avoid using it.
5. At the Forest of Shadows, we welcome people of all kinds with all levels of experience.

Signature/Personal Image Guidelines

The rule of thumb is to always try to be considerate of users with the slowest connection and smallest resolution that you can imagine. Signatures that do not meet these guidelines will be removed from posts by Moderators. Repeated posting of inappropriate signatures or too-large images is cause for banning. (We'll let you know if your signature is causing a problem.)

1. The automatic limit for personal photos is 60x60 pixels, and personal photos should not ever be larger than 20 KB. If yours is larger, try an image optimizer. If your image is larger than 60x60 and is being compressed into a smaller space on the screen, cut down its actual size.
2. Personal icons are 10x10 automatically. Personal icons should not need to be any larger than 5 KB.
3. The graphics in your signature should not exceed 30 KB. If your signature is fully optimized and is still slightly in excess of 30 KB, you may use it no more than once per topic, or less. We reserve the right to ask anyone to stop using a large signature at any time.
4. Pixel size (i.e. actual space on screen) is also important in signatures. Images add a lot to the board, but the point is the writing. Anything that is large enough to significantly interrupt the flow of the conversation is inappropriate. You will be informed if your signature takes up too much space.
5. All of your images combined should never exceed 50 KB. This includes your personal icon, personal photo, and all signature graphics.
6. Try to use your signature only once per topic, unless it is extremely simple. Even then, you don't need it every time you post.
7. If your post is so short that including your personal photo and/or signature would significantly stretch it out, consider turning these images off for that post. See this topic for an example.
8. Do not use signatures in the Random Question Game! (Available in General Discussion.) All signatures will be removed from this and any other topic that is or will be very long.

Signatures in the RPG:

All regular guidelines apply to the RPG, with the following additions:

• Generally, we would prefer that you not use your signature in IC RPG posts. Small signatures may be permitted, at the discretion of the storyteller currently running your adventure. (What one of us finds distracting another of us may find helpful for separating posts, etc.)
• As in the Random Question Game, signatures are not allowed in Rising Phoenix posts. (There is one exception to this rule: if your signature is specific to your character, you may use it the first time you post in a particular Phoenix topic.)

Moderating Policies

We are essentially too lazy to edit or delete posts without justification. However, we are committed to upholding ezboard's Terms of Use and our own rules.

Sarah and I both have alternate Admin accounts in case of emergency. We'll let you know if we have to use them. Currently, specific people (listed on the board profile) besides Sarah and myself who can moderate. No one else can edit your posts. Moderators may not be listed in or beside every forum for which they have powers.

Editing Policy:

We don't like to edit. We may, however, edit for any of the following reasons:

• Profanity.
• Content not appropriate for younger members.
• Unnecessarily (and usually unintentionally) derogatory comments.
• Confusing or just plain annoying errors with Emoticons, Ezcodes, etc.
• Disruptive or irritating fonts or colors.
• Anything that is unreasonably disruptive.
• Anything that violates any of our rules.
• Anything that any Moderator or Administrator feels is necessary.

Deletions:

Deletable offenses include:

• Inappropriate advertisements (i.e. anywhere but in the assigned area). Discrete advertisements in your signature are ok. We do that ourselves, and we hope you will advertise the Forest in this manner. :)
• Extreme use of profanity.
• Posting with no purpose other than to hurt another member.
• Posting of anything even remotely pornographic. And guess who gets to decide if it is pornographic.
• Spam. Obviously.
• Anything contrary to ezboard's TOU. Or anything contrary to our own rules.

Please be aware that we can also choose to move topics rather than delete them, so vanished topics may have been re-located. Anything posted in the wrong forum (such as an OOC topic in a RPG forum) will be moved to the proper forum, and the author may not necessarily be notified.

If you ever make a post by accident and wish to have it deleted, just edit it and replace the text with "please delete" or a message to that effect.

Banning:

We will not ban any member without the agreement of at least half of our Moderators. We will not ban any regular member without the agreement of all Moderators. In the event that we cannot contact the Moderators immediately, we may institute a temporary ban. We will give a warning if possible, but if you do not have private messages enabled and functioning, we make no guarantee that the message will reach you.

We may also initiate a temporary ban for a set period of time if the situation warrants it. Upon return from a temporary ban, the user will be on probation indefinitely. Probation may entail a loss of certain privileges, but the user will still be able to post.

Extreme offenses may result in immediate bans. This is not likely to be a problem for anyone who genuinely wants to post at the Forest of Shadows. We're mostly rather lenient.

(Based on Sarah's Shadow Base Message Boards rules.)

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