MISSION STATEMENT: ORIGINS & GUIDELINES

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi fellow RED COUCH posters! phoenixrising here. Enough time has passed and enough comments have been added to my request for your personal limits for me to create the Mission Statement for The Red Couch.

The creation of this statement was taken very seriously for several reasons:

1) With the highly elevated sexual nature of BtVS, the web sites that housed James/Spike-centric topics have gone into overload with the new posters. As you may know, several well-known sites such as BABS and others imploded due to the fact that EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION ABOUT SEX but opinions differ radically. Hence, even the origin of this board, which was created out of respect to it's parent, the JamesMarsters board, and their continued need to stay PG-13.

2) Even "radical" thinkers need guidelines. How much is "too" much, what lines "can" be crossed and which should be "respected"...these have all been addressed by your posts and the very few times that editing and deleting have been necessary here by the mod's. We have enough experience and feedback now, to write the statement.

Zero had said on her site that "This is not a democracy, this is a dictatorship." Although I'm sure it was said in jest, we would like this site to represent the MAJORITY vs. the MINORITY. The mod's try at all times to respect everyone's issues and opinions, but when some subject matter is still too "hot" even by society standards, we have to come down on the side of the majority. This is an attempt to please the greater good, not an attempt to censor individuals.

THE MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE RED COUCH SITE

------------------------------------------------------------ PURPOSE OF THE SITE: The Red Couch is an off-shoot site that was born from the JamesMarsters site. Out of their need to stay PG-13, the Red Couch was created for individuals that had a higher level of tolerance for sexually explicit talk and fan-fic of a NC-17 nature.

PURPOSE OF THE MISSION STATEMENT: Everything in the universe has a finite limit: how fast it can travel, how long it can grow, etc. So too, a site born out of the need to stretch our limits must also know when it has exceeded it's intended purpose. These rules are intended to keep peace within the Red Couch family and make the mod's jobs easier, believing in the inherent intelligence of the posters to "police" themselves under most of the circumstances.

----------------------------------------------------------- 1) This site is/was created for sexually advanced individuals that have a higher tolerance of sexually explicit talk, chatter, topics and fanfic. IT WAS CREATED AS A FUN PLACE TO BE! Remember, this was all started because of a TV SHOW and we need to keep that perspective in sight. Getting livid over a posters opinion of Spike being a "this or that" is a waste of your life energy....Spike is an imaginary character that we enjoy speculating on, it's that simple. If you have the intense need to "control" characters, please move to Hollywood, set up shop and create your own show. We'll be the first to watch it if you e-mail us!

2)Swears: Very few members at this site expressed undo concern to censor our language. We have found out that the board actually "censors" itself. So, if a certain word is necessary for your point to get across and a euphemism won't do, then type a s p a c e between the letters and it will post as you need it to. Soon, we'll get so used to reading s t r e t c h e d out 'swears' that the normally compressed versions will look odd.

3) Name calling:THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AT ALL, PERIOD! We don't care if you immediately disclaim the slam in your post, this is totally unacceptable behavior! For instance, using myself as the writer and victim, "phoenixrising, you big dummy! Did you get too little sleep last night? 4)ASK FOR CLARIFICATION OF A SUBJECT BEFORE YOU CREATE A BOARD WAR!!!!!! If you think that poster "A" is an ass and a bigot about something, then in your post say something akin to, "Excuse me, "A", I'm not too clear on what you just wrote. Can you elaborate please?" We've all seen way too many wasted posts and public apologies for people putting out in public a theory that didn't even exist in the original post! I personally was slammed about a perceived take on one of my posts and when I pm'd the slammer, she apologized and said she had had a "bad" day and needed to sleep. Unfortunately, for the length of the thread, her angry and hurtful accusations remained the second post to a thread that went on for 3 pages! When responding to something that has potential to be misinterpreted, don't do MORE damage than the initial poster by saying," Are you saying "A", that all BtVS fans are nuts and need to be shot at dusk?" This destroys the focus of a thread and introduces a personal element that doesn't belong here. If it appears that the post is intentionally inflammatory, either notify a mod immediately or take it off of the board and question the person directly via e-mail or pm.

5) We are M-O-D-S, not G-O-D-S! If you see us showing undo favoritism to a poster and editing or deleting another's post with identical or similar subject matter, CALL US ON IT!!! THERE WILL BE NO POWER TRIPPING OR BRAGGING EVEN IN JEST about "being" a mod! Many of us on this site have felt and seen the "sting" of being deleted or edited, with other posters appearing to receive carte blanche treatment. This isn't fair and it causes further hurt feelings amongst posters. The James Marsters community is fractured enough by the dissolution of so many boards.

6) No X-Rated Fanfic or links will be allowed on this board...period! We have fun posting and telling stories but these should be about us and not the actors of BtVS. We do not want to take liberty or blatant infringements on BtVS and want to respect everyone, the actors, the creator-Joss,and the writers that "flesh-out" the characters. The are a million websites on the Internet so if you have an intense need to see, read or watch X-Rated material, do so on your own time. If you need to share this information, with in a short time of posting, you will know who shares your interests, so notify the appropriate posters via email or pm.

7) Remember to have FUN! Eventually, this show will be cancelled like Star Trek: TNG and the soon to leave X-Files and all of these posts and angst will be so much "water under the bridge". Make this space a pleasant space to be, to take you away from everyday life or to add to it.

Thanks to all the members of the RED COUCH for helping to create these guidelines.

RHFC, Medusa, phoenixrising, ginny and Sockpuppeteer =-}