THE RATING SYSTEM EXPLAINED!
		By Roland Lowery
	----------------------------

	Okay, by now I'm sure you've noticed that some of the ratings
under the stories on my page have now turned into links.  Where do this
links go, you ask?  Well, to an expanded explination of why I gave that
story that rating.
	It works thusly.  Each rating is split up into four categories.
Profanity, Violence, Sex/Nudity, and Drugs/Alcohol.  Each of these are
rated on a scale of 0 to 10, 10 being worst.  For example, here's a sample
list for the stages of Violence.

	0 - No violence.  Everything is happy cuddly.
	1 - Might be some violence, but it's hardly worth mentioning, and
it probably happens "off-screen" anyway.  Someone probably pinched someone
else or something.
	2 - Something scary happens.  Your little sibling might get mildly
scared, but you've seen worse on Sesame Street.
	3 - A few scrapes and bruises, maybe a hair pulling fight, but
still nothing major.
	4 - Fist fight!  Fist fight!
	5 - Ever read Goosebumps?  About as graphically violent as that.
	6 - There may be a gun fight or two, something like that.
	7 - Eek!  Someone just got hurt!  A broken arm, I think.  And they
got shot in the foot, too.  Bummer.
	8 - Oof.  More than one person got hurt this time.  Think of a
brawl with knives and stuff.
	9 - Guns blazing, shrapnel flying, stuff blowing up . . . your
typical action/adventure flick.
	10 - An ultra-death anime on steroids.  People get killed, stuff
explodes for no reason, mass destruction, zombies roam Mobius and eat
peoples' brains . . . y'know, the regular.

	This is not a static list, of course.  For example, if there IS a
gun fight (and there will be where SWATbots are involved, I'm sure) but
it's not too bad, I'll probably still give it a 2 or 3 or something.
Maybe even a 1 if it's the only such scene in the entire story.  0 is the
ONLY rating that has a definite meaning attached to it, as in there is NO
Profanity, Violence, or what not in the story whatsoever.

	Now, below each rating there will be a small kinda bar graph made
out of I's.  Yah, I'm cheap and don't want to take the time to get actual
bar graphs, okay?  ;]  Anyway, each I is one point on the rating scale.
This is just to help people who don't want to bother with look at the
numbers . . . just get a quick glance to get the idea and move on to the
story.

	Below THAT is the description of Profanity, Violence, or whatnot.
For example, if Sonic says "damn", kicks a SWATbot's head off, takes off
his shoes, and then takes an asprin, I would put a 1 on each rating
category, then under the bar graph write stuff like "Sonic says a mild
curse word", "A SWATbot loses its head", "Sonic removes his shoes", and
"Over the counter drugs are taken in a perscribed manner".

	Finally, underneath the entire thing will once again be the
overall rating, whatever it was.  Overall ratings are as follows.
	G - General Audiences.  Anyone who can read can read these.
	PG - Parental Guidance.  Might have a little bad stuff in it, but
nothing you wouldn't see on free network TV.
	PG-13 - Parental Guidance, suitable for persons over the age of
13.  If yer under 13, you can probably read it, but it ain't really 
reccomended for you kiddies.
	R - Restricted.  Yup, this is the one with profuse profanity,
explicit sex/nudity, graphic violence, open use of drugs/alcohol and/or
any other really nasty stuff.  Generally restricted to those over the age
of 18.
	X - Hah!  As if.  This is the REALLY disgusting stuff . . . rated
R on steroids.  If'n you think that I'm going to posting ANY of THIS stuff
on my webpage, you're out of your gourd.

	So, a basic rating will look like this:

----------------------------------
			Some Story

   Profanity:  (2)
   II
   Mild cursing by Robotnik.

   Violence:  (5)
   IIIII
   Sonic destroys a squad of SWATbots, Bunnie's roboticized arm is
destroyed and has to be replaced, Robotnik tosses Snively around.

   Sex/Nudity:  (0)
   0
   None.

   Drugs/Alcohol:  (3)
   III
   Nack smokes two cigarrettes, Sally takes some headache medicine.

   Overall Rating:  PG
----------------------------------

	Please remember that these ratings are my own opinion and do not
relect the opinion of the authors of the stories.  If you ARE an author of
one of the stories on my page and you disagree with the rating I gave your
story (or stories), then e-mail me at the address below so we can talk it
over.

	Thank you for your time and patience.

		Roland Lowery
			

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