Rules and Regulations (READ)

[Revolutions Administration]

As a member of Hogwarts Revolutions...


1) You are expected to respect others and receive respect in return. Everyone here is here to talk about, and roleplay in, the world that JKR has created. No one here should have to feel threatened or belittled. Such actions against another will no be tolerated.

This means to you:

• Do not verbally assault another member via PM or OOC in roleplay. If you have a problem with someone, as no one ever likes everyone else, please bring whatever it is to the attention in a calm, friendly, and orderly fashion. If, however, the person is rude to you in return, or responds to you in a matter that offends you, please notify a member of the administration and measures will be taken from there.
  
  
• Do not blame the actions of a character on his/her writer. Characters are strictly that-- characters. Most of the time they can be the complete opposite of their writer's personality. If a character taunts you, or doesn't get along with you, that does not necessarily mean that the writer feels that way as well. It's all for fun, guys. Just like people, not all characters will get along. But that doesn't mean the creators of them cannot!
  
  
• Do. Not. Role. Play. Another. Member's. Actions. We are very serious about this one. You do not know how someone will respond to what you post and it should be up to them as to how they respond. They are in control of who they play, not you. Please respect this and refrain from posting someone else's character speaking or acting without their permission. This includes killing and severly hurting. Any infractions to this will be deleted and/or result in consequences to the offender depending on the severity of the instance.

2) You are expected to keep your posts on the boards friendly to all ages. Hogwarts Revolutions accepts members of all ages, and thus, some of them might be young. We ask that you refrain from posting any vulgar material or anything that you would not expect to find in a PG13 movie/a T (for Teen) rated Video Game.

A PG13 rating is a stern warning to parents that suggests that material may not be suitable for children under the age of 13. It goes beyond a PG warning in themes of violence, nudity, sensuality, language, and adult activities and other elements, but does not reach the restricted R catagory. Themes of legal drug use and brief nudity are allowed, however, neither one are sexually oriented. Deplictions of violence are allowed, but are generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent.

Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

Unacceptable conduct includes:

• Any sexual conduct beyond kissing/snogging/making out is simply NOT acceptable. Sorry folks. No preludes, nadda. If you are interested in that sort of thing, there are plenty of R rated sites out there or you can take it to PM. Not on the boards. Suggestive mentions is as far as you can go there, but you can't mention it outright.
  
  
• Cursing is still to be kept at a bare minimum, and only with those words used in the Harry Potter series. IE: "Damn" and "Shit" are about as far as you're allowed to go, with a rare "Bitch/Bastard" if you feel it is particularly necessary. No sexually related curse words, folks, so NO "F' bombs or the harsher words at all.
  
  
• Gorey Violence is NOT acceptable. Think Book 7 and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies or the Lord of the Rings movies. No gore or gushing blood; no Resident Evil type of descriptions.
  

[Revolutions Administration]

Character Creation

1) The Wizarding World is noted for not being too open-minded about accepting those of non wizarding origins or human heritages. Albus Dumbledore was one of the few known wizards in history to have gone against this mindset. And he was deeply frowned upon by a good majority of the rest of the wizarding world for such. Therefore, all non-human students and adult characters will not be accepted.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Any and all species not mentioned in the Harry Potter books.
  
• Veelas * and Half-Veelas*
  
• Merfolk and Half-Merfolk
  
• Giants and Half-Giants*
  
• Trolls and Half-Trolls
  
• Vampires* and Half Vampires
  
• Werewolves*
  
• Centaurs

*Indicates that some adult character might be considered if there is a liable and decent plot reason involved. Such characters need to be approved by the administrators before putting forth an application.


2) We encourage characters to have weaknesses so that you do not border on Power Playing/God-Moding. Everyone has faults, whether they like them or not. It's what makes us human.


3) To make sure that everyone has a chance at the many positions and characters offered, Hogwarts Revolutions has a maximum of three characters allowed per writer. This rule is to allow members to have a chance at different positions and occupations that may not be available to them due to a writer with five characters holding it, who may not be active with the character holding the position.

[Revolutions Administration]

Grammar & Punctuation

Grammar and punctuation are very key to any form of writing-style role playing. While it is understood that not everyone comes from a background with English as their first language, we still appreciate that the rules of its writing are followed to keep your writing literate to other members. This includes the proper use of commas (,), periods (.), brackets ([]), Semi-Collins (, etc.

If you need further assistance on the written English language, we recommend: Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling

Proper spelling is also recommended. There is a spell-checker conveniently offered by Proboards for you to check the spelling of your posts. All you have to do is click a button to review your writing for errors before posting. Take advantage of this.


The Five Line Rule...

Here at Hogwarts Revolutions, the community is very much a writing one. Therefore, we expect you to write. There is no word count or limit set on your IC posts as we know that everyone writes differently and at different stages. However, one-liners are not accepted, we ask for at least a good hearty 5 lines for each in-character post. No other requirements are put forth, but it is encouraged to write more. But remember, quality over quantity. You don't need to write a book, but do put effort into your writing. There are rare, if few cases, where less than five lines can be considered a quality piece of writing.

[Revolutions Administration]

Message Board Posting

Avatars[/u]

Your avatar should be a representation of your character and at a max of 100x100 pixels. Keep it clean. No vulgarity. The person, or drawing, should be close in age (no first year Sandra Bullock, if you will). Animated Avatars are not allowed; they slow down the site.

Formatting

Hogwarts Revolutions has a large variety of skins (themes) available to its members; all with different color schemes. Therefore, DO NOT FORMAT text with IC posts at all (applications count as IC posts). Some of the colors, while they look great on the skin you are currently using, can be glaring and harsh on another and that person will have a difficult time reading it. This includes color, alignment, font and text size.

AFTER you have been accepted, you may ADD to biographies as long as you do not alter accepted information. HR encourages creativity with expressing your character in their bios. Once accepted, you may format text to your desire. Just remember that due to our skins, what you do may not be seen.

All IC posts should be presented in paragraph form with a space between each paragraph (as done between this paragraph and the one above it), and speech quoted between " and ".

Joining Threads

When you join a thread, make sure to read the entire thing. If you don't, you might miss important details. Check the status of the thread. Is it open? Is it closed? Semi-closed? Does it not say and is therefore fair game? How far along is the thread, and can you find a reasonable and realistic opening into it?

Post Count

It's not how many posts you have, it's what is in your posts that counts. Put effort into what you're writing; make people want to read it. There is always something to describe; whether it is your character's emotions and mood that day, or the surrounding countryside. Use adjectives and adverbs. This is a writing role play. Show off your talent and skills to the best of your ability!

Signatures

Please keep your signatures to text and links only. NO images are to be in the signature whatsoever. Our message boards are quite extensive. Images in signatures can slow it down.

Tense

Please keep all writing to the third person, past tense. It is easiest for most people to read, understand, and respond to. Example: Susan sprinted up the castle steps, barged through the doors, and rammed right into the Headmaster.

[Revolutions Administration]

Disciplinary System

The whole of Hogwarts Revolutions revolves around its Rules and Regulations. Some member groups (Ministry, Deva, etc.) may have additional rules, but these are the the regulations that stand as the foundations of this site. They are expected to be obeyed and if an occasion arises where they are not, consequences will occur. Here at Hogwarts Revolutions, we follow a four-strike system, believing that everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.

Therefore, this is the basic protocol and procedures taken when a rule or regulation is broken:

Strike One: Warning will be PM'd to offending member(s) asking to edit ALL offensive posts; involved thread will be added to administration watch list for further offenses. Strike Two: 2 week ban, deletion of involved thread, plus an email to the involved member(s) as to why their account was banned, plus the duration of the ban. Strike Three: One month ban, deletion of involved thread, plus email to the involved member(s) as to why their account was banned, plus the duration of the ban. Strike Four: Permanent ban of the member(s) involved, deletion of involved thread, email informing them they are permanently banned from the site and that none of their characters will be knowingly accepted.

However, any of these steps can and will be skipped depending on the severity of the situation. For example, plagiarism is not tolerated by this administration or Proboards and will result in an immediate Strike Four. By no means does this mean that you can break our rules once or twice and get away with it. everything depends on the severity of the breech in the rules.

[Revolutions Administration]

Extended Leaves of Absences (LoAs)

If by some chance you find that you will not be able to post on the site for a period longer that one month, Hogwarts Revolutions offers an Leave of Absence (common acronym is "LoA") System. In this way, your character will not be effected by the member pruning that occur each month to weed out inactive characters and accounts. An account can stay on LoA status for a maximum period of six months. After six months, if the account is not reactivated, it will be formered and be subjected to our next Account Pruning.

To be placed on "LoA" contact the Main Admin or a Global Moderator and they will change your account to reflect the "LoA" status. When you return, contact the Main Admin or a Global Moderator again and they will reinstate you to your previous position.