Ten Commandments

[Hogwarts Staff]

After a bit of discussion we came up with a basic ten rules.

1. Thou shall read the rules of the site, and follow them.
2. Thou shall not steal another person’s idea.
3. Thou shall keep their threads updated and watch their writing.
4. Thou shall not use someone else’s name.
5. Thou shall maintain their character and keep them at a realistic level.
6. Thou shall remember they live in England.
7. Thou shall not cause harm unto others without permission.
8. Thou shall ask the admin before wielding special powers.
9. Thou shall not have unrealistic traits or inappropriate pets.
10. Thou shall enjoy the site and be courteous to others.


The Special Powers wielded by an individual include those:

1. who possess the ability of lycanthropy, or is part vampire, veela, or other magical creature;
2. who can shape-shift, or is an animagus or metamorphagus;
3. who use special magic, like dark or wandless;
4. who can use telepathy and telekinesis;
5. who are parselmouths and possess other animal-speaking abilities.


Will you follow these commandments? Leave comments, questions and suggestions!

[Elizabeth Connolly]

So, Commandments update.

Stick to your house. This means that your character acts the way that house is supposed to.
Do not post over open threads. There are plenty of boards so please don't post over other threads. The only exception to this rule would be places like the Great Hall and other boards that have sub-boards.
Use proper thread etiquette.

Be active, yes another. The board has several contests and competitions. Participate in the polls, writer contests, caption contests and creativity competitions. Do them even if you think your response is stupid. They aren't any fun or much fair if the same two people are entering every week. Most of the competitions are judged by outside sources so that it is more fair. Go to classes and participate there as well.

Do not make extra characters if you aren't active in the ones you have. There are some exceptions to this rule and those incidences are ignored. The problem arises when members make new characters and stop posting in old threads and all that. If you get tired of your character you can't just keep making new ones that you get tired of as well, you have to use them all.

Ask before making a canon, and especially so if you're making someone related to a canon. Even more so if that canon is actually being played by someone on the site. The might not want someone related to their character
This list will be added to as needed.

[Elizabeth Connolly]

Due to various issues that have arisen in the site, it has become time once again for the Dumbledore messages that we hate having to send out because we try to avoid making big crack downs on things. As annoying as these can be to read, please take the time to read ALL of the message because it is all important and we don't want to get messages from someone upset with us because they broke a rule and their post or graphics got deleted or anything like that. This isn't directed at one person or another, just issues that need dealt with.

Another important reason for this message is because finals are coming up for the staff and that means that we can't spend all hours of the day checking everything and updating important threads. We can't spend all our time messaging people with many open threads to make sure they update those threads and we can't keep harrassing people to give us info for their character.

So, listed below in alphabetical order are the main issues we've been facing.

Character Models/Graphics

• Don't pick a model for your character if they don't fit, if we see this happening, any graphics for that character will be removed from your profile. Don't pick a Caucasian for a Hispanic character, no scene/emo for a Japanese character. Don't pick a forty year old to play a 16 year old. If your character is dark haired with bright blue eyes don't pick a light brown haired brown eyed model. Don't use someone really buff for a scrawny character, stay within the physical attribute of your character when choosing a model. We're always willing to help if you're stuck.
  
• Graphics Sizes. We don't enjoy having to resize graphics so they fit right on the screens. Don't use icons that aren't meant to be square, especially when you don't bother to change the size so that the picture isn't distorted. Making it a 100x100 icon isn't hard, and we do have a graphic request board for this reason. Banners/Signature is where the most trouble comes from. For the sake of simplicity we don't have a required size for banners, but we have on occasion had issues with oversized images. We would prefer that banners be kept to no more than 350 pixels high by 600 pixels wide, that is the maximum and even that is larger than most everyone's images. The staff all uses a 250 high by 500 wide set up and in our opinion, it looks the most appealing and doesn't stretch any screens.
  

Participation

• Just participate. Keep your threads active, your character profiles up to date (their age, relationship status etc.) Participate in polls, competitions and the like. If you can't be on for a while just let us know, we understand stuff comes up.
  

Threads

• Biggest issue with threads is this. Update All Your Threads.
  
• Post threads in places appropriate to the character you are posting with.
  
• If we find threads that don't follow rule and/or don't make sense we will be deleting them, likewise if a new thread is made by a member who hasn't been responding in their other threads. If your thread is deleted and you don't know why, message us and we will tell you.
  

Various Other

• Please don't make characters that have no use/point. Don't just make them for the sake of having them, we want them to have a purpose.
  
• As a reminder, if you don't get on for some amount of time and you have multiple characters, we will begin deleting those extra characters, beginning with canons as it is important that they are played by active members.
  
• Check the important threads and participate!
  
• IMPORTANT: Make sure that the email account that is attached to your profile works. We do make use of the mass email feature and we need to be able to get a hold of you should you become inactive. All emails pertaining to the site will either be from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry or that will be the subject of the email so please check them if you get one.
  

This will be posted in Announcements and in the Getting Started area. We will also be sending it out via the Email All feature so be expecting it that way as well. All questions, comments and concerns can be directed to the staff, please do not send them to this account as it is likely we won't get it for a period of time.

[Elizabeth Connolly]

All the emo/scene/"Japanese" characters won't be accepted. Especially not when they have nothing in their app that matches up with the picture of the character and the app makes no sense. You want to join the site, have a logical character and logical model. There are over 100 individual characters on the site, all of them have models that match the character for the most part and apps that make sense as well. We've tried to allow the above characters before and it NEVER works out no matter what anyone says. It ends up being more trouble for everyone than it is worth and we just don't want all of that. There is no reason to have scene/emo/etc... models, end of story. Please don't make these characters because we will delete them.

-The Administration