By visiting this site, you also agree to our legal terms of use.
Overview
- Your being here is contingent upon your interacting in a friendly manner with the community. We reserve the right to refuse service to this site to any one, for any reason, at any time
- Comments should be diplomatic. Please attempt to make negative comments constructive and gentle
- Contests are the responsibility and choice of the author they are created by, and we do not regulate whether rules are followed, if they are judged as promised, or how many entries are allowed. Contests cannot require entrants to comment on any specific person's journal. No contests just to hand out trophies.
- If you are sensitive to swear words, please turn on the profanity filter in your display settings
- Marketing is limited due to spam. A max of one link per poem is allowed to purchase a book related to it. Links on poems and author pages can include prices but should be limited to 300 letters or 3" of screen height each. Other limitations may be added by supervisor request.
- The administration reserves the right to access all areas of the site. This means the moderator supervisor(s) and kevin could read your messages if necessary for resolving complaints. Such reading is logged and reviewed for appropriateness
- Fraud is abuse of a feature of the site to your advantage. I.e. attempting to get around a ban by creating a new account, or making fake accounts to applaud yourself.
- Protests must be kept to the policy forum, and are not allowed in journals or columns
- Moderators will not seek out problems, instead waiting for users to contact us via 'notify a moderator'
- If you are unhappy with an experience with a moderator, please contact our complaint agent, .
- If you have what appears to be an irresolvable problem with another author, please put that author on your ignore list. If the problem still somehow persists, please contact one of the moderators. If the problem persists one or both members involved may be banned
- These rules apply to all content posted on our sites - journals, columns, journals (regardless of privacy settings), comments, etc.
You Cannot
Post works that are not your own
- Plagiarize works, claiming them as your own. This carries a harsher ban schedule, see below.
- Post works that are not your own, even when you credit them. On profile pages, this is only enforced by copyright owner complaint.
- Public-domain foreign-language works that you have translated are considered your own. Credit should be given to the author at the top of the journal.
Harass/Spam
- Post works that reference other members in a derogatory manner, as determined by the moderators
- Harass, stalk, or verbally abuse another user. Harassing a user who clicked on your featured bid but did not comment is not allowed.
- Beg for money, memberships or other things. This includes trading points for memberships, advertising for other websites, and gambling.
- Spam ims (for soliciting reads, etc), comments (including 'fleshing out' for extra points), applause (applauding alternate identities or (excessively) friends), or board or chat posts clamoring for reads.
- Send out "email forward" type messages via group notes. Post them to the group board and send out a link instead.
- Troll, or consistently attempt to cause community unrest
- Repeatedly ignore moderator requests
Act inappropriately in some areas
- Use the site for cybersex, regardless of age, as we could get in trouble. Cybersex involving a minor carries a harsher ban schedule, see below.
- Use non-G rated language in usernames or author pages
- Post images that are pornographic, excessively violent, or otherwise disturbing, as determined by the moderators. Nudity is only allowed on pages that can be added to the adult category. View the image guide
- Post Stories and comments with sexual themes without including them in an adult, erotic, or adult humor category
- Disguise words to get around the profanity filter
- Promote illegal, racist, or overly disgusting activities. This includes rape, torture, pedophilia, death notices, incest, self-mutilation, cutting, suicide, and suicide notes. Posts about coping with these things are allowed.
- Engage in sexually explicit talk or commenting with children under the age of eighteen, including sexuality, desirability, or physical attributes. Or with anyone in public comments
- Lie about your age if you are a minor, as otherwise adults could get in trouble for age-inappropriate comments.
- Solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 18.
Warning / Ban Process
- When a member breaks the rules, they will first receive a warning, then a 3 day ban, 1 week ban, 1 month ban, 3 month ban, and lifetime ban.
- This is reset after 3-6 months of good behavior (depending on the severity of the incident)
- Two rules carry stronger penalties - plagiarism, and cybersex involving a minor. These will first receive a warning, then a 1 week ban, then a lifetime ban. Sometimes this can be even faster, if Kevin makes a special case.
