o1. the regulation

REGULATIONS

o1. Respect, folks. The number one rule of the site, really. So long as you abide by it, your time here on the site should go smoothly. Respect the staff by not arguing with them or blatantly ripping the rules to shreds, respect your fellow members by being friendly and including, respect guests by welcoming them and answering questions as best you can, and respect yourself in any way you can. Accomplish this, and the rest of these'll be a cinch.

o2. Keep fighting off-site if you can. Realistically, you're not going to get along one hundred percent with everyone you meet, and there may be arguments between you and another member. In the instance that this happens, either bring it to the attention of the staff so they may help mediate, take it someone private, anything, really, so long as you do not flood the chat and boards with hateful messages. Be mindful of your neutral-stanced peers.

o3. Please log in as frequently as you can, whether that be daily, weekly, monthly... If you have any intention of staying with us, even if you are too busy to post for a few days or whatever, you logging in to let us know that you still want to stick around is great. Even if you're on the fence about staying or leaving, do please continue to log in until you decide for sure that you're leaving.

o4. Let us know if you're leaving. Rather than just... phasing out of existence, a notice that you will be leaving permanently, momentarily, or just aren't sure if your fleeting muse can take it is great. Inspiration comes and goes faster than a speeding car – we know. If you don't want to RP here anymore, we'd be more offended if you don't let us know right out than if you do.

o5. Keep everything PG-13, in and out of character. I'm no stranger to most swear words in the book, as I'm assuming none of you are, but just because you know them doesn't mean you need to flaunt them; as such, keep swearing to a minimal, if you can. No excessive blood, gore, or explicit content in your threads, either. A cut or a gash is fine, but no extensive torture. In addition, if your characters are planning to get down and dirty, for the sake of the children, please fade to black. I don't want to see that as much as the next person – the likes of which will have our forum reported.

o1. One account per character, and no out of character accounts save for accepted staff or unless we give you the say-so. If you can, for uniformity and ease's sake, register with your character's first name in all lowercase so people who want to tag you have it easier. Afterward, please change your display name to your character's first and last names, written as “Firstname Lastname” and fill out the custom profile fields as best you can.

o2. There is no word count here on B&B, so feel free to post as much or as little as you so choose. While we, the staff, do shudder at the terror known as a one-liner, we also understand that the muses are tricky little things, and sometimes cranking out a post that surpasses a certain word limit is more trouble than it's worth. Please make good use of your freedom.

o3. Burn the Mary Sues and Gary Stus. Until we have a site event specifically geared toward the creation and roleplay of these sort of characters, you're not going to let one get by on the site. In addition, if your character is lacking in flaws – or is flawed in terms of the application – the staff reserves the right to deny it on any terms they so choose. Don't get in a huff if your Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way incarnate doesn't get accepted right away. Trope-y characters, also, are to be be generally avoided. It's fine if you take inspiration from certain character troupes, but copying it to a "t" gets a little repetitive; breathe some creative life into your characters, and everyone will be that much happier in the end.

o4. God-moding, powerplaying, and metagaming are not tolerated. While I doubt there will be many fights in a setting as peaceful as this, in such a free-form environment, who knows? Should there come a time for battles and fist fights, make sure that you're not making your character absolutely unbeatable (godmodding). Even outside of battles, you should not take control of your roleplaying partner's character (powerplaying), or use information learned out of character that your character would not know in posts (metagaming).

o5. You're allowed two free characters, and from then on, you're required to have at least ten in character posts (plotting and such excluded) on each of your previous characters before making more. For example: you've made Bob and Barbara. Before you can make Bill, both Bob and Barbara must have ten posts. After you've made Bill, he must have ten in character posts to his name (at which point, Bob and Barbara should have ten posts, as well) before you can make Becky. This is to make sure you don't hoard face claims and names if you're not going to put those characters to good use – please be responsible with the characters you play.

o1. We run on animanga face claims, so any characters using a real life person as their face claim will be promptly denied. We would advise against CGI art – if you'd like to use a character who was originally in CGI and you can find 2D art, please use it – but if your heart is dead set on it, run it by the staff and we'll let you know if you're good or not.

o2. Signatures are allowed, so long as they do not exceed five hundred pixels in width and are of a reasonable height. Your character's square icon should be no more or less than one hundred by one hundred pixels. Similiarly, any images or templates you may use on the board should not be any more than five hundred pixels (five hundred and fifty max, I believe), or else you may stretch the board.

o3. Have fun and enjoy your stay at Boats & Birds!