FORUM RULES: Everyone needs to read the rules!!

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

Welcome to the home of The Fluffy Bunnies!   

                        <-- There are 12 of us!

We're glad to see you here. 

Before we wade into the rules, we would like to start by pointing out that this is not just a forum.  This board is the internet home of The Fluffy Bunnies, which means that fluffiness rules at all times, and that we get to be more autocratic than if we were running an open board.  We are ecstatic that you have joined the forum , and we will always do our best to make sure that this is a pleasant, FUN place to visit.  All we ask is that you remember that your are a visitor in our house. 

Please take the time to read through the following rules, and make sure that you understand them.  We have tried to make them easy to understand and digest.  These are the rules that you agreed to read and follow when you accepted the registration agreement. 

We have listed the rules in this first portion of the thread so you can skim over them quickly.  Longer explanations are contained in the replies.  We strongly encourage you to wade through the longer explanations so there is no misconception about what we are asking from each member.  We have done our best not to bore you to death with the explanations.

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1.  Play nice!  Also known as:  Demonstrate respect for others. 
     
2.  Enjoy yourself.

3.  The Fluffy Bunnies own and operate the forum.

4.  This is not an open board for posting fanfic. 

5.  Do not 'hijack' threads.  Stay on topic.

6.  SPAM is prohibited. 

7.  Unauthorized hotlinking (either incoming or outgoing) is not allowed.

8. The 'management' reserves the right to remove any material at all from the forum without prior notice.

9. The legalese.  Everything else you agreed to in the registration agreement.

10.  Management reserves the right to add new rules.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

It is a simple concept, and a relatively simple rule.  Be polite; exercise your manners. 

This does not mean you don't get to disagree with the Bunnies or any other member of the forum.  All it means is that everyone should be given the room to have their own opinion and voice it without getting attacked on a personal level or called names.  Please remember to debate the TOPIC, not the person. 

This extends to commenting on our stories.  We absolutely adore comments and questions.  Critiques are more difficult to nail down.  There are twelve writers residing at this forum; each of us receives criticism -- even constructive criticism -- in a different way.  If you have some constructive criticism to offer, approach the writer privately, via PM, first.  Ask if they are open to these types of comments, and if so, how and where they would like to receive them.   

That's pretty much all there is to this rule.  Play nice.  If you can't play nice, please go somewhere else. 


Before we move on, we would like to make one additional point that has to do with respect:

Please do not post our stories at other websites, such as fanfic archives, without asking the author's permission first.  The answer is almost undoubtedly going to be yes, but please do us the courtesy of checking first.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

The whole purpose of this forum is to provide a place for people to read our stories, comment, make observatons, ask questions, chat, badger any of us with a work in progress about when we intend to post something new, and to generally have a good time. 

So, within the limitations of Rule 1, ENJOY yourself while you are here.       

Keep one thing in mind, however.  If your idea of fun is provoking people (as opposed to provoking thought or conversation), we have little or no patience with that sort of thing.  If you feel an overwhelming desire to derive some fun by poking someone with a sharp stick, we encourage you to do it some place else.   

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

All right ... we admit it.  This sounds like the stupidest rule ever to pass through this end of the universe.  There is probably at least one person out who is scratching their head, wondering how this can even be classified as a "rule".

Here is our point.  This is NOT an open forum like Terra Firma, which is controlled as much by the community as it is by the Moderators.  This site is paid for, owned, and operated by The Fluffy Bunnies, which means that while we are ecstatic to have visitors stopping in to read our stories, comment, talk us about writing fiction, and share our enthusiasm for John/Aeryn shippiness, this is also our playground.  That, in turn, means that we get to be more autocratic than what you might run into at Terra Firma.     

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

The rule pretty much says it all.  In addition to functioning as a forum where both writers and readers can discuss all things shippy, this board serves as a personal archive for each of the writers in the group. 

If you have a Farscape fanfic that you would like to share with other Farscape fans, we whole-heartedly encourage you to post it at Terra Firma.  Aside from anything else, Terra Firma gets a LOT more traffic than this board.  It is a much better place to post your stories.

The one exception to this rule would be if someone has already approached one of the Bunnies about becoming a betareader and needs some place to post and critique the story.  In that instance, prior approval would need to be obtained before the new writer posts their fic, and we will arrange a separate board for that function. 

IF YOU CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS RULE, do yourself a favor and make sure your story is saved to your harddrive, because if we find an unauthorized story posted here, it will be deleted without warning.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

We would like to start by saying that we don't really believe this rule is ever going to be necessary at this forum.  The forum seldom gets so busy that hijacking is an issue, and most people who are drawn to this board are not going to run afoul of the 'on-topic' portion of the rule.  We are including the rule because those of us involved in running Terra Firma have discovered that it is one of the most wide-ranging, useful rules we ever included out of pure ignorance.  We would not want to attempt to run a forum without it.  So ... here it is. 

Do not hijack.  If you want to head off on a new tangent (also known as a ricochet), start a new thread.

The "stay on-topic" portion of the rule goes one step further.  Please keep in mind that this is a forum run by a collection of devout John/Aeryn shippers.  The forum itself has a central topic, which is wallowing in all things J/A shippy.  That is not to say that we will not allow the other characters to creep into a conversation.  There's always room for anything involving Farscape.  If your obsession involves another pairing or character, however, do not indulge it here.   

Definition:  Hijacking means to take over by force.  In the case of an online discussion, it refers to knowingly veering off-topic and taking a thread in a direction other than what the originator intended or desired.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, sales of merchandise, e-mail harvesting and solicitations are not allowed on this forum.  We will utilize the full capacity of the software to prevent as many of these annoyances as possible.

Notifying the members of a sale that is occurring at some other site IS permitted.  (Example for clarity:  Someone is selling an item at another site.  A link to that site IS permitted.)

Another form of spamming is when an individual joins the forum and posts with the sole intention of promoting their own website or forum.  This is also not allowed, and depending on the severity of the self-promotion, the offender stands a chance of getting booted out of here (permanently banned) on the first offense.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

Definition of Hotlinking:  Hotlinking -- also known as leeching, piggy-backing, direct linking, offsite image grabs and bandwidth theft -- is the use of a linked object, often an image, from one site into a web page belonging to a second site.

Example:  If someone were to use to obtain the URL for a smiley stored at our website in order to get it to show up at some other website, that would be hotlinking, and it would be stealing our bandwidth. 

Unauthorized hotlinking is not allowed at this forum.  This applies to displaying images from another site at our forum, as well as stealing the images from this website.  Please pay attention to the word unauthorized.  You may see the Bunnies or other members using hotlinks on a regular basis.  In these instances, we either own the other sites, or have obtained permission from the other owners. 

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

That says it all.  While it sounds exceptionally severe, keep in mind that it is a catch-all provision.  It allows us to take down a reply or an entire topic without warning or explanation, if there is due cause.  Those of you who know us even a little bit, know that we would not do something like that without just cause.  We might whisk a thread out of sight if we are in a rush and can't make up our collective minds whether it's a problem, but we would never yank something arbitrarily and we will always give you an explanation once we have the time to put together a message.

[The Fluffy Bunnies]

When you accepted the terms of the registration agreement, you accepted that you would read and abide by the posted rules of the forum.  Here's the legal stuff.  It is just as binding as having fun and knowing what may or may not disappear from the boards, so you reeeeeally ought to take the time to read what's in here. 

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Note that it is impossible for the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts.  Please remember that we may not actively monitor the content of every single posted message, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum or this forum's owners.  Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify the owners of this forum immediately.  As the owners of this forum, we reserve the right to remove objectionable content, at any time, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however.  Please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum.

You have the ability to choose your displayed username.  Keep the name appropriate (i.e. no profanity).  With this user account, you agree to never give your password out to another person except an administrator, for your protection and for validity reasons.  You also agree to NEVER use another person's account for any reason.  We also HIGHLY recommend you use a complex and unique password for your account, to prevent account theft.

Once you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile.  It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information.  Any information the forum owners determine to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice.  Appropriate sanctions may be applicable.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded.  This is done in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted.

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[The Fluffy Bunnies]

We have not included a couple of rules that are commonly used at most larger, more active forums because we do not believe certain problems will occur here. 

The overall population of the internet seems to like to prove us wrong at times though; therefore, we reserve the right to add new rules, should they become necessary.  (We're hoping that it does not.)