Group Admin

SweetAI Belle #1 · Sep 17th, 2017 · 43 · ·

It's been more than a year since the last rules update, so I thought it was a good time to go through doing a bunch of rewriting!

Don't worry, it's not really that different from the old rules. They're probably clearer, tho'. I think I was trying to cram too much under certain rules before, and the examples were probably unnecessary, too. Rule 4, which is new but was kinda implied before, also has a buncha useful links.

You can find the old rules here, if you want to look back at them. And mention it if you spot something strange in this version, and I'll take a look.

The Writer’s Group Rules:

0) Don’t forget your common sense!

There are a lot of things that are common sense, and most of them you could probably catch if you take a moment to think about what you are posting. There is a lot of overlap with the other rules as well, but not everything will be in there.

I’d consider it common sense not to get into fights in the forums or attack other members. You can disagree with others, but you shouldn’t let it get personal. You should also try not to deliberately annoy others, post “me too” type posts, or memes and reaction images.

If you reply to threads no one has posted to in a long time without a good reason or it being one that we direct people to post in, it's going to be looked at closely, and breaking the rules because everyone else is doing it is usually a bad idea, too.

Just think before you post, don’t post when you are angry, and you’ll probably be fine.

1) Keep things on topic.

This group is dedicated to reading, writing, and ponies, so those topics are really what new threads should be about. We’ll also let you talk a bit about the site itself, since this tends to be a bit of the default place for talking on the site.

Games are also allowed, but we’d like them labeled as such with [Game], and we’d prefer not to be overwhelmed with game threads.

Within threads, try to stick to the topic at hand. Things will drift sometimes, and we understand that, but if it gets disruptive or is irritating people, we may step in.

2) Don’t self promote.

This isn't a place for promoting yourself or your stories, so don't post self-promotion here. There are groups for that.

This doesn't mean you can't post anything about your stories, but it should be relevant to the discussion. Even if you are trying to be subtle, if we think it's a promotion, you may be asked to remove it.

If there’s a thread going on about stories involving cuddly bat pony hugs, and you wrote one, you’re probably okay mentioning your story, though.

For purposes of this rule, to be considered a promotion, there has to be something you can point at that’s being promoted. Someone might be acting like Gilderoy Lockheart, but until they actually bring their story up, it’s not a promotion.

3) No spoilers.

Maybe you like spoilers, and want to share them with the world, or at least don’t mind them.

Well, that is good, but not everyone does want to find out these things ahead of time. Some people like to have surprises when they are watching. So if it’s still less than a week after an episode airs, here’s what you do:

First, no spoilers in the thread title. You can't escape 'em if they are right there staring at you!

Second, put spoiler tags around 'em, so they aren't in plain sight. Anything in the first dozen lines of the first post shows up in the feed, where anybody browsing by will see it.

And if it's within a week after a new episode, post in the official thread, rather than making a bunch of new ones.

Remember, we might delete threads with spoilers out in the open!

4) Post in the proper places.

There are some times where we want you to post in certain places, and I’m going to try and list them here.

As mentioned above, there will be an official episode discussion thread every time an episode airs, and we’d like everyone to stick to that thread when discussing it within a week of the official air date. The threads will vary, but they’ll be linked here.

Rather than posting a new thread along the lines of “Has X been done before?” or “Is X a good idea?”, add it to the official thread.

If you are looking for a story, there’s a thread for that, too.

If you want to recommend someone else's story, or look through what others recommend, there this thread here.

Want to introduce yourself to the group? The thread’s here!

If you want to talk about things that are off-topic for the group or just casually chat, you can post over in the official free for all chat thread.

Of course, if you want to do promotion, the place we’d like you to post is a different group, the Shameless Self-Promotion Bureau.

The same, of course, goes for editing and proofreading, with groups like Looking For Editors, Overly Extensive Editors, Editors-R-Us, and The Proofreader Group.

That leads right into our next rule, actually...

5) Don’t ask people to do your work for you.

This group isn't for advertising services or asking for them, so please don't post asking for an editor or prereader or such here. If you can see someone needs help, you can offer, but that should be a side thing, not the main point of the thread.

If you are having trouble writing something, you can post a thread asking how to deal with your issue, and you can provide specific examples from your story as needed, though we’d prefer you not quote your entire fic.

If you can generalise your issue, and post about it in such a way that the discussion benefits everyone, it’d be preferred, though, and soliciting editors, proofreaders, voice actors, etc, is not allowed.

6) We don’t like spam.

This largely falls under common sense, being on topic, or self promotion, but if we see your post as spam, we will lock it or delete it.

Generally speaking, the biggest factor with spam is that it’s annoying. This could be the same thread being posted multiple times in the same group or across multiple groups, posting things that are off topic or promotions, derailing threads and posting memes and “Me too!” posts…

Sometimes even posting normal threads can fall under spam, if you’ve been posting too many threads in too short of a time.

7) Don’t break site rules.

This is kinda common sense, but not all the site rules necessarily are, so let’s cover a few that might trip you up.

One big one is that posting a link to a mature-rated story isn’t actually allowed in groups that aren’t NSFW, and this one isn’t. You can talk about the story, and you can embed it instead of linking, because the embed doesn’t show up for anyone with Mature off.

You probably already figured this out, but no posting NSFW pictures, or linking to anything off-site that’s nsfw either.

You can’t post full episodes or movies, or anything under copyright that isn’t being shared by the copyright holder, either. It’d be nice to have a link to the episode in the episode thread, but it isn’t allowed, and this is enforced by the site admins.

You can’t actually share unpublished stories other than for purposes of editing or prereading.

Oh, and you can’t sign your posts more than just one line with your name, or at least your username. (and not someone else’s.)

General Notes on Enforcement:
You might sometimes see some of these rules not enforced from time to time. This is normal. The admins can slip up, or not notice rulebreaking occasionally. Then, too, if rulebreaking is minor in a thread, a lot of time we'll judge whether to jump in about it by the reactions of others and if a good conversation is going. Adminning is actually supposed to be for the benefit of the whole group, and we try to keep this in mind when writing the rules and enforcing them.

That said, if you see rulebreaking, you can always report it to one of the active group admins. Just try to make sure they are active on fimfiction. And if you have questions about any of these rules, reply to this thread with them!

--Sweetie Belle

Honey Lavender

Honey Lavender #2 · Sep 17th, 2017 · 5 · ·

The Writer’s Group Rules:

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