There are no restrictions on who can join, but we do have a few rules.
Obey Neo's chat rules: This one should be a no brainer, of course.
Treat everyone with respect: Be kind and respectful to all your fellow guildmates. If you are having a problem with a fellow guild member, please do not fight it out with them over the guild board. If you cannot work out peaceably together, take your complaint to Patt or Kristy and they will try to deal with it in the best possible manner.
Harassment/Spam/Rudeness will not be tolerated: We want this guild to be a friendly and creative environment. If you do any of the above you will have your posts deleted and get a warning. We have a strike system, but extreme cases will result in immediate termination from the guild and being blocked from it.
Posting on the Boards: We would like to keep the guild board fairly slow so that everyone can keep up. Please say all you need to in as few posts as possible, quoting previous posts you want to respond to in the post. Please don't post one word posts like 'Hi' or such. Please, no chatspeak. Slang is fine; we don't expect you to speak perfect Shakespearian English, (though if you did, that would probably be awesome.) but please be mindful. Please, don't double post to correct grammar/spelling/apologize for a double post. Double posting is fine so long as the posts were meaningful.
Try to keep your conversations open to everyone. If you wind up on a topic that becomes very one-on-one, please be mindful and take it to Neomail so as not to monopolize the guild board and push down other people's posts.
Do not advertise your shop/trades/auctions on the board. Advertising your Beauty Contest/Caption Contest entries are fine so long as you only do it once, as is asking people to look at your gallery for opinions on it.
Be mindful of your fonts. Please make sure that your fonts are easy to read, and if not adjust for the boards.
The Strike System:
One Strike: The first strike will just be a warning of what you did wrong. If necessary, your post might be deleted. If you are well behaved and the first strike wasn't for a very severe rule breaking, you will be forgiven a month later, and if you get another strike, it will again be your first. However, this will only repeat itself twice. After that, you will not be forgiven any more strikes.
Two Strikes: When you get your second strike you will be warned, have the post where you broke the rule deleted, and be suspended from the guild for up to two weeks. You are free to return to the guild after that time, hopefully willing to change.
Three Strikes: We hope we never have to get this far with anyone, but if you get three strikes than you will be deleted from the guild and banned from returning.
While we have a strike system in place, and will use it where we deem it necessary, if we deem that whatever you have done is severe enough you can be immediately dismissed from the guild.
Guidelines for the Review System:
As helping out guildmates by doing reviews is a part of advancing in the guild, as well as a key part of it, there should be some guidelines for it.
1: Be kind. No matter what you think of the story, there is a fine line between giving constructive criticism and just being nasty. Be polite; think through how you phrase everything. Remember, you're trying to help them grow, and kindness goes a long way with that.
2: Give constructive criticism. 'Oh, I liked it.' or 'I didn't like it.' is not a helpful review. If you really saw nothing they could improve on, tell them so. If you did, point out specifically what you felt was wrong with it, or where.
3: Reception of criticism. If you ask for a review, then you are likely going to get criticism. If something was stylistic, then you can tell the reviewer that to help them understand your story, but in the cases where things might just need changing, take it graciously. Do not fight them on every issue they point out. Do not ask for a review if your only intention is to have your work praised. You'll likely get some positive comments, but you will have the negative pointed out.
