Welcome to Lemmy's Land Forum, a site for discussion of all kinds! Before you start posting new topics and responding to old ones, there's a few things we have to go over.

Forum Staff

These are the guys that keep our forum operational, be it by enforcing the rules, or making sure all of the software is running correctly.

Administrators
Admins are (technically speaking) the highest authority on a forum, and should overall be considered as having the final say-so in most disputes. They are also the ones responsible for the more technical side of running the forum, such as installing modifications or themes and changing the way the forum works.

• VG: Owner of the server and benevolent overlord of the high Arctic of Canada (a.k.a. Most of Canada). I'm not particularly fond of writing about myself, so I'll just say that you should feel free to contact me whenever you like. I won't bite, honestly. Well, as long as you don't deserve it! =P
• Dark Koopa: An omnipresent admin from the by-gone ages of LLF's history, Dark has always worked tirelessly to ensure the proper goings-on of LLF. Also a widely-renowned player in The Werewolf Game! There used to be some sort of wacky in-joke about him and balloons, but it's been so long that I can hardly remember! Either way, this guy deserves a lot of respect.
• Kyoni: The latest addition to our administrative team, Kyoni is a long-time member of LLF with a reputation for friendliness and approachability. Now that he's been given a blue name and nigh-unlimited power, will he go mad and instate a tyrannical despotism over the site? Answer: No. That's silly. Go to bed.

Moderators
Moderators are in charge of the more practical aspects of the forum, such as handling disputes between forumers and enforcing the rules (although admins have these responsibilities as well). They can dole out bans for rule-breaking, award badges and make various changes to topics.

• Light Bear
• Kooks
• BlueWind
• General Toad

The Werewolf Council
Commonly abbreviated to TWC, the Council's responsibility is the moderation of The Werewolf Game, but they should be considered a part of the forum staff just like those listed above, and should be given the same respect.

• iDOWN

Chat Operator
The chat operator (or chat op) makes sure that things stay civil within the LLF chatroom. They are responsible for keeping order by kicking or banning users and enforcing other chat rules. Several of the above staff members are also chat ops, so if they ever drop in the chatroom, you'll know who they are by the @ or star symbol next to their nickname. Please note that a chat op will often idle in the room and may not always be available to chat, so don't worry if it looks like they're ignoring you.

• VGMaster64: Yes, he does double duty as a chat op as well. Normally known for nagging people to keep it PG, as well as changing the chat topic to include the latest piece of music he's enjoying.
• Kyoni: On the off chance he remembers to identify.
• Homie: Makes sure the chat is kept as real as possible. He may also constantly mention your name to make sure you are paying attention to him, and then idle for two hours.
• Kooks: You shouldn't listen to him! Just kidding! But he is Canadian.
• Dark Koopa: Complains everytime the chat talks about Pokemon. His nicknames tend to be one of his RP characters, so if you see a Dark Koopa in chat, it's not actually him.

The Rules

Please follow these as strictly as possible. Things go a lot more smoothly this way!

1. NO FLAMING/BLATANT INSULTS: Most importantly of all, show respect, not just to the staff, but to other forumers. However, be aware that joking and sarcasm are very frequent on the internet, and that you should never take insults (or flames, as they are often called) on the internet very seriously anyway. It tends to make problems worse if you give a serious reaction to people who are just joking around, or trying to get a rise out of you.
   
2. NO ILLEGAL CONTENT: This one should really be a given, and should also require no explanation, but for the purposes of clarity: Don't post any of the content that was discussed in that agreement you made before you registered, and remember that while emulators (programs used to simulate video game consoles) are technically legal, ROMs (the actual games themselves, used in emulators) are not, so don't link to sites that carry both or the latter.
   
3. FOLLOW BASIC FORUM ETIQUETTE: This is technically several rules, rolled into one.
   • First of all, don't make a meaningless post in a very old topic, which is referred to as "bumping". Generally, if a topic is more than a week or two old, if you want to post to it again, make your post more than just an agreement to the previous post. Add something to the discussion. Bring up a new question or idea so that people can respond to it again. And remember, although bumping is generally frowned upon, it's always better to bump an old topic than to make a new one about the same subject.
   • For that matter, try to never make meaningless posts. Forums thrive on lively discussion and debate, and one-word posts very rarely allow such things to happen.
   • Avoid double-posting, or posting to a topic more than once directly in a row. There's an Edit Button that should appear on all of your posts (it looks like three colourful shapes, in the bottom-right corner of your post), and you can use that to edit a new message into that post rather than making a new one.
   • Make a decent effort to make your posts readable. By no means are we asking for perfection in your grammar and spelling, but it's always a good idea to proofread your posts. On the internet, you have the option of keeping your appearance a secret, but first impressions will still be made by the way you present yourself through your typing. Keep it in mind!
4. NO BACKSEAT MODDING: The moderators here are more than capable of doing their jobs, so it's best not to go around attempting to reprimand people for breaking the rules. Telling people not to double post or spam can be handled more readily by someone with the ability to actually enforce the rules. Note that there is a distinct difference between backseat modding and giving advice. An offhand reminder to someone to improve their grammar or spelling (or discussing why they should) is fine, as long as you stick to the overall topic at hand. Devoting an entire post to inform someone of a rule-breaking, though, is not.
   
5. NO ALTS:Multiple accounts being used simultaneously, or "Alts", should be used very sparingly, if at all, and there are very few circumstances in which we will allow them to be used (for example, one computer being used by multiple people, which is fine). These can become very confusing, and are ultimately more hassle than they're worth.
   
6. NO CENSOR BYPASSING: Don't stick a symbol like * in the middle of a swear so that it isn't censored. The word censors are present for a reason. Regardless as to anyone's opinion on the existence of "bad language", it's important for us to stay as family-friendly as possible. If you wish, you can disable word censors in your User Control Panel.

I believe that just about covers everything. This topic will be updated periodically as the need for new rules arises or changes in staff occur. Thanks for reading, and have fun at LLF!

Just so people know, if a new member joins and they break a ton of rules in a row I'm going to ban them for a week with the message "LURK", because they obviously didn't read this topic. If you're new to forums, I suggest you lay low and post sparingly until you get a good idea of what's acceptable and what isn't around here.

August 8, 2011 - Minor update to rules, formatting and wording. I'd also like to reiterate that this topic needs to be read before posting on the forums.

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April 14, 2012: Minor changes in staff. BlueWind is now a moderator of the RPG Board, General Toad is now a Global Moderator. Homie has voluntarily demoted himself from his Moderator position.

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While I know no harm is meant, I'd like to request that if you see an obvious spambot post, please do not reply to it. The reason I ask this is because a couple years ago, a long time member replied to one of them and while trying to delete the bot, I accidentally deleted their account too. I don't want that to happen again!