Scroll Rules

(developed by scrollers and moderators in the year 2000)

Please direct any new scrollers here.


DEFINITIONS

Before you start reading about how the Daily Scroll works, it might be useful to know what some of the words and phrases, which are commonly used on the forum, actually mean.

caption ~ sometimes Scrollers post pictures from shows in a thread so that other Scrollers can give them a funny caption. Often they title these threads "caption this".

chat threads ~ long threads used by only a couple of Scrollers.

flame / flaming ~ you flame someone if you personally attack them.

flame war ~ a flame war is when flaming escalates so that lots of people are fighting.

letters and acronyms ~ sometimes Scrollers use online chatting terminology, eg. *g*, j/k, :0). There are too many different acronyms to mention here, so if you would like to learn what some mean, you can visit http://www.angelfire.com/al/bingoze/talk.html

moderators / mods ~ these are people who have been selected to edit, delete, lock, move and monitor threads in various forums. They are sometimes called "deps", because they were known as deputies on a previous version of the Scrolls. These days they are most commonly known as Scroll Guardians.

newbies ~ people have just begun posting on the scrolls.

OT ~ stands for "Off Topic". Anything not related to the forum it is posted in is OT and may be moved.

regs ~ short for "regulars". People who have been posting on the Scrolls for some time.

S1, S2, S3 etc. ~ stands for Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 etc. Scrollers use these letters to indicate which Season of a TV show their thread will be referring to. This lets scrollers who haven't yet seen that season avoid their post.

Scrolls ~ what a lot of people call the Daily Scroll.

Scrollers ~ people who post on the Scrolls.

SW ~ stands for "Spoiler Warning". Many people feel that shows are spoiled for them if they find out what is going to happen in an episode before they have actually watched it. Using the letters SW at the end of a thread title indicates that you are going to be discussing an episode in detail, and those who are "spoiler allergic" should stay away.

trolls ~ people who post with the purpose of attacking or aggravating other scrollers, or who post a lot of rubbish.

X:WP ~ Xena: Warrior Princess.


RULES FOR BEHAVIOUR OF SCROLLERS:

1. The Scrolls are arranged into different forums, to cater for people's different areas of interest. Please think about the most relevant forum to post a thread in, before you add it to the board. If it turns out that your post is not considered suitable for the forum in which you put it, one of the Guardians will move it. Since it is not always easy to work out the best forum in which to post a thread, eg. a poem about Xena could be posted in either Xena or Fan Fiction and Poetry, only threads that are obviously out of place will be moved.

2. Trolls are people who post with the purpose of attacking or aggravating other scrollers, or who post a lot of rubbish to clog up the board (as outlined below). Do not respond to them. Bring their posts to the attention of a Scroll Guardian and their offending thread(s) will be edited, deleted, locked or moved as soon as possible.

If a person posting on the scrolls is responsible for ongoing trollish behaviour, the Scroll Guardians will warn them that their behaviour is unacceptable, and they will be banned.

Bans shall work as follows:

1st offence ~ the scroller is warned about the offending behaviour. If it continues they are banned from posting for 1 day.

2nd offence ~ the scroller is warned again. If they ignore the warning, they are banned from posting for 2 days.

3rd offence ~ once again the scroller is warned, to give them a chance to stop their trollishness. If they continue, they are banned for three days.

If, after their 3rd ban, they continue to post threads outside the established rules, they will be given a final warning and, if they don't heed this, the Scroll Guardians will ban them indefinitely from the scrolls. Banning applies to ALL of the posts made by a scroller, eg. a scroller can't say "yeah, you've given me one ban for stalking, but this is my first ban for swearing, so you can only ban me for one day".

Any Scroller can let the Scroll Guardians know why they think another Scroller deserves to be banned.

3. The following behaviour is considered "trollish", and will be considered reason to edit, delete, lock or move threads:

a) Trying to cause a flame war.

b) Making hurtful or negative comments about any Scrollers. (SEE POINT NUMBER 4)

c) Heavy swearing. (SEE POINT NUMBER 6)

d) Smuttiness. (SEE POINT NUMBER 7)

e) Continually posting material in the wrong forum.

f) Making threats of any sort against other scrollers, including death threats.

g) Harassment of other scrollers. (SEE POINT NUMBER 8)

h) Deliberately ruining threads posted by other scrollers.

i) Continually posting spoilers about shows incorrectly. (SEE POINT NUMBER 9)

The reason some threads are locked instead of being deleted is that they are shown to other Scroll Guardians so that they can decide whether or not to ban the offender.

If you want to keep a thread, save it yourself on your own computer. Don't rely on Guardians to archive it.

4. When discussions between Scrollers become heated, rude, or turn into personal arguments, they should be moved to Fight Club, by the scrollers involved, or taken off the scrolls and carried on in private, eg. in email. If they continue in forums other than Fight Club they will be considered as trollish behaviour, and will attract the appropriate penalty.

5. Fight Club will be largely unmoderated. Behaviour there will only be considered trollish if it is extreme, eg. making sexual threats against other scrollers. If you are sensitive to certain things read Fight Club at your own risk.

6. Any heavy swearing on the Scrolls will be considered trollish behaviour. Scrollers can use words like shit, crap, and ass, but f***, the lovely c-word, and other similar words aren't acceptable. Too much swearing, eg. in arguments, will be edited, deleted, or locked up. You can get your point across without getting rude. You can also use censored words to show what you really feel, by typing f***, or else use a substitute word like fark.

7. Smuttiness will be deleted on the spot if it is inappropriate, eg. sexually explicit pictures posted on the Scrolls, or links to them. This isn't an adults only forum, and there are many younger people who read the scrolls. There are other places you can be smutty to your heart's content. Threads which are considered appropriate adult material, eg. mild fart or dick jokes, non-sexual nude pictures in good taste, slightly risque pictures, etc. may be posted, as long as their subject heading clearly indicates what age group they are suitable for, eg. 16+, recommended for those over the age of consent, XXX rated. No questionable material will be allowed in signatures.

8. If it becomes apparent that one Scroller is being followed around the Scrolls by another, and doesn't appreciate the extra attention, then this will be considered stalking behaviour, and in the category of harassment. Scrollers can let Scroll Guardians know privately that they feel they are being stalked. Stalking includes making constant sexual advances towards other scroller, and posting provocative replies in all of their threads. Personal remarks about other Scrollers will not be allowed in Signatures.

9. For comments about episodes, use Spoiler Warnings (SW). Not everyone is currently viewing the same season of a show at any one time. There are even some countries where certain shows are not being shown at all yet. Some people reading the Scrolls may also be new viewers, who have just started watching a show from Season 1. So if the thread is about an episode put (SW) after the thread title, so that people who don't want to read about upcoming episodes can avoid it. Spoiler spaces within messages are also helpful, eg. in your thread you might write:

Sins of the Past (SW)

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

This will prevent people who don't want to know upcoming plots from having their viewing spoiled. It is also helpful to include which Season a spoiler thread is about, eg. "This thread is about Gabrielle (S3 SW)", will let people know that you want to start a discussion about something to do with Gabrielle in Season 3.

Titles of threads can also be spoilers for some Scrollers, eg. if you write something like "Why did Draco get married?", it automatically gives something away about the plot that people may not have wanted to read. Avoid putting spoilers in thread titles.

If a scroller continually and deliberately gives away spoilers about a show, in any of the ways described above, their threads will be edited or deleted, and they will be banned from the scrolls.

10. Scrollers who write threads like "I hate that stupid show, Xena and Buffy suck, etc." are just trying to provoke arguments. Their posts will be deleted or locked on the spot, as soon as they are brought to a Scroll Guardian's attention. If there is something you dislike about the show you are welcome to make your point, as long as you do so in an intelligent manner, eg. "I don't like Buffy as much any more because the scripts aren't as strong as they used to be".

11. The people who post on the Scroll are largely a friendly bunch. This means that you cannot post hateful messages about race, faith, gender, sexual preferences, etc. nor can you tell people who don't like subtext or who like a character that they are a "bunch of losers, Joxer sucks," etc. You can disagree and get your point across without attacking people.

12. Some Scrollers like to post online pictures in their threads. Here are some guidelines for posting pictures on the Scrolls:

a) Posted pictures need to fit other rules stated here, eg. they can't be overly sexual. In addition, explicitly violent pictures are considered inappropriate for the Scrolls.

b) If the picture is from a show, you MUST put a spoiler warning (SW) in the title. Indicate which season the picture is from.

c) Never put pictures that are from the current season of a show in your signature.

d) Posting a link or links to pictures is sometimes better than posting lots of images, as it takes a load off the Scrolls' server and people don't have to wait for them all to load.

e) If you REALLY love posting pics starting a website just for pics, and posting its address on the Scrolls, might be an good idea.

13. There is a 20KB or less size limit for images in signatures, and you can only have however many images add up to the 20KB limit, eg. you could post four 5KB images in one signature.

14. The Scrolls are provided for free and, in exchange, Scrollers are expected not to aggressively market any goods or services on the board. You may draw attention once to items you think Scrollers may be interested in, but not repeatedly.


RULES FOR BEHAVIOUR OF SCROLL GUARDIANS:

All Scroll Guardians may be contacted at scrollguardians@yahoo.com, if you want to privately bring their attention to something on the Scrolls.

1. As Scroll Guardians are Scrollers, they will be expected to abide by the rules outlined for all Scrollers, without exception.

2. There should always be a clearly marked distinction between official announcements, and regular posts made by Scroll Guardians. Guardians are Scrollers too, and are entitled to voice their opinions on the Scrolls, as long as it is clear that they are doing so as Scrollers, and not as part of their Guardian duties. Each time a Scroller posts a message in their Scroll Guardian capacity, they will indicate this by writing **Scroll Guardian** (or something similar) in their post. The Scroll Guardian username also indicates an official post.

3. Scroll Guardians should resort to editing, deleting, locking or moving threads only when it becomes apparent that there is no other way to stop inappropriate posts. If a thread is moved to another forum, a message indicating where it has moved should be left either at the end of the old thread, or in its place, eg. MOVED TO GENERAL: I have a new television.

4. None of the tools only available to Guardians should be abused/used for anything other than Guardian duties, eg. not to carry out personal vendettas against anyone, or to reveal aliases of other scrollers.

5. Scrollers should be given a chance to edit, delete or move to Fight Club messages considered inappropriate, by Scroll Guardians. This will not apply to Scrollers who continually post and delete offensive threads. In this case, threads may be locked so they can be used to argue for a ban.

6. Scroll Guardians will try their hardest to discuss threads they are about to edit, delete, lock or move, which fall outside the rules stated above, with at least one other Guardian. When a thread is edited, deleted, locked or moved, the Scroll Guardian responsible will post the rule it violated, on the Scrolls. If a Scroller is banned, a thread will be posted explaining why this course of action was taken by the Scroll Guardians, in Announcements.

7. No Scroll Guardian is entitled to make announcements that haven't been discussed with other Guardians. If not all Guardians can be reached within a reasonable time, the announcement may be made on behalf of all Scroll Guardians.

8. An exception to the above rule is obvious troll onslaughts, which leave no time for consulting, eg. when lots of threads need to be deleted or locked all of a sudden.

9. Each Scroll Category will have at least two Guardians, preferably two from different time zones. No Scroll Guardian will be responsible for moderating more than one Category, with the exception of the Administrator (Chief Chesty Forlock of Upper Whateverstan - it's a Xena reference, watch "Dangerous Prey").

10. If a Scroller doesn't want to continue to be a Guardian, they should inform the other Scroll Guardians as soon as possible and announce that they are stepping down, on the Scrolls.

11. If Scrollers feel that a Guardian is no longer able to fulfil their duties on the Scrolls, they should contact the other Scroll Guardians and explain why. All of the other Scroll Guardians will then discuss whether or not they think the Guardian in question should step down. Valid reasons for a Guardian to step down would include: failure to abide by the rules set out for Scroll Guardian behaviour, not having enough time to effectively carry out their duties, or a loss of interest in being a Guardian. If the other Scroll Guardians decide that another Guardian should step down, they will inform other scrollers as soon as possible, and give the reasons why they have made their decision, if appropriate. They will then remove the Guardian status of the person in question.

12. Once a Scroll Guardian has stood down, or been stood down, from their task, voting for a new Guardian may proceed as follows:

a) A message will be left on the Scrolls calling for nominations for a new Scroll Guardian, and the cut off time for nominations.

b) All scrollers wanting to be considered as a Scroll Guardian for the vacated Category should indicate their interest, explaining why they want to moderate that Category, in the forum where nominations are called for.

c) After the cut off time, current Scroll Guardians will draw up a list of nominations received. Under each nominee's name will be a run down of the reasons they want to be considered for nomination.

d) The list will be posted in an appropriate forum, and a message will be left on the Scrolls to direct Scrollers there.

e) All Scrollers will be asked to vote for one Scroll Guardian, from the list, by a second cut off time.

f) The Scroller who gets the majority of votes will be the new Scroll Guardian.

g) If a tie results, the names of the tied Scrollers will be posted in a new announcement, and Scrollers asked to vote again for just these tied Scrollers.

h) If only one Scroller has nominated, they will automatically fill the vacancy.

i) The new Scroll Guardian will be instated, and given any access passwords for Guardian tools, eg. the Guardian email.

13. The only exception to the above procedure is a situation where two Scroll Guardians are being elected to a Category at the same time. In this case, two lists will be drawn up, of nominees in roughly opposing time zones.

Scroll Guardians who are already responsible for a Category cannot nominate themselves for election.



Most of us want to make the Scrolls a fun place to visit, in order to talk about Warrior Women and meet online friends. Each of us has a role to play: guardians, scrollers, regs and newbies. Let's work together to make this a home where we can share our innermost thoughts, without fear or favour.

BATTLE ON!!