These
guidelines have been created to serve firthness,
its forums and darcyfic.
Age Restrictions
Membership is limited to individuals who are eighteen
years of age or older.
Though the forums, by default, explain that membership
is possible for a minor (with written parental
permission) this is not a policy we endorse. Membership
to individuals younger than eighteen will not
be knowingly granted for any reason.
We ask for age statements from all prospective
firthness members. These statements are duly documented
and saved should we receive a complaint from a
parent. Should we discover that a member has misled
us regarding this key point of membership eligibility,
their account will be immediately revoked.
Communication
Please direct all communications concerning firthness
or darcyfic to either the administrator (administrators@firthness.com)
or moderator (modsquad@firthness.com)
addresses. This will allow us to provide better,
faster service to our members.
For a question, comment or concern that pertains
to a specific forum, topic, or post, please e-mail
the moderators (modsquad@firthness.com).
For a question, comment or concern that pertains
to the site, forums at large, or darcyfic, please
e-mail the administrators (administrators@firthness.com).
There are, of course, two exceptions to this guideline:
1) questions, comments or concerns that relate
to an administrator or moderator should be e-mailed
to melly (duckie@firthness.com);
and 2) authors with questions, comments, concerns,
or a new chapter should continue to e-mail melly
as well.
Any communications regarding firthness, its forums,
or darcyfic that are received via any other channel
will be forwarded to the appropriate group.
Copyright
Firthness claims no copyright for any information
posted by its members to the site at large, the
forums, and darcyfic. The author of any post or
story retains absolute ownership.
Digital Images
Images wider than 5.5 inches affect the formatting
of the forums, which will cause the duckie to
faint and may induce molting. As it takes some
time for the duckie to re-grow precious tail feathers,
please refrain from posting images wider than:
(This image is 5.5 inches (400 pixels) and was
created at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch.)
The moderators and administrators will be happy
to either assist a member by resizing their image
or offering instructions on how to do so themselves.
Please e-mail the moderators (modsquad@firthness.com)
if you would like to take advantage of this service.
Honesty
Trust is of the utmost importance in the maintenance
of a healthy online community. So, all joking
aside, any instance of willful misrepresentation
that the administrators deem harmful to the community
or its members will not be tolerated. Any member
engaging in deliberate misrepresentation will
be subject to immediate deactivation pending investigation
and the member’s account may be suspended
or revoked.
Please Note: When we say willful misrepresentation,
this does not refer to the common, online practice
of declining to give your real name, location
or similar such information. Rather, it is to
deter individuals who may be interested in defrauding
the community or its members emotionally, monetarily,
or physically. It is our aim to create a community
that is safe for all of our members and this cannot
occur when individuals choose to manipulate the
site and its members for their own purposes.
Interactions
I. Lively discussions are always welcome at firthness
but sometimes something is said that may cause
feelings of hurt or anger. While most likely unintentional,
this occurrence is not unusual due to the limitations
of online communications. If you have an issue
with a fellow member or something they have posted,
please discuss it with them via e-mail or private
message. If the moderators or administrators can
be of any assistance in the situation, please
don’t hesitate to e-mail either group at
modsquad@firthness.com
or administrators@firthness.com
II. The same courtesies that are extended to your
fellow members should also be offered to those
who are not members of firthness. Regardless of
whether they are present or not to read any negative
comment concerning themselves, there is a very
good chance that they will soon learn of it.
III. Please do not denigrate any other Jane Austen
site. If you have an issue with another JA web-presence,
bring it to the attention of the site’s administration.
IV. Please remember that when you post, in speaking
for yourself, the tone of your remarks reflects
on and impacts within this community. And while
we take no point of liability in any comment a
member may make, nor concede that any specific
member view reflects that of the administration,
it is our intent to foster a community that is
tolerant and respectful.
The members of firthness and darcyfic have developed
an admirable tradition of behaving with both tolerance
and respect towards the site, the mailing list,
their fellow members, and the Jane Austen community
as a whole. We have had very few problems with
inappropriate behavior and salute our fellow firthlings
for helping us make firthness a great place to
visit.
Links
I. We ask that darcyfic and firthness members
refrain from posting links to any site that may
be considered pornographic, inflammatory, or generally
offensive. Any member concerned that a link they
wish to post may fall under one of these three
categories is very welcome to query the moderators
(modsquad@firthness.com)
via e-mail.
II. Links consisting of more than 35 characters
oftentimes disrupt the formatting of the forums.
If you are posting a link of more than 35 characters,
please use the following format (omitting the
*).
[url*=“http://www.sitename.com]sitename[/url]
Marketing
Any member interested in marketing a good or service
via darcyfic or the forums is obliged to receive
prior permission from the site’s administration.
Permission can be obtained by contacting the administrators
(administrators@firthness.com)
via e-mail.
Multiple Identities
Each member is permitted one and only one account.
An account created with the specific intent of
making the members, moderators, or administrators
believe the owner is someone other than their
primary online persona is considered to be a sock.
Sock accounts are subject to immediate deactivation
and the account owners will be contacted.
We realize that in the past members have lost
their username and/or password and have thought
to make a new account and bypass the process of
determining the specifics of the old one. We have
happened upon many of these instances and have
contacted the member and reduced their accounts
(by their selection) to one. If you have more
than one account and we have not discovered it,
please let us know by contacting the administrators
(administrators@firthness.com)
that we might avoid any confusion at a later date.
We should note, however, that these instances
do not constitute the creation of a sock account.
Ratings
Stories posted to darcyfic and firthness must
be rated NC-17 or lower. The administrators reserve
the right to remove any story we deem to be of
a rating exceeding NC-17.
Any questions regarding ratings will happily be
answered by the administrators (administrators@firthness.com).
Real People
Unless the author has received prior, written
permission from the individual in question, stories
featuring a real individual are not allowed on
darcyfic or firthness.
Relevance
We ask posters to please remain on-topic within
a given thread and forum. Darcyfic is restricted
to the posting of Jane Austen fanfiction, story
comments, list and site queries appropriate for
the group at large, and administrative announcements.
The firthness forums are restricted according
to the specific forum and topic. Two forums are
available for off-topic discussion: beakers and
the pond.
Topics
I. Prior to posting a new topic, please do a quick
inspection of the forum in question. If a previous
topic on the same subject exists, please post
your comment there.
II. Topics older than three months are subject
to either archival or pruning. The destination
of these topics is determined by site administration;
topics we feel members may want to refer to in
the future are saved.
Archived topics are available only via a search
of the forums and are read-only. If a member would
like a topic re-opened for the purposes of posting,
a quick e-mail to the moderators (modsquad@firthness.com)
will result in the topic being reinstated to the
forum of its origin.
Any or all of the above listed guidelines
are subject to change. It is impossible to anticipate
situations that may arise in the future and as
such the site administration reserves the right
to amend these guidelines as needed.
|
