Odds & Ends

Admin Age : 37 Registration date : 2008-07-08 Number of posts : 148

This is what I've come up with for the basic rules right now. These are provided to the user when they first register.

1. Members must already have a thorough understanding of grammar and punctuation. This is not an English class, but rather a place for writers to expand and refine their skills.

2. All members are expected to read and review the work of other members. If you are found to be consistently not participating in the feedback process, you will be banned. [There is no specific requirement for feedback, ie I am not going to mandate that everyone must comment on every single other member's work. This will just be by the honor system].

3. Members must be at least 18 years old. [For several reasons: no one wants to read about teen angst, and also I am not expecting that everything posted here will be appropriate for kids].

4. New members who have not posted within 14 days of joining will be deleted. [This is to quickly weed out people who join and then immediately forget about it and never participate].

Additionally:

-There is no length or format requirement for submissions. It's basically a free-for-all. Members can spend as much or as little time on a submission as they want, but if it's completely half-assed they should not be surprised if the feedback they get is negative.

-ORIGINAL MATERIAL ONLY. This means NO FAN FICTION!!

-All prompts will be posted on the first and third Sunday of each month. Members should have their submissions posted by the time the next prompt is up.

-We strongly encourage all members to post for each prompt. Even if you are convinced that your piece is awful, you should still consider submitting it! We're here to learn from each other, and no one is going to create a masterpiece every week.

-If a member chooses not to submit a piece for a given week, they should still try to read and comment on other people's works. This shows us that the member really does want to participate.

-Members should write a piece even if they don't like the prompt. We'll try to provide diverse prompts, and we're definitely willing to listen to your opinions about them.

-Members should be prepared to devote one hour a week to our group. (Time to write a piece and time to read and comment on others' pieces).

-If a member goes inactive for a certain amount of time, say a month, I will send an email notification to that member letting them know that either they need to get active again or be deleted. They will not be deleted unless they do not reply to this email.

-If a member misses a prompt, they do not have to make it up and they are not expected to.

-No crazy or obnoxious signatures, please. No pictures in signatures--they will be promptly deleted.

-This hardly needs saying, but if any member is belligerent, cruel or otherwise unruly, they may be banned.

Comments/suggestions? Any other rules that might need to be established?

Odds & Ends

GUIDELINES

Odds & Ends

GUIDELINES

Odds & Ends

GUIDELINES