Planet Lorien Roleplaying Wiki:Chat Policy

Out of character Chats
In general people must understand that other people coming to participate in this wiki come from various ages, walks of life, countries, etc. They also come here, or should be coming here to this particular chat, to participate or talk about the Planet Lorien roleplaying wiki or the Lorien Legacy books in general. So any discussion that turns into a heated argument or debate, that has nothing what-so-ever to do with this wiki, is not appropriate here. Some topics that can lead to this sort of debate are religion and politics. As there is the option to privately message in chat, specific users, if you wish to carry on a religious or political debate with another user, you should do so in private messages, not open chat.

Also some less heated topics, but also not appropriate here, on this wiki's chat, would be heavy discussions and/or recruiting for other wiki's. f you would like to request help with something, or would like to become our affiliate, again, you can do so on private messages.

Also, as there are many user's here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling and sexual harassment will not be tolerated.

In Character Chats
Now occasionally people like to use the chat for quests, capture the flag or for general chats between characters. Now in general we have a policy for role play, but just to cover some specifics that are relevant to the chat.

For one, you can't do things "out of character" that break policies, and then suddenly claim to have been in character. Also the other people involved should understand ahead of time that the conversation is taking place in character. This doesn't mean you can say whatever you want because you are in character, the same basic chat policies apply, but when in character you may want to throw out some minor tasteful insults, or have a mock sword fight, and as long as both party's agree, and it's all in good taste and doesn't break chat policies or role play policies it is allowed.

Users in Chat with no Claimed Characters
As this chat is for this role playing wiki, anyone in chat should belong to the wiki, if you wish to join or are in the process of waiting on a character to be claimed, this is of course fine. However, if you keep coming back to chat, day after day, with no attempt to make a claim you may be asked to leave and/or kick banned which is up to the discretion of the chat moderators on at the time.

Warnings
Although this is already made clear in the Warnings Policy, this is here primarily to ensure further clarity.

Warnings should be conducted as follows:

Verbal Warning 1

Verbal Warning 2

Temporary kickban (if deemed necessary)

Warning 1

Warning 2

Warning 3

Apologies
If a user has committed an offense and has received only verbal warnings he or she may make an apology. It is up to the discretion of the Chat Moderator as to whether this apology will be accepted or not. If an apology is made within 10 minutes after the last warning was recieved he or she may be forgiven entirely. While they may forgive, Chat Moderators are by no means encouraged to forget.

Warnings Leniency
An Administration which attempts to enforce rules and policies exactly by the book without restraint or remorse is often regarded as a hated one; as policy cannot be crafted to fit every potentiality. Therefore, it is necessary that Chat Moderators be allowed to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis instead of according to rigid or specific rules and regulations which may not be applicable. At present reasons for warnings are as follows:

Good Reasons

 * Personal attacks
 * Vandalism of the wiki
 * Incivility
 * Harassment
 * Spamming
 * Edit warring or revert warring
 * Sock Puppetry
 * Policy violation
 * Inappropriate username

Bad Reasons

 * Disagreeing with an administrator

Naturally all of the above, with the exception of Policy Violation, Sock Puppetry, and disagreeing with an administrator are entirely subjective. Thus, if an esteemed user, or perhaps an entirely new member, does any of these things once or twice leniency may be a reasonable response. However if this unreasonable behavior continues warnings may be necessary. Likewise if a user with a history of offenses does something, he/she may be granted less leniency or none at all. All of the above, however, is up to the Chat Moderator's discretion.

Disputes:
If a situation occurs in which the accused disputes the subjective allegations laid against him he may ask his fellow chat members for an appeal. In this eventuality all those present in chat at the time the incident occured will be asked to vote for or against the accusations. If the majority votes for, the accusations stand. If the majority votes against, they fail.

Note: If the accusations of a chat moderator fail, these are not grounds to make an accusation in return.

Cursing/Swearing
At present, chat policy reads thus:

"Also, as there are many user's here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling and sexual harassment will not be tolerated."

Unfortunately "heavy swearning, cussing, name calling and sexual harassment" is hard to define. Users are allowed to use the following: Damn, shit, crap, bitch, and their variations/combinations. Other words like "F*ck" should have at least single letter replaced by an asterix as shown. Cursing in other languages is generally tolerated. All of the above is up to chat moderator discretion and is subject to the warning/dispute/appeal system discussed above.

Video Conference Policy
Due to the increasing problems with Wiki Chat many of us have found it necessary to resort to alternate means of communication including video-conferences such as seen in Skype. As most of our community is now actively using these means, it is imperative that we maintain some sense of law and order in these seemingly far flung places. Therefore it is equally imperative that we come to view them as extensions of our wiki chat wherein our rules, regulations, and policies have equal effect.