Thank you to the many members who gained access to the Dueling Club by submitting an application! We appreciate you! We decided to open the Great Hall to all members because, sadly, as the VTM fandom slows down, there are less people around posting. We'd like to keep interest alive and members active in the forums - so we hope that everyone will enjoy being a part of this previously closed forum.
Before venturing beyond Hogsmeade, please read through these rules and make sure that you understand them. Failure to follow them will result in any inappropriate posts being removed and a PM warning. Whilst the mods will be watching this section, this is primarily an area of the forums monitored by the Inquisitorial Squad and what they say goes. If an I.S member has to warn you more than three times, you will be unceremoniously booted from the Great Hall.
Follow the rules, and that won't be necessary.
The Great Hall is run with stricter rules than the rest of the forums, so you need to be aware that the punishment for breaking the rules in here might also be stronger.
The debates all have to be approved by a member of the I.S. before being submitted. Please submit your discussion idea to a member of the I.S. or a Forums Staff member. If accepted, you will be allowed to post your thread in the appropriate section of the Great Hall. If declined, you will be told the reason why via PM or e-mail. If you do not seek permission to open a new discussion - the thread will be removed and you will be issued a warning.
DO:
* Keep your posts clear and concise.
* Be polite at all times. Aggression, rudeness and sarcasm towards others will not be tolerated.
* Agree to disagree. Accept that you won't agree with everyone, and that others are just as entitled to their opinions as you are to yours.
* Please don't quote extensive pieces of previous posts. If you're not sure how to use quotes most effectively, please visit this thread and this thread. It is a condition of membership of the Duelling Club that you please learn how to use the quote tags properly.
* Feel free to contact a member of the I.S, if you are offended for any reason. Reasonable complaints will always be taken seriously. You are also welcome to contact them if you have any questions. If, for whatever reason, you are unhappy with any decisions, please contact a moderator.
* Consider carefully your argument before you post it. We can and will evict you from The Great Hall if you cannot abide by the rules and you are rude or aggressive towards anyone else. Consider it a one way ticket so please, think before you post.
* Consider carefully the topic under discussion. If it is something that you feel very strongly about and you don't feel that you can contribute in a rational way, please don't post. Stay away from debates that are likely to upset, annoy or offend you.
* Respect the staff's decisions. If you feel you have a legitimate concern, send a private PM or e-mail to the staff member concerned. Do not argue with them in the threads and do not approach another staff member in lieu. Always give that member of staff a chance to explain themselves to you first. If you're still not happy, then you may ask a moderator to act as a go-between.
* Please use consistent capitalization, grammar and formatting of your text. It's easier to read and understand. If your post does not contain proper capitalization, it is more likely to be ignored by other members. I know some of you are not native English speakers, and please rest assured that we do not hold that against anyone, but please do your best to make your posts easier to understand in this manner.
* We expect you to have a thorough understanding of the thread in which you are posting before you make a post. That means you will have to read other people's posts in the thread. If the thread is long, it is not necessary to read the entire thread before posting, but you will need to read the last few to see what's been discussed and where the debate is at the moment. If we come across a post where it is clear the poster has not read or responded to anyone in the thread - that post will be deleted. Show respect to the other posters, please, and read their posts prior to posting your own thoughts.
DON'T:
* Be rude in your post. Don't flame or insult anyone else. If you need to be told what is considered rude, then you shouldn't be taking part in a debate.
* Call anyone else names or personally attack anyone.
* State your opinion as fact - it is your opinion. If you disagree with someone else, that's fine, but DO NOT tell them that their opinion is wrong or stupid.
* Flog a dead horse. In other words, don't keep making the same point over and over. Once you've stated a point, move on. If you wish to continue debating the same point with someone, take it to PM/email.
* Don't use ALL CAPS all over your post or angry smilies. It implies impatience and shouting, neither of which is allowed on the forums anyway but especially not in the debate threads. If you want to emphasize something, use the bold or italics button instead. If you don't know how to use the tags, please learn
The thread is here* Take any debates seriously. There is no need for anyone to become defensive about their ideas and thoughts. This forum is to share ideas and get to get to know people a little better in an informative, educational and hopefully creative way.
*Do not use netspeak in the Great Hall. If you are posting here, we expect a higher caliber of post than a message filled with netspeak and abbreviations. If you care enough about a topic, you will care enough to type out your words.
*Do not bring personal conversations into the Great Hall. There are other places in the forums where you may talk about yourself and what's going on in your life. The Great Hall is here for serious discussions and debates. Any inappropriate post will be immediately deleted without warning. It is okay to share personal experiences as they pertain to the topic, but do not start chitchatting within these walls.
* Please do not use cursing within the Great Hall. It is easy enough to get your post across without having to resort to using cuss words and euphemisms for such. If you are passionate about something, you should be able to make your points strong enough without
having to resort to cursing anything or anyone. Any post containing cursing within the Great Hall will be deleted - no matter how valid the argument or how long the post.
A few other points to remember though - you are allowed to point out flaws with arguments put forward by other posters, and/or make arguments that contradict points made by other posters. You are not allowed to attack the individual doing the posting. Please remember that more than anything - do not let any debates become personal. This is a wonderfully varied world we live in and everyone has different opinions and ideas which they are perfectly entitled to. Share ideas, don't bash each other - there's enough of that going on in the real world, we don't need it here.
Now that this forum is an open forum, I will not be changing anyone's group to Dueling Club Member.
Please, be considerate of the people around you and be considerate of those who did go through the application process to gain entrance to the Dueling Club.