MOD >>> MEMO from the Mods - Everyone please read! <<< New Memo's 3/10/10

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Every now and then, an issue or problem arises for which we feel a forum-wide reminder is in order. We?ve created this thread as a place to post those quick reminders and also to get feedback from the community in case of any confusion.

Think of this as the corkboard or dry erase board in the conference room.

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[blockquote][b][hl=yellow][color=black]MEMO #1: Author replies and upping fics[/color][/hl][/b]

Per our [link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_fiction_resource/b10304/29755196/p1/?0]FAQ[/link], ?upping? is defined as:

[quote=FAQ]Upping: Posting in a thread for the sole purpose of putting it on page 1. Incessant upping is considered spamming and will earn you a ban. When it comes to upping your story or replying to your readers, please exercise common sense and courtesy to your fellow writers.[/quote]
We have not had a hard and fast rule about how often author replies can/should be posted, but we?ve received several complaints over the past few months and we feel that a community guideline is warranted:

[b]Please do not post author replies in your own story thread more than once a day.[/b]

If you need more than one post to respond to your readers (if, for example, you run out of smilies or want to use the quote function more times than one post will allow), please try to post your responses as close together as possible. Due to OPPM (one post per minute) we realize that you cannot post several response posts at the same time, but use your judgment and post them consecutively, not spread out over a period of hours.

Also, do not use a sock (alternate screen name) to up your story. If you share a computer/IP address with another user who is responding in your story thread, just drop us a PM and let us know so that an IP check doesn't look like you're using a sock to respond to yourself in your story.



[b][hl=yellow][color=black]MEMO #2: PM lists[/color][/hl] [/b]

Some of the newer folks might not know this, but due to the board software, users can only have a certain number of unread PMs out there before the PM system will not let users send any more PMs.

Readers - if you?ve requested PM updates for a story, please open the PMs so that the author can continue to send them.

Authors ? if you have sent several PMs to the same user and they remain unopened, you might consider pruning your PM list or not sending to that particular user until they?ve opened the previous PMs.

Another option for authors is to create a sock for the sole purpose of sending PMs. That way, your regular screen name will not get bogged down with unopened PMs.


Thanks for your cooperation and please post here or PM one of the mods if you have any questions. (Don?t PM this ?Fan_Fic_Mods? screen name because, hopefully, we won?t have to use it very often.)

--Vadey, Trace, Kelia and DWH
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Since many authors don't venture into Resource, perhaps this should be posted in the era boards, too, perhaps?

 

I think that's a good plan.

 

We agree. The threads will be stickied on the story boards for 2 weeks.

 

A little snag when dealing with this. All users, socks included, now have to have a certain number of posts before they're allowed to send PMs. I ran into this problem with my story PM sock when the boards were upgraded. Probably a good measure to avoid spammers, but it means socks now have to be 'active' for a time before they can send PMs.

Is there any way we can remove this? Or would it just be easier to have 'story socks' posts updates after the first post and then, once they've reached their 'quota' (any idea how many that is?) of posts, be able to PMs?

Thanks in advance!

 

As far as I know it's not the total number of unread PMs you've sent but the number of PMs you've sent to a single person. I think it stops letting you send PMs to someone if you've sent five that haven't been read. I don't know if this is still true, so I could be wrong.

 

I think it also stops regular users from sending if you have 100 unread sent PMs in total. 5 unread to a user will just stop you sending to that user.

And on the sock issue - there's a thread in Welcome New Users set up for the sole purpose of getting the 20 posts, so if you want to use a sock head over there. I think the thread is stickied at the top.

 

Thanks, LAJ!

 

New Memo's from the mods!

We have a few Fanfic FAQ changes we would like make you all aware of.

Memo 1: Plagiarism Policy

The plagiarism policy has been amended due to several issues that have arisen recently. The following is the amended section of the plagiarism policy:

* If you borrow material from a profic author or any real-life material in general (such as song lyrics or poetry), the original creator must be credited.

* Before borrowing from a fellow fanfic author, you must ask that author's permission first, even if the fanfic is posted at another site. (This includes re-writing, re-posting, or embellishing someone else's fanfic.) Failure to do so could result in a ban. If you are unable to contact the original author for permission, PM one of the Mods and we will discuss it on a case by case basis.


Memo 2: Challenges

It is no longer necessary to contact the mods before starting a challenge. We do ask however, that you do not take anyone's original idea for a challenge without their permission. Also, please do not start a challenge that is similar in nature to a challenge that is currently running. (i.e. If there is already a song title roulette challenge currently running please do not start a quote roulette challenge.)

We will keep a list of all current challenges in the Challenge Index Thread. If you have a challenge going at the moment and you would like it to be on this list, please let us know in this thread. When you would like to start a challenge, check this thread to make sure none like it are running.


Thank you!
~ Trace, Kelia, DWH and Mav

 

So if I write a Fic that has Corran, Kyp, Kyle, Sedriss, Mirta Gev, Abeloth, I-5, Luke, Puggles Trod, X-7, Ferus Olin, Ziro The Hutt and Kar Vastor I have to credit Stackpole, Anderson, Veitch, Traviss, Denning, Reaves, Lucas, Paul and Hollis Davids, Watson, Wheeler, Gilroy, Meiching, Murphy and Matt Stover?

Something about this sounds strange to me. If I include Valc 7 or Bastion do I have to credit Zahn? Where does this stop, because really every character, planet, ship, alien, language, essentially everything that makes up the Star Wars universe is borrowed material from someones work, be it Lucas or the hundreds of writers LFL has employed over the years?

Maybe a little clarification of what constitutes "borrowed material" might be needed because if its what I've listed above then no one in fanfic is meeting this criteria.

 

No, you do not have to name every single author in the SW universe that you use. Technically, everything in SW belongs to George Lucas anyway and disclaimers are never a bad thing but we all know that you did not make up Corran, Kyp, Luke etc. What we are saying in that part of the policy is that if you use a poem, song lyric, quote from a non SW movie, etc., you must credit where it came from.

That part of the FAQ was only changed slightly, and has been there for quite some time. All we did to the section you quoted was we took out a small part that was clarified in the next part.