Hi, I'm Brother_Benedict and I used to be a very smart Lenny. But some of the Assistant Monitors had no idea that I wasn't to be taken to the Lab. It may have been a plot *shifty eyes*. It's been a horrible ordeal, I'll tell you! Imagine being a Techo (or a Gelert like I use to be). It's embarassing, let me tell you! But enough of my little troubles. Allow me to enlighten you!



INTRODUCING THE NEW AND IMPROVED "RIPE ABCs" POSTING RULES!
In consultation with First Council and the team of monitoring assistants, the senior monitor has developed the following mnemonic to posting rules:

Respect for others
Integrity of the Board
Procedure
E is for Everybody
Accessibility
Baguette Spirit
Clutter-free

But before I explain further, let me you that if you break posting rules, in almost all cases, your penalty is that you may not request items from the guild shops for a week AND you may not participate in guild activities for that same week. You don't have to worry when your week stops or starts. It starts the day you receive your whap (in your neomail) and it ends seven days after that. We have very high-tech equipment that keeps track of the time for us, so you will never be penalized one second longer than necessary.


1. RESPECT
Do not use posts to put other people down (flaming), make personal attacks, or otherwise belittle members of the guild. Courtesy and politeness are expected at all times, even during times of frustration. This includes respect for the guild at large as well as individuals. Angry messages are better directed toward private neomail, or better yet, dealt with constructively.

2. INTEGRITY of the board
This guild was created to talk about neopets, books, and related subjects. It was not created for people to make money from other members, cheat members, use it as a personal advertising billboard, ask for free items, or break TNT (The Neopets Team) rules. Therefore, there will be no advertising of any kind (even charity-related), spamming, scamming, words or topics that jeopardize the board (such as "win" or "contest"), or soliciting items.

Advertising is never allowed; however, in special circumstances a member may neomail the booklovers_monitor account asking permission to post regarding an item offered at a substantial discount to guild members.

The purpose of the message board is to provide a communal discussion for neopians with the common interest of books. Post should stay true to this purpose. Integrity means "wholeness" or being complete. Whenever people use the board for reasons other than the original purpose of gathering to talk about common interests, it tarnishes our board and makes it cheap. We want to be "whole," that is true to our purpose in every aspect.

Any posting that takes away from this purpose takes away from this original vision. This message board is a safe, clean, fun place to convene. We want to preserve that.

3. PROCEDURE
This rule has four main components: grievances, quest help, special permission, and spoilers.

Grievances The message board is not the place to air grievances. Follow grievance procedure* when there are complaints. Do not try to involve any additional monitor assistant in disputes regarding a reminder or lack of promotion. Complaints should be sent by private neomail directly to the person in question.

Special note: shopkeepers, council members, and even the grand librarian are not immune to receiving reminders. All guild members are expected to abide by these posting rules. The guild is unable to function properly when people do not follow certain procedures that have all been instituted for very good reasons.

Quest help When giving help with quests (only non-timed faerie quests permitted), all responses to the request should be neomailed to the requestor directly.

When requesting help with non-timed quests, you have 30 minutes after your initial request to post on the board stating that you have completed your quest. If you have not received help within 30 minutes, you may either post on the board or neomail the monitor on duty directly for help.

After completion, all quest posts will be removed as a non-penalty administrative delete. This is to reduce the number of non-necessary posts on the board. An exception will be made if your post includes other content, but posting quest help and quest completion in separate messages is preferred.

Special permission Include note of permission in special posts such as offering trades or conducting surveys.

Spoilers
1. If you will be discussing any recently released book, film, or other form of story, you must include the word SPOILER in the subject of your post and preferably at the beginning of the body of your post. This allows people who have not read or seen the story to avoid having the ending revealed.

2. If you will be discussing any recently received guild gift, activity gift, special occasion gift or Neopet related item including the "Daily Puzzle", you must include the word SPOILER in the subject of your post and preferably at the beginning of the body of your post. This allows people who have not read or seen the story to avoid having the ending revealed.

Advent Calendar Spoilers DO NOT mention what you received from the Advent Calendar until at least one day after you have received it. Not everyone is able to check the Advent Calendar at 12:01am NST. Many members can't get to it until much later in the day. It's important that everyone be able to enjoy the surprise of this activity. Posts about today's Advent Calendar gift, even if the word SPOILER is used, will be deleted as soon as a monitor or first council member sees it. And you will be whapped.

4. E IS FOR EVERYBODY
--no profanity, implied profanity, heavy topics, politics, or otherwise unsuitable material for members of all ages. This includes controversial topics that will provoke heated discussion.

In addition, do not post something on the board unless everybody (or nearly everybody) would want to read it. Personal replies concerning only one person should be sent directly through neomail. An exception will be made for helpful replies to a question that is not answered in the guild's FAQ or website.

5. ACCESSIBILITY
Only use default font size, color, and type (e.g., do not overuse bold font or all capital letters), split long words or URLs into smaller sections so as not to stretch the board, and only use standard English that is easily understood by the majority of members (note that this does not *just* include traditional chatspeak). We are a very diverse guild with members from all walks of life as well as all corners of the world, and using certain formats for posting or words or phrases excludes members who are not familiar with these terms or format.

6. BAGUETTE SPIRIT
Realize that no set of posting rules will be perfect or exhaustive, and therefore refrain from legalistic arguments quoting the rules back to monitor assistants to point out flaws. Posting rules are made for the benefit of the entire guild, and not every person will agree with every single rule. The "Spirit of the Baguette" is agreeing to a social contract that will allow us to enjoy each other's company in the most beneficial way possible.

7. CLUTTER-FREE
No multiple short posts in a short time, posts containing all of pet's stats, no posts just of dailies (without other information), no chatting (as in "Hi! Bye!"), no one-liner posts (except for certain questions), including birthday wishes or information about Snowy, without including other content, or otherwise making the board more difficult to read. We expect our members to use good judgment in how often they post, based on the board activity at the time and the subjects that are being discussed. We want quality posting, not quantity posting.

* GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE Please let me kindly remind you that all objections or complaints, about any topic, should be sent directly to the "offending" person in a private neomail. Just as this board is not a chat room but a public forum, messages here should be posted for the benefit of the guild at large instead of directed toward one person (for good or for bad).

If you are ever unhappy for some reason, please contact the person *directly*. This is only fair and polite. There are always misunderstandings, and it's respectful and courteous to give that person a chance to explain. If this doesn't work, you may contact that person's supervisor. In the case of the monitoring team, send a neomail to the monitor's account with "for senior monitor" in the subject line.

In extreme cases where contacting the supervisor is not sufficient, you may ask the council liaison for mediation.

Please remember that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and that this is not a perfect guild. If you approach us calmly and politely, we will do our utmost to help you. But please, do not air grievances on the board.