Membership Rules and Regulations

(Return to the River Twine Holt website.)

Any questions about the rules? Contact the Council by emailing "council@rivertwine.com". (If you do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your email within a day, try emailing a council-member individually, or pinging a thread on the messageboard.)

The following rules and regulations are what all members, upon joining, have agreed to abide by:

Basic Rules & Regulations

1. There are two types of membership to the River Twine Holt: Player-Members (PMs), who own and operate characters, and Reader-Members (RMs), who do not own characters but who have access to the website and the message boards, and who are encouraged to participate in the creative life of the Holt (RMs are also given a 1-week window to consider adoption of characters who become available NPCs, before they are offered publicly).

--1a). All PMs must support their character through the submission of one piece of art or one or more written submissions (totaling 500 words or more) per annual quarter. PMs who fail to participate for more than two quarters in a row may have their membership revoked. (See Participation Requirements below.)

--1b). All RMs must log into the website on a regular basis to prove their ongoing interest in the club. RMs are required to make at least 1 website comment per quarter in order to retain their RM membership, with a 1-month probation period for inactivity.

2. Your writing & artwork MUST be your own original work! Plagiarism of any form (tracing someone else’s artwork or claiming someone else’s writing for your own) is grounds for immediate cancellation of your membership. While drawing freehand from references is fine, tracing or mechanical copying of other artwork is not allowed (even if it is adapted). Art that is considered too much a copy of another existing artwork will not be posted (this determination will be made by the council, and it will be discussed with the artist). Please see the Submission Guidelines for more information.

2a. We also request that all art & story submissions be directly related to River Twine Holt; we won’t print stories and artwork about characters living with another tribe, or about canon EQ personalities. (NOTE: recycled artwork and stories may be accepted -- consult with the Council of Five -- council@rivertwine.com).

3. Get permission from a character's owner before using their character in a story or a piece of artwork. Approval is required for the use of all characters not your own, so be sure that your stories or art are approved by that other member before you submit them to River Twine Holt. Please see Submission Guidelines for what does and does not require approval; if you have any questions, please contact the Council of Five at the address listed above. Note: although Windburn is an NPC, he is considered to be 'owned' by the Council; they handle approvals for him. Any use of Windburn in a story or art should be sent to the Council for approval.

4. General site vs. adult site materials. In general, we have a PG-15 rating for our club, and members younger than 15 aren’t allowed to join. Any adult material must have a warning. Adult situations are fine if done appropriately. Nudity in art is acceptable if labeled. Sexual situations are fine if tastefully done. In short, porn or gore for gore’s own sake will not be tolerated. If you have questions or concerns, consult the Council of Five.

5. All members are required to join under their real identities; it's fine for members to participate under pseudonyms, but the Council needs to know a member's real name. Joining the club under false pretenses is grounds for immediate dismissal. Additionally, sockpuppeting a false membership is also grounds for immediate dismissal from the club.

QUESTIONS? All questions can be directed to either council@rivertwine.com or help@rivertwine.com.

Message Board Guidelines

1. Board userids. We ask that members registering on the board for a Reader account use their first name (or a sensible nickname that does not sound like an EQ character name) for a userid. Those registering for a Player Member account are asked to use the name of their character for their userid. Not only does this make a member easier to contact, but it also helps the board admins differentiate between legitimate accounts and spam accounts.

2. Be courteous. No flaming, name calling, insults, naggings or otherwise tormenting other members will be tolerated. Any issues that arise on the board need to be handled in a calm, adult manner. Board Moderators will remove/lock threads that contain abusive material. Members who flame / continue flame-wars will be removed from the group.

3. Post in the right board. Please make sure that what you are posting is placed in the right board. Each board is clearly marked. If you are uncertain please contact a board moderator, or a council member for help. If a post is placed in the wrong board, Board Moderators will move the thread into the appropriate board.

4. Members-Only Board Access. The message boards are for members only. Do not share your password for non-members, or post for non-members on the board. Any non-members who wish to post something on the RTH board must contact the Council of Five at council@rivertwine.com. Any posts made from/for non-members will be immediately removed, and the member who gave out their password/posted for the non-member will be removed from the group. The exception is when non-members have been welcomed to participate in publicly offered contests, and will be free to participate on the Contests forum on our message board.

4. Message Board concerns? If you are having any issues with other members on the board, or feel that you are being unfairly treated, please contact Council Member Heidi at willow@rivertwine.com.

Comment/Website Feedback Guidelines:

1. Be Courteous. Do not post hurtful or mean comments on stories or art. Critiques are fine, but do not simply say 'This Sucks!'. Any comment that is made of this nature will be removed and the member will be removed from the group.

2. Avoid Fluff Posts -- please try not to post 'fluff posts' to the website. These are posts that consist of less then one sentence. For example, "'Wow cool!" counts as a fluff post.

3. Feedback concerns? If you are having any issues comments, or feel that you are being abused or unfairly treated, please contact Joan at crackle@rivertwine.com.

Participation Requirements

FOR PLAYER-MEMBERS: PMs are required to support their character/membership with 1 submission per quarter (1 piece of art, at least at sketch level; or 1 story of 500 words or more). Players who have not made a submission by the end of a quarter's second month will receive a reminder and 1-month heads-up. If a PM fails to support their character for a quarter, they will be given a warning and put on probation (probation period of one quarter). Making a normal submission during the probationary quarter is all that is required (players don't have to also "make up" the submission for the quarter they missed). But, if a PM fails to meet the participation requirements for the probationary quarter as well, they will lose their membership, and their character will become an NPC.

(Please also see the Communication Requirements, outlined below.)

Most new members will join a quarter that is in-progress. New PMs must participate (meaning, submit art or writing) by the end of the first FULL quarter after they join. This acknowledges that the new PM may not have time to participate during the partial quarter in which they joined. A new PM will technically "go on probation" if they have not submitted by the end of that partial, joining quarter, which just means that they must submit material by the end of the following quarter. If you are a new member and you ever have a question about your membership status, please contact the Council for clarification (at council@rivertwine.com).

Player Members who are removed due to inactivity may be refused future membership to River Twine Holt on a case-by-case basis. PMs who lose their membership are always welcome to become Reader Members, or to rejoin immediately as Reader Members (if there has been a gap in communications). But, PMs who are removed due to inactivity are required to wait for the next full quarter before submitting any request to adopt a character. (As always, becoming a RM will ensure first crack at available NPCs when the time comes.) RTH works on a three-strikes system, and after defaulting on a third attempt at character ownership, a former member may be refused future adoptions.

(Also see Leaving the Club below.)

NOTE: The Council doesn’t want to suspend memberships for lack of activity, and will do what it can to meet the needs of each member, but some consistent communication between an inactive member and the Council is required. If a member requests it, a Leave of Absence from the group can be obtained from the Council, waiving one quarter's participation requirements. A longer LoA may be arranged in special circumstances. But it is the responsibility of the member to contact the Council to request a LoA.

FOR READER-MEMBERS: RMs are expected to leave at least one comment per quarter on stories or artwork on the website. (This is our only way of tracking whether RMs are still interested in following the group.) RMs may also submit artwork or stories, and if they do so, that will count as their quarter's participation. Failure to leave at least one comment will result in the RM being sent a "1 month left" email towards the end of a quarter. If the RM misses a quarter, they will be sent a probationary warning, and they must leave a comment sometime during the next 1 month. If a RM fails to comment during that probation period, they will lose their RM membership access to the club's website & message boards, and will be dropped off of any waiting list for character adoptions they may have been on.

Reader Members who are removed for inactivity are welcome to rejoin again as an RM without delay.

Submission Requirement Types:

Submissions need not feature your own character to count for the participation requirement. Artwork and stories about other characters will earn credit toward support for a member’s own character. (On the flip side, however – approving the use of your character in another member’s story, or approving artwork, does not count toward your own quarterly requirement.)

The minimum requirement for Artwork is 1 submission of at least sketch complexity. Does Not Count: dolls (even on your own base); icons (except with special permission from the council).

The minimum requirement for Writing is 1 story submission of at least 500 words' length. Does Not Count: poetry.

Stories should be submitted to stories@rivertwine.com; artwork should be submitted to artwork@rivertwine.com. You are required to collect all of the necessary approvals for your art or your stories, prior to submission, and to indicate this when you submit.

Communications Requirement

(Update coming soon; if you have any questions in the meantime, contact the Council.)

As stated above, PMs are expected to remain in consistent communication with the group and with the council. This is especially true regarding responding to other members who contact you to ask questions or for your permission for character-use. Members are expected to respond to others in a timely fashion -- unless they have posted to the AWOL thread on the MB, or notified the Council that they will be out of email contact for a period of time.

"Timely" is usually defined as no longer than a period of 2 weeks. In the case of approval of use of a character, the person asking for approval is expected to make several attempts to contact you, by all available means -- email and messageboard notification -- during that time; but at the end of 2 weeks from the date of the first attempt, approval will be considered to have been given by default.

If we receive a submission where it's indicated that approval defaulted because of non-response, or if we are alerted to non-response from a member for any other reason, the Council will begin to try to make contact with the PM by all available and known means (messageboard post; website comment; email to anyone; submission) for 2 more months. If at the end of 2 months, there has been no communication from a PM by any means to anyone in the group, and especially no response to the Council's attempts at contact, the Council may decide to deactivate the membership and make the character an NPC.

Character Information Sheet Updates

All CISs should be kept current, as characters grow and change as they are played. A mandatory CIS update period is held every June: members have between the 1st and the 30th to log into the website, review their character’s CIS, and update it accordingly. The webbase will automatically track all updates, and the council member who heads up our Character Approval Team will receive automatic notification from the system of all changes to a CIS.

Failure to update the CIS during the mandatory time period will result in the member going on probation for the summer quarter (July-August-September) even if they have fulfilled their participation requirements for the previous quarter. If by September the CIS has not been updated, the member will lose the character. While this may seem harsh, it is the Council's belief that up-to-date CISes are important for immersion and conduct in the club and show an ongoing interest in the character.

The minimum change required to fulfill the mandatory update requirement is the adjustment of the character's age (the addition of a year). Further changes that reflect character growth are of course welcome. Additionally, CISs can be updated throughout the year, as a member feels motivated to do so..

If you have any questions, please contact Joan at crackle@rivertwine.com.

Rewards System:

Because we believe that our members should be rewarded for contributing to River Twine Holt, the following rewards system is in place for all members:

Three awards will be given each season, in the categories of Art, Fiction, and Member.

Every quarter, the Council of Five will collectively decide which member should receive the Art and Fiction awards, based largely on who has earned the most points in that category during the quarter. The Member Award will go to a member who has actively participated throughout the quarter above and beyond the normal rate of activity. The Member Award is generally based upon the amount of points that a person receives in a quarter, but may also be based on other activity.

The awards will be given out 'seasonally' as follows:

• March 31:  Winter Quarter (Jan-Feb-March)
• June 30:  Spring Quarter (April-May-June)
• Sept. 30:  Summer Quarter (July-Aug-Sept) 
• Dec. 31:  Autumn Quarter (Oct-Nov-Dec) 

Once a member has received an Art, Fiction or Member award during the course of a year, that member cannot receive that same award again during that year.

The club’s administrative team, the Council of Five, keeps track of participation through a points system that works as described below. Points earned each quarter are tallied toward regular quarterly participation awards: (See “Rewards” in section bellow)

Additionally -- beginning in 2008, a new Chief's Choice Award was created. It is given to honor an exceptional effort in fiction, poetry, artwork, or group participation. The Chief's Choice Award may be given out quarterly, but is not a mandatory award -- the Council will give it only in circumstances where the Council believes it very well deserved, but the regular artist, member, or general participation awards (which are largely points-based achievements) are not applicable.

Writing Points:

Written submissions are counted on a point-per-page basis, with 650 words equaling one page. Poetry is generally counted as .5 pts per poem, with some exceptions (see "Poetry Points" below). Artwork may be worth from .5 point to 2 points in value, depending on the individual effort. See “Art Points” below.

When multiple authors have participated in a collaborative stories, the story itself is worth only as many points as there are pages. Those points will be divided equally among the authors involved, unless the authors jointly indicate otherwise. Authors should indicate upon submission either how many words each contributed, or how the points should be divided.

Art Points:

A single piece of art may take its creator as much time as an author takes to write a story. There is no true way to faithfully rate artwork in our point-per-page system, as each artist varies dramatically in style. The best we can accomplish is the following:

• Simple sketch = .5 point

• Finished piece (b&w or color) = 1 point

• Showcase effort = 2 points

A simple sketch is an unfinished piece of work or something that is clearly either incomplete or stated by the artist as being 'unfinished'. “Doll” art is always considered at “sketch” value.

A finished piece can be in black or white or in color; the artist has clearly finished with it; if you feel that a piece that you have done should be considered finished, though others may not, please indicate this in your e-mail.

In a showcase effort, the artwork is rich in detail beyond the central figure; the background is very well developed, or a full story is told within the frame of the picture. Showcase efforts need not be in color. (The difference between a showcase piece and a finished piece is simply the amount of 'other' elements that have gone into the piece itself.)

NOTE: The submitting artist should inform the Art Director what category the artist believes a piece falls under. You will assign your own points because none of us are qualified to rate another’s effort. What takes one person a few minutes, could take another a few days. Just try to be honest with how you feel about your work. The Council of Five reserves the right to alter points if the system is being abused. If the submitting artist does not inform the Art Director how they think their piece should be awarded points, the Art Director reserves the right to award points as she sees fit.

Recycled art policy: River Twine Holt will gladly accept recycled art (art first created by the artist for a purpose other than RTH), but RTH reserves the right of how (or if) to apply it toward historical NPCs. Recycled art is always counted as .5 participation points, and recycled art cannot be applied toward the quarterly participation requirements. No more than eight pieces/four points of recycled art will be counted per quarter towards our seasonal participation awards.

Poetry Points:

Poetry is generally considered to be worth .5 point per poem.

However, if a member believes their poem is longer than usual, a personal masterwork, or otherwise demonstrates more effort, they may request more points to reflect the overall effort. Final point distribution is decided by the Story Approval Team.

Other Forms of Participation:

While posting on the messageboard and leaving comments via the website is not a requirement, and does not count for the quarterly support that members owe to the group, steady participation in those areas does factor into the council's consideration of the quarterly Member Award (given to the "most active" member).

(Generally speaking, we prefer that people using the messageboard and comments system not leave "fluff" posts: posts consisting of very short non-substantial comments, such as simply 'wow cool' or 'yeah' or "you rock" or 'just what I was thinking'. Non-fluff posts give some direct feedback regarding the work, something that can be of use to the author or artists. For example, "Wow I really like this, the eyes are great, the hair is beautiful and you've done a wonderful job with the shading." is much more useful to the artist than saying "Wow, I like this."')

Leaving the Club:

If at any time a member wishes to leave River Twine Holt, please contact the Council of Five at council@rivertwine.com to discuss your options. It is not possible for the group to hold a character in reserve; characters will immediately be put up for adoption.

Members who leave the club are welcome to remain as Reader Members; but they must request this. It will not be done automatically.

Returning members. Members who wish to return to River Twine Holt are usually welcomed back with open arms. Returning members will be treated the same as any other new member -- they will be welcome to adopt any of the available characters. (Previously-owned characters will not be removed from another member in order to be returned to a returning member.) All artwork and stories previously submitted will be relinked to a returning member. However, returning members are required to rejoin under their original name & identity. Sockpuppeting (operating an email account under false pretenses, or rejoining under false pretenses) will be grounds for immediate expulsion.

In some cases, a returning member may not be allowed to adopt a character -- for example, if they have owned a character 3 times previously already, and lost the character due to inactivity, inability to meet the quarterly requirements, or a decision to leave the group. Such members will usually be welcome to be a part of the group as a RM, and may still submit writing or artwork.

However, there may be other reasons, based on a former member's past relationship with the group, for denial of return-membership (at either the PM or RM level); the Council will determine this on a case-by-case basis.