Registration and Name Rules

If you wish to be a member of the AU forum, there are a few rules and guidelines you must follow when registering.

GOOD NAME EXAMPLE: Jane Doe
BAD NAME EXAMPLES: JaneDoe, jane doe, jane_doe, Jane_Doe, JaNe DoE, janedoe3458, Hermione Granger, Daniel Radcliffe, Ravenblood Darklust

• You are allowed to have ONE (1) account to start. After a period of two (2) weeks, in which you have been fully active (i.e. posting at least once a day, or close to it), you may purchase a new character from the Tri-Moon Bank, provided you have earned enough gold to cover the cost.
• Do not register for anyone but yourself! If you have a friend over at your house who would like to join, let them do so from their own computer at home - not yours. This will save you from getting into trouble for 'breaking' the above rule.
• Always use the same e-mail address for all your accounts. If you happen to change e-mail addresses, please let one of the admin know, so that we don't have to go to all the trouble of verifying you as a new member, sending you the new-members survey, and so forth.
• Full Harry Potter names are not to be used. They are copyrighted to J.K Rowling and therefore banned from this site. You can use their first or last name, but you may not claim any familial relation to any character from the book. We would strongly advise being different and original when choosing a name for your AU character.
• You are not allowed to use the names of famous people. So I do not want to see a “Daniel Radcliffe” or “Emma Watson” signing up. Even if you claim to be them, real life names are prohibited.
• You must have a proper first and last name (separated by a space).
• For security and privacy issues, please do not use your real life name.
• Only use letters and spaces, as shown in the good example. Not dashes, numbers or symbols allowed.
• Do not use violent, sexual or generally rude names.
• Choose wisely! Name changes for characters/accounts will NOT be allowed without a plausible reason once you have made your first in-character post (to be fair, Orientation does not count), -OR- you have posted your Student Record. Here, plausible reasons would include marriage, and that's about it.

Posting Rules

In order to ensure the site runs smoothly and everybody can post in a happy environment, the following rules have been put together. All members, regardless of position, must follow these. Failure to do so will result in a warning point, moderater queque, or expulsion, depending on the severity of what you’ve done.

• When posting make sure you contribute more than one line to the thread. Things like "Yes I agree" or "Why?" are not acceptable. It’s a waste of space and if you can’t think of anything longer than that, don’t say anything at all. An acceptable post would have a minimum of 150 words.
• Make sure you post in the correct area. You are not to make a thread in the Potions Lab, which describes you eating lunch in the Dining Hall.
• Please be sure that when posting, you are contributing to the thread and helping the story along. Don’t go into a thread about music and start talking about the time your dog attempted to bite off your toe.
• Do not post multiple times. If you want to add something and you were the LAST person to post, simply hit the “Edit” button in the top right corner of your post and add what you want. Do not make a new post.
• Grammar, Punctuation, and Proper Capitalization/Spacing are going to be looked at MUCH more closely. Please make a concerted effort to make your posts clean and readable. If we have to warn you too many times, we will eventually be forced to add a warning point to your account. If you get too many of these warning points, your account will be suspended. It's not that hard to use a spell-checker, and it will save you and others a lot of grief.
• No posting of sexually explicit (or illicit) content. The site rating is PG-13. Mature content is not allowed.

Spam is one thing that will not be tolerated by the AU Admin and its moderators. All points above (aside from the second) are considered to be spam. Do not continually post just to up your count. If you are found to be doing this, your post count will be returned to zero.

If you wish to say something Out of Character within a roleplaying thread you can do it two different ways:

(OOC: Text Here)
[OOC] Text Here [/OOC]

Signatures

Signature images may not exceed 500x200 (width and height respectively). This is the absolute maximum and is non-negotiable. If you have an image larger than this, the AU Admin will remove it. You have a set character limit for signatures, too, so there are only so many letters and spaces you will be able to cram in there. Please do not use any swear words in your signatures. If you are found to have something inappropriate in your signature, it will be removed and a warning will be issued to your account.

Roleplaying

• Do not roleplay another character from the Ardnieu University forum. Quite simply you need to allow characters to make their own decisions and actions. You cannot make them for it.
• You are not allowed to roleplay the actions, thoughts or words of a Harry Potter Character.
• Not every character at Ardnieu University can do anything and everything. Power tripping is NOT allowed here, and anyone caught doing so will be one step closer to getting himself or herself expelled from this site.
• Threads created for the purpose of RPing one of your characters exclusively against the other character are prohibited. This is not only pointless (as you would only be RPing with yourself), it promotes unfair practices where post count is concerned.
• ACT YOUR AGE. Your characters are supposed to be college students, 17 years of age or older! That doesn't mean they shouldn't have fun, but it does mean that they should have a certain amount of maturity in the way they handle themselves.
• We no longer allow any bloodtypes other than Muggleborn, Pureblood, or Halfblood (a.k.a half-wizard, half-muggle). There will be no new full or partial Veelas, werewolves, vampires, elves, etc. allowed to be portrayed as characters at Ardnieu.
• Do not post exclusive threads on a regular basis. Though they are not prohibited entirely, these types of threads are discouraged, and should be avoided as much as possible. That said, when you start an untagged thread, you do so with the understanding that an others may join in at any given time. The only exception is when a thread is started by a member of the Admin for a very specific purpose (such as Quidditch threads, which will always be exclusive to the team players to avoid disruption of the matches).
• Please see this thread and this thread for more details on good roleplaying.

Legal Stuff
Due to legal requirements the following guidelines have been put in place:

• People under 13 may not join AU. This is not only our rule, it is also part of the Invisionfree terms of service. We are not responsible for any misrepresentations of age, and will immediately terminate any account belonging to any person(s) who are not of the legal age limit.
• People under 17 may not post or link any photos on this site without prior parental permission.
• Links to sites with content above a PG-13 rating must contain a warning to younger members. AU is not responsible for the content of other sites. If you click a link that takes you away from AU, you do so at your own risk.
• Posting your phone number, real life address, or any other personal information is not allowed due to privacy and security issues.

General Rules

• If you need a name change or anything requiring Admin approval, please contact one of the Chancellors.
• Please respect those who hold a higher power to you. When warned, do not retaliate and make the situation worse for yourself.
• When editing a post, all moderators are required to “stamp” it with their name and reason as to why it’s being edited.
• And the most important rule...HAVE FUN!! If you're not having fun, then there's either an issue that needs addressing, or you might not be cut out for Ardnieu University. Make sure that you are keeping things in perspective... Real Life comes first!

By registering and retaining a membership with Ardnieu University of Magic, you agree that you have read and understand these rules, and promise to abide by them, or accept the consequences if you do not.