Forum Rules!

There are just a few rules to get you started on the boards; please read them all carefully before you begin posting!

• You must be at least thirteen years old to join the forums. This is in accordance with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act). If you are under thirteen years old, YOU MUST get your parents to sign THIS (click to launch) permission form before you sign up for the site. It must be printed and signed with a pen. You can have your parents post or scan and email the form to Adam (the e-mail address is on the form) and we will be happy to have you aboard. We want everyone to be informed. If we find you are underage, we will be forced to ban you until we receive parental permission for you to participate. If you require a posting address to submit your form, please send a PM to lessthanthree.
  
• ONE account per person. Do not create another account to impersonate someone else or cause trouble. The forum software allows us to see your IP address, which means we can usually detect when there are multiple accounts on one computer. We realize that you may have siblings, friends, etc. who share a computer with you when posting on the forums, so we will make an exception if you let us know BEFORE registering another account. Understand that if ANY of these users cause trouble on the forums, ALL of the associated accounts will be held responsible.
  
• Please follow all of our guidelines for posting etiquette. Keep everything PG! Wicked is a family-friendly musical, and thus Witches of Oz is a family-friendly forum. We know some of your favourite musicals, like RENT, cover some adult content, but we’d like to think you can be mature enough to discuss them without being vulgar. Keep cursing and sexual content to an acceptable level! FANFICTION must be flagged with a WARNING if it contains content above a PG level! See below for more about WoO's expected etiquette.
  
• DO NOT spam to raise your post count! Spam includes but may not be limited to: one word or one-smiley posts [or posts containing ONLY smilies], unsolicited advertisements for things not relating to Wicked, and cross-posting the same message into more than forum. Spam will be deleted at the moderators’ discretion, and we do also keep a list of spammers. We ask that all posts be at least FIVE words in length. If your post has fewer than five words, it runs the risk of being deleted by a moderator.
  
• Please use the SEARCH feature to check to see if your post has been made before! Duplicate posts may be locked or deleted due to the large nature of the forums, as they may push fresh posts to the bottom of the heap. The SEARCH button is on the green toolbar at the top, and it will allow you to search the whole forum by keyword.
  
• No discussion that condones illegal activity! In other words: No bootlegs. This includes, but is not limited to: linking to illegal videos on YouTube, posting pictures and multimedia that were taken illegally, or asking members if they have any bootlegs. You may not use bootlegged material in your avatars and banners.
  
• Do not hotlink images - this means, if you find an image on the web and would like to post it, you should upload it to your own webspace instead of posting it directly from the source. Some acceptable websites for this are photobucket.com and imageshack.us.
  
• SIGNATURES! Due to the size of the forum and loading times we must ask that you keep your signature banners at a *maximum* size of 500px wide, and 175px tall. Only ONE image per signature, please! If your signature is made up of entirely avatars, we will allow up to FIVE 100x100 avatars in a single row. In addition to images, you may have up to two lines of text. If your signature does not have any images in it, you may have up to ten lines of text. If one of your images is animated, we ask that the animation have 15 frames or fewer. If your signature is too large, it may be deleted by an administrator.
  
  Below is a template for the biggest banner that you are allowed. Of course, smaller ones are perfectly acceptable too.
  

  

Witches of Oz Expected Etiquette

Here at Witches of Oz we try to keep things running smoothly to make sure everyone has a good forum experience. You can greatly help us out by following a few simple guidelines when posting:

• Please make an effort to keep all discussions on-topic. Try not to send threads off in random tangents that are ultimately irrelevant. Personal discussions, arguments, courtships, etc. will NOT be tolerated in the public forums.
• In the past we have had several problems with conflicts between users. Personal attacks will not be tolerated anywhere, at any time, for any reason – we welcome varied opinions and discussion on WoO, but not flaming and fighting. Do not deliberately post to instigate, annoy, or otherwise provoke a reaction from another member. If you are joking, please make that clear BEFORE the problem arises.
• To follow up, do not be one to "fan the flames" in a conflict or argument. You may think you are helping, but the more people become involved, the more difficult it is to settle down. If you feel that you are being attacked, IGNORING your pursuer is the best solution. PM a moderator if you ever need assistance.
• We do not tolerate ruthless criticism of individuals (be they performers, users, or other public figures), commonly known as bashing. Conversely, you must understand that a negative opinion is not necessarily bashing. Difference in opinion is a beautiful thing, but please state your opinions maturely and respect the opinions of others.
• Rumour, Speculation - Innuendo - Outuendo - At WitchesOfOz we are proud to say that our members have some of the most current Wicked information on the web! However, rumour and speculation can at times prove to be problematic on the boards, so if you have something to post, realize that moderators may, at their discrection, choose to edit, lock or delete your post if:
  

  1. They believe it is a violation of privacy or confidence for the cast-member in question.
  2. The rumour is unsupported or malicious.

  
  Here at WoO we discourage gossip, so unless it comes from someone officially affiliated with Wicked and you can reveal the source, it isn't recommended you post it. We're all here because we love Wicked, and we insist upon respect for one another AND the cast members. Thanks for understanding!
• If you feel that a fellow member is breaking a rule or otherwise misbehaving, you can report his or her post to a moderator by clicking on the button at the bottom-left corner of the post. Please provide a detailed explanation when doing this. This will send a PM to all of the moderators so that one of them may take action. We truly appreciate when you do this, because we don't always have time to keep track of every single thread on the forum.
• Lastly....be cooperative with your moderators! They are not here to pick on you, just to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you feel that something is unfair or unjustified, then by all means speak your opinion, but as with ALL members: be respectful, not fresh.

Warning Procedures
Unfortunately, there are times when the moderators will have to take action with a particular user (or a group) for behavior that is disruptive to the boards. Here is the course of action you can expect from a moderator, which may vary depending on the severity of the issue:

• Edited post/verbal warning: For minor infractions, a moderator may edit your post if its content is not appropriate for the boards. If this is the case, a message will appear at the bottom of the post with the reason for the edit. Otherwise, a moderator may make a post in the same thread addressing the issue.
• Private warning: If you have been habitually breaking the rules or otherwise behaving inappropriately, you will receive your first official warning in a private message.
• Post Preview: If you have been consistently disruptive and/or have not been making a visible effort to change your behavior, the moderators may choose to have your posts previewed. This means that all posts you make must be screened and approved by a moderator before they are visible to the rest of the forum. At the moderator's discretion, you may be on preview either for a fixed amount of time, or indefinitely; it is your right to know which is the case. If the latter, you will be removed from screening when the moderators feel that your posts will no longer cause trouble to the boards.
• Temporary ban/final warning: For serious infractions, you may be temporarily disabled from posting; the duration of which is at the discretion of the administrator. When you return from being temporarily banned, your posts will most likely be screened indefinitely. Consider this to be your final warning. Do NOT try to work around the ban by registering a second account--if this is the case, you will surely be banned permanently.
• Permanent ban: While we hope we won't have to resort to this, if it seems there is no hope for reform, you will be permanently banned from posting on the boards.

As mentioned, these consequences are flexible; for more severe violations, one could be placed on preview or even banned immediately. However, we want to make sure that this system is as fair as possible, so if you have any questions or concerns (especially if you feel that you are not being treated fairly by the moderating team) please feel free to ask them.

Thanks for your cooperation and happy posting!

-WoO Staff

Updated - September 7th, 2008