Rules and Regulations

MODERATION

• Posts which disregard Bilge Etiquette may be deleted or edited by a Minister without notice depending on the harshness of the infringement. Poster will be warned once; a second infringement will result in a 3 day restriction; a third infringement is a week's restriction; fourth and final infringement is being disabled, don't bother coming back. Punishments may be more severe if it is clear the person is a no-good spammer who must be stopped at all costs.

• Missertrosses may be viewed by Ministers. Ministers should not spy on Missertrosses just for the sake of spying. They should have permission from the person, or at the very least, a gut instinct that someone needs to be watched in case of, for instance, spamming. Anyone caught disregarding Bilge Etiquette in their Missives may be told off by a Minister. If you receive such a Missertross, please inform a Minister. You may delete the Missertross if you wish; it will still be viewable, however, by the Minister.

CONTACTING A MINISTER WHO CAN EDIT POSTS

• If you happen across a post with any of the following, contact a Minister or Captain immediately. First, Missertross them. If they're not currently logged into the VI, try seeing if they are logged into AIM, MSN, Skype, etc. Ministers should reply to such warnings immediately by first informing the person that the warning has been received and then, dropping all else, go forth and fix the problem.

SWEARING

• Edit the repulsive word and replace it with one less repulsive. Minor British swears seem to be all right (no one's complained yet), but for full effect of the edit, words like "poot", "sugar", etc, should be used. Kindly Missertross the poster that swearing is against the rules. Level 1 warning: Next infringement is 3 day restriction.

NAUGHTY

• Remove all mention of it from the post, don't bother replacing it with anything. Delete the entire post if you must. Kissing and cuddling does not constitute a threat; innuendo should be downplayed as much as possible. Angrily Missertross the poster that that sort of thing is not tolerated on the VI. Level 3 warning: Automatic 1-week restriction. Next infringement is being permanently disabled.

>DISRESPECT

• Disrespect in OOC posts should be edited if it is offensive. Ministers are cautioned to use discretion in deciding if the post is truly disrespectful or merely disagreeable. One who asks a Minister, Captain, Officer, or anyone of rank "Why?" when one is told not to do something is not grounds for disrespect, but mere clarity (although they ought to still do as they're told before asking). Kindly Missertross the poster and explain that being disrespectful won't get them anywhere in life, but might get them a slap upside the head. Level 1 warning: Next warning is 3-day restriction.

SPAMMING

• There are several different ways to spam. Repeated useless posts consisting of "aghd" or so forth are Level 4 spam. Level 4 warning: Poster is immediately disabled. If his posts are offensive, the content will be removed.

• Constantly annoying others and acting like an idiot is Level 3 spam (Tedd Fitzpatrick). Level 3 warning: 1-week restriction, and a terse Missertross telling them to smarten up.

• Posting several times in a row, starting new threads willy-nilly, etc, is Level 2 spam. Kindly but sternly Missertross the poster to stop, ask them to be patient and think things through; be kind and gentle, as people like this could be on special medication, or worse. Level 1 warning: Next warning is 3-day restriction.

• Posting several times in a row to correct oneself or ask questions, or poke people as if the VI is a chat, is Level 1 spam, and is usually simply someone not understanding how the forums work, or an excitable younger member. Kindly Missertross the poster and explain the basics of the VI's forums. If they persist, treat them as a Level 2 spammer.

• Accidentally double-posting is not spam. It's just bacon.

SPAMMING OF THE ENTRY GALLERY

• Is considered Level 2 spam, done simply for the money, by people who don't know the entries are graded by real people. Kindly Missertross them that if they want decent money for submissions, they should put some effort into something before submitting it. Depending on the

• For each gallery spammed (Art, Poetry, Riddles, Stories), the submitter may be fined 50-100 gilders EACH. Submission Graders should not take this into their own hands, but contact a Minister with the number of spam-submissions received, and by whom.

FORUMS & ROLEPLAY

MODERATION

• THOROUGHFARE: All Ministers and Captains reserve the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of the current thread in question. 42 hour grace period before post is edited by a Minister. Ministers and Captains may inform players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then.

• BILGE: All Ministers, Captains, and Thread-starters reserve the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of the current thread in question. 24 hour grace period before you may request a Minister to edit the post - 24 more hours before the Minister should be allowed to do so. Ministers, Captains and Thread-starters may inform players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then.

• ALL FORUMS: Everyone reserves the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of Bilge Etiquette. 24 hour grace period before you may request a Minister to edit the post - 24 more hours before the Minister should be allowed to do so. In the case of your character being autoed without your permission, you may inform other players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then.

• ALL FORUMS: Posts which disregard Bilge Etiquette may be deleted or edited by a Minister without notice depending on the harshness of the infringement. Poster will be warned once; a second infringement will result in a 3 day restriction; a third infringement is a week's restriction; fourth and final infringement is being disabled, don't bother coming back. Punishments may be more severe if it is clear the person is a no-good spammer who must be stopped at all costs.

• FACTIONS AND CORPORATIONS: If at all possible when alerting a Minister to a post that should be deleted or edited, please supply the Minister with a Faction Token or Stock in the corporation so that they may access the forum where the post is. Ministers reserve the right to do whatever is necessary to gain access to these forums to dispose of the offending post.

THOROUGHFARE AND VI-WIDE PLOTS

• The Thoroughfare is for VI-wide Plots, not just any old plot a Minister or Captain wants to start. A VI-wide Plot constitutes as:

• Any plot that a Minister feels will be well-received and encompasses at least half the VI's population in terms of Ministries, factions or ships. (Example, a plot that involves direct support from the MinoWar? and their immediate followers, the MinoNice and their immediate followers, the Fogeys, the Kreehold, and the crews of two ships.) Depending on the given activity status of factions and so forth, the level of supportive roles can be less. Ministers are cautioned to use discretion when starting a VI-wide Plot that isn't all that "wide". (Note that a Ministry's "immediate followers" doesn't necessarily mean, for instance, the MinoWar?'s Stoatorian Guard or the MinoNice's Unsmudgables, but rather those immediately close to the Minister, such as family, friends or those currently under their employment outside of a faction.)

• Any intership plot between two or more ships that can't be started in the Ship's messes.

SPECIES

(This addition is new, and may not be in effect until the poll in "Species?" in the OOC Bilge has come to a conclusion.)

• If the species of your Main character or Alternate character is not to be found on the List of Acceptable Species, you may find yourself being asked to change your characters back. Every player has the right to remind each-other that it is Frowned Upon to have exotic species, and players are urged to listen to such warnings before it is Too Late. If a Minister tells you you are being too exotic, it is best advised to Do As You Are Told.

• Only a few non-list species are really accepted by the majority of the VI's Ministers and players, and it is commonly agreed that in the cases of foxes and wildcats, certain types may be allowed, such as fennecs and snow leaopards. Other, larger wildcat species, such as panthers, tigers, cheetah and lions, however, are not. Do not touch the larger spectrum of the species. Do not look directly at the larger spectrum of the species. Do not submerge the species in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you -

CONTESTS

ROLE-PLAYING CONTESTS

• Anyone may start a Role-Playing Contest, so long as it is in good taste. It is generally a good idea to explain the Contest idea to an active Minister for approval. You may ask said Minister for advice on how to run the Contest, and for them to supply the Contest with reasonable prizes. Ministers reserve the right to disallow the Contest to be started or decline to supply prizes for it. Ministers also reserve the right to be too dimwitted to give adequate advice. Ministers reserve the right to delete contests started without their permission if it is in violation of Bilge Etiquette, or just plain inappropriate.

• Role-Playing Contests are restricted to the Bilge, Faction forums, or private corporation forums. They are NOT to be posted in the Thoroughfare.

• If another Role-Playing Contest is underway or about to begin, please wait until it is over (or has died off) before posting your own, UNLESS the two are so dissimilar that their co-existence will not hamper the activity of either one.

OOC CONTESTS - ART, POETRY, RIDDLES, STORIES

• Anyone may start an OOC Contest, so long as it is in good taste. It is generally a good idea to explain the Contest idea to an active Minister for approval. You may ask said Minister for advice on how to run the Contest, and for them to supply the Contest with reasonable prizes. Ministers reserve the right to disallow the Contest to be started or decline to supply prizes for it. Ministers also reserve the right to be too dimwitted to give adequate advice. Ministers reserve the right to delete contests started without their permission if it is in violation of Bilge Etiquette, or just plain inappropriate.

• Privately sponsored contests will NOT be supplied with prizes by Ministers. They are constituted as: Requests for art, poetry, etc, of one's character.

• Exceptions to this are such requests as: Odes to departed characters, group pictures of four of more characters that have something in common (such as a picture of all the current ship's cooks, etc), or contests that involve writing something that has actual value to potential readers.

• Several OOC Contests may be started at the same time. Contest-starters are urged to use discretion when starting a contest of the same type as another that is currently running. They are also urged to consider the effect that their contest will have on the activity of the VI. (If people are too busy drawing, they ain't gonna post now, are they? And that can get you lynched here.)

• Privately sponsored contests belong in the Advertisements forum, NOT the Bilge OOC. The Bilge OOC is reserved for Minister-supported contests. Be aware that if you start your contest without Minister support in the Advertisements, and it later gains Minister-support, it cannot be moved to the Bilge OOC.

ROLE-PLAYING TOKENS

• Any Minister who can do so reserves the right, on the slightest whim, to give out an appropriate amount of Role-Playing Tokens to whomever they deem worthy of said Tokens.

• The Minister of Niceties is in charge of when Role-Play Tokens are given out using the Imperial Auditor Faction's tallies, and just how many posts one must make to deserve a Token.

• The Head Auditor of the Imperial Auditors Faction reserves the right to hire or fire Auditors as he or she sees fit, and to change the way auditing (post-counting) is done, from how often it is done, to the exact auditing specifications he or she comes up with.

• Don't waste your tokens on Experience.

• Don't sell your tokens, or buy them. Well, you CAN, but it's untrustworthy; because tokens only work one at a time (one token takes up one item slot) and buying/selling sometimes lumps tokens into a single item slot...

FACTIONS

STARTING A FACTION

• When starting a new faction, several things must be taken into consideration. Need, Use and Activity. Before starting a faction, present the idea to the Herring for input. Wait at least 1-2 weeks before starting.

• NEED: There should be a need for the faction. At the time of writing, there is need for an active mercenary faction, but no need for another law enforcement faction. Also, do not create a faction simply because there is a gap in the market, or because you or someone else wants to. The VI must present a need.

• USE: The faction must have a use in Roleplaying. Example: Fogeys and Stoatorian Guards serve to regulate the Imperium's laws. MAUL serves to do the MinoMis?'s evil bidding and regulate the Imperium's crime. The Imperium Musician Association attempted to provide people a chance to perform in a band at social gatherings and parties; in this regard, it failed. A faction composed entirely of assassins will not work well. A faction composed entirely of clerks serves no purpose whatsoever. The faction must have a legitimate and logical goal for its members to strive for; a job to perform, performing it well, getting a rank raise and a bigger paycheck as a result.

• ACTIVITY: Activity is where the Want comes in. The VI may need a faction, but unless people want to be in it, it's going nowhere. Before starting a faction, have a minimum of 3 people willing to participate to make it known. Within a month, it should have another 2 members; if it is in high doubt that it will not be popular with the people, do not bother starting it.

PAYCHECKS, LEADERS, ETC

• A faction's coffers acts much like a player's pocket. To pay a faction, the leader of the faction can Send Gilders to the faction's name (spelled exactly), or they can set their pay to negative gilders (making sure it's the exact amount as the other member's paychecks combined; this will take money from the leader and give it to the members.) The faction leader can also request funding from the Minister of Commerce, so long as the faction's paychecks are not outrageous. Ministers in charge of factions may pay their own members (MinoNice and Unsmudgables, MinoWar? and Stoatorian Guard, MinoMis? and MAUL.)

• Only Retto can change the leader of a faction (the person who can edit the members' status). The appropriate Minister should contact him with the details: namely, the exact name of who should take over the faction, and the exact name of the faction itself. Under no circumstance should anyone else tell Retto to change it over to them or anyone else. If you are in possession of a faction you no longer want, contact a Minister to arrange the switch. If you want to take a faction over from someone who is inactive, contact a Minister. If you want to take a faction over from someone who is incompetent, sort it out with the faction leader; once an agreement has been made, contact a Minister. Ministers, when choosing someone to run a faction, make sure they are active and willing. Never put someone in charge of a faction without their complete consent.

• OOC Factions are another matter entirely, but one that shall not be looked deeply into here (all OOC factions, like IC factions, should be discussed in the Herring before being started.) For the most part, starting a corporation with its own private board is better off for everyone, except in the cases of such factions as the Imperium Auditors, who actually do a difficult job for the good of the Imperium and not for their own means.

• Factions cannot be deleted; spell it right the first time!

VARIOUS BUGS AND THEIR WORKAROUNDS

BUGGED STORES

• There are a certain number of bugged stores - store that have been created accidentally without a name (as the VI does not recognise when some fields are not filled out), so that they cannot be bought from, or... anything else, really. The only way to rid oneself of these is to hand the store down to another player. As such, these are passed on quite often, usually when an inactive player returns to find someone gave it to them, and so they pass it on to another "inactive". The cycle goes on forever, until the store is given to someone who truly is inactive. Or, preferably, disabled.

• If you have a bugged store, please contact a Minister before taking action. If you simply 'cannot'' wait, you may pass it on to someone else UNDER THE CONDITION YOU INFORM A MINISTER WHO YOU GAVE IT TO.

• A suggested fix for the Ministers is for one Minister to make 10 dummy accounts, using names that no one in their right (or wrong) mind would choose. These accounts are left on land, where stores can be handed down to them, and under no circumstance is the Minister to log in to these accounts once a store has been given to one. There is a thread in the Herring where bugged stores have been so far tracked (up until the last few months); this thread can be used to keep track of which accounts have a store.

(Retto says: Oh, wow, that's a scary fix. how about you just talk to me and I make it go to the nowhere place?)

DEATH

The following refers to an error that has been since fixed.

• The error on the suicide page is that the password box does not recognise any <i>input</i> password whatsoever, correct or not. The workaround is to, before death, change your password to absolutely nothing - simply go to the Change Password page, enter your current password, and then click accept without giving a new password. Then, when you go to die, you simply leave the password box alone. Since you have no password, when it's empty, it will register as being correct.

(Retto says: Has it been fixed? I think I may have, but if you find somebody who has done it, report it, otherwise, refer anyone with problems to Me)

• Death is often not permanent for some reason. After a week or so, it will reset and accounts that are labeled as "Dead. Disabled" will merely be "Disabled".

LOGIN/NAME/PASSWORD PROBLEMS

• (For the Ministers) Sometimes a person will be unable to log into their account, or their password is giving them problems, or... something.

• First check their User Information. Do they have another account, or a sibling/friend's account matched to their IP? A VI friend coming over and using their computer could automatically suspend their account, and they may require a passcode. (Or a slap upside the head if they'd been multi-accounting.)

• Check their name. Sometimes someone may accidentally put a space in their name without realising it. Try copy-pasting the name into different word editors to see if the space is copied over as well, then, if you cannot inform them outside the VI to do the following themselves, request a name-change contract for them to remove the space. Soon as the contract goes through, they can log in. (Another scenario is that they create an account with the exact same spelling - minus the space - but then they get the "Multiple users have that name!" error. Find the account with the space, change the name to something silly, and disable it, leaving their "good" account.)

• In the case of someone creating a second account with the EXACT same name (if indeed it is possible), then a you must try to access one of the accounts via the account number instead of the name. I am uncertain if this is possible. If so, request a name change contract for them, then disable the account.

• If other problems are come across in this field, please add the solution once found.

DUTIES OF THE MINISTERS, CAPTAINS, MAYOR AND ADMIRAL

CAPTAINS

• Captains are tasked with keeping their crew entertained, through roleplaying, contests, and so forth. Captains are in charge of crew discipline, promotions, giving guidance to new crewbeasts, and moderating their ship's messes and the Bilge. Captains may interpret these duties as they see fit. Captains may be told off by the Minister of War for not interpreting these duties as the Minister of War sees fit.

• Promotions: Every two weeks, each Captain is to (if they desire) submit two names to the Minister of War for promotion, based on activity, prizes for contests, etc, basically whatever criteria the Captain uses. No name may be submitted twice in a row (therefore, a minimum of 6 weeks between promotions.) The Minister of War may or may not grant permission for the promotion if he or she does not like the sound of the crewbeast's name.

MAYOR AND ADMIRAL

• The Mayor is tasked with going to fancy parties, coming up with ridiculous new laws to impose on the Imperium's citizens (informing the Minister of Niceties of them so a news announcement can be made), and keeping the On Land beasts amused through roleplaying and contests. The Mayor is also tasked with leading the Fogeys (Faction).

• The Admiral is tasked with going to the same fancy parties, coming up with ridiculous new missions for the Navy ships (informing the Minister of War of them so the ship's mess assignment can be updated), and keeping anybeast in general amused through roleplaying and, yea, contests, if they so coordinate with the Mayor and Captains.

THE MINISTER OF WAR

• Navy Promotions (Crewbeasts): Every two weeks, each Captain is to (if they desire) submit two names to the Minister of War for promotion, based on activity, prizes for contests, etc, basically whatever criteria the Captain uses. No name may be submitted twice in a row (therefore, a minimum of 6 weeks between promotions.) The Minister of War may or may not grant permission for the promotion if he or she does not like the sound of the crewbeast's name.

• Navy Promotions (Captain, Admiral): Upon a Captain's retirement (or after an unacceptable period of inactivity) it is the duty of the Minister of War to select, from any crewbeast in the Navy deemed deserving, trustworthy, and so forth, a new Captain. The character should be a logical choice (usually), and the player should be good with people, active in roleplaying, etc. If the player meets the requirements but the character does not, the player may create a new character (their current character can always be turned into an alt). While other Ministers and Captains may make suggestions, the final decision is entirely up to the Minister of War.

• Passcodes: The Minister of War is tasked with checking the Requested Passcodes every week for new requests. It is the Minister of War's decision whether to accept, deny, or delete requests. They may also put a questionable request to the Herring for discussion.

THE MINISTER OF NICETIES

• Main Page News: It is the Minister of Niceties' duty to keep the Imperium informed of important events via the Main Page News. Reasons for updating the Main Page news may be for: Notable Promotions (Captains, Admiral, Mayor, Ministers), important Plots occurring in the Bilge or Thoroughfare (not limited to VI-wide plots), the creation of new Factions, new Smelt publications, and Random Bouts of Amusement That Have No Real Bearing On Any Aspect of Reality.

• Smelt: It is the Minister of Niceties' duty to make sure the current Smelt Editor(s) are actively trying, every month, or two, or three... or four... to put out a new Smelt. If the Minister decides the current Editor(s) are failing in this regard, they may appoint someone else; or simply piece the issue together themselves.

• See RP Tokens.

• Troubleshooting: Another important role of the Minister of Niceties is to help players, new or otherwise, with their various problems, most notably the mentioned bugs in the previous section. To help certain players, sometimes the Minister of Niceties may need to dabble in other Minister's duties, such as passcodes (mainly MinoWar?'s duty.) Of course the Minister of Niceties will try to keep the other Ministers informed of their actions when such occasions arise.

THE MINISTER OF COMMERCE

• Keeping Active Graders: It is up to the Minister of Commerce to ensure that each submission category has active graders - a Poetry Grader, a Story Grader, a Riddle Grader, and an Art Grader. These graders may be any player deemed active, trustworthy and experienced enough to fulfil the job's needs.

• Something about Economy, Probably.

• Faction Pay: The Minister of Commerce is in charge of giving factions money to pay their members with, with the exception of factions run by other Ministers.

THE MINISTER OF MISANTHROPY

• Contracts: The Minister of Misanthropy is a special title/rank in that it is the only one that can approve of name change and wedding contracts. As a result, the Minister of Misanthropy cannot do many other things that other Ministers (of the rank General Superuser) can do.

THE MINISTER OF INNOVATION (Retto)

• Coding and Bugfixes: The Minister of Innovation is the only one who can edit the VI's code to impliment new features and fix bugs.

• Faction Changes: The Minister of Innovation is the only one who can change a faction's leadership. See Factions for more detail.

• Herring Access: The Minister of Innovation is the only one who can give someone access to view the Herring. Positions that should be allowed to access the Herring: Ministers, Captains, Admiral, Mayor, First Mates. Positions uncertain: Graders, Smelt Editors, Faction leaders. Positions not allowed: Anyone else.

ALL MINISTERS

• Depending on the situation and what the Ministers decide amongst themselves, they may share duties with, trade duties with, or lump duties onto, other Ministers.

• See Moderating.

• Also, they should roleplay a lot.