OOC: This manual will be written in IC (in-character) format. That is, written as if talking directly to your character, not to the player behind the character. Should it become necessary, occasionally a quote box like this one will be inserted with the letters "OOC" (out of character) to indicate that rules or instructions are considered for the player, NOT the character.

OOC Note: PottersWorld no longer has actual classes and assignments, but located in the library are some text books the handler/character may find interesting.
Student characters should take care that they do not RP taking a class that they are not allowed to yet. For example, a 2nd Year student cannot talk about taking Care of Magical Creatures.
Students are encouraged to RP their character freely talking about their classes, their homework and their professors. Located in each classroom forum is a pinned topic that has the class schedules. Students may, to a certain extent, god-mode the actions of teachers as long as it is within respectable, realistic bounds. When in doubt, please PM a staff member or go to the Your Plot forum to present your idea.

OOC: The following rules will govern class/year promotion:

• A "term" is defined as one 4-week "real life" period. (OCC: The end of a "term" will be at the moment new registrations start for the next term.) Please see the CALENDAR to see when the next term begins/ends.
  
• A student will be promoted to the next class/year at the end of the term just before registration. Please be patient! -- this must all be done manually one account at a time by the staff. We are ordinary people with real lives too, and must do the promotions when it is convenient for OUR schedules! This process MAY take 24 to complete and can be started as soon as several hours BEFORE the actual registration time begins. Typically, promotion takes place in the morning (US time) of the day registration begins.
  
• A student who is NOT promoted from one term to the next cannot claim to be an older student who "didn't pass". That student must remain the same age as the other characters in their year. (example: All First Years are 11, all 2nd Years are 12, etc.)
  
• All 7th Year students will be able to see into the Graduate Forum. This area will enable them to see what jobs are available in the Adult World.
  
• Once a student completes their 7th Year, they will be moved to the user group "Graduate". They will now be able to post an application for acceptance into the Adult World portion of PottersWorld. Be aware: NOT EVERYONE WHO APPLIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. The adult portions of the board are a place for mature players only. This has nothing to do with the player age, but on past performance, including such things as warnings, violations, attitude to staff, maturity of writing. This judgment will be ENTIRELY at the discretion of the staff. If character/player is not accepted for the adult areas, they are welcome to register another student character at the next registration period.

To help clear up confusion about the number of posts required for characters to move from one level to the next, the following chart may help answer any questions about how many posts are required for your character to advance at PW.

First year to second year - 30 posts
Second year to third year - 10 posts
Third year to fourth year - 10 posts
Fourth year to fifth year - 10 posts
Fifth year to sixth year - 10 posts
Sixth year to seventh year - 10 posts
Seventh year to graduate - 10 posts

Posts made within the last few days of term end which are obviously lacking in content will be considered spam, deleted, and not counted toward a character’s required post count in order to move from one year to the next at PW.

Any student account that does not advance a "year" after 3 consecutive terms (not meeting 10 posts) will be deleted without notice.

Any new account that has not yet reached 1st Year will be deleted by the day before the next registration period. You MUST reach 1st Year before then!

OOC: There are certain areas of the board that are not available for students to post in, but that are still visible to the students (i.e. The Staff Lounge). Though it may say 'no students allowed', if it's visible to the students, they ARE intended to read these areas. In fact you may find valuable information in these areas. If you were truely not meant to see an area, the administrators would make it invisible.

OOC: Girls can only post in girl dormitory's and boys within boy dormitory's. Posting in the wrong dormitory will result in the thread or post being deleted.

OOC: For the specifics of PottersWorld Disciplinary Policy, please read the Terms of Service.

OOC: Fights happen at Hogwarts. It would be a very boring, unrealistic board if all fighting whatsoever was banned. It is also not realistic for a group of kids to be peaceful, because let's face it -- kids fight. We as staff do not want this board to become so blah that folks are falling asleep as they read. Fights are exciting and properly managed, can enhance the drama of a group's plotline.

While fighting isn't against the TOS, there are repercussions to each fight. Make sure you realize this before getting in the middle of one.

Some things to remember about fighting:

• There is a good deal of difference between a fight between 11 yr olds and a fight between adults. This needs to be kept in mind when putting in your descriptions. Younger folks are more likely to get in to shoving matches than throwing all-out punches.
  
• Mention of blood should be at a minimum. No pooling, spouting, spurting, spitting.
• No mention of body parts or pieces flying off
  
• No sound effects of bones breaking, etc; a character can react in pain to such an injury, but let's not actually hear/see the bone breaking.

Pre-Posting (The Holding Forum)
Because there may be times when you and another player will want to write a scene that you're not sure will be in ToS compliance, you may wish to have this scene pre-viewed by a member of the staff before it is made public. We have a way to handle this.

A special forum has been created called The Holding Forum. It is hidden away from all members and only available/seeable to some members of the staff. Perhaps there is an intense fight scene or a sensitive topic that will be discussed that you are not sure should be shown to the public without first begin viewed by a staff member.

It should be stressed that such should be considered very rarely and only be attempted by those who's plotlines would hinge on such a scene. Please use the following procedure:

1. Please PM a site administrator (see Staff Contact List). In the PM, the following information must be given:
-- state your idea for the scene; be specific
-- state that you would like to have access to the Holding Forum.
-- provide the date you would like your posting to take place (a 24 hour period including the time zone)
-- give a list of the members needing to post in this topic

2. Give it time -- it may take up to 48 hours for a site administrator to reply to your PM. Be patient.
3. Once permission has been granted, you will be informed by PM. It is up to the submitter of the request to inform the other affected members.

4. At the time given, your account will be altered so that you can see and post in the Holding Forum. No one other than site administrators will be able to see into that forum. You are then free to begin posting your scene (usually you will have 24 hours to complete the scene).

5. Once completed, please PM the site administrator, telling them the scene is done. The administrators will view and judge the scene within the next 24 hours and PM you a reply as to what the judgement on the scene is. Instructions will be given to you at that time about how either the scene needs to be changed, or when it will be moved to the proper forum for public viewing.

OOC:
"Ahhh, the drama...!"
Everyone wants to have alittle drama in their lives. But be very careful in how you do this. It might do well to ask yourself these questions before taking on an angsty, dramatic role:

-- Is my character an interesting person to talk to?
-- Am I continually posting topics such as "Lonely girl crying her eyes out" or "Just wish I had one friend", and then wondering why no one stops by to post?
-- Am I asking the same questions over and over, like "What's your favorite class?" (boring!)
-- Does my character cry buckets at the drop of a hat? People generally don't want to be around characters like that.
-- Does my character visit Moaning Myrtle's bathroom more than once every day?

You might guess from these questions that the board is disturbingly filled with drama queen/king angsty teen wailing, and it's usually these characters that don't have many "friends". Sure, that's the way you may be feeling at the moment, but realize this is supposed to be a game where people are having fun, not providing a shoulder to cry on or teen therapy. There are many places in the internet more appropriate for those kinds of postings -- please don't try to fill Hogwarts with these types of characters.

"Luuuuv is in the air!"
Keeping in mind at all times that this is a 12+ board, it would do well to review the rules on male/female relationships from the ToS: see The 12+ Rule and the HP Canon Rule

Bullying
We all know that bullying is not nice. It's nasty and vile, makes people feel badly, and makes school life often terrible. However, there is great precedence in the Harry Potter books for bullying. Draco Malfoy and his cronies were known school bullies, and we believe bullying DOES have a place at PW.

However, this must be done delicately. Bullying is much more than barging into Open threads, insulting everyone in sight, or taking over a Common Room and insisting the most comfortable chair is "your chair". Following are some guidelines for bullying in PW's Hogwarts:
-- REMEMBER! The only bullying allowed on PW is IC (in character) bullying. Bullying of handlers is NOT permitted.
-- IC: NO physical abuse/bullying; no tripping, spitting, hitting as a matter of course (see the rules on proper Fighting here).
-- OOC: When deciding to bully a character, it is always polite to PM the handler and let them know this is not personal, that this is just role-playing. It will make the other player feel better.
-- IC: Verbal insults are allowed, but keep in mind our rules on forbidden topics (don't insult based on race, sex, religion, etc.).
-- OOC: Do NOT become a "stalker", a character that continually seeks out a certain character for their bullying.
-- When in ANY doubt, please PM a member of the staff (Governor or Magistrate), or apply an idea to the Private Communication forum.
-- The staff will NOT punish/enforce bullying UNLESS a member files a complaint WITH A STAFFER (not a prefect); reports and rumours by IM will not be considered a report.... a member must pluck up the courage and PM a staff member directly

"Truth or Dare" Games
Nope. They're not allowed in any form. These things never go well -- they always lead to extreme peer pressure or character bullying where someone is made to seem 'uncool' if they don't do a dare or truth, no matter how embarrassing or mortifying it is. Quite often, truth or dares lead into icky sex themes as well.

Free Period and Weekend Activities
As a note please remember that while you have free time while at school, Hogwarts is a Magical School. You do not see 'The Golden Trio' or Draco and friends practicing their dancing, violins, and guitars. The dorms are places where lots of people live and you would not want something to get lost or broken. Moreover the trunk is only so large and stretching charms can wear off quickly. There is no sure fire way to pack everything from home that you would like to bring. Lucky for you we have provided shopping lists that give you the items you will need. Like your wand, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and others spent their free time practicing their spell work! It would behoove many of you to abandon Muggle after-school activities and take a more active interest in your magical talents.

Birthday Party Rules (or any party, for that matter)

1. Open or Closed? Birthday party threads CAN be closed threads (although they can also be open); the condition of "closed" or "by invite only" can be placed in the topic comment line

2. Location? If the party is closed or by invite only, it should take place in the Unused Classroom forums only. If the party is open, it can take place in any open forum at Hogwarts (exception - no parties should take place in an active classroom). Parties should NOT take place in House Common Rooms.

3. Catering? Hogwarts house elves provide the following for birthday parties: cake (magically enough to feed all attending), beverage (water, juice, soda, butterbeer), plates/utencils/napkins, a small book for the guests to write a nice memento for the birthday boy/girl, table and chairs. Elaborate decorations or food are not permitted.

4. Student Conduct? Students should conduct themselves with decorum. No food fights, extreme pranking (a little is okay), or bizarre/strange/deadly gifts. When in doubt, apply to the Private Communications forum for prior permission. Otherwise, a party can be thrown WITHOUT permission in the Private Communications area.

4. Duration? Parties should be confined to one term only. Once a term has ended, all parties end.