NB: For purposes of discussion, the term "IC" means "In character", (that is, you're playing a role) and "OOC" means "Out of Character" (when you are just speaking as yourself, the player-- the person sitting at the computer).

Before reading these rules, take a moment to read this commentary on them written by Yaijinden, which the management agrees with completely and has integrated as the guiding philosophy behind the way they are interpreted (Thanks for this, Yai!):

#suburbansenshi2 is not a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies stifle, entrap, and drain the energy out of things, and there is a vital element to this place whether we are being silly, or being dramatic that would be smothered if we all abided strictly by the rules. The rules that follow are specifically written to be dynamic to allow us to continue to be a dynamic environment.

Yes, the loopholes permit the ops to play favorites. This is not an inherently bad, evil, or wrong state of being. So long as all persons involved are reasonable and synchronize well with one another, there is nothing wrong with this. Does it discourage outsiders? Probably, to some degree, but it's not difficult to gain access to the loop at all; we (as the community) only ask that you be cool*, and that isn't really hard to do.

* All this means is "don't be an ass", don't read anything more into it -- Xadium

We don't treat everyone equally. We act as we see fit, not as we are programmed to the code of conduct which follows (which is realistically more of a series of suggestions on how to be cool). We have these rules because people who have not been cool have cried "But there isn't anything saying anything against it!" and creating a series of suggestions on how to be cool is the easiest way to make that known. Anyone who has paid even the least amount of attention to the policies of the owner/operator knows that he prefers to disturb things as seldom as possible, creating a more permissive environment that gives us room to do just about whatever we please, so long as we are cool.

"Justice" rendered by the ops of #suburbansenshi2 is freeform and individualized, and it shall continue to be so until we are no longer able to administer the needs of the community. If anyone feels that this is unacceptable, then tough shit. We do not ignore things, I assure you-- we permit them to be, until the line is crossed into the un-cool. Some people become un-cool sooner than others.

The Suburban Senshi and Dr. Xadium try to be as neutral as possible in the box,so they rarely take sides on an issue and try to let the users work things out on their own, which, we feel, is a more satisfactory solution than micromanaging every little user interaction. This means they hang back for most of the in-character (IC) and out-of character (OOC) fights, and don't usually try to involve ourselves in the myriad arguments between users.

Nonetheless, there are times when the situation warrants direct involvement to resolve problems or stop things from getting out of hand. When this occurs, the System Operators (OPs), as designated by the red "@" in front of their name, may be required to intervene.

As of this date, the current OPs are, in order of seniority:

Doctor Xadium
@spiritflame
@D0CT0R XADiUM
@Dr. Xadium
@Sakura Xadium Aino
@SpeedRcrX


Shaldra Darkness
@MidnightRONIN
@Diamond Dice Darkness
@Shaldra Darkness
@Darkness
@Darkness Kusanagi


Ikari Shinji
@Ikari Shinji


Indigo
@Indigo
@Mango


Wolfwood
@Wolfwood


Michael Dembeck
@Michael Dembeck


Elected OP of the people:
Raihosha
@Raihosha

THE WORD OF THE OPS IS LAW.
Do not defy the OPs and expect to be treated nicely afterwards.
There is no appeal to any users but the OPs.
THE JUDGEMENT OF THE OPS IS FINAL AS TO WHETHER ANY USER HAS BROKEN THE RULES.

Chatbox Rules

Heavy innuendo is fine. Activity of that kind in #ss3 will require prior authorization by the OPs. Also, No constant tongue sucking. Innuendo, while allowed, cannot go on forever in channel to the point where it becomes channel Spam. Instant Messengers exist for a reason, people.

Godmoding, defined as imposing one's will on another character (i.e. using magic to make them nude or chibi) without their consent, is expressly forbidden. Get permission from a player OOC or IC before doing something to their character that would get you thrown in jail IRL-- unless they attack you first.

This also includes reverse godmoding, i.e. saying someone broke your arm if they just tapped you.

Simulated or actual rape is also expressly forbidden.

Thou Shalt Keep OOC and IC separate with /SETOOC or /OOC, and Thou shalt Insult the Character, not the Player.

In Role Playing situations, it is inevitable, expected, and to a small degree encouraged for dramatic purposes that simulated hostilities will arise. What is NOT acceptable is for these to spill into OOC disparagements of other players. Out-of-character matters dealing with the PERSON BEHIND THE CHARACTER need to stay outside of the chatbox.

a) In-character critiques of other's behaviour should be calm and reasoned (assuming it's not part of an RP situation (For example, insulting the Spore is a SPORT not a debate event)).

b) Some people make their RP characters such a close mirror of their Real life personas that any attack or critque might be deemed OOC. In that case, a critiques are permissible as long as it's made clear THE CHARACTER and NOT THE PERSON BEHIND IT are being talked about.

c) If a user has something to say about the person BEHIND a character, they are requested to use the chatbox pit or some other forum that is not the chatbox.

For the reasons stated above and to avoid confusion, users must use the /OOC or /SETOOC /UNSETOOC commands to make their out-of-character speech plain.Users are allowed to have OOC nicks (one per player) as long as they are permanently set to /SETOOC.

I know it's annoying, hence the SETOOC command to make it easier. In a mixed RP environment like this it's important to know what's "personal" and what isn't. Right now There's no punishment on breaking this, but you will get bitched at UNTIL YOU COMPLY or we get bored. A humorous tag may apply.
Yaijinden and Ikari Shinji are exempt from this rule. Why? Because. However they are not examples to be followed. Following their example is like following an elephant with loose bowels. It can only lead to suffering.

Thou shalt NOT MAKE OOC Death Threats.

OOC Death threats fall under the category of written Death threats, which are FELONIOUS OFFENSES AND THE OFFENDER WILL BE BANNED AFTER THE FIRST TIME. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Getting others to make lesser threats on your behalf will get yourself and the threatener BANNED. Behave like an adult or go back to preschool where this sort of thing flies.

Thou shalt not "Cut", or commit Suicide or attempted Suicide in channel.

Many of the chatboxers are good friends with each other, and care about each other's feelings. Obviously, when someone comes in OOC claiming to be in great distress and wanting to kill themselves, we take that very seriously, and a lot of people spend a lot of time trying to help "talk them down".

However, when this kind of behavior gets repeated month after month after month,"the boy who cried wolf" syndrome kicks in, and people who normally would care get burned out, becoming angry and upset with the person crying out for "help" yet again.

This is dangerous, as due to the burnout caused, people become jaded. Real distress gets ignored or even mocked, and thus someone legitimately in need can get ignored and hurt because, thanks to the displays by people who aren't serious, real pleas for help come off sounding like needless drama, or worse, attention whoring.

As much as we like to think of ourselves as family here, to be honest, a bunch of like-minded fans can only do so much, and they aren't trained to help you. We're human-- we get tired and jaded of seeing the same thing over and over.

This may sound cold but if your life is so messed up you have to keep crying out in a chatroom for help, then you *need* to seek professional assistance.

There are anti-suicide hotlines and professional volunteer groups who specialize in comforting, counseling and re-orienting people to focus on what's truly important in life, free to you. Your college, university or high school has counselors whose sole job it is to keep you grounded and centered.

It can't be stressed enough: If you have serious problems get serious help from people qualified to give it.

The internet CANNOT SAVE YOU. WE CANNOT SAVE YOU.The most we can do is pat you on the back and tell you to hang in there. And after a while even the most helpful soul gets sick of having to do it, because honestly it's not our job. We're not counselors, we're not therapists.

There are always dark nights of the soul-- most of us here have faced them. If you're in serious pain, call out. You have that option, once. Take that time to get contact information for the people you rely on so next time you don't need the channel to get in touch with them, because you won't have a second public chance. After that, take it private, and please GET REAL, PROFESSIONAL HELP, because we DO want to you to get better.

If you don't take it private, there will be consequences up to and including banning. Because no chatroom is worth killing yourself over, and if it's breaking you that badly, you don't need to be here and we don't want to hurt you by keeping you here.

Thou shalt not drama bomb. If you decide to publically drama bomb and walk out on the channel, you'll be held to your word.

This rule applies to those of you who occassionally choose to have fits and scream OOC "That's it, I'm leaving forever!" and then come back 15 minutes later all smiles.

No. Just no.

Because in those intervening 15 minutes, everyone else around you has to deal with the resultant orgy of back and forth "OMG how could you let this happen to ______" and replies like "Who the [BLEEP] gives a [BLEEP]".

And it's too much;

Especially when you come back and make like nothing happened, giving a big smack in the face to everyone who was left behind having to deal with the raised blood pressure and headaches you caused.

If you want to go, GO. But we're not going to tolerate gang warfare in the channels and forums because you decided to have a "moment". From now on, if you say OOC you're leaving forever, you better mean it. And if you have problems sticking by your word, we will cheerfully help you out. The door. Literally.

Thou shalt keep what goes in the Forums Pit in the Forums Pit. You are not to bring anything that belongs in the Pit into the chatbox. At all. You MAY however post in the box to remind pit thread participants to reply to pit threads.

Lately we've been seeing outbreaks of things in the chatbox that shouldn't be in there at all. Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to reintroduce to you a wonderful little section of the forums that we like to refer to as "The Pit."

The Pit was invented so that if users had any issues,problems, and yadda yadda, they could address them there and not in the chatbox. Yet somehow Pit topics keep getting discussed in the box, which is unacceptable.

If it belongs in the Pit, it damn better be in there and not in the chatbox.

<Yaijinden> My god man, if you are going to spam, BE FUNNY.

For OOC stuff out of the box, we have a forum and a PM system that makes it real simple for you to leave messages to people you want to talk to. Use them. We mean this. If you want to talk to another chatboxer use your cellphone, another chatroom, your email or whatever, but stop spamming our channel to hook up with people or to find out the status of art requests, etc.

OPs shall be free to take unilateral action in interpreting these rules or bending them as the situation warrants, with the proviso that they can lose Operator status at the dictat of the site operator or if a majority of OPs decide an OP has stepped over the line and can show beyond a reasonable doubt that this is the case.

Situations are by their nature flexible, and part of the power of responsibility is knowing when to extend, ignore, bend or break the rules that have been set down, as well as when to take action beyond them. If they think an OP is going to far, users can bring the possible matter of an OP overstepping themselves to the other OPS and requesting a public discussion / vote among OPs in the forums.

A forum thread will be created in which all current OPs can discuss the violation and proposed punishment. This will be public to ensure transparency of process unless the matter is too sensitive for the public eye. The public will be forbidden to post in these threads unless specifically authorized in the thread by an OP.

All current OPs must vote "yea", "nay", or "abstain" as to effecting punishment according to their conscience and belief. The Suburban Senshi OPs will abstain unless abstentions of other OPs creates a tie OR the matter concerns OP discipline. The decision will be determined by majority vote of the OPs. Sentence will be carried out by @spiritflame unless otherwise specified. OPs will be punished more harshly than regular users because they are OPs. Decisions of the OPs determined in this manner are NOT appealable to anyone.

As the proprieter of this corner of the Internet, I reserve the right to take action as I see fit to ensure the safety and well being of this site and the inhabitants thereon. Xadium's addition: Kryten's site URL is NOT to be posted anywhere on this site. That's an instabanning offense.

These aren't rules, but insights into the way the management thinks about certain things. Certain users will be named only by way of example.

1. What is #suburbansenshi2 and WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!

#suburbansenshi2 is a place for fans of Suburban Senshi, and indeed anyone else in general, to congregate, relax and chat or engage in Role playing (or do both at once, in most cases ^_^)

You will find within it fans of anime, manga, science fiction, comics, video games, RPGs, classic literature and more. It's not uncommon to have dark gods arguing with Green Lanterns watched by Time Lords and battled by Space Marines all within the tiny confines of the channel. Granted, there is a heavy Sailor Moon focus, but that's not unexpected, since Suburban Senshi has its roots in Sailor Moon.

One of the problems with all this diversity is that sometimes people don't know who you are in terms of character (especially if your characters are made up or derive from "less mainstream" anime or manga. To overcome this problem, which has gotten some users in hot water (Poor Kakyuu, for example, who has a slew of them from the manga Demon Diary, something NO ONE picked up on until she mentioned it, but by which time she had taken flack for having characters which seemed to be coming out of the blue randomly)) the management suggests you avail yourself of the Suburban Senshi Wiki where you can read up on other characters' backstory and descriptions and even add your own.

2. TALKING IS NOT FIGHTING, PEOPLE.

One time, Jedite and Yaijinden were talking about "eating" the child of Solarchos and Shaldra. That would have been a violation of the P-Kill rule HAD THEY DONE ANYTHING.

As it was, they were just mouthing off and doing things like donning a bib and such. At NO time did anyone actually even MOVE to attack the kid, yet they got shot at.

People yelled out for the fighting to stop. THERE WAS NO FIGHT.

Learn to distinguish between talking and actual RP violence.

Granted, since it's all done with text it seems like all actions are threatening, but they really aren't. Posing and acting cocky happens A LOT in the chatbox.

Don't assume there's a fight happening until someone throws a punch (or a blast or whatever).

3. Attention Whoring (AWing) SUCKS:

Over the years this box has seen characters enter whose angst was not only their sole personal motivation, but who operated on the implicit purinciple that their suffering was supposed to be the focus of *other* players motivationn, whether those players liked it or not.

Management's thoughts on this: "Attention Whore" is not a pretty name, but wallowing in angst and specifically working up the community into two distinct camps of "Oh god, you poor thing, let's sit here and mollycoddle you through your latest crisis of incredible magnitude" vs. "this is the third time this week! For the love of god stop this [BLEEP] already!" and watchign chaos ensue as the who factions have it out isn't pretty either.

Currently there is no rule against AWing it other than the general frustration of the community, (as the behaviour is somewhat nebulous to pin down except in the case of one or two extreme individuals) but there may be some kind of aggravation tag assigned to AWs in future, just because some people NEVER LEARN.

4. We dont' / wont' control what happens to you outside of this box unless you bring it in here.

The management does not (and could not, anyway) regulate what can or cannot be said by someone outside the box. Whatever is said outside the box is the user's business.

If what a user says about another user outside of the box causes a blowback in the box, it falls under the jurisdiction of the OPs, and they will deal with the situation as they see fit, taking context and circumstance into consideration.

5. OPs are there to listen, but ultimately work for me:

This is taken from a discussion here which mirrors my feelings on the matter to a point:

"There have been complaints about the OPs not representing the people. The OPs are there to represent ME, not the rest of the channel...[acting on] my behalf, according to my wishes, or in the channel's (or it's... visitors') best interest."

I have allowed for one OP to be elected by the people, but that is the limit, to act as a potential balalnce against a situation where myself and my appointed OP are perhaps being too stubborn or non-objective. (Elections for OP of the people will be one day after US Election day every year. )

But in the final analysis, it is still, and always will be MY CHANNEL which I will ultimately be held responsible for, so if I feel the need to take an action that might be seen as against the general opinion, I will-- but I will not do so lightly or without full disclosure and explanation as to the reasoning behind my actions.

If the OPs decide a rule has been broken, the offendor will be "tagged" by rei.bot as deemed appropriate, and the other chatbox users will be free to have at the offenders in any way they want, free from the rules (aside from the P-rape provision) or until the OPs feel that in their discretion, things have gone out of hand. The punishment is deemed to have ended when rei.bot "lifts" the "tag" on the offendor. After the tag is lifted the user must be treated with respect by the other users.