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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 8:37:13 GMT 10
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RULES AND GUIDELINES Hello and welcome to The Hogwarts of Zap. Before you start posting on our fabulous Harry Potter RPG site, please take the time to read the guidelines posted in this forum. It may look like a lot but there's some very helpful information and important rules. By reading them now, you may save yourself some grief in the future. It won't take long - if you read extremely fast that is.
These rules have been implemented for the betterment of The Hogwarts of Zap. Violation of these rules will result in and is not limited to:
• detention • loss of house points • restriction of posting privileges • suspension • expulsion • banishment from the site
Please keep in mind that any ruling made by a Professor or a staff member on the site is final, and is to be abided by. If you have a problem with a professor or any member that you feel can't be brought up to them directly, please send an inquiry to a moderator.
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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 8:47:24 GMT 10
WHAT IS HZ? The Hogwarts of Zap is a place for people of all ages to come and roleplay in the world of Harry Potter. Members create characters that begin as young witches or wizards about to begin their education at Hogwarts. Once past the Sorting Hat, they can take classes, play quidditch, duel, interact with their fellow students throughout Hogwarts castle, and even experience Death Eater attacks. Periodically, members are also chosen to play professors and other staff characters when there is an opening.
We strive to be the most canonically plausible Harry Potter RPG on the net and will update the site according to the information gradually revealed by JK Rowling. As such, our rules are built to prevent elements that clash with the information in the books. You won't find any long lost sisters of Harry Potter or hobbits on HZ.
The site was originally created by Luna Lovegood (TBHLunaLovegood) who hired the moderators you see on this board.
All characters, trademarks, and references from the books belong to JK Rowling, et al. Original characters, custom graphics, and original content belong to The Hogwarts of Zap (currently housed at zaphogwartsforum.freeforums.net). No profit is being made by this site and no copyright infringement is intended.
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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 9:02:54 GMT 10
CODE OF CONDUCT All members are expected to abide by the following rules to keep our community a fun place to be. We will not tolerate the presence of troublemakers. Violations may result in suspension or banishment from the site.
• Be civil to your fellow role-players. There is no call for rudeness or personal attacks. All members should be shown respect no matter what their position is on this site, whether they are a moderator, a house elf, or a brand new member.
• HZ is strictly PG. To respect the source material and for the protection of our youngest members VH is a PG site. The posting of any innappropriate material will be taken extremely seriously by the moderators. You will not be allowed to participate if you cannot respect this rule.
• Content that is sexual in nature is expressly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: sexual jokes, blatant sexual statements, offers of cyber sex, descriptions of sexual activities, sexually explicit images, links to sexually explicit or graphic sites. Innuendo is allowed within reasonable limits, as long as everyone can keep a level head about it. In a nutshell: Don't push it.
• Roleplaying snogging (making out, french kissing, etc) is not allowed in any area at HZ. "But there was tons of snogging in Half-Blood Prince!" you might protest. Well, while JKR can offhandedly say that Ron and Lavender were "locked in a kind of vertical wrestling match," two people interactively roleplaying a snog are never so cleverly concise and things get out of control. If you wish to show your affection for someone, only hugs, simple kisses, or hand-holding are allowed.
• Excessive violence, gore, suicide, or self-mutilation are prohibited. While conflict and a certain amount of violence are central to some plotlines involving the Death Eaters, members must be careful not step over the line into explicit gore and horror movie territory. The roleplaying of suicide or self-mutilation may result in immediate banishment. Please, keep reading.
- HZ is a place people come to escape. This means those with a difficult life in the real world also want to escape the difficulties they face on a day to day basis by playing in a fantasy world. This goes for any chronic illness as well as certain other RL problems. Using a chronic illness, a disability, a mental illness just so you can be different on a Harry Potter Role Play site is offensive to those who deal with these issues on a day to day basis, or who watch loved ones go through them.
- Every year in the history of this site, we have been witness to at least one (attempted) suicide of a character, some instances in which it was strongly hinted or fully RPed out that a character was trying to solve their problems by inflicting pain on themselves (e. g. cutting) and several other forms of making a character unique. Let it henceforth be known that anyone who tries to kill their own or someone else's character shall be banned immediately. No discussion. The incident will be magically erased from every other character's memory and will never have happened. Whenever we have to read that a character is performing self-mutilation, the least they'll be in for is a severe warning and a suspension if not a straight-away ban. This is often a form of mental illness, and can set off those who suffer from it when they read about it.
- We have noticed a trend towards characters with disabilities, and from our experience the disabilities are only there to create drama for a little while until the character's puppeteer grows tired of it and miraculously gets healed. Should your character be blind or deaf or or mute or anything else before they come to Hogwarts, you have the option to either have yourself healed immediately in the Hospital Wing or to keep the disability forever, which would probably be the end of your career at Hogwarts. In other words, a deaf, mute, and/or blind person would not be able to cast spells. Period. This will not be debated; there will be no exceptions.
- We'd like you to take note that mental illnesses, e. g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and similar issues, are not the way to make your character unique. Some of our users may have family members who suffer from something like this and might find it extremely insensitive how you depict such an illness and use it as a means of having fun with your character. Those who insist on RPing with any of these illnesses run the risk of suspension or banning.
- This site is not the place where we want to read about characters who were abused in any shape or form. We trust that you can find other ways of making your character unique than to treat something as terrible as child abuse so lightly and casually in your RPs. A lot of children suffer from abuse every day, and it has an impact on them far into their adulthood. They don't need to see anyone using the "my character has been abused by <insert name> and that's why s/he's so aggressive/shy/whatever" plot line. Those who insist on graphically exploiting the bruises, the beatings, the yelling, the degrading, or any forms of abuse will be handled as the mods see fit.
• Student characters and children are not allowed to drink alcohol nor smoke, no matter what their age. While it's by no means encouraged, adult staff characters are allowed to drink alcohol and/or smoke but must be conscious of the immense responsibility that comes with their position. Roleplaying the use of illegal drugs and other forms of addictions is not tolerated at all, no matter what your position at HZ is.
• Profanity and vulgar language are not allowed. Please do not swear in any of your posts on the boards or in the chat. Hell, damn, bloody, bugger and effing are allowable, as they are in the books, but don't overdo it. Posts containing other expletives whether picked up by the language filter or not, will be edited to get rid of the language and points may be taken. (Note: Replacing a letter of the word with a symbol to bypass the filter or leaving off a letter or two will not exempt you from punishment.)
• No netspeak, spam or 'shouting'. Please refrain from the use of netspeak, spamming, and typing entirely in capital letters. Be mindful that not all users of HZ originate from an English speaking background, and that netspeak cannot substitute for proper English.
• Members are never to post or request any personal information on HZ. Members who are silly enough to post their real names, addresses, phone numbers or any other such information on HZ will be BANNED. Members who use HZ to collect the personal information of other members will be BANNED. This may sound harsh, but try as we might, we cannot keep all the creeps on the internet away from HZ. We will not allow people who willingly make themselves vulnerable to them on our site. Visit Netsmartz or a similar site to learn more about internet safety.
• The usage of drag and drop dolls and gifs is strictly prohibited. Drag and drop dolls (often referred to as "Candybar" dolls) often use copyrighted/stolen materials to create their dollmaker, and because we cannot police and source each maker, we would prefer if you got your dolls personally made by a graphics artist on HZoT.
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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 15:02:45 GMT 10
SCHOOL YEAR • A HZ year consists of two terms that last 8 weeks each. There is a one or two week break in between the terms and a two or three week ‘summer' break, depending on the circumstances. During that time, the Homes and Holidays forum will be opened to all students to roleplay their time away from school. But beware, the forum will close when school resumes.
• As each HZ year passes, your student will advance to the next year. In years 1 through 4 you will advance no matter what your perfomance in class is like. In 5th year you will take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels (OWLs). If you don't pass at least one OWL, you will not advance into 6th year and have to repeat 5th. In your 7th year you will take your Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests (NEWTs) and graduate from The Hogwarts of Zap.
CLASSES • Without classes, The Hogwarts of Zap would not be The Hogwarts of Zap! As it is in the Harry Potter books, classes are only for students. Unsorted members of this site will have to wait till they are sorted.
• At the beginning of each HZ year, you will be given a timetable for classes. The timetable is usually pinned in your house's common room forum. Please check your timetables for information on which classes you have in which term, according to your year.
• In your Third Year, you must choose at least two elective classes. The electives are: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Muggle Studies. Choose wisely as you may drop electives later on, but you may not pick up another one instead. Take a peek at the electives early on so you'll have enough time to weigh your options.
• Posting attendance for classes is mandatory, unless the professor gives more specific instructions. Attendance is a 50 word roleplay pertaining to the lesson. The professors work very hard at their lessons, and by attending their lessons you can show that you appreciate their work and give them a warm fuzzy feeling. Even better, do the homework. They're fun! You can learn alot about your character by doing your homework.
• All grades and punishments pertaining to a particular class are up to the professor's discretion.
• Plagiarism is not allowed on this site. Do not copy information off the web or anywhere else and present it as your work. If you are caught plagiarising work, whether it may be directly quoting someone else's work, or not including resources and references, you will automatically lose 50 points from your house and be subjected to further discipline. This also goes for claiming that you created a picture that you didn't actually make yourself, forms that someone else wrote or anything else along those lines.
• Check in your teachers' offices and classrooms for more detailed instructions concerning their classes, grading system, absences and more.
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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 15:07:44 GMT 10
THE HOGWARTS OF ZAP'S IN CHARACTER RULES aka: The Rules of the School
Dress code: 1. While classes are in session, the school uniform must be worn at all times. The jumper and pointed hat are optional. No modifications to the uniform are allowed. 2. Casual attire may be worn only on weekends. 3. Skirts may not be worn shorter than one inch above the knee; heels no higher than 1 1/2 inches.
Curfew: Students are restricted to their house common rooms and dormitories between 9pm and 6am, unless accompanied by a prefect or staff member.
Conduct: The following are grounds for detention, loss of house points, or worse.
1.Disobedience or disrepect of Hogwarts Staff 2. Fighting, either physical or with the aid of magic 3. Performing magic in the castle corridors 4. Dueling outside designated areas (The Dueling Chamber or Dueling Club)* 5. The use of foul or vulgar language* 6. Entering the Forbidden Forest without permission 7. Plagiarism* or any form of cheating in class 8. Damage or theft of school property 9. Damage or theft of property belonging to other students 10. Violating the Curfew or Dress Code 11. Possession and/or use of forbidden items 12. Any type of illegal or criminal activity 13. Any other form of misbehavior deemed punishable by staff
Forbidden Items: 1.Alcoholic beverages stronger than Butterbeer* 2. Tobacco Products* 3. Any potion not sanctioned by a Professor or Mediperson 4. Magical mischief items, example: dungbombs (a full list of banned items is available in Mr Filch's office on the ground floor).
Brooms: 1. First year students may not bring their own brooms to Hogwarts. 2. Only the Flying instructor and Quidditch officials may have unrestricted access to the broom shed on the Quidditch pitch.
Hogsmeade Village: 1.Students may not leave Hogwarts grounds during the school year unless accompanied by a professor or during designated Hogsmeade weekends. 2. Students in Third year or higher may visit the nearby village of Hogsmeade on designated Hogsmeade weekends if they a provide a permission slip signed by their parents or legal guardian. 3. As representatives of the school, students are reminded to behave appropriately in Hogsmeade. The privilege of visiting the village may be revoked for any reason.
During the Holidays: Students be reminded that due to the Decree on the Restriction of Underage Magic, it is illegal for any wizard or witch below the age of seventeen to perform magic outside Hogwarts grounds. Students who break this law may face expulsion.**
OOC: The rules above are the IC rules of the school. Breaking them means your character is being naughty and they may face punishment from their teachers just as you might if you broke the rules of a real school. However, it wouldn't be realistic that no students ever misbehaved, would it? Sometimes it's good roleplaying for your character to take risks and break the rules.
You may get away with it sometimes. But just remember if you do get caught, it's not you (OOC) getting in trouble, it's your character (IC). Don't give the professors a hard time about it. It's part of their job to add to the roleplaying experience this way. Minor infractions like the above should be taken by all parties (punisher and punishee) lightly and all in good fun. Yes, house points may be taken or detentions given depending on the seriousness of the offense, but they should be considered more as roleplaying opportunities than punishments. (And know that the professors will make an effort to get those points back to your house one way or another – unless you give them a reason to not want to bother.)
* The items marked with an asterisk are also OOC Site Rules or close to them. Breaking these can get you in trouble OOC as well, so don't go there. ** Don't break this rule, please. You'll make it hard for us to justify NOT expelling you. None of you are Harry Potter.
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Post by Luna Lovegood on Jan 26, 2014 15:13:42 GMT 10
MISCELLANEOUS
• Short and pointless posts in which a student only says something along the lines of “lol,” or posts only an emoticon are not allowed. This is a roleplaying board, not a chatboard.
• An effort should be made to keep posts on topic. Also, please let sleeping threads lie. If a thread hasn't been responded to in weeks, don't bump it up to the front page unless you have a good reason.
• At any point in time a student is given a detention, they must follow the rules that Filch sets forth for that detention. Failure to do so could result in suspension of your account.
• If you make an alter ego (another student character) and you fail to keep up with them, they might not be reactivated once they go inactive. Most of the time when people ask for an alter ego to be reactivated, they simply go inactive again by the next update. And then request reactivation again. It's very annoying. If you already have one active student character you are playing, don't expect us to work to keep your alter ego alive just so you can see another common room. You do the work! All you have to do is post at least once every two months.
• Remember that The Hogwarts of Zap is for roleplaying your character's adventures at Hogwarts. Apart from questions in the Help forums, any Out Of Character posts should be made on the VH Off-Topic board, aka HZOT.
OFF-SITE BOARDS We've noticed a trend recently which seems to be spreading. Different groups are making off-site boards for Quid- practice, Year plots, Prefect plotting, House plots, and various other things.
While in theory we have nothing against these sites, we have a concern that they are linked, even if in name or subject matter only, to this site, The Hogwarts of Zap, aka HZ.
Therefore, we are posting this Disclaimer and Warning: We, the Moderators and Administration of The Hogwarts of Zap (HZ), have not approved, nor do we moderate, any of the many satellite boards which may claim to be related to HZ. We do not guarantee the PG content, nor do we moniter the safety of the members on those sites.
We would like to remind the owners of these sites (and any other site) that all lessons, rules, non-canon history, board set-up, and games (including, but not limited to, Dueling and Quidditch) posted on HZ are copyrighted and owned by the Administrator of The Hogwarts of Zap. Posting these in any form on a website not approved by the Administrator or Moderators of HZ is in violation of copyright.
Please contact Professor Jones or Luna Lovegood if you have any questions or concerns on this matter.
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