Da Rules

I’m sorry that I have to keep taking up space with these announcements, but this will be the last one for a while. I swear.

First off, surely you have noticed some of the drama taking place on the official site blogs and the PLB website. It’s all very unfortunate, but I do not wish to bring the controversy over here. As such, there will be a few policy changes to ensure as little controversy as possible. And unfortunately, some rules. Most of these are common sense, and I don’t think we will ever have to worry about one of our members breaking them. However, I hope to make everything clear from the start, especially for the off-site visitors who wish to comment.

1) “Stay on target!”
This site is for any kind of fiction that you wish to post. It will most likely be Star Wars fanfiction that we will see, but any other fanfiction or even original fiction is certainly welcome. I will try to keep these official announcements to a minimum. That being said, don’t make frivolous off-topic posts. We come here to read fiction, so we expect to see fiction on the page.

2) “You came to the training house looking for a fight."
The point of having a site such as this is to improve our writing. You are welcome to criticize a story, but attacking the author or bashing the story is not allowed. If you’re looking for a fight, move right along. Antagonistic comments will either be deleted or ridiculed.

3) "Everybody not talking about sex, in here. Everyone else, out there."
Ratings, ratings, ratings. Every Star Wars movie is rated PG, except Revenge of the Sith, which is rated PG-13. So a good rule of thumb is the following: if it can’t go in a Star Wars movie, it can’t go on this site. I’m talking about explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, excessive swearing, etc.

Filmratings.com defines PG-13 as the following: "Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. This signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard."

The official policy here is the following: any story posted must rated PG-13 (or lower, of course). If it’s not appropriate for a Star Wars movie, it’s not appropriate here. That is to say that sci-fi/fantasy violence is fine, as long as it isn’t disgustingly descriptive. References to sex and sexuality are acceptable, so long as they are used sparingly and done with a certain amount of tact. As for swearing, do what EU or science fiction authors do -- make up a word or an expression, rather than dropping the f-bomb constantly. And here I'm referring to the "f-word" we use here on earth. "Farkled," "festering," "fierfek," "flaming," "frag," "frell," "frotz," and of course, "frak" (or "frack") are very welcome here. Oh, where would I be without "frak?"

Any inappropriate stories will be deleted. Dong ma?

4) "Oh God! I can't know that!"
If there are any spoilers for the Star Wars expanded universe or non-Star Wars universes in your stories, please say so at the beginning out of respect for readers.

5) Gah! I ran out of good quotes!
This site is meant to be accessible and open to anyone’s participation. “Non-members” (those who are not on the contributor list) are welcome to comment, provided they do so in a respectful manner. Also, if you happen to stumble upon this site and wish to submit a story, let me (Marvolo) know. I can either make you a member if you intend to be a regular contributor, or I can simply post the story for you if you email it to me. My email address can be found in my profile, so shoot me an email or post a comment on this site announcing your intentions.

This site will be open to those who wish to participate in it, but I won’t be broadcasting its existence all over the internet. I don’t want it to get too unwieldy.

6) “I don't know, should I tell you how funny you are, or post links that have nothing to do with the blog? Decisions.”
You may promote the stories you post on this site by linking to them from other sites, but don’t be obnoxious about it. Or else I’ll be forced to hand out a few Rush Limbaugh Gratuitous Self-Promotion Awards.

7) “I will make it legal!”
Disclaimer: All fanfiction stories on this site use characters, worlds, and fictional universes that do not belong to us. We are not making any profit from their use.


Those are the rules. Any questions or clarifications needed? Post ‘em here.

Also, we need a new name for this site. Something that doesn’t have OPLBFC in it. Any suggestions?

And finally, how is everyone’s entry for the challenge going? Any queries? Post 'em here.