General Rules
From Magical Hogwarts Wiki
Hello and welcome to Magical Hogwarts, a Harry Potter Role Playing Community! Here you will find a complete list of our rules and regulations, which we expect to be followed by all members. While there may seem to be a lot of them, they are fairly easy to follow as long as you read them, and any confusion you may have can be directed to one of the Administrators, which you will find listed here.
Please make sure to keep yourself updated and familiar with the rules and regulations, as they are sometimes updated. All rule updates will be announced before they are added to the official rules, so please keep yourself familiarized with the announcements as well. Once you have read this thread, if you are a new member, you can find a complete guide to Magical Hogwarts at the New Player's Guide.
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General Forum Rules
1. Before registering a user account with Magical Hogwarts please make sure you have read and understood our rules. We can usually tell if you have not read them and we will be forced to decline your character application.
2. We expect that you enter a valid, working email address at registration. If you do not have an email please register an account at one of the free services. Your registration will not complete with an email address that is not working. You will need your email to activate your user account. You will also need your email to use some of the services of Magical Hogwarts such as reply notification. Note that e-mail accounts that require us to be set up as part of an 'allowed list' are not permitted (ie bluebottle accounts).
3. After registering, make sure you have a valid display name. You can change this by going to your profile, and account related settings. We do not allow members to have certain canon names (Malfoy, Black, etc; for full list see List of Forbidden Names), the names of celebrities (Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet), or cross-over characters. (Sailor Moon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
4. We discourage more than 3 user accounts per computer, although more is possible as long as you keep each account active.
5. No swearing, sexual references and other offensive content outside the NC-17 section of the board. We want to keep this place nice, clean, tidy and available for adults and children all around the world. Please refrain from posting politically or religiously offensive material.
6. Please be respectful and friendly to other members and the administration of this board. We are a friendly and gentle community, we expect friendliness in return.
7. Magical Hogwarts is based on the books and works or Joanne K. Rowling. Anything that is not in the books is copyrighted by Magical Hogwarts. Please do not take anything from this site without prior permission. We are willing to share rules, graphics and software if asked, however we dislike people that just take things. Certain graphics and items here, however, are not under our copyright, but borrowed from other authors. By taking them you commit an illegal action.
8. Please refrain from spamming our website with advertisement, or sending advertisement PMs. It is fine to link to your webpage in your profile or signature, however, posting links around the forum will be punished with an instant and irreversible ban.
9. Please do not advertise Magical Hogwarts on other forums in a way that is not permitted. You are welcome to bring along friends and people you know, but please do not pester other people into joining.
10. All graphics on Magical Hogwarts must adhere to their own set of rules, which can be found in the Graphics Rules section.
Roleplaying Rules
1. Please be polite to all members. Do not confuse IC (in character) arguments/ differences with RL (real life) arguments. If you encounter a character that dislikes you this is not a personal offence but realistic roleplay. Please try to keep this difference in mind at all times.
2. Before you start roleplaying you will need to fill out a character sheet. You will not be allowed to post until we have received a complete character sheet with your details. A character sheet is important so we know who we are playing with. Instructions on character setup can be found in the Character Creation Guide. Character sheets also determine which house you will be in. The sooner you submit it the sooner the admins can approve you and you can start enjoying Magical Hogwarts.
3. Please don't play what roleplayer call a Mary Sue or Gary Stu character. This refers to characters that are flawless and simply perfect at everything they do. This is also known as godmoding. Characters with too many positive traits are boring and unrealistic and difficult to play with. Please remember that having a character with weaknesses does not say anything about you or your real life personality. It just means that you are a decent roleplayer. (remember rule 1 of Roleplaying Rules). The Administration will not approve godmode characters. Godmoding also refers to characters that are invincible, or unable to be harmed. You're going to get hurt once in awhile, it's human nature.
4. Please note that special features and magical items are rare. Therefore, not everyone is allowed to have them. Details on how to get items are explained in the Magical Item Registry in the rules board. Details on the different special features are explained in the Special Features Guide. Please note at all applications for special features take place in a special location, the Special Feature Tombola.
5. Under absolutely no circumstances you are allowed to play another persons character. You are not allowed to describe their reactions, thoughts or anything, unless you have the consent of that character. Failure to abide this rule will result in a loss of the permission to post for one week.
6. NPC's (non player characters) can only be introduced with the administrator's consent. Item and feature rules apply for NPC's as well. Please contact the admins for special permits.
7. Multiple characters are welcome in Magical Hogwarts, but please make sure you do not play too many for you to handle. More than 2 Hogwarts Students are not allowed, with canon characters excluded from this, as well as Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students and adults. Please note however that the administrators reserve the right to delete any inactive characters (not logged in for more than 3 months) without warning.
8. Please keep OOC (out of character) posts to a minimum in the RPG section of this board. Please only post VITAL OOC information. Example ((OOC this npc is approved by the admins.)). A non vital remark would be ((OOC Yes I like icecream too! ))
9. Please keep your posts meaningful. Try to act in character and use common sense. If you don't know what to reply in a topic, just don't reply and contact admins for help.
10. Admins have the last word on all roleplay matters. If we spot a rule breach we will delete the affected topic and send you a warning via PM. Please note that rule breaches have consequences, starting with losing the permission to post for 1 week.
11. Students under the age of 17 years (6th year minimum) cannot apparate. No one can apparate onto Hogwarts grounds, the spells protecting the school prevent this. Hogsmeade is not Hogwarts grounds, but the Forbidden Forest and the Lake are. Please remember this when role playing.
12. When you need to role play your character using spells, make sure you take the time to check the Spell Guidelines under the Rules & Regulations forum. This should explain what year level each spell is.
13. Your post count determines the year you are at Magical Hogwarts, and therefore, posting in classes is the primary way to raise your post count. For this reason, you should make sure to enroll and attend classes regularly. For information about posts and year go to Classes and Graduating.
14. "And mod said, let there be plot!" Please refrain from posting pointlessly throughout the forum. By pointlessly, we mean making threads that have no real purpose other than to have your character stare out a window or sulk in their dormitory. This does nothing but take up space, and it's also difficult for people to reply to.
15. Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students are eligible for First through Seventh year status. Please note however that you will be required to provide us with a sufficient background to support your age. The administration reserves the right to class you in a lower year if your background is insufficient.
16. In canon students do not leave school except for summer, winter and spring holidays, or dire family emergencies. For this reason students may not post anywhere outside of their school and it's respective village for any reason outside of holiday playtime without permission from the admins. The only exception to this rule are sixth and seventh years with jobs that require a commute. If your character is underaged, please consider realism in both how they travel, and whether or not your character's parents would allow them to wander all over Europe when the wizarding world is officially at war.
17. When changing, adding onto or altering a character sheet in any way it is now required that the sheet be resubmitted for sorting as well as a written note of what changes have been made to the sheet and whether or not your sheet is to be merged with the old one or completely replaced. This is a change from the previous unspoken policy that resubmission was only required for large changes to the personality/background. Please leave the most recently approved version of the sheet in its topic so that the administration has something to compare the resubmitted version to. Meaning… please don’t remove or modify the original post. While you may still post replies to your character’s sheet topic and add on things like EFB listings, house descriptions, family trees and the like we would prefer that the first post in any sheet topic not be modified.
Posting Rules
In RPGs posting in a different style means different things. Here are the settings for this RPG
1. Writing in CAPS and/or bold means your character is shouting. Please keep shouting to a minimum, or do you like getting shouted at in real life?
2. Writing in Italics means your character's thoughts. No person can read someone's mind on Magical Hogwarts - at least, not direct thoughts. Please refrain from doing so.
3. If you have to post something out of character mark you post with ((OOC "your text here" )) so that the person you're role playing with can distinguish what's out of character and in character.
5. Please try to write your posts from a narrator perspective. Try to keep your post readable, use the spellchecker and try not to shift tense. When using direct speech please remember to post it in present tense as if you were talking just now. Please have some mercy and use the correct punctuation.
6. Do not post if you are only going to post a couple words, (ie: *nods* or *laughs* etc, etc...) or simply one word responses (ie: "Yes" or "Okay" etc, etc...) If you don't have anything to say that isn't at least a sentence, do not say anything at all. Try to aim for at least a hundred words per post. We know that sometimes there is not much to say, but that is the exception.
7. Please do not copy and paste information from other sites to use as an RP response. Rewording of excerpts from other sites is fine as long as it is in your own words. (see General Forum Rules, rule seven, and the FAQ for information on copyrights, this applies to other sites as well as our own.)
8. Please refrain from roleplaying with yourself or generating all of your character's relationships/stories in advance. The purpose of a roleplaying game is to develop characters with other people, through storylines written by two or more individuals, including yourself. If you have a character whose story you wish to write and have a pre-selected course for their life, FanFiction might be a better option for you. We allow NPCs (within reason) for character development, but most aspects of the roleplay - such as best friends, significant others and enemies - are better advised to be played by others, for the enjoyment of all involved. The only time it is okay to roleplay with yourself is large events like Yule Balls or parties with several participants, and even then it is suggested that the contact be minimal.
Contacting the Administration
If you come across a problem, or have a question regarding Magical Hogwarts, make sure you've read our rules and our guides, and then make sure to contact the right administrator. While some of us can answer most questions pretty accurately, if you contact the person in charge of the area you're confused on, you will be guaranteed to get a correct answer on the first go, and probably a faster response.
In order to contact an administrator, send them a private message on the board with the type of problem you're having in the subject line, and a description to the best of your ability in the body of the private message. For example, please don't send us a private message reading "<NO SUBJECT>" with the body, "I can't delete messages," as it will inevitably confuse us. Instead, for such a scenerio, title the subject "Error Deleting Messages" and then explain in the body of the private message what you were doing when the error occured; were you trying to delete a PM or a post? And for questions regarding content, the format follows the same type of thing. If you have a question about Durmstrang's houses, for example, send a private message with the subject line "Question about Durmstrang Houses" and then ask in the body of the PM as clearly as you can.
But before contacting an administrator personally, make sure to read the announcements and any guide relating to your question, as if you haven't, you will probably get a link from one of us with a suggestion to read. Also, please be patient with us. The administrators are people, too. We have lives outside of Magical Hogwarts, and this is as much a hobby for us as it is for you. We will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability, and we will try our best to be nice about it. To save everyone trouble, please don't take anything we say personally; staff members are never out to get you, nor do we ever intend to hurt your feelings or upset you. Sometimes we word things badly just like you; it helps to remember that.
For a list of admins and what jobs they do, please visit the Who's Who page.
