Welcome to the Forum Rules! As your Forum God - err, I mean Moderator - it's my job to keep some semblance of order here on Mr. Weber's forums. So I need you to help me do as little work as possible. =)
Many of these rules are common sense, but it's probably good to have it out in the open so people know what I am looking for when I review reported posts. So without further ado:
1. General
Language
- While Mr. Weber writes wonderful fiction for adults, his work has been read by a wide age range of people. I expect people to keep the language used on the forums PG-13 (or whatever the equivalent is in your country). In other words, cursing is allowed if you think it is appropriate; gratuitous/excessive cursing is not.
- It is NEVER appropriate to use racial or sexual slurs, offensive derogatory terms, etc.
Flaming/Trolling
- If you need a definition of Flaming/Trolling, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_%28Internet%29
- As a discussion forum, you will inevitably find someone you disagree with. You are free to disagree with their opinion, perhaps even vehemently. You are NOT allowed to attack the person, i.e. flaming.
- Likewise, you are not allowed to create posts for the sole purpose of inciting flames, i.e. trolling. This is more of a case by case judgment call than anything else, so don't be discouraged by this rule. Bold, assertive, different topics are typically going to be fine, topics like "HONOR SUCKZ!!+1!" are not.
2. Posting and Topics
Spam
- Don't do it. 'Nuff said.
- Given the number of spam bots posting on the board, I have been forced to implement an IP address blacklist in an attempt to filter them out. I doubt this will interfere with any of the legitimate, human controlled accounts. In the unlikely event that it does, please contact me at duckk@davidweber.net to whitelist your account. Please include your account name with the request.
Off Topic Posting
- I am more than aware of how rapidly topics evolve/wander off into the weeds; I've done my fair share of it too. So long as the discussion can eventually be traced back to the topic, I'm fine with it. Do not take this as a carte blanche to post what you want though. What you ate for lunch, the weather outside, etc. is not appropriate for the topical forums. We do have a forum dedicated to non-Weber discussions, so please take it there.
Politics
- Given that many of Mr. Weber's books involve politics in some shape or form, it is inevitable that comparisons to real world politics will occur. It has been my experience on other forums that bringing real world politics into a discussion will almost certainly bring about much weeping and gnashing of teeth (and flames). So bearing that in mind, you MAY discuss real world politics IF it pertains to the discussion in the topical forums. If I feel the discussion is approaching off topic status, or if the topic appears to be heading towards a flamewar, I will cut it off. We do have a Politics subforum as part of the Free-Range Topics, so any continuation of the discussion may continue there.
Snerks/Spoilers
- Snerks/snerking is revealing contents of upcoming books before it is released. Spoilers is revealing contents of books which have been released.
- For specific content on a book that has yet to be released, or for a book that has been released in paper format (either hardcover or softcover, whichever is first) for less than a month, all discussion topics shall have in the topic title "SPOILERS" somewhere in it. I'm not expecting people to figure out exactly when a month is up, but just keep it in mind before you can drop the SPOILER warning. By specific content I am including the snippets Eric Flint provides on his website (and is usually crossposted to the Bar and here).
- Any speculative topics and and topics concerning books that have been out for more than 1 month will not be required to have anything in their topic titles.
- Unmarked spoilers can be reported to the moderator for remedial action.
Fan Fiction
- If you need a definition of what Fan Fiction is, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction
- Mr. Weber has requested that fan fiction NOT be posted. The rationale is that if he sees something, and it subconsciously gets worked into the series he would be liable to the original creator. If you have an idea or story you want to share, get his permission (don't send him the story though) first before posting it here.
3. Punishments
If and when I receive a post in the moderation queue, I will do one of the following:
1) Nothing - Perhaps you misclicked, perhaps I disagree with why the post should be moderated. Whatever the reason, the report will be closed and I will (probably) fire off a private message explaining why.
2) Moderator's editing - I will edit your post to comply with the rules, hopefully keeping the gist of the post intact so that people can still follow the discussion.
3) Lock topic - The topic will be closed and no further posting will be allowed in that thread.
4) Deletion - self explanatory.
5) Deletion with warning - this will happen with particularly egregious offenses.
6) Ban - This will only happen after multiple warnings (exact number depends on severity of offenses). Exception: I reserve the right to immediately ban spammers.
4. FAQ
Q) What's Baen's Bar?
A) Baen's Bar is the official forum/newsgroup for Baen Books. The web portal can be found here (registration required). There is also e-mail and newsgroup access.
Q) What is the infodump?
A) The infodump is a collection of postings made by Mr. Weber over the course of the years. The main site can be found here, and a quick link to the infodump can be found here. The site is run by Mr. Joe Buckley, and the contents of the site are officially allowed by Baen.
Q) What is Webscriptions? What is an ARC?
A) Webscriptions is Baen's online e-book store. You can purchase published e-books here in a variety of formats such as HTML, Rich Text, and a several mobile formats. You may find Webscriptions here.
In addition, you may find Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) for purchase. These are typically final drafts of books prior to the final edit. These usually come out a few months prior to the official street date of the book. Since they are pre-final edit, the contents of the book are pretty much what you would find in the official release, though grammatical errors and glitches in the details will still exist. You will find Mr. Weber's ARCs up for any of his Baen works, but not his Tor works (such as the Safehold series).
Q) Is there any way I can get in contact with David?
A) You can leave a post on David's Facebook page located here. You can also send him a tweet over here.
Q) I have a great idea about the grav lance-
A) I promise you that whatever it is, it's not something we haven't heard before. David is adamant about the limitations of the system. It is a near certainty that whatever the idea is, it isn't going to work.
Closing notes
If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to ask.
Happy Posting!
