Member Rules And Info Regarding Forum.

[Re Harakhti]

Rules Updated 11/27/2016

About This Forum
“Therian Wilderness is a community dedicated to separating the real views of Otherkin and Therianthropy, spiritual and otherwise, from the unrealistic ideas that have accumulated around the sub-culture.
'Spiritual' does not mean 'Religious' and we are not a religion, although many of our members do have separate religious beliefs.
The forum has been established for constructive discussion of relevant topics, to share theories and experiences, to assist newly awakened Otherkin/Therians, and to help make available beneficial teachings and practices.”

Basic Terms & Definitions as Used on the Forum
(For further assistance, check the "Common Misconceptions, and FAQ")

• Otherkin: An individual who feels/believes that they are something non-human on an internal level, usually spiritually or psychologically. Considered an 'umbrella term' to include Therianthropy, but generally used to refer to those who identify as non-Earthly/mythical creatures or beings.
  
• Therian: Otherkin who identify exclusively as a single known Earthly or extinct animal. Some may claim to have been multiple, but only identify as one.
• Furry: A person who role-plays as a made up animal/anthropomorphic character, but does not feel that they are that being all the time. Furry sub-culture is most often confused with Otherkin/Therianthropy, but lacks the fundamental belief of unconditional identification as the creature.
• Kintype/Theriotype: The animal(s)/creature(s)/being(s) an Otherkin or Therian identifies as.
• Shift: One of several types of 'transitions' or changes in intensity regarding how much an Otherkin/Therian feels their kintype(s) and/or which one if there are multiple. Not to be confused with physical transformation, which is generally agreed upon as impossible or taboo to discuss in the community. "Shifts" in this sense are strictly mental, spiritual, or energetic/auric.

What Therian Wilderness Is Not
• A Furry Role-Play forum
• A Role-Play forum for Otherkin/Therians
• A Professional Mental/Legal Help forum
• An Adult/XXX/Yiff site

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The First Thing to Do

1) Read The Rules.

• Every place has them, and here they distinguish us as a community to further Otherkin/Therianthropy understanding. Their importance cannot be stressed enough.
(Ignorance of the rules for having not read them is not an excuse to get away with breaking them. To the contrary, not having read them is breaking this one.)

2) Write an Introduction.
Please write an introduction within 7 days of registering in the "Member Introductions" board.
Things to include below are highly recommended, but not required:
• A bit about yourself,
• Likes and dislikes,
• Hobbies,
• How you found us.
• What animal(s) or being(s) you identify as, if any,
• How you determined the above,
• What you hope to gain by being here,

The more others know about you, the more they will be able to connect. Short three line introductions are not adequate enough to get to know an individual, so if you want to stand out, don't be afraid to make your mark.

Bear in mind, this is a text based forum so your literacy levels must be adequate for us to understand you and take you seriously. If your intro is heavily illiterate, lacks most grammar, or is a multiple size text rainbow, other members will not be able to respond correctly, or may not wish to at all. Info on this is below in the "Posting Messages" area of the "Member Rules" section.

If you have issues with writing due to dyslexia or English not being your primary language, this is understandable. Just let us know, take time to post your info, and use a spell checker where you feel you may need it.

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Member Rules

Forum Accounts
• One forum & cbox account per person, meaning physical body.
(New accounts are checked against existing ones. If a new account is discovered to be made by an existing member, the new account will be removed and the member warned. Username and nearly all account details can be adjusted, so a new account to replace a current one is not necessary, and Multiple-System/Poly-Form Kin will not be allowed to make separate accounts for other entities they claim to have. Accounts will not be removed if a valid explanation is given in a PM to the staff/mods.)
Usernames
• Usernames must be unique and non-offensive.
(This is not your sign in name and can be changed to anything you'd prefer, although names like 'Therian' 'Vamp Princess' and 'Otherkin Dragon' will likely be confusing and/or hurt your credibility.)
• You may not continuously change your Username / Recreate new accounts
(It confuses people who know you by a previous name, and anyone changing a username must add their old username in their signature for a small amount of time)

Expired and Abandoned Accounts.
• New Members have 7 Days to post an Introduction in the "Member Introductions" board.
(Accounts without one will be removed for inactivity 7 days after registration.)
• Accounts that meet the above will be re-evaluated Once, 1 month after registration.
(If only a single introduction post has been made or no questions in said thread have been answered, the account will be assumed abandoned and removed.)

Age Limit Reminder.
• ProBoards "Terms of Service" restricts us to a minimum age limit of 13.
(Any member caught not being 13 years old will be banned until either a year later or until their 13th birthday. No exceptions. Forum staff must abide by this rule. No offense to anyone here or wanting to join. For Reference, see below.)

“ELIGIBILITY

BY USING THE WEBSITE OR SERVICES, YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 13 YEARS OLD AND ARE OTHERWISE LEGALLY QUALIFIED TO ENTER INTO AND FORM CONTRACTS UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. Any individual using the Website or Services on behalf of a company further represents and warrants that they are authorized to act and enter into contracts on behalf of that company. This Agreement is void where prohibited.”

Posting Messages
(Please note: All forum post rules apply to Private Messages. If the message is brought to a moderator, it will be dealt with the same as any other forum post.)
• Keep your messages clean, and appropriate.
(Leave the vulgar language off the forums, stick to the topic as much as possible.)
• Keep your messages civil.
(Aggressiveness and belligerent language will not be tolerated, offensively or defensively)
• Debates are fine, Arguments are not.
(Discussing ideas and questioning each other is encouraged. Becoming spiteful is a waste of everyone's time, and will be dealt with as Trolling.)
• Keep "Pet-Peeves" to yourself,
(If it's not obstructing the topic or against another rule, other members can't be expected to conform/stop doing something because it bugs you.)
• Membership/Spiritual Age are irrelevant,
(The first doesn't matter in the least, the latter can't be proven, and using either to assert yourself as better than another is not acceptable.)
• Do not reply to other members' threads in the "Member Journals" area.
(They can be discussed in the Chat or new threads elsewhere in the forum, but not in the "Member Journals" board.)
• Current Politics in either posts or member signatures are not allowed.
(Historical reference is fine. Current political leaders/parties incites unneeded conflict with no relevance to Otherkin/Therianthropy.)

When Replying to Members and Not the Original Thread Post:
• Don't just add a new post and say; "Same here-, "Me too-" or "Can you tell me about -- and --"?
(You cannot expect people to know who you are talking to if you don't add a Name or part of their Message. Not everyone opens the whole board to read the new comments, some choose to use the Latest Posts Button, which will Not show the previous conversation.)
• If you are replying to someone specific in a large thread, and NOT the actual Message that the Thread is about, You must Quote, or Shout as demonstrated below:

Shout:
@member -
Then your reply.

for example;
@wolfenkin, Thanks for the advice!

Or, you can simply use their name in your post, so everyone is aware
who you are talking to, such as:

Wolfenkin, thanks for the advice!

Quote:
To Quote, use this example. (Be sure to take out the spaces used inside the quote code in this example, otherwise it won't work.)

[ quote ] The message you're replying to goes here. [ /quote ]
Your reply follows below, here.

This will look like:

The message you're replying to goes here.

Your reply follows below, here.

If you don't know when to Quote, or Shout, It's probably best to do them anyway.
Additionally, when you use the quote button on someone's post, it sends them a notification.

Language
• Do Not use letters instead of words.
('u r 2 cool' or 'c u l8r', A.K.A Text Talking.)
• Abbreviations are fine.
(Things like 'lol' or 'brb' 'ttfn'.)
• Try to break up your text into paragraphs as applicable.
(Walls of continuous text discourage reading.)

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Forum Abuse

Info About The Warning System
The Warning System is used by the staff to warn other members of any minor infractions within the forum. It consists of a progress bar that scales from 0% (no warning) to 100% (resulting in a forum ban). The standard practice is that any infractions will add 25% to the warning bar. If no other infractions occur within 2 weeks, the warning will be removed. If subsequent rule breaking occurs, additional 25% per occurrence will be added, and the 2 week time frame reset to the last occurrence.
(Meaning if you get 25% warning, wait 13 days, then get bumped up to 50% for another infraction, it doesn't go back down to 25% on day 14. Every 2 weeks of no infractions, 25% will be removed until you're back at 0%.)
However, severe violations may deem a higher percentage added, or bypass the warning bar altogether and result in immediate action.

Info About Content Ownership.

At Therian Wilderness, your posts are your own and you are free to reuse your own words outside the forum. In the interest of open sharing of useful information, when using another members' text outside the forum, please restate it in your own words and maintain the anonymity of the source unless you have their permission to name them.

Delicate Topics.
(may be discussed constructively, but a warning must be in the thread's title)
• Cutting/self harm/suicide or thoughts thereof,
(these can be anxiety/panic triggers for some, and are beyond the forum's ability to help with)

Banned Topics.
• Drugs/Drug use,
(Any Illegal and/or 'recreational' use substances. Herbal/alternative medicines are fine.)
• Any Sexual Material,
(innuendo is ok, and gender orientation/identification is allowed if the discussion of it directly relates to Therianthropy/Otherkin in some way.)
• Violence/Racist Aggression,
• Banned Members
(unless asked, or approved, by Staff.)
• Current Politics in either posts or member signatures are not allowed.
(Historical reference is fine. Current political leaders/parties incites unneeded conflict with no relevance to Otherkin/Therianthropy.)

Insults/Swearing.
• Sometimes there isn't another word for the frustration, but absolutely No racial slurs or derogatory names.
(If you don't know what we mean, best not to swear at all. There is no need for it.)

Preaching.
• No offering prayers or blessings to other members, no religious slander, or biased claims based in favor of your own.
(We can't be bothered to listen to religious rants, no matter the religion. You're free to explain your point of view and reasons, but not to claim you're right and others are wrong.)

Pity-Talk/Problem Assistance.
• Although we will try to help where we can, we cannot provide substantial help to disturbed or depressed people.
(If you signed up to get 'help' from other Therians/Otherkin, that's fine, but bear in mind that this is a forum about the ideas of Therianthropy and Otherkin, and we can only help you with issues that pertain to them.)
• The forums are not licensed or otherwise legally qualified to provide care or assistance beyond the extent of offering advice and discussing possible solutions, spiritually, psychologically, or otherwise.
(Serious issues, such as manic depression, self-harm, or suicidal tendencies, are beyond our ability to help with, are delicate/banned topics, and bringing them to the forum will result in moderation, warnings, and possibly removal from the site. This is for your safety as well as that of the forum, as by attempting to assist you with these problems here, we can be held liable for delaying treatment.)
• If a member of the site is legally qualified, they can only offer official consultation of their own volition and it must take place off the forums. Should they choose to, they do not represent the forums as a whole, nor are the forums held accountable as their “Place of Practice”.
• You must treat the forum respectfully and not beg people for help, use the forums to get attention, ignore the rules, or staff.
(If your problems are that serious, you probably shouldn’t be online talking about it, you should be seeking real help in your immediate area.)
• The forums does not allow members, staff or not, to ask for monetary donations for any problem they may have. These kinds of things can get very messy and can also result in legal issues.
(As said in the bulletin above this one, if your problems are that serious, you probably shouldn't be online talking about it, you should be seeking real help in your immediate area. Most states, counties, and/or countries actually have organizations set up for helping people who actually need the help, whether they are just falling on hard times or if they have disability/disabilities that keep them from earning income to afford whatever help they require.)
• As this forum’s main intent is the discussion of Therianthropy and Otherkin relevant topics, regularly complaining about unrelated problems is obstructive to that goal and deters both your own progress and others' desire to participate in the forums.
(Offenders of this rule will be warned according to the Warning System above. Repeated occurrences may result in removal from the forums)

RESPECT People and Their Opinions/Beliefs.
• There is a difference between discussing opinions, and delegating that yours is right, and theirs is wrong. Do not do the later.
• To question someone’s beliefs/views is not criticizing them. If you declare that you believe something, be prepared to explain why, not necessarily prove it. We’re all aware that the majority of Therianthropy/Otherkin ideas can’t be proven.
• Members' claims of being "attacked" for their beliefs will be reviewed fairly, but if the questioning is civil and merely asks for reasoning, the defensive member will be at fault for making insubstantial claims they refuse to justify.
( A.K.A. a “Fluff”)
• Do not criticize this site or our affiliates. If you have a problem or suggestion, PM a moderator or post the issue in the “Comments and Suggestions” board.

Grand Claims, E.g. "I am really a God/Goddess..." or "I have _____ ability..."
• Therian Wilderness is open to many different aspects of Otherkin and Therianthropy beliefs, but please note that most grand claims will attract questioning and debate from the community. It is a normal part of a healthy community to compare each others' views and to give and take feedback on what they believe. If having people question the validity of your claims bothers you, it's best to keep them to yourself until you're ready to support them with the reasons you believe them.

I Want to Meet Another Member.
• The Forum does not endorse any meetings. All personal meetings must be arranged outside the forum, and you will do so at entirely your own risk.
I Want to Create a Pack.
• The Forum does not allow members to advertise or recruit for any "pack" they may be forming or are involved in. This rule has been added due to the influx of problems with pack advertisement/recruitment and associated negative aspects of "pack mentality". No exceptions on this rule.

Meetings in any way representing Therian Wilderness are NOT PERMITTED without accompaniment of Staff.
If you attempt to arrange such a meeting through the forum or chat, you will be banned from this community.
Anyone who receives a PM asking for meetings or to join a Pack must contact a staff member immediately and link to a screenshot of the message.
This is as much for your safety against predators as it is for the forum's well being.

I know the rules are long, and many, but they are set in place so that
people can feel they are safe, posting and surfing, on T.W.