READ THIS FIRST: Forum Guidelines

[tnh]

1. Like all rule sets, this is a work in progress.

2. We assume that you know how to behave yourself. Ask if you have questions.

3. If you're new to the forum, introduce yourself in the "New Members" thread. If you start a new thread to introduce yourself, it will probably get shut down, and your comment will get moved to the "New Members" thread.

4. Do not start a new thread to promote your book or project. It will be shut down, and your comment will be moved to the "Talk about your own work" thread. Please refrain from self-promotion in the "New Members" thread as well.

5. If you have a .sig line, and it's of a promotional nature, you're allowed one (1) short line of text, within which you can link to one (1) external URL. Any additional ad copy or links should go in your user profile. Non-promotional .sig lines can have more latitude, though they should be kept to a seemly length.

6. If you need to typographically indicate emphasis in your text, please use italics rather than boldface, and refrain from using oversized text or unusual colors. Unless it's funny.

7. Please white out or ROT-13 major spoilers for recent books, movies, or TV shows, unless you're posting in one of the spoiler threads.

8. We reserve the right to make minor changes in comments, for example removing URLs. This shouldn't happen very often, and we'll leave a marker if we do it. In general, though, if we find part of a comment objectionable but we don't want to remove the whole thing, we'll obscure the objectionable text by whiting it out or disemvowelling it, not by editing or rewriting it.

9. There are four words you can't say in this forum: avttre, snttbg, Cnxv, and phag. If you can't figure out what those are, use a ROT-13 converter to decode them.

10. Hate speech, genuine obscenity, trolling, bullying, stalking, personal harassment, gender oneupmanship, thoughtless religious or political bashing, importing stale canned arguments from other contexts, posting death hoaxes, or other notably obnoxious behavior, will be Dealt With. The moderator bats last.

How to Be Topp:

The point of this forum is to have interesting and/or amusing and/or useful conversations, and to get to know the other people you're talking to.

Respond to your fellow users if they say something interesting. Applaud if they say something cool.

All other things being equal, the person who posts in rhymed verse wins.

Additional rules:

11. Do not attempt to circumvent the wordcount limitations in the "Share your work" thread by starting another critique thread. If you really really want an additional critique thread for some worthy reason, petition the PTBs and explain why. (27 February 2012)

[anthonypero]

Is it, um, weird, that I don't even know what one of those rot13 words is?

[tnh]

Not weird. It just means you're not from the UK. I've added it to my longstanding three-word list after being told by several Brits that it belongs there. It's a rude word for a person whose forebears came from South or Southwest Asia. I'm told that in their context, it packs a punch equivalent to the other words on the list.

[Ian P. Johnson]

There once was a forum so small
You could barely see it at all.
Though its threads were not many
Its discussions were plenty.
Its intelligence score? Off the wall!

(How's THAT for rhymed verse, tnh?)

[tnh]

Yes!

Now if only we could do something about its size and organization ...

[anthonypero]

Which in turn, of course, would encourage people to participate more than 5 posts and comments a day.

[BMcGovern]

Closing the Forums

Hello, everyone...please be advised that we are going to be shutting down the Tor.com forums over the next few days. All active spoiler threads will be moved onto the main page of the site, and we're hoping to keep the existing threads accessible, for those who would like to look back at previous posts and conversation. We are in the process of closing comments and will not be accepting new threads to allow for better moderation (and less spam in everyone's lives).

Thanks, and please join us over on the home page!