Greetings from the Lab:
We here at MSL heartily encourage you to show us the fruits of your creative talent, but realizing that in any large group there will be differing opinions as to what is and is not acceptable for public display, we feel it necessary to establish a few ground rules (much as we have done with the Use Terms of the Forums in general). Those ground rules are as follows:
1) All written work (ie: poetry, short stories etc.) must be submitted in English. This is not meant to offend our many valued and loyal fans throughout the world whose first language isn’t English, but our first language here at MSL is English and in order to be able to police submissions, we must be able to read them.
2) It is permitted to store your submission elsewhere and link to it here, so long as no other use terms are violated. Linked submissions are subject to the examination just like any other post and if found in contravention of the rules, will be dealt with in the same manner.
3) Your submissions (including artwork) have to be what the ESRB (the North American video game rating system) would call "Teen" or milder. What does that mean? Well it means that violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, some blood and so forth are permitted, but it specifically excludes:
- Long, drawn out or graphic scenes of violence
- Explicit sexuality, erotica or full frontal nudity of any kind
- Profane language of any kind
- Bigoted or racist remarks against any real world identifiable group
4) While comment and critique are a natural part of the process of creation, it must all be done politely and with respect. Those who abuse members of our community who are trying to show us what they have done risk having their material removed from the Community Contributions Forums. They also risk being banned from the site. So please, be gentle.
5) While there is nothing new under the sun, outright plagiarism (taking credit for someone’s work not your own) or violation of intellectual property will NOT be tolerated.
6) No piece of work will be placed upon the Community Contributions Forums with the intent of using the Forums as an auction block. This isn’t E-Bay, and you shouldn’t be making money from MSL’s IP to begin with.
We will begin with these rules and reserve the right to make additions to them at any time as needed so you should check back periodically to make sure you’re up to date.
Those who violate these rules will have the offending work pulled from the Community Contributions Forums and will receive a warning. Three such warnings will see them banned from the Community Contributions Forums and if necessary, from the Alpha Omega Forums entirely. It is important to remember that MSL reserves the right to remove any post for any reason at its sole discretion, and in all such cases our decisions are binding and final.
Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.
Now go and enjoy yourselves!
MSL
