Please review the following guidelines for conduct prior to participating in any interactive portions of the website.  All members, old and new, are expected to be familiar with and adhere to these guidelines. Ignorance to the rules is not a legitimate excuse for misconduct. Rules are subject to change, and while we are generally good at announcing such changes, the responsibility ultimately falls on the member to keep aware.

1) Respect all administrators and moderators. You may not unduly argue with a staff member, either publicly or privately. Administrators (particularly the site founder) are the final word on what constitutes a breaking of the rules. If you are banned, you may file an appeal with the founder. If the appeal is accepted, you will be put probationary status. Belittling, berating, or otherwise hostile treatment or disrespect of any staff member will automatically get you banned with a no return clause. If you are banned by an administrator, you may not file an appeal with a moderator. Going behind the admins’ backs will get you automatically re-banned, and disciplinary actions will be taken against the moderator as well.

2) Contribute to the Community. This can be done in a number of ways:

• Post an introduction as your first post on the forum. This is absolutely required of all new members. Failure to do so within 30 days of account activation may result in the purging of your account.
• Stay active in discussions on our forum. Members with less than 5 posts thirty days after account activation are subject to account purging. It will be assumed, should your account appear inactive and underused, that you do not wish to be a part of the community any longer. As such, your account may be purged (not banned).
• Members are encouraged to submit work for the article content of the site. This can be done in the appropriate subforum on our site forum.
• Contributing to chat is a fantastic way to engage others, stimulate our minds, and keep our site going strong.

3) Harassment, threats of harassment, discriminatory or overly-disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. While we are open to a good, hefty debate, there are specific places on OKA for such debate. In the other channels, we expect you to be courteous and respectful to everyone. Please keep in mind that statements made are peoples’ opinions. As such, people shouldn’t have to put a disclaimer in front of everything they say, and if it gets to that point, we will remove troublemakers. Name calling, finger-pointing, threats, removal of content without contacting the staff for approval, and anything else that disrupts the peace of the site will be dealt with by removal.

4) You are expected to exhibit a degree of honor, integrity, and dignity on this site. This means the following things:

• Fluff, trolling and role-playing will not be tolerated.  This site is pretty relaxed compared to some, with a general live-and-let-live attitude. Everyone goes through a minor fluff phase as they awaken, and we won’t punish anyone for that.  However, extreme flights of fantasy will not be indulged here. Further, any member suspected of trolling activity will be swiftly dealt with.
• Whining will not be tolerated. We are here to help and support each other. However, excessive pity-seeking distracts us all from our primary cause of helping those who truly need help. Respect the members of this site, and yourself, by keeping this sort of behavior in check. Failure to do so will be considered as disruptive behavior.
• Boasting will not be tolerated. Making a statement in order make yourself look important, special, or exceptionally qualified to make a particular statement will considered boasting, whether regarding spiritual or earthly credentials. When posting on a serious topic, please do so in a respectful and sober manner. Failure to adhere to this rule will be considered as disruptive behavior.
• Grilling and mockery will not be tolerated. Everyone’s ideas and beliefs are understood to be subjective.  Elaborate claims may be looked upon with polite skepticism, but outright hostility will be dealt with via ban.
• This is sacred space for otherkin to meet and discuss their ideas and memories, without having to front with a disclaimer. We believe in the beauty of Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG), and encourage this to be shared, in order to help all members learn and grow. When you share ideas, do so kindly and with respect for another person.
• You may not, at any time, attempt to convert someone to your religion or belief system. This place is sacred ground, but it’s also neutral. We have people from all faiths here, and they don’t appreciate conversion attempts.
• Crude jokes and suggestive language are not appropriate. Casual flirting and PG-13 jokes are fine, but anything else will result in punishment at the staff’s discretion.
• Excessive profanity is not appropriate. We will let you know when your harsh language is going to far. Multiple instances may result in a temporary ban.
• Your offsite conduct counts. Those who show a pattern of gross misconduct on other sites will not be met kindly. Furthermore, OKA members are expected to be mature and responsible outside of our site. Any action outside of OKA that degrades the integrity of our site will be at risk for disciplinary action. We want things to be as harmonious as possible, and OKA so far has an upstanding reputation for the care of our members and the respect we generate for ourselves. You are expected to uphold this reputation on the site and in your personal lives.

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5) One account per body. We do not allow any single body to have multiple accounts for any reason. If you are a complex multiple system, please share one account, and sign your post with whomever is fronting at the time of writing.  If you have been banned from the site, you may not register for a new account.  If your account has been purged due to inactivity, you may still re-register — please do so using the same account name you had before.

6) Spelling and grammar. This forum is in English, but bear in mind that it’s a very big world – some speak English as a second language. Please be considerate and keep your words easy to understand. Vast grammatical errors will not be tolerated. Proper capitalization is also appreciated. The occasional typo is understood, but please be reasonable. If your writing is painful for members to read, you will be asked to revise your typing in a word processor with a spelling and grammar checker, or you will be asked to leave.

7) Public relations are dealt with by the founders only. No one else may act as an official spokesperson for Otherkin Alliance. Visitors from other sites will respect this rule. Also, no visiting administrator or mod from any other site is authorized to act as such on Otherkin Alliance.org without express written permission from all founders.

8) Founders are available by appointment only. This includes member crisis situations, interview requests, and so forth. To request an appointment, you may email otherkinalliancestaff@gmail.com. We will respond as soon as we are able.

9) Public events and OKA functions operate under this same rule system. Violating any of these rules in an OKA related activity will get you immediately banned from the site and from future OKA events.

10) OtherkinAlliance.org, Otherkin Alliance Logo, and graphics are copyrighted to the founders, 2008-2011, and may not be re-distributed, copied, or derived from in any form unless written authorization from all founders and the original artist are first given. Any submitted articles and writing become the property of the OtherkinAlliance.org upon submission, with credit and rights still given to the original authors.

Please note that the staff of OtherkinAlliance.org reserves the right to change or modify these rules at any time to reflect growing issues within the community. The staff of Otherkin Alliance also reserves the right to assess all situations pertaining to it’s operation and remove any individual that disrupts or in any manner degrades the image of Otherkin Alliance. This is non-negotiable. Thank you for your attention.

Last Updated: 06/23/2011