TWC:FAQ

Formerly written and updated by the Black Prince any problems questions or comments, PM the Black Prince. Contributions from Justinian, imb39, Simetrical and gigagaia, and now hopefully everyone, since it's a wiki page.

This guide is intended to provide pretty much all the basic information you need to understand this forum, and answer all the questions that get repeatedly posted.

Guide to vBulletin

Here you can find an FAQ for vBulletin, who provide our forum software. Questions on how to use the forum itself, can be found here

TWC's BB Code

Ever wondered how to make your text go bold or italic or all the many many other things you can do with text?
Here's the complete list of all the BB tags we use here.

TWC Terms of Service and Forum Rules

Every member when they sign up is expected to keep to these rules. They're enforced by the moderators, and failure to comply will result in warnings suspensions, and ultimately, a permanent ban. We recommend you read and familiarise yourself with them! Terms of Service

The Tribunal and the Questions and Suggestions Forum

These two forums are located in the Administrative Forums at the bottom of the main page, and provide a place for members to come and sort out and any problems or issues.

The Tribunal

This is the place to go if you think you've been unfairly moderated, or received a caution warning or suspension you don't think is justified. Here you can air your grievance, and 3 appointed Judges, independent of the moderating staff will review your case. Suspended members have the ability to post in this forum, and this forum alone.

Questions and Suggestions

If you have a question that's not been answered by this handy little guide, or you have any suggestion or comment you'd like to make that you think might make TWC that little bit better, then here is the place to post. All thoughts and comments welcome!

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Here's the answers to some miscellaneous questions we've been regularly asked, not covered elsewhere in this guide.

How do I make polls?: You can only make a poll if you are starting a new topic. What you need to click to add a poll to your post is the 'Yes, post a poll...' box near the bottom of the screen. If you need to add a poll later then you need to PM a senior Moderator.

What's the "Report" button?: This red button at the bottom right of each post will generate an automatic email to all the moderators of that forum telling that that post has been reported. You can use it to tell the moderators every time you see a post that breaks the Terms of Service. Reporting posts is encouraged!

I've just taken a glance at the Political Mudpit and the Ethos, Mores, et Monastica sections of the Common Community, and I want to post there! But I do not want to get completely butchered by the experienced members who already post in those sections. How can I, a complete newb, post in those sections without getting hacked into little pieces?

I can offer four pieces of advice for this: read, edit, give sources, and stay calm.

Read - What you first need to do is read the entire thread. This is important as it can give you sources for information (which are very important for a debate) and tells you what has already been argued about. You really do not want to bring up something that was mentioned ten pages ago if you want to be taken seriously.
Edit - After you have written your response, always send it through a spellchecker after reading it over again yourself. I cannot stress how important it is to make sure that there are as few as possible spelling and grammatical errors in your post.
Give Sources - This is more of a secondary thing to keep in mind. A credible source can go a long way in helping you win a debate.
Stay Calm - Far to often I have seen members become frustrated and angry on various threads. This will happen to you at sometime, and the best cure is to step away from the debate. What you do after that is up to you, but do not go back to the debate until you have calmed down.

How would I defend myself against flamers and trolls?: Hopefully you won't have to! But if someone does flame you, or troll you, report their post using the Report button. DON'T respond in kind. If you flame someone who flames you, that just starts a flame war, and you'll find yourself in as much trouble as the original flamer.

What if I want to express my opinion about certain members and I want to contact them individually?: Try emailing them, if they enabled their email address, or use the "private messaging" - PM. Be careful though, some member do report harassing or annoying pms to moderators.

But what if I want to make a conversation public?: PM conversations can be made public only if both members that are conversing allow it to be made public. Otherwise, it cannot be made public.

What about MSN conversations?: Same as the above, and chatlogs of any other kind as well. They can only be posted publicly with the permission of everyone who was involved.

Can I Vote in Polls?: To vote in polls you have to have 50 posts and been registered for at least one week. This was introduced to prevent people creating duplicate accounts and spamming our site awards with them.

The Constitution and the Curia

If you've got this far, you've probably realised TWC isn't like any other major forum you've been a part of. The Constitution is a big reason why. About 4 years ago, when TWC was small and cosy, the 3 administrators of the time felt that it would be good to reward their core body of active members. The reward they gave this core group was the ability to have a say on how the site is run.

Since then, the system has increased and flourished. While the site is governed by the Administrators who form the Council, a lot of the site policy is decided by the Curia. Here, those core members, the Citizens of TWC, can come together to debate, and vote, on what goes on here. The powers of the Curia are wide ranging, and while they don't have a say on moderation policy, anything else that goes on here is likely to have been debated in the Curia first. The Constitution is the document that sets out how it all works.

The Citizen class has grown considerably over 4 years, and is now divided into 2 levels, Citizens, and Patricians. Citizenship is awarded to members who make noteworthy contributions to the forum, to go further, and become a Patrician, you have to make a substantial contribution and show great dedication. Additionally, there are two types of Citizen. A Civitate is a Citizen who's primary contribution has been in debates and discussions. An Artifex is a Citizen whose primary contribution has been modding work. All the moderators on the site are drawn from the citizen class as well. To find out how to become a citizen, read on below!

The Curia has a number of institutions which help to oversee the citizen class, or run the site. One of them, the Tribunal, has already been mentioned above. The three Tribunal judges are all elected by the Curia.

The Consilium de Civitate

This is a body of 16 elected Patricians who govern promotions and demotions. They vote on whether a member should be promoted from Peregrinus to Citizen, and further again to Patrician. If a Citizen has broken the rules, they may also vote to suspend or strip him of his rank. The CdeC maintain a thread in the Curia giving updates on who the current members are and what they've been doing. You can view their thread here.

The Curial Officers

To oversee the running of the Curia and its various bodies, there are a number of elected Curial Officers.

The Speaker of the House: The Speaker is the voice of the Curia to the rest of the site. He's an administrator, and and a member of the Council. He's elected from among the Patricians and serves a 6 month term.; The Speaker is Ozymandias

The Curator: The Curator deals with the day to day running of the Curia. he moves debates vote, orders the archives, maintains order in the Curia, and also makes rulings on the interpretation of the constitution where necessary. He holds his term for 3 months.; The current Curator is the Black Prince

The Modding Registrar: The Registrar is responsible for running and maintaining the modding registry. He holds his term for 3 months.; The current Registrar is Hader

The TWC Wiki Editor: The Wiki editor is responsible for overseeing the work done on the Wiki Project. He has a 3 month term.; The current Editor is Makanyane

Modder Liaison Officer: The Liaison officer is elected to improve communications between the modding community and the Curia. He serves a 3 month term.; The current Officer is Hader

The Curial Committees

A Curial Committee can be convened by the Council to discuss or investigate a particular issue. They are designed to bring members of the staff and the Curia together to work on a particular project. There is currently one committee, The Curial Committee on the expansion of TWC.

How to become a Citizen

So, after reading all that, has it caught your interest? Do you want to get involved in running this site? Do you want to have your say on how we do things here? Then here's how.

To become a citizen of TWC you first have to meet the qualifications. These are set pretty low, and its not a case of everyone who meets these gets the rank automatically. To qualify for Citizen, a member must have at least fifty posts, been a registered member for one month, and have no warnings within the last three months.

Above and beyond that, the rank is then awarded for contributions. So if you think you make a valuable contribution to the site, chances are, you're citizen material.

To get promoted, you have to be patronised by an existing citizen. There are two ways this can happen. The most common is for a citizen to notice your contributions and send you a PM asking if you'd like the rank. If however, you think you are worthy, you don't have to wait to be noticed! You can PM a citizen direct, and ask if they will sponsor you. Only those citizens who have themselves held their rank for 3 months can patronise.

If you get asked, or a citizen agrees to patronise you, you then have to write a short paragraph explaining why you want to be a citizen, and why you think you are worthy. PM the paragraph to your patron, they'll add their own comments, and PM both to a member of the Consilium de Civitate. The CdeC will then take a week to discuss and vote on you. If you get 60% of the non abstaining votes, you'll receive a PM from the Curator congratulating you, and have your rank, a shiny new badge, and all the privileges of being recognised as one of TWC's outstanding members!

If, for whatever reason, you should fail the vote, you must wait 1 month before you can apply again

Meet the Staff

Got a desire to know who the mighty and powerful are who work overtly and coverty to make TWC a better place? Then you found your answers right here!

Additionally, a list of all those people with moderator status can be found on the Forum Leaders page

Officer Ranks

There are 3 ranks of staff officer

Council Officer
Senior Staff Officer
Staff Officer

The Council Officers are the administrators who form the Council and run the show, the rest of the staff are divided into the 3 branches to serve the site. Currently all admin and moderator staff have officer specific badges and colours shown below. As soon as the Curia finalises the rank names for Technical and Content staff they too will have badges and a rank specific colour. All Officers display their officer rank in preference to their member rank, so there's no disguising them!

The Council

This is the governing body that runs the site. Its made up of 5 permanent members, and a variable number of non-permanent members who contribute their specific talents to making TWC the best it can be.

Council Officers names appear Bold and Purple on the forum display and have the following badge

Permanent Officers

imb39 - The Site Owner
Erich von Manstein - Chief Moderator
gigagaia - Chief of Content
Simetrical - Chief Technician
Ozymandias - Speaker of the House

Non Permanent Officers

The Moderation Branch

These are the people in staff responsible for enforcing the rules and terms of service across the forum.

Chief Moderator: Erich von Manstein

Senior Moderators

The Senior Mods, along with the two moderating admins and the site owner are responsible for setting TWC's moderation policy, and oversee its forum-wide enforcement. Their names appear Template:Senior Mod on the forum display, and they use the above badge

Staff Moderators

TWC's front line policemen, ready to enforce rules with edit button and ban stick! Shown with their names in green and bold and the moderator badge, these are the people responsible for the day to day enforcement of TWC's rules.

The Content Branch

Articles, Competitions, Podcasts, yes indeed this is the content branch, responsible for all the community projects that go on here, and always looking to expand. With so much to see and do, the content branch is by far the biggest branch of TWC staff (and since i'm a content staffer, i'm inclined to say, the most important too!)

The permanent members of the various content projects have their names in blue, and where one of the badges shown below. Some publications have temporary members, or free lance reporters, who aren't considered part of the content staff.

Chief of Content: gigagaia

Senior Content Officer: Each Senior Content Officer, usually an Editor, but not always, has a specific publication or project that he's in charge of and manages. He'll have direct control over his staff, and will run the publication smoothly and efficiently! he may also from time to time support the Content manager in one off or ongoing projects such as this very FAQ.; The Senior Content Staff use the following badge

Content Staffers: The content staffers are the writers and other contributors to the various projects that go on here on TWC. They use this badge

The Helios

Editor: - Ozymandias

Writers:

Darkragnar
Farnan
Scorch
the Black Prince
Justinian
Grimsta
Seneca
Shaun
Siblesz
Kscott
John I Tzimisces
Oldgamer
Gaius Balter
Lord Rahl

The Eagle Standard

Editor: - Bulgaroctonus

Writers:

selenius4tsd
Titus Atius Labienus
NobleNick
Plutarch
Sir Dinadan
Ippius

General Sun's Tent: Editor: - General Sun

TWC Podcast: Editors: - Evariste and the Black Prince

The Scriptorium

Head Librarian: - Ragabash

Librarians

Annaeus
Atterdag
Hader
Leonidas the Lion
Raven Darkwing
Shaun
Sétanta

The Technical Branch

The most mysterious and smallest of the 3 branches of staff, the techies are the ones who, by sheer skill and dint of hard effort, amazingly keep this place together and just about functional.

The Techies have their namesi n blue, like the content staff, but where the tech Staff badge shown below. There any senior staff in this branch. Each Technician has his own specialised access answering direct to the Chief Technician, and is considered for rank purposes to be a Staff Officer.

Chief Technician: Simetrical

Technicians

Mimirswell
Nihil
kshcshbash

Member Ranks

While not everyone has a fancy officer's title, everyone on TWC has a rank. Officer's, be they Staff or Curial are the people who carry out various jobs, but each of them, along with everyone else will hold a rank as well. The higher your rank, the more privileges and access you have, and the greater your opportunities for promotion to an officer position. There are two broad types of ranks, Honorary, and Normal. The 3 Normal ranks carry all the benefits, the 4 Honorary ones are used as rewards for specific services rendered or for achievement.

Normal Ranks

The three Normal Ranks are as follows:

Peregrinus: This is the basic rank that everyone starts out on, and many thousands of our members never achieve greater than this. Peregrinus grants posting rights in almost all of the forum, and they have the opportunity to hold content and technical staff positions.

Citizen: This special rank is given as a reward by the CdeC to those members who make a significant contribution to the Forum. It carries all the benefits of Peregrinus, but additionally, it grants members posting ability in Symposium and the Curia, as well as voting rights. Citizens are therefore given the opportunity to have a say in how their site is run. After 3 months in the rank, Citizens can also begin patronising new citizens. Only Citizens and above can become a member of the moderating staff, as well as most Curial Offices.; Citizens can choose to further define as one of two types, depending upon which part of the site they most associate with.; The Civitates are those who earned their rank through hard intelligent posting and thoughtful debate; An Artifex is someone who earned their rank through modding

Patrician: The Patricians are the most noble and respected of all the Citizens, a Citizen who has continued to make an outstanding contribution to the site and community which has been rewarded by this rank. A Patrician has all the status and privilege of a Citizen, but in addition, the highest most trusted Curial Offices are open only to the Patricians, and no bill may go to vote if it does not have the support of at least 2 of these highly regarded members

The Awarding of Normal Ranks is the job of the CdeC, who may, if they feel it necessary, strip members of them. Requirements for the ranks are governed by the Curia

Honorary Ranks

Instead of one of the 3 Normal Ranks, a member may prefer to show one of these far rarer Honorary Ranks as a sign of the extra special commitment or achievement they made toward the Community.

Officer Emeritus: This is the most recently introduced of the 4, and there are currently no holders of it. This rank is awarded to retiring Senior Content Officers and to Technicians in thanks for their hard service and dedication. It is a gift of the Council rather than of the Curia, and cannot be removed by the CdeC.

Senatorii: Far more common is that of Senatorii, a rank that has long been used in a similar fashion to reward retiring Moderators. Like Officer Emeritus, it is a gift of the Council rather than of the Curia, and cannot be removed by the CdeC.

Opifex: Opifex is awarded by the Curia to any member who makes an outstanding contribution to the site outside the field of staff. Many, though by no means all of its holders are Modders. As well as making some great achievement, a nominee must also meet the requirements for Citizen, which if not already held is additionally conferred by the awarding of this rank. This rank, as its awarded by the Curia, can only be removed by the Curia.

Divus: The rarest of all the ranks on TWC, and the hardest to achieve. Divus is only awarded to those former administrators who put such outstanding effort into the site and devoted so much to it that they should be deified in the manner of roman emperors upon retirement. Nominees must pass a vigorous 2 stage test before the Curia confers this rank upon them. This rank, as its awarded by the Curia, can only be removed by the Curia.

It's very possible for a member to hold multiple ranks at the same time, as well as one or more Officer Positions, and as such they will usually, but not always follow this precedent in choosing which rank to display. Administrators, Senior Content Staff and Moderators will normally always display that rank over all others for quick identification, and Honorary Ranks will tend to take precedence over Normal Ranks.

Some examples:

imb39
Our glorious Site Owner imb39 displays his admin rank as a Council Officer, but also holds the ranks of Senatorii, Patrician, Citizen, and of course, Peregrinus
the Black Prince
Currently i'm using my Content Editor badge, I could also display Divus, Senatorii, Patrician, Citizen or simply appear as a Peregrinus.

Post Count Ranks

On the left hand side of each of your posts, you'll note a number of things. First, your avatar, which you can set and change from your account control panel. Second, your Reputation, explained below, third, your online status and add rep buttons, fourth, your post count, and finally another rank.

Unlike your Peregrinus rank, this one is entirely meaningless, and conveys nothing, its merely associated with your Post Count. The more posts you have, the higher this rank. Its actually your custom user title, but only Citizens and above have the ability to override their title with one of their own.

Here's the List of those ranks.

Serf 0
Peasant 1
Apprentice 30
Yeoman 50
Journeyman 100
Reeve 175
Page 225
Squire 275
Freeman 300
Knight 500
Knight Commander 550
Paladin 650
Baronet 900
Baron 1000
Viscount 1100
Count 1300
Landgrave 1450
Margrave 1550
Earl 1650
Duke 1800
Grand Duke 1900
Elector 2000
Regent 3000
Prince Consort 3600
Prince 4000
King 6000
High King 8000
Emperor 10000
Divine Emperor 15000

Reputation

The reputation feature is a fun little thing that enables you to see your community standing with the other members. In theory, the more reputation you have, the more highly thought of you are by the other members of the community. It has no other real meaning, and many members choose to disable it.

Reputation here will be described as if you were using the default Medieval skin. The symbols are different on the Rome skin or the Barbie skin. If you are using the Rome skin, the add rep button is an eagle standard, a Ring is a helmet, and a crown is a legionary standard. The principle is the same however

If, (for whatever unknown reason!) you are using the Barbie skin, the add rep button is the eagle standard again, a ring becomes a type of spangly star, or maybe a flower and a crown is a diamond ring.

Moving swiftly back to the default Medieval Skin then...

How do i give rep?: You can add reputation to a post by clicking this button, on the left; You can only add 1 point of rep to each post, and you can only give 7 points total a day.
Additionally, you have to rep have different users before you can give rep to the same user again.

Who can give Rep?: Because of issues with account cloning in the past, where people created accounts just to give themselves rep, only users with over 50 posts give rep that counts. Users with less than 50 posts will give a 0 rep point, instead of 1, so any comments they leave will show up in your account, but you won't actually get a point for it. Please note, when a user jumps over the 50 post mark, rep they have given prior to that does not suddenly count.

What about Negative Rep?: Currently, only moderation and admin staff can give negative rep. The symbol for Neg rep is a black dagger

Where does Rep show?
Your reputation shows up in 2 places. On the left hand side where you post, a collection of symbols shows a rough guide to how much rep you have, and in your control panel, there's a more comprehensive display of the last 20 rep points you received, showing which post you got it for, who gave it, and any comment they left.

Can i disable reputation?: Yes, you can disable your reputation in your control panel. If you do so, your own rep won't show up, but you'll still be able to give other people rep.

What does it look like?

Each symbol represents a certain number of rep points. It starts at five, so if you have less than 5 rep points, you'll show the scales symbol for neutral rep.

- Neutral Rep

Some very few members who have received neg rep from the staff will have this replaced by a red square. Those users who have disabled the reputation feature will simply show a grey square.

Once you hit 5 rep points, you'll get 1 gold ring

Each ring = 5 points, so if someone has 5 rings, they have 25 Rep points. You can only get a maximum of 5 rings, after that we move on to Crowns

Each crown is worth 15 rep points, so to add a crown to your 5 rings, you need at least 40 rep points.

In summary then

Scales: 0-4 Rep
1 Ring: 5-9 Rep
5 Rings: 25-39 Rep
5 Rings 1 Crown: 40-54 Rep
and so on

to look at mine at the time of writing, i have 5 Rings and 9 Crowns

5 × 5 = 25 Rep
9 × 15 = 135 Rep

so my minimum rep would be 160. At the time of writing I actually had 170 rep, 5 short of gaining my 10th Crown.