Melrick Posted October 1, 2011 Report Posted October 1, 2011 So you wish to join our delightful little forum, do you? You’re more than welcome to do so! But, like everywhere else, there are rules to follow. The reason for this forum’s existence is to provide support for the author’s on the archive. They can advertise their story here; communicate with their reviewers; get advice. People that are reading the stories on the archive can communicate with the author on the forum, as well as asking for help to locate certain stories on the archive. There are other things you can do here, of course, such as play games in the Arcade and the forum and discuss non-story related stuff. But its raison d’etre is for author support. When you go through the process of trying to join up for the forum, you’ll be provided with information. And there’s the reason for most people getting denied permission to join. It’s not there just to fill out space; You MUST read it! That information tells you, not just the forum rules, but also what you need to do to actually join. You see, where people go wrong is that they don’t bother to read the information, which is a shame, because it tells you that you need to have an account in the story archive. Why? Remember what I just said about the reasons for this forum being here in the first place? “Oh but I’m not a writer! Are you telling me I won’t be allowed to join the forum then?” You certainly can still join! But here’s the kicker. You also need to actually read all that information during the forum signup, because in there it will tell you what you need to do to join the forum if you’re a reader/reviewer only. (I include ‘reviewer’ because you wouldn’t be the type of person to read people’s stories without ever leaving a review… would you?) Another reason why we have to make people jump through small hoops is because of spammers. We get spambots trying to join the forum on a daily basis. There are sections of the forum which allows people to post without joining, and these areas still get hit by spammers, which are quickly dealt with. If we didn’t personally check every single person trying to join up on the forum then it would be quickly overrun by spambots. Doing what we do at least ensures that a human is trying to join up. It’s no guarantee, but it’s better than the alternative. You can read more information on why you may have been refused permission to join the forum on this FAQ.
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