Posting Guidelines

             

Posting Requirements.

The USS Galileo requires all participants to post at least once a week. If this is a problem for any reason then just post on the group board to request an LOA for however long it is you're going to be absent. If no LOA is requested and a character isn't posted for within 10 days then the player shall get a warning. After two weeks the character shall be removed from the active storyline and then after a month, removed from the sim altogether.

Post Guidelines: (Taken mostly from the OPM Website)

What every post should have:

Location header: this tells everyone reading the post where it happens in relation to everything else that's happening with the storyline. This should include, at a minimum, the character's starting location. So a usual header would be:

However, if your post takes place out of sync with the rest of gameplay a time marker will also be marked, eg:

Body: This is where you tell your part of the story and it should either be in Novel or Script format, although novel format is preferred.

Script Example:
Jorn: Greetings, I'm Marta Jorn. *Extends hand*
Felder: *Shakes Marta's hand* Pleasure to meet you, I'm Dave Felder.

Novel Example:
Marta walked over and stood in front of the young man. Holding out her hand she said, "Greetings, I'm Marta Jorn."

The man smiled, taking her hand and shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Dave Felder."

Signature: This tells people who wrote the post, if they couldn't figure it out by reading it, also I do monthly (starting from the end of July) post statistics. The signature should include the character's Rank, Name, Position, and the Ship's Name as minimum:
Lt. Cmdr. Bailey Logan
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

A few things to keep in mind:

->Your post should always accomplish something, be it character development, advancement of the plot, or responding or adding to a previous post involving your character.

->Posts should be written in 3rd person format. In other words, the only time the word "I" should appear is in dialogue or monologue.

->Try to write substantial posts, meaning at least three good sized paragraphs in length. A good goal to shoot for is 250 words or more.

->Whenever possible, try to leave openings for other members of the ship to pick up from and post off of. You can put tags in the post, but this can break up the rhythm of the post, so it is best to leave that to the end and either work around responses from others or try to get their input. You should, however keep things realistic and *not have your character doing eveything on their own*.

->USE SPELL/GRAMMAR CHECK! While some simmers ARE English majors or professors, the vast majority are not, but it can be very aggravating to read through a post full of spelling errors and bad grammar. Keep in mind, in this one case, Microsoft Word CAN be your friend. Also, *never* use shorthand/chatspeak/text speak in a post, that's the easiest way to get on my bad side.

->Try to avoid overly lengthy paragraphs full of many different ideas. Separate different ideas into different paragraphs and keep in mind that dialogue should come at the beginning and end of paragraphs, not in the middle. It is often advisable to leave a clear line between paragraphs, particularly in a very technical post.

->ALWAYS save your post somewhere BEFORE submitting it to the mailing list. This will save you many headaches in the inevitable case that the internet (or your computer) decides to misbehave somewhere along the line of the post getting from your brain to the other players on your ship.

->Keep in mind that some other players get very protective of their characters and don't like them being used by other players without their express permission, in some cases even for a line or two. Always make sure to ask before using another person's character and if they don't want you to, don't. Instead, ask for their input or write a Joint Post with that person.