#Rift71SR, the Inn of the Southern Cross, Welcomes You!

Going Strong Since August 2000!

This channel started as a hangout for players of The Gathering Play By E-Mail camapign, and quickly grew to include members of many diverse roleplaying backgrounds. It is a place to hang out, relax, and enjoy our unique atmosphere. Everyone is opped, and the rules are few, though violated rules are enforced firmly.

Where Did the Channel Name Come From, and How Exactly Did It Start?

Rift71 was the nick of the original GM of The Gathering, and hence became the name of the original channel on Undernet and then Sandwich.net. When he quit in October 2000, due to various reasons, a relatively new but enthusistic player volunteered to continue running the game. (She still maintains that she was nuts. This was a 70 player, 10 team game.)

The channel became even more popular when freeform games and eventually formal games started to be held there, leading to many fond memories, and much roleplaying practice. This is covered later in the FAQ.

Cygnata and another player, Shadur, had started the channel about two months before this as a hangout, but upon her taking the mantle of GMhood, it became more popular. She recruited several co-GMs, appointed team leaders, had help crafting a whole new campaign, and generally kept the game alive for 2 more years until it eventually petered out. Shadur eventually gave up running the channel, and Cygnata became sole owner soon before had to leave Sandwich.net, and moved to Dumpshock.com.

This was where SR, short for Shadowrun, was added to the name, both to differentite it from the "original" channel, and because Dumpshock is primarily populated by Shadowrun players. Both the Sandwich.net and Dumpshock channels are still in exsistance, though these rules apply only to the latter.

Why Is Everyone Opped?

Back when the channel started, only the channel owners, Team Leaders, and GMs of the PBEM were opped. During games, only the GM running it was opped. After a while Cygnata decided to op everyone on occasional weekends as a treat. This eventually lead to confusion, as members assumed it was a new policy. After several weeks of trying to lay down the law, Cygnata gave up, saying only that those who abused their ops would lose them, possibly forever. (See, not my fault!) ;)

And This WORKS?

Two permanant bans in three years. Period. Not counting, of course, the couple ill-advised ones back on the original channel, but those would no longer be allowed under the rules. It works for us. ;)

Who Runs This Place?

Cygnata is the channel founder/owner. Period. she, however, shares her power with the Super Ops, who have equal rights and powers.

Super Ops currently include Praxxus (Also Channel Successor), Arsenal, and Nemesis.

Qualifications for Super Ops are: Level-headedness, ability and willingness to take a leadership role, good channel record, maturity, channel memebership for at least 6 months, frequent and mostly consistant appearences in channel, willingness to enforce all rules without being heavyhanded, and trustworthy judgement.

As Superops have the right to kick each other and the channel owner in severe cases, anyone who does not meet these qualifications will not be considered. If you're *really* interested, /msg Cygnata, but don't expect anything.

Channel Rules

1. No Colors. Those using colors will be politely asked to stop.

2. Please be considerate of others in channel. Trolls are not appreciated anywhere, nor are fights.

3. Fights that disrupt games, and most especially, normal channel activity are especially not appreciated. Please work things out calmly, or take a breather. GMs have kicking rights during games, but ONLY to remind players that they are taking things too seriously. Abuse of kicking rights will result in either the removal of them, or the request that the game be moved.

4. Kicks outside games will be limited to *playful* occasional kickfests where everyone understands it is for fun, or when a super op *not* involved kicks members of both sides to tell them to calm down. Kicking should be a rare occurence, no matter what, limited to the most extreme of cases. In playful kickfests, as soon as someone kicks maliciously, and/or someone's feelings are hurt, the kicking will stop *IMMEDIATELY.*

5. Banning is *only* allowed by Super ops and the channel owner, and will be *only* used in cases of channel takeovers.

6. Abuse of ops will result in immediate loss of them. Duration will depend on the desicion of the super op or owner doing the deopping, and will depend on the severity of the offense. Anyone opping such a person on purpose, *after having been warned,* especially if it leads to any type of channel takeover or retaliation against a super op, will lose theirs as well, and will also result in the possible banning of the original offender, if they should attempt a takeover.

7. This channel thrives on trust, and to some extent democracy. Should one of these rules need changing, the channel owner and Super-ops are more than willing to do so, especially upon a majority vote. However, all desicions by the owner and super ops in cases of mediation and punishment are *final*, unless it can be proved they acted irresponsibly. Such a repeal would then be decided by the other Super ops, after getting all the evidence.

These rules are in place to ensure that all channel members enjoy themselves while in #Rift71SR. As always, please follow proper nettiquette. These rules may be amended to at any time, without prior notice. It is hoped that some rules not listed here would be assumed of any channel.

Thank You, and Please Enjoy Your Stay In #Rift71SR!