Hello! Welcome to the South Pacific, and its regional message board, or RMB! It is a vibrant, active place where people from all around the world can hang out and talk. It is the region's primary place of communication, and is open to all types of conversations, debates, and overall fun. However, without some form of rules, the RMB would be a wild, annoying, and downright un-enjoyable place. And so, due to this, rules must be laid down and enforced. These are important to protect everyone's safety, dignity, and sanity. So we all ask that you please take the time to read the following rules, and try your hardest to follow them. Remember, there are consequences for breaking the rules.
Note: The “Fundamental Rule” portion of each guideline is meant as a summary of the rule. The official text of the rule may be found in the “Details” spoiler.
Breaking these rules can result in consequences including warnings, post suppressions, and in the the case of repeated or serious infractions, ejection and banning from the region. The full, detailed Local Council Standard Moderation Policy, which specifies the exact consequences for various levels of rule-breaking, can be found here.
And so, after much introduction, here are your RMB Rules:
1. Say Neigh to Spam
Fundamental Rule: Don't spam. Spamming is bad. It is the first rule for a reason.
Details: Spamming on the RMB is not allowed at all, under any circumstances. Spamming is probably best described as a post that is meaningless and/or unnecessary— for example, a post that repeats the same thing multiple times, a lone emoji or image, multiple posts of the same thing, or a series of posts that have no apparent meaning. It does not matter what your intent is— if your post(s) fits the above definition, it is considered spam and will be dealt with accordingly.
2. English is our Mane Language
Fundamental Rule: Posts on the Regional Message Board must be in English, or include an English translation.
Details: We understand that many of you come from backgrounds where English is not your main language, as players come from all around the world. However, to avoid confusion among people who don't speak your language, we sincerely ask that you post in English only, for ease of communication.
Remember, there are tools like Google Translate to help you. If you speak in another language, please add a translation to English in the same post. Posts with English translations will not be suppressed. For the avoidance of doubt, English means Modern English and not backwards English.
3. Keep Our Region Stable
Fundamental Rule: Don’t ask for people to endorse you on the Regional Message Board. Don’t ask for people to move to another region.
Details: Asking for endorsements on the RMB is not allowed at all, under any circumstances. Ever. Permissions are only made if the requester is a member of the Council on Regional Security, the Coral Guard, or the Delegate seeking to increase endorsement counts for the purposes of promoting regional security.
Similarly, recruiting, or telling people to move to another region, is also not allowed. You may not ask people to join your region on the RMB, whether you are also a South Pacifican citizen yourself or not.
4. So a Horse walks into a bar ...
Fundamental Rule: Roleplay on the Regional Message Board, but do not break any other rules. If you're feeling nice or your roleplay is a bit niche or particularly nation driven, please consider taking your roleplaying to Knowhere.
Details: It's all legal! As long as it complies with the rules. Specifically; remember to keep your roleplays appropriate (as stated in rule IX). The LC has reached a general conclusion on what is appropriate, and if your roleplay does not fit within those boundaries, it will be stopped. So, excessive display of affection, sexually-suggesting roleplay, and the like, are not allowed at all.
Similarly, do not clog the RMB with your roleplay. If you feel it has been going on for a while, either take it to a roleplay region, or cease it all together. Otherwise, it may be interfered with. When the board is dominated by roleplay, it becomes hard for everyone else to communicate with each-other, thanks to the overabundance of posts completely unrelated to what they are doing.
But other than those things, feel free to roleplay to your heart's content!
5. Hold your Horses
Fundamental Rule: Don’t post on the Regional Message Board three times or more in a row.
Details: Triple posting, or posting three posts in a row, is considered illegal, as are any other number of posts more than two in a row. All posts after the initial two post will be suppressed. If one hour has passed without another post on the RMB a single third post will be allowed
6. Keep your nose in your own feedbag
Fundamental Rule: Don’t reveal other players’ personal information.
Details: It is not permitted to post or otherwise share another player's personally-identifying information (i.e. social media accounts, IP addresses, postal addresses, E-mail addresses, telephone numbers, etc.), and neither is it permitted to post or share information that may not be identifying but is nonetheless of a personal nature (i.e. medical history, relationship status, etc.). The only exception is if the player in question has shared that information themselves and does not mind its dissemination (this sharing or statement of permission must be publically viewable).
Making a claim of serious out-of-character misconduct (e.g. bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, etc.) against someone else, without providing evidence to moderation/administration, is considered malicious harassment, and will be dealt with accordingly. This rule applies to the TSP forum and discord as well.
7. Get Off Your High Horse
Fundamental Rule: Trolling, baiting or flaming of others is not allowed under any circumstances.
Details: Trolling is defined as starting quarrels or upsetting people by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the intent of provoking other nations into displaying emotional responses. Baiting is similar to trolling, and is defined as posting with the aim of angering someone indirectly, directed at a specific person. Flaming is defined as posting insults or other verbal and often personal attacks on other nations. Erudite slams while maintaining a veneer of politeness can also be considered flaming. All three of these are banned under all circumstances.
This is an extension of a simple policy of respect. What may seem like good natured fun to you could be trolling to someone else, and if they tell you to stop, do so. We can and will warn, suppress, and even ban you, as well as record the incident. In severe cases the NationStates Moderators will be contacted, and puppets will not hide your IP address from them.
8. You Canter Break Site Rules
Fundamental Rule: No matter where you are in NationStates, the rules for the game still apply.
Details: TSP is a part of NationStates, and as such, you must follow the rules of the game as a whole at all times. Breaking the game rules will land you in trouble with both the regional officers and NationStates site moderation. See the link below for the list of rules and a quick FAQ page for more details on the game rules.
Fundamental Rule: Don’t post anything that would not be allowed in a PG-13 movie.
Details: Excessive swearing, explicit, suggestive, or excessively violent messages, sexual references, and other such things will be suppressed on sight, and the NationStates site moderators can and will be called to get involved in serious cases. Excessive displays of personal affection (e.g. suggestive roleplayed snuggling, nuzzling, kissing, licking and so on) is also considered inappropriate and will be suppressed accordingly.
Mild swearing may be tolerated, mild sexuality may be at the very most hinted, but explicit or excessive versions of either or both will result in moderation intervention, both from the Local Council and potentially from NationStates site moderators. Derogatory terms are disallowed, and all swearing must abide by all other rules, particularly those about respecting others.
10. Straight from the horse’s mouth
Fundamental Rule: Do not edit someone's post in a malicious way or repost offensive content.
Details: It is illegal to edit what someone else has written when quoting it in order to make it seem like they expressed a view which they didn’t. Quote-editing should be avoided even for comic effect.
When you are responding to someone's post, please quote their post (by pressing the "quote" button), as it makes it less confusing and will alert them to your post.
When quoting an offensive post, delete the content of the post and replace it with "-snip-". Doing so makes the administrators’ jobs much easier.
When quoting long posts, please cut the post down to the particular parts you are responding to, or replace the extraneous material with "-snip-".
11. Crop Your Post
Fundamental Rule: Use spoilers when making or quoting a very long post.
Details: The [spoiler] tag is your friend. When making or quoting a very long post, or one which not everyone might want to read, please add spoilers, so as to avoid taking up a large amount of the page.
If you are giving a spoiler of a recently released book or film, put it in a spoiler tag, to give people who haven't read/watched it a chance. As a general rule of thumb, give a month for films post-release (as release dates may be different in different areas) and two months for book releases.
12. Rein In Rudeness
Fundamental Rule: The golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated.
Details: Remember, there are other, real people behind the nations on the RMB. Everyone here is a human being with emotions and the right to be respected.
While dissent with regional officers (LC, Delegate, CRS, and Ministers) is perfectly acceptable, remember that they are people too, and worthy of basic human decency. The regional officers should be respected at all times just as any other member of the region should.
When debating, always remember to attack the argument rather than the person making it. If you find yourself getting heated, try to take a step back. Personal insults, insults to intelligence, etc. will not be tolerated. The only form of debate banned on the RMB is that over a particular suppression. For more information, see the Help Section at the end of this document.
13. Don't Ride on Foals
Fundamental Rule: Single word or similarly short posts are not appreciated on the RMB.
Details: Single word posts that do not advance conversation are not allowed. If you find yourself wondering if a post is both unsubstantial and too short, it likely is. This rule does not mean you have to post several paragraphs of content every time you want to post. Single sentence posts, single word greetings, and single-word replies quoting other posts are still allowed under this rule.
However, at the discretion of the Local Council, posts deemed to be insubstantial and not contributing to the regional discourse will be suppressed. An excellent way to avoid this is to add thought to your posts.
Thank you for reading, and remember to follow these guidelines!
Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your stay here in TSP!
~~~HELP!~~~
If you believe a post breaks the rules and should be suppressed, wish to appeal to have a post unsuppressed, wish to appeal a formal warning, or have any questions about the laws of the RMB, you can contact your current Local Councillors through telegrams:
Lodge complaints or comments with the following nation:
The tsp local council
This nation is controlled by the LC, ensuring all Local Councillors can see your complaints or comments. Remember, the rules of respect apply to telegrams as well as the RMB.
To submit a horse you must provide the following: the name, the owner if a person in your nation, and the year it was sired. No horse under three years is allowed to race. If a horse isn't male please state as such. Horse names can be anything that isn't offensive.
The Salisbury Derby
The Salisbury Derby, founded in 1987, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Rhodesia open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Salisbury Downs Racecourse on the 1st day of August each year, over a distance of one mile, four furlongs and 6 yards.
The Derby has been known for its elitist stance, often forbidding working and lower classes from attending the derby.
The winner receives the Pedigree Cup.
1987 - Merlin. 1988 - Rolling thunder. 1989 - cancelled due to weather 1990 - Merlin 1991 - Merlin 1992 - Merlin 1993 - Ignatius 1994 - Merlin 1995 - Merlin 1996 - Philip Mountbatten 1997 - Philip Mountbatten 1998 - Al Joelson. 1999 - Philip Mountbatten 2000 - Merlin 2001 - Rollo 2002 - Marine Corps 2003 - kingarth 2004 - no winner, false start. 2005 - Frederick Douglass 2006 - Spirit of God 2007 - Winston 2008 - Louis Cardinal 2009- King Christian 2010 - Holler 2011 - Billy the kid 2012 - Billy the kid 2013 - Michael Jordan 2014 - Gone with the wind 2015 - Holler 2016 - Johnson 2017 - William of Orange 2018 - William of Orange 2019 - William Of Orange 2022 - Turtle
Little John Sired: 1990 (sired from the horse Merlin ) Shot: Owner: Castraebar Wins:
Billy the Kid, Sired: 2008 Owner: The chaos legion Rider: Louis Forster W:2
William of Orange Sired: 2014 Death: 2022 Owner: Al Saud. W: 3
Jams Maye Rider: Lucas Blundell Sired: 2019 Owner: Ardenswije.
Turtle Sired: C.2019 Rider: Milorad Goran Dragoljub Owner: The Island of Sorna Win: 1
Plant Sired:???? Rider: Mujo Radoslav Owner: New Plant
Dual Morse Riders Sired: 2016 Rider: Thomas Eckhart Owner: The enclave
Duke of Brunswick Rider: Joseph Adamson Owner: Finn York, from Fortisbellator Sired: c.2016
The Bulawayo national
The Bulawayo national, a racetrack of 4 miles and 2½ furlongs (4 miles 514 yards) are far older and more prestigious than the Salisbury Darby, with the same horses running. The National is held from the 3rd-9th of August. The first race was in 1915 and it has only been cancelled once, becoming inactive between 1968-1989.
1915 - Octavianus 1916 - Octavianus 1917 - Flying Irishmen 1918 - Octavianus 1919 - Louis the sun king 1920 - Vic and Bert 1921 - Octavianus 1922 - Malaya 1923 - Cecil Rhodes 1924 - Kaiser 1925 - Octavianus 1926 - Show me the way to go home 1927 - Kaiser 1928 - catch me if you can 1929 - Catch me if you can 1930 -Octavianus (died due to rib fracture) 1931- Strauss 1932- Herbert Hoover 1933 - Strauss 1934 - God's Aunty 1935 - Fredericksburg 1936 - Fredericksburg 1937 - Gay day out 1938 - Grand ol' Duke 1939 - Grand ol' Duke 1945 - Winston Churchill 1946 - Willem of Nassau 1947 - Bill of nights 1948 - Hernia 1949 - Hirohito 1950 - Ford 1951 - King George 1952 - King George 1953 - False start, Union Pacific closest to win 1954 - Why God? 1955 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1956 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1957 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1958 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1959 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1960 - Éamon de Valera 1961 - Éamon de Valera 1962 - Guys running 1963 - Éamon de Valera 1964 - Carry on Running 1965 - Run rabbit run 1966 - Galahad (Merlin's father) 1967 - Carry on Running 1968-1989 not active 1990 - Merlin 1991 - Merlin 1992 - Merlin 1993 - Merlin 1994 - Merlin 1995 - Merlin 1996 - Merlin 1997 - Philip Mountbatten 1998 - Philip Mountbatten 1999 - Rolling thunder 2000 - Philip Mountbatten 2001 - If they could see me now 2002 - Philip Mountbatten 2003 - Merlin 2004 - Red Cross 2005 - You won't believe it 2006 - Philip Mountbatten 2007 - Merlin 2008 - Philip Mountbatten 2009 - Merlin 2010 - Augusta 2011 - Alabama and a half 2012 - 20,000 leagues 2013 - Philip Mountbatten 2014 - Alabama and a half 2015 - Merlin 2016 - Merlin 2017 - Philip Mountbatten 2018 - Philip Mountbatten 2019 - Merlin 2022 - The Duke of Brunswick