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Re: Enforcing Gorean Ritual
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Home away from home 
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It strikes me as a little ironic that by means of such rules, the professed life-stylers would in fact seem to be introducing an element of role-play into the forum (since you can't "punish" in any real sense people whom you've never met, don't know their real names etc., over a computer link).
Posted on: 2007/5/16 21:00
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Enforcing Gorean Ritual
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Staff 
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Greetings, Folks.
Every once in a while the issue is raised of whether the moderator(s) of a Gorean themed forum should actively enforce Gorean behaviour and ritual. Usually, this subject is introduced by questions like "should slaves be allowed to change status and declare themselves free?", "should slaves be allowed to interfere in discussions among the free?", or "should slaves be punished publicly for disrespectful behaviour toward the free?". For some, these matters are utterly irrelevant, yet, for others they gnaw at the core of their identity; they cannot be dismissed or neglected, and so they return, over and over again, in the in-boxes of moderators, to exhort either a change in forum rules, or a well written explanation of the decision to remain impartial. The latter is my current objective.
Mostly, the requests to coerce Gorean ritual are founded upon one or more of the following four arguments:
<ul>
<li>"I am a Gorean life-styler, and on a Gorean forum I expect Gorean rules to apply".
<li>"If you choose to base your life, actions and attitudes upon Gorean philosophy, others, specially those who share that life-style, have the right to expect and if necessary, enforce the compliancy to the prescribed etiquette of a Gorean relationship."
<li>"It's in the books, and to honour John Norman, a Gorean website should promote Gorean ideals and adhere to Gorean ritual."
<li>"Slaves have a different set of standards and ideals than the free. They should be separated and only allowed to talk amongst themselves."
</ul>
I will address these four arguments separately.
<h4>The Fundamentalist Argument</h4>Quote:I am a Gorean life-styler, and on a Gorean forum I expect Gorean rules to apply.
Whatever belief system one chooses to follow, be it religious or philosophical, that choice itself is strictly a personal one, and one should be very cautious and prudent when propagating ones own belief system amongst others. Preaching, expounding and convincing is one thing, but commanding, enforcing and penalizing are totally different terms. The right to choose ones own, private worldview, ethics and morality automatically implies the equal right of others to choose differently. The labels and categories one attaches to such psychological systems are merely superficial, stereotypes, abstractions of a reality that goes far beyond the reaches of language and understanding. In finding ones own, personal place within that intricate, unintelligible, violent, relentless and yet so very beautiful and satisfying world outside, one should first and foremost strive to achieve insight, to acceptance and understanding, righteousness and integrity, honour, respect and above all, love, faith and hope. The urge to actively enforce certain behaviours and rituals upon others, without addressing the internal drives and dispositions from which these behaviours should naturally arise, is both counter-productive in a educational sense, and reprehensible in a instinctually humane, well-balanced adult, traditionally ethical sense. Freedom, after all, is the foundation of the human state.
<h4>The Peer Pressure Argument</h4>Quote:If you choose to base your life, actions and attitudes upon Gorean philosophy, others, specially those who share that life-style, have the right to expect and if necessary, enforce the compliancy to the prescribed etiquette of a Gorean relationship.
This peer pressure, itself, perhaps, forthcoming from a genuine and deep-felt desire to purify and protect a shared belief system, might well be justifiable within the constraints of small, real life groups or societies of followers of John Norman's writings. The Internet, however, and hence, this website, is a world-wide phenomenon. As with all philosophies, different people tend to interpret and react to it in different ways; some strive to follow it by the letter, other by intent; some incorporate it in their day to day activities, others are content with contemplation and analysis; some feel they should adopt all its rigid rules and regulations; other pick and choose, you might say, only those aspects that seem important to them. With such a degree of variation and multiplicity of interpretation and acceptance of the Gorean philosophy, even within the boundaries of those that clearly state to 'be' Gorean, it must be obvious, I hope, that on the even broader scale, a world-wide scale, that of a fan-site, a website not only for experienced life-stylers, or role-players, but also, and equally importantly so, for just plain fans of science fiction and fantasy, for novices and strangers alike, for those who are merely interested, or perhaps, simply intrigued; the diversity of this website's public obliterates the peer pressure argument. Diversity, after all, is a cornerstone of the Gorean world-view.
<h4>The Honourable Argument</h4>Quote:It's in the books, and to honour John Norman, a Gorean website should promote Gorean ideals and adhere to Gorean ritual.
To many, even to the author himself, the Chronicles of Gor are not meant as a how-to-live-ones-life type of manual or guide-book; on the contrary, the series, though surely targeted upon recognition and the rational acceptance of previously unknown, perhaps even suppressed, emotional and instinctual needs and motives; is surely to be seen as a conceptual dislocation, an imaginary society and culture that does not in fact exist, but is predicated on one's own, known society; a society that develops and advances out of one's own in some awkward way, perhaps, you might say, intentionally exaggerated, perpendicular kind of way; to make the reader unsure, confused about one's own opinions and prejudices, and their application in different, yet unforeseen, environments and situations; tousled and tangled about the perceived yet unexpected resemblance between what seemed to be real and what seemed to be mere fantasy, and finally, in a convulsive shock of dysrecognition, the acceptance of knowledge, the enlightenment, the relief and satisfaction of an enhanced form of vision, a new way of seeing; a new set of colours; each more beautiful then one could ever dream of. To learn from these books, after all, is to truly honour its author.
<h4>The Discriminating Argument</h4>Quote:Slaves have a different set of standards and ideals than the free. They should be separated and only allowed to talk amongst themselves.
Sometime in our human history, Europeans were seen as different, and regardless of their origin or skills, they were separated and silenced, slandered and sacrificed, treated like mere animals, and, at a whim, by the thousands, simply killed. Sometime in our human history, white, yellow, brown, red, and black skincolor was seen as different, and regardless of their origin or skills, they were separated and silenced, slandered and sacrificed, treated like mere animals, and, at a whim, by the thousands, simply killed. Sometime in our human history, the female gender was seen as different, and regardless of their origin or skills, they were separated and silenced, slandered and sacrificed, treated like mere animals, and, at a whim, by the thousands, simply killed. Let's not make those mistakes ever again. Let's be proud upon our differences and cherish our equality. After all, we're still human, right?
To be sure, the answer is no - we will not enforce Gorean behaviour and ritual.
Take care,
Simon (The Elder)
Posted on: 2007/5/16 19:47
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Chronicles of Gor webserver upgrade
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Staff
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Over the past couple of weeks or so our web hosts have been upgrading their systems.
Some of you may have noticed short periods where the site has been unavailable, particularly during the last week. These periods of unavailability generally only last a few minutes. The reason for these problems appears to be connected with the various upgrades. This is part of a response from the support team:
"....a kernal upgrade (operating system upgrade) was just done on April 20th. Sometimes in the upgrade process it take a few days to get all the bugs worked out of the new upgrade."
They tell me that things should be settling down now, and hopefully, once the upgrades are complete, and everything has fully settled down, the site should be both faster and more reliable.
Our apologies for any inconvenience that has been caused by the occasional site availability issues.
Simon
Posted on: 2007/4/25 11:49
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Avatars and Copyright
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Staff
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Tal All,
We've noticed that a few of the members have used portions of copyrighted images in their avatars. We know that this is a common practice on many other boards and chat sites, but it is something we would prefer not be done here.
Because Simon of Tabor is authorized to enforce John Norman's copyrights we want to be sure we respect the copyrights of others, including copyrights on images.
As you may know, it is permissible to use small, properly attributed portions of text from a copyrighted work under the "fair use" doctrine, if it meets the applicable conditions. Unfortunately, image copyright is much more complex and there are few clear guidelines regarding how much of an image, or when a thumbnail, may legally be used as "fair use" outside an academic setting or in connection with an image search engine or parody (none of which apply to avatars, obviously), even when it is properly cited.
So, if your avatar uses a portion of an image that is not in the public domain, or an image which is not your original creation, (unless it’s one that you’re using with the explicit permission of the original creator, a copy of which the moderators may request that you provide), please select a different image that does not violate someone else's copyright.
Thank you,
Lemuel of the Builders
Posted on: 2007/4/20 21:16
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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The chatroom is for realtime conversations only, to the best of my knowledge. Use of it for 'scening' and RP would unreasonably restrict others from using it for general chat. CoG is a discussion site for ALL Gor enthusiasts (It's a bit difficult to seriously discuss aspects of the the books, and deep perceived meaning while at the same time some people are having virtual swordfights, virtual wordy serves from suitably descriptive kajirae - not to mention while the RPers are possibly mutilating the storylines (sorry, my own predjudice showing through there) with their own peculiar interpretations of what Gor is all about).
Posted on: 2007/3/22 16:38
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Breoghan
Honour needs no witness.
Reality has little respect for wishful thinking.
Life goes on, then one day it doesn't. The rest is just there to keep things interesting
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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Hello Masters,
Hello Mistresses,
Hello slaves,
My apologies, I wasn't aware the Chat Room was now available at any time?
My Master has never allowed me to go into Chat Rooms, and he told me he would think about allowing me to use this one, on occassion.
It's my understanding though that there would be no roleplaying involved. No cyber-serves or attempts at cyber-collaring. Just discussions among folks who are on-line at any given point with some time on their hands?
I see there's some logs already on there of past discussions, which is reassuring, I must say. More to show my Master at any rate. I'm sorry, Chat Rooms are just very alien to me.
Wishing everyone all the best.
Respectfully,
holly {B}
Posted on: 2007/3/22 11:53
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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Lemuel, thanks. I'll wait and see what happens.
Richard
Posted on: 2007/3/22 0:44
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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Quote: MasterR wrote:
Okay, I'm still a novice on this computer stuff. For example, I have learned how to post on the forums.
But, when I get on the chat line, and try to post, it doesn't go through. I click the "Submit" button, and it just gets lost.
I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but don't know what.
I read the General Guidelines, but didn't find anything on this. Any ideas?
Richard There is occasionally a bit of lag time between submitting the post and it appearing on the screen. Did you hang around and wait to see if it showed up eventually? I'm not sure - but the lag time might increase with the number of people posting and might be dependent on your connection speed. That's about as much as I know, so if that doesn't help it's definitely a job for Simon.
Posted on: 2007/3/21 17:13
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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That sounds like computer geek stuff
Simon?
Posted on: 2007/3/21 17:09
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Breoghan
Honour needs no witness.
Reality has little respect for wishful thinking.
Life goes on, then one day it doesn't. The rest is just there to keep things interesting
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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Okay, I'm still a novice on this computer stuff. For example, I have learned how to post on the forums.
But, when I get on the chat line, and try to post, it doesn't go through. I click the "Submit" button, and it just gets lost.
I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but don't know what.
I read the General Guidelines, but didn't find anything on this. Any ideas?
Richard
Posted on: 2007/3/21 17:02
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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Okay, now that it's open we should decide when we'd like to gather there and for what purpose. There's not a sufficient population yet to simply let it run and expect a lively discussion to result. But having said that, I've got the Chat in another tab and have encountered ember.
Posted on: 2007/3/21 14:04
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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By popular request, our Live Chat Room is now OPEN once again. Our apologies for the time it has taken us to open the Chat Room on a permanent basis. We have had to amend our Terms of Service and other documents to cover it, and have also introduced some <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... forum=10">General Posting Guidelines</a>. Full details of the changes made can be found <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... 3">here</a>. Please read these documents, especially the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... forum=10">General Posting Guidelines</a>. To make it easier to use we have also added a date and time stamp to each post. We hope you will enjoy this new feature of the site. Other new features are in the pipeline, and will be announced at the appropriate time. Simon
Posted on: 2007/3/16 21:20
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Re: Future Changes to the Terms of Service, and Other Site Notices and Policies
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Staff
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We have made a number of revisions to our <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... ?pagenum=2">Terms of Service</a>, <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... agenum=3">Privacy Notice</a> and <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... rum=10">Copyright Posting Policy</a>. We have also added some <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... forum=10">General Posting and Live Chat Room Use Guidelines</a>. These changes and the new <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... ;>Guidelines</a> were made partly to facilitate the re-opening of the Live Chat Room. Please read these documents, especially the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... ;>Guidelines</a>, before using the Live Chat Room. Provisions have also been added to the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... ?pagenum=2">Terms of Service</a> to cover the translating of Site Content by volunteers. If you have already volunteered to help translate this site, or are considering volunteering, please read the updated <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... ?pagenum=2">Terms of Service</a>, especially section 4.6. The affected sections of the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... ?pagenum=2">Terms of Service</a> are sections 2.1, 4.1, 4.3, 4.5 and 4.6. The affected sections of the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... agenum=3">Privacy Notice</a> are the <i>Member Generated Content</i> part of the <i>Here Are the Types of Information We Gather</i> section, and the <i>Does Chronicles of Gor Share the Information It Receives?</i> section. The affected sections of the <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... rum=10">Copyright Posting Policy</a> are section 3 and the final paragraphs from the NB onwards.
Posted on: 2007/3/16 20:54
Edited by Simon_of_Tabor on 2007/4/7 6:09:06
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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General Posting and Live Chat Room Use Guidelines
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Staff
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In addition to complying with the Terms of Service and the Copyright Posting Policy, we ask members to observe the following when posting in the Forums or using the Live Chat Room: 1. Be courteous. Don't threaten, harass, stalk or verbally abuse other Members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive, excessively numerous, meaningless or repeatedly off-topic messages or "spam." 2. Debate, but don't attack. In a community characterized by strong opinions and preferences, people inevitably disagree. We encourage active discussions and welcome heated debate in our Forums and Chat Room, but personal attacks on other Members, our Staff, the Gor series or on John Norman are grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to the Forums, the Chat Room, or any other part of the Site or Services. 3. Please remember that this Site is for the <i>fans</i> of John Norman's <i>Chronicles of Gor</i> series and Members do not need to consider themselves to be "Gorean" in order to participate. Consequently, we do not enforce a fixed style of address or mode of speech nor the use of titles. 4. The Chat Room is intended for discussion, not for role playing or cybersex. Those Members who participate in Gorean role-playing elsewhere are asked to please remember that the Chronicles of Gor Chat Room is a venue for the player, not the character. 5. Please avoid writing your messages using all capital letters. It looks like you are SHOUTING! 6. Please be careful not to disclose real life personal or personally identifying information about another person without their prior permission. Don't continue disputes from other venues in the Chronicles of Gor Forums and Chat Room, please! 7. When the Chronicles of Gor Staff conduct a scheduled discussion in the Chat Room, please keep your communications to the point and related to the designated topic. In chat rooms it's sometimes difficult to follow the thread of discussion. Shorter posts usually read better and will help keep the chat flowing. 8. Please try to keep your Forum posts on topic. If a particular thread sparks an entirely new idea that differs substantially from the current line of discussion, consider beginning a new thread (use the <i>New Topic</i> button at the top right of the page), and please try to begin new threads in the appropriate Forums. In most cases, for example, questions for the Staff about administrative matters belong in the Users Issue Forum, and purely personal discussions between two or three members that are not likely to interest others are better conducted off-list. 9. Please don't post sexually explicit photographs as attachments or avatars. Considerations of taste and morals aside, we simply don't have the ability to ensure compliance with applicable legal regulations concerning their display on the internet, such as the <a href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Pr ... Enforcement_Act">§2257 regulations</a>. 10. Emotion is hard to convey in the written word and the membership is drawn from around the world; not all speak English fluently. During Chats, especially, it may be helpful to use smilies to help convey your feelings, which you can do by clicking the <i>Options</i> link to the right of the <i>Send</i> button. Not all of us are naturally good spellers, either, but especially in posts, if spelling is not one of your talents, please consider composing your posts first in word processing and using spell check in order to be considerate of those who don't read English fluently. 11. Because emotion is so much harder to convey in writing even despite people's best efforts, we can sometimes misread others' intent and become offended by someone's comments, often unnecessarily. Please try to keep cool. It is often better to offer no response than to offer a heated one and thereby touch off a flame war. 12. Any and all complaints directed to a Staff Member actively moderating the Chat Room or who is the designated Moderator of a Forum should first be addressed to them via a PM or an off-list email. If the problem cannot be resolved promptly between yourself and that Staff Member, or a problem occurs with another Member in the Chat Room at a time when no Staff Member is present, please contact us at moderators@gorchronicles.com. The use of the <i>Report</i> button for offensive, violating or inappropriate posts is explained further in this <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/smar ... quot;>F.A.Q.</a>13. Please remember that all our Staff Members are volunteer workers, so we ask you to remain as calm as possible while we try to help you through any problems you may encounter. 14. The Live Chat Room has been opened to the Members at their request for general discussions, but the Staff Members cannot provide 24 hour supervision, which you acknowledge by choosing to participate nevertheless. If the privilege is abused, we reserve the right to shut the Live Chat Room down. These General Posting and Live Chat Room Use Guidelines do not supersede any applicable provisions of the Site's <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... ?pagenum=2">Terms and Conditions of Use</a>, <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/newb ... rum=10">Copyright Posting Policy</a> or <a href=" http://gorchronicles.com/modules/wfch ... agenum=3">Privacy Notice</a>.
Posted on: 2007/3/16 19:32
Edited by Simon_of_Tabor on 2007/4/7 6:01:39
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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No problem - don't worry about it.
Simon
Posted on: 2007/3/11 12:51
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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Simon of Tabor, I apologize for my question.
If I had read the previous posts, I would have had my answer.
I guess I'm real stupid, and just not stupid.
Thanks for your gracious reply. You could have been a little catty, as I deserved it. Thanks again.
Richard
Posted on: 2007/3/11 12:31
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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As I've said, when it's open again it will be in the Main Menu. I'll also say here when it's back open.
Posted on: 2007/3/11 0:36
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Home away from home
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This may be a stupid question, but I'm still new to the site, and not sure of everything.
How does one get to the chat room?
Posted on: 2007/3/11 0:31
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Staff
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When it's open again, and we are working on that, it will be in the main menu. We'll make announcements when it's open again.
Posted on: 2007/3/8 15:09
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"Have I nothing better to do? Have I not a thousand scrolls gathering dust on my shelves, unread, unstudied?"
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Re: The Chat Room is Open
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Just popping in 
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As some know or have seen that I'm new here and just learning my way around the boards. How does one find the chat room for here? Thank you.
Posted on: 2007/3/8 14:55
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"It is better, I think, to grab at the stars then to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them." .....Drizzt Do'Urden
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DISCLAIMER |
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Please be advised that John Norman is not responsible and specifically disclaims any responsibility for any of the content of this website, except for any content that he has specifically written himself. Please also be advised that John Norman has no ownership interest in this website. |
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