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Chapter 3: Posting Fundamentals
The heart and sole of the play by email format is the posting.
This is where all the action takes place, where all the characters are
developed, and where most of the fun happens. While we don't want
to limit your creativity, or make it difficult for you to post, there has
to be a few guidelines that you need to follow in order to help everyone
know exactly what they are looking at. Each CO may alter these posting
guidelines a bit to suit their needs and tastes, so if your CO asks you
to do things a little differently, then by all means please do so.
Here are the basic fundamentals of posting.
1. The <off> feature. Anytime that you want to convey a message
to your shipmates that is not actually part of the story or in character,
you can use an <off>. This means that whatever follows is not
part of the story. For example, maybe you wanted to wish someone
a happy birthday, or compliment someone on a post they recently did, or
brown nose your CO hoping to get a promotion (won’t work but always worth
a shot lol), this is when you’d use the <off>. You may begin a post,
end a post, or if necessary use the <off> in the middle of a post.
A word of caution though, the lists are not meant for general chatting.
The occasional short comment is great, but don’t over do it.
2. To indicate the location that your post takes place you also use
the <>. For example:
a. <on the bridge>
b. <in the mess hall>
It’s important to let everyone know at the beginning of your post where
you are. And, if you change locations during a post, you want to
convey that as well.
3. A lot of times it will be easier to write things as actions, rather
than a lengthy dialogue. To convey an action you want to use the
following format: *action*. This may be done in the middle
of a sentence, or as a complete paragraph. For example:
a. Montgomery: Good to meet you ensign *shaking hands*
Please have a seat.
b. *After his conversation with the ensign, Montgomery returned to
his work. There was a stack of PADD’s on his desk and he needed to
review them. Picking up the first one he begins to study it intently*
4. All of the dialogue posting will be done in regular script format.
The only real keys to remember is having the person who is speaking listed
first and then “:” . Example:
Montgomery: Captain, how are things going with
the training exercise?
5. Always end your post with and <off> and your signature. It
is important and required that you sign each post. Don’t assume people
know who wrote the post. As ships grow new members will not be as
familiar with the crew as you are. There are several ways you can sign
your post, the important thing is that you do. Two examples are:
a. <Fleet Admiral Michael Montgomery: SB14>
b. Lt. Commander Adrian Flame
Chief Engineer
USS Frontier
Continue to Chapter 4
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