POLICY UPDATES & REMINDERS (01/09/26)
Hey guys!
A new year means a new policy post, so take a quick read through this when you have time!
RULES PAGE MAINTENANCE
We've decided to place a copy of the rules page on a Google Document to make it both easier to read as well as easier to find the section that pertains to anything you might be looking for! Over the years the page has become quite long, and we hope this makes it a little easier to digest! We've also modified the rules page listed on the masterlist to have spaces between the bullet points for increased legibility.
This new rules page, along with the one hosted on the masterlist blog, have both been updated to include anything we may have missed from past policy updates as well as this one. The changes are too numerous to list but anything actually new to how we run the group will be listed here. As a result, we encourage all members to give the entire rules page a reread!
While we try to keep the pages as up to date as we can, at times things are mentioned in policy posts that do not make it to the relevant pages due to human error. In cases like these, you will never get in trouble if you do something that isn't recorded on the rules page. We'll likely just ask you to change it and make sure it's added afterwards!
GROUP ETIQUETTE
We'd like to remind everyone that Isola is an RP group and this means that if you're joining, it shouldn't be just to write with your close friends. The Tumblr RP setup is unique in that in most cases you don't even need to interact with other muns directly and can just like or make ads and get an interaction. While we cannot directly police who you write with, please keep in mind that only writing with your friends over the long term is considered a hoarding behaviour and can be used against you if someone files a hoarding case, even if you're active otherwise. We're bringing this up because we've received several anons and member concerns about it over the past six months.
We try to make our policies as clear as we can, but we're only able to do so much, especially without making the rules page so long that it's a chore to read (at least more so than it already is). If something isn't specifically mentioned on the rules page or in a policy update, please ask us instead of making assumptions about whether or not something is okay!
Please make sure to tag any potentially triggering content that you post or reblog to the dashboard! This includes common triggers like realistic insects and clowns of any sort. Members with these triggers have the tags muted to avoid unwanted exposure, and seeing them randomly can lead to issues as severe as panic attacks.
While we understand accidents happen, please make sure to tag posts with the correct tags! We're still commonly seeing personalized starters tagged with the "#isola mini" tag, which is a tag reserved for minis that anyone can reply to. If you need any clarification about what goes into which tag, we have a handy tag guide page!
Member-run activities like dances, festivals, etc. are allowed, but please make sure you get mod permission first by sending us an ask or checking through the Discord server! This is to make sure that it isn't going to clash with any events, staff run activities, or other member-run events that may be planned, and allows us to help advise you on the best time to run it to maximize member interest.
DUST PURCHASES
Characters are able to spend their Dust as they please in the group. This includes on things like adopting pets, purchasing weapons, or even buying vehicles so long as these items are all ordinary and purchased in moderation. These purchases do not need to go through staff, but there are some limitations on how these purchases are made in the point below.
In order to purchase regular weapons or vehicles with Dust, your character must be at least Luminous status. This means they must be active in the group for 90 days first! This is to maintain balance for newly accepted characters, so they can't just go out and buy a glock or a Toyota Camry because they fell into money, especially since we do not ask members to track their dust. This also applies to building weapons or vehicles or receiving them as gifts from members already at that rank for fairness sake.
What qualifies as an "ordinary weapon or vehicle"? Any mundane variation of a weapon or vehicle that exists in the real world. In terms of weapons it could be things like handguns, rifles, grenades, swords, spears, bows etc. while for vehicles it can be regular bikes, cars, boats, etc. You cannot obtain unique weapons that exist in your character's world this way, nor can you obtain things like laser guns, hovercars, etc.
ABILITIES & UNLOCK LIMITATIONS
We will not completely uncap an ability with unlocks. The only ability that can be uncapped before reaching max rank is your starting ability via Luminous status, and that's subject to how strong your starting ability is. If you've already put numerous unlocks into one ability, we suggest unlocking something new because the gains will likely be minimal.
The stronger the ability you request to unlock is, the more it will be nerfed when you get it back. This is so that characters that are considered overpowered do not have an extremely unfair advantage over others just by asking for their strongest power out the gate!
As a reminder, even OP abilities when unlocked entirely are still subject to certain limitations, such as not being able to affect more than a single ward or not being able to permanently alter the setting including the structural design or the population. For example, a character with the ability to conjure monsters would not be permitted to create monsters in bulk with the intention of triggering frequent monsters attacks, as the Stars would stop it to prevent too much unrest. We ask that in general you keep any abilities that may alter or contribute to the creature population dynamic within reason, and that if you have any plans with them to get mod permission first. Another example would be an ability that causes widespread destruction; the Stars would intervene. From a group management perspective, the reason this is the case is because of issues in the past where characters were constantly causing widespread IC problems and it led to member complaints, so we try to keep things more reasonable these days.
The monsters that exist as part of the group setting cannot be modified in any way with abilities (aside from what is outlined in the monsters post). From a lore perspective, this is because they are technically not under the control of the Stars and so anything they or the characters try to do to them short of killing them outright will not work!
While we have no issue with members using tabletop mechanics and terminology in their threads provided all involved parties have discussed and agreed to using them, we ask that all tabletop terminology is kept off of the abilities section of your application! We've always asked that anything game mechanic-related in general on your app is cut out and described in plain terms so that the general member audience can understand, and this does apply to tabletop content as well!
STAFF COMMUNICATION
All of the staff, be they mods, assistants, or otherwise, are all real people with lives outside of the group. As a result there may sometimes be delays between when we are messaged with concerns and when we can address them, particularly if some discussion is required. If we think something may take a while we will try to message you to let you know we’ve seen the message.
Similarly, all of the staff are also members of the group and will naturally befriend other members. We like to keep our personal and professional relationships as separate as we can and do not want to perpetuate the idea that some members get preferential treatment because they have friends that happen to be staff, so we ask that if you have any big questions or concerns about the group that you do not default to asking a friend if they are on the staff team. Please send these either through the masterlist askbox, the #staff-questions channel on the server, or by reaching out to a different mod or assistant in the server with the “contact me” role.
While we are open to receiving feedback, any feedback sent that is rude or purposefully demeaning in nature will be deleted without any consideration. We likewise ask that any feedback sent is done off of anon so that we can contact the sender if we have questions or need further context. Feedback sent without examples if a problem is pointed out cannot be acted upon because we need examples of the issue occurring before we can do anything.
We try not to, but we reserve the right to add or change policies as needed. Sometimes there are issues that we don’t consider until something happens, we receive new perspectives, or existing rules end up needing tweaking due to changing group conditions. You will always be notified if we make any changes! All we ask is that you remember that the staff are volunteers and we’re only able to run the group within our own means.
