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Commons General FAQ Frequently Asked Questions |
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Commons was originally created as a virtual land where
werewolves could roam and explore. Get out of your weak human skin and
borrow a wolf's pelt and claws! Explore and chat with other werewolves.
Become a member and be a part of our world! Commons is brought to you by William Underwood, website co-owner and web developer. Copyright © 1999-2011 by wunderwood LLC. |
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What is Commons? (back to top) | |||
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Commons is a 2D graphical avatar chat. That means that, unlike with
a text-only chat (think AOL™ chatrooms), there's a unique visual
element: you control a small drawing of your character (called "avatar")
on a background scene such as a forest, a meadow or a castle room. You
can interact with other online users by chatting and changing "poses"
to make your character do different actions and express your mood.
Your avatar can be any species in the wild canid family or even an
"anthro" (half-human or anthropomorphic) animal, and it can be
sleeping, sitting, walking, pouncing, and more. Your speech will
appear in an on-screen text log as well as in a small speech bubble
above your avatar's head. You can use the chat directly from your web
browser, and you do not have to download any program. This is a place
to hang out, have fun, meet new people, and chill with friends.
Here's a screenshot! (opens in a new window) |
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Cool! So how much does this cost? (back to top) | |||
| You can use Commons for free, but but if you want to get access to custom poses, or have a personal chatroom on the site, you will want to purchase Commons Deltas and use them to buy a subscription, as described in the chart at the bottom of this page. We still have free accounts, of course. If you want to hang out here for free, you still can. | ||||
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Sign me up! Wait, how? (back to top) | |||
| Fill out an application here. By signing up for Commons you agree to be subject to rules of conduct and terms of use. | ||||
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I registered, and there's so many buttons! How do I use this thing? (back to top) | |||
| Look here for the Basic Commons Tutorial and that should be enough to get you started. If you have any further questions, you can try asking other users you see in the chat, or call on a member of our Administration or visit the Commons forum. | ||||
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What are the rules? What happens if I break them? What is this chat rated? (back to top) | |||
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Our rules are written in detail here: The Rules of Commons, and they
describe what the acceptable behavior for Commons is and what can happen
when you ignore that. In brief, we consider ourselves a PG-13 chat; so
basically if it's not on "The Simpsons" it's not okay to do in the public
rooms. Temporary private rooms are available to all members, but the
private room ratings range from "G" to "X" and they are controlled by the
private room owner. If you are a parent of an underage Commons patron and
you have any questions about this, please e-mail Bill Underwood at
. Along with the rules of conduct for this site, in order to participate you must also agree to abide by our Terms of Use. By making use of the services on this website you agree to the terms of service described in this document. We want everyone to have fun and be safe, and these rules are in place to help make that happen. Not following these rules can result in a kick (being "chased" from the chat, logged out), or a ban - which could be a few days or permanent, depending on the offense and how many strikes you've got. We have a very low tolerance for troublemakers, so just don't do it. |
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Who do I ask for help in using the chat or when someone is bothering me? (back to top) | |||
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First off, if someone is bothering you, ignore them. Literally. On
Commons, there is an ignore feature, and that should always
be your first line of defense if someone is bothering you. You can
ignore them and they will *disappear* from your chat window (and
you will also disappear from theirs). It will look to them as though you
have signed off the chat. Other users in the room can still see you and
still see the person you are ignoring. To ignore someone, either click on
their avatar and select "ignore" or type "!ignore {username}" in the text
box when you're in a room ({username} is their Commons name). Our Administration is here to help you: whether that means answering a simple question, or protecting your chat experience. The Admins have the ability to give official answers to questions, as well as kick and ban troublemakers from the chat - they are Commons's police. If you see a rule being broken, please report it to us. If someone is bothering you, remember that you have to ask them to stop before it counts as harassment. Please keep a copy of your scroll log to show us as a record of the event. Never hesitate to ask for help if you don't feel right about a situation. How to contact an Admin: When you first log in and see the map screen, to the upper right hand corner is a list of the online Administrators. If you then look in The Mysts, you will see the names of Administrators in italic and either red (Betas), blue (Gammas), or fuscia (Alphas). For minor problems contact a Gamma and for more serious problems contact a Beta. You can "call" them from the room you're in and they'll come to assist or you can go to them. (Note: "Problem Tickets" are available but we prefer that this is used to report technical problems when there are no Admins online.) Just like the Alpha of a real wolf pack, Underdog is the lead Alpha (  ) of Commons, and he is
ultimately in charge of the chat. He has a team of Alphas to assist
with the managing of Commons. There are also Betas ( ) and Gammas ( ) in our Administration Team,
and they patrol the chat and manage the different aspects of making
Commons work. This symbol ( ) is for Delta and signifies a regular chat member. A
lot of members have been around for a while and may be able to answer
basic questions. These symbols only appear on our forums by default, but
you can see them on the chat too. Set the checkbox for "show ranks" in
your Commons profile.
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How do I get to be an Administrator? (back to top) | |||
| Number one, don't ask us for it. It just happens. If you're helpful, friendly, and follow the rules, you're bound to be noticed by the Administration eventually. We do sometimes ask users to nominate each other, when the time comes a news announcement will be made on the homepage, and on the forums. DO NOT ask us to open this process! We promote members and ask for nominations when we need more hands on deck, and we're the ones who decide when and who that is. | ||||
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Can I role-play (RP) here? (back to top) | |||
| RP is when people pretend to have clans, packs, mates, families, battles, and so forth. This site was meant for chatting, not for role-playing. But, we do understand that a lot of people are interested in RP, so we have a designated area where you can do it freely and meet other people interested in the same thing. There are currently five rooms designated specifically for RP. Please keep roleplay in those rooms, via whisper or in private rooms with the room owner's permission. If we catch you RPing in other public rooms, you will be asked to go to the RP areas. We want to have a place for people that want to role-play, but the main Commons site isn't intended for RP. | ||||
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Why can't I get into the chat? (back to top) | |||
| This could be for a number of reasons. Make sure you have the most up to date version of Flash, which you can find here: Adobe Flash website. If you have some kind of firewall installed, (most schools and some business networks have this sort of protection), then that could be blocking Commons. Also, try clearing out your cache and cookies through your browser's internet options. Currently, the chat works best in Internet Explorer 7 and pretty well in Firefox as well as some other browsers. If none of this helps, go to here: The Technical Support Forum for help. | ||||
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I found a bug (something that doesn't work). What should I do? (back to top) | |||
| Tell us! We need your help in order to find all of the bugs and problems with Commons so that Underdog can fix them. Read this: How To Report Bugs and follow the instructions to post in our Tech Support forum. | ||||
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Can I submit my own art for my character? (back to top) | |||
| Yes! Look here for our Art FAQ! | ||||
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I may want to speak with an administrator before registering, or I may have a question that's not explained here. Or maybe I have some feedback for you. (back to top) | |||
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If you'd like to know more before registering, please e-mail your
questions to . If you have a question
that isn't answered here, please contact an Admin on the chat or use
the Forum. If you have feedback for us, we'd love to hear from you about how we're doing, or take suggestions for new features. We need your help to make this the best chat that it can be! All we ask is that you give your thoughts politely and respectfully, even if it's criticism. You can post in our Suggestions Forum section, you can email Underdog, or you can speak with any available Administrator about your ideas or opinions. |
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Where can I find out more about Commons Deltas? (back to top) | |||
| Check out the Commons Deltas FAQ to learn about the currency used on Commons and other Chatlands sites. | ||||
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Where can I find out about the different subscription levels and what they allow? (back to top) | |||
| Check out this chart. It shows you the different subscriptions and how much they cost per day in Deltas. Commons Deltas (Δ) are the unit of currency on Commons. There is more information about what you get at each of the subscription levels on this page. | ||||
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| That should do it! Have you read both the rules of conduct and our terms of use yet? If not, please do so right away! | ||||
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| [ Commons FAQ ] | [ Commons Rules ] | [ Terms of Use ] | [ The Art FAQ ] | [ Uploading Poses ] | [ Uploading Rooms ] | [ Back to Commons ] |