Ask a Moderator - Part 21

Hi

It's called "Strangers at Drakeshaugh" and it's in the Harry/Ginny category. Where else?

Neil

The queue is a bit overloaded at this moment, but we're trying very hard to get to the bottom of it. All we're asking for is for your patience and indulgence. We didn't forget you guys, don't worry.

Neil: Harry/Ginny is my category, my apologies. I'll take care of it ASAP.

Midnight Storm: We've been having some issues with the avatars for a while now. The only ones that seem to work properly are the custom ones available in the avatar feature. We're working on a solution though, so watch out for it, it should help things a lot.

The submission rules state that stories featuring "real living people as characters" are prohibited. But is it permissible to only mention a living person by name without portraying them in any scenes, as if they are background information instead of characters? For instance, could I say "Queen Elizabeth II had a meeting with Minister for Magic Scrimgeour today," or do I have to censor her name to "The Queen" or even "The Monarch?"

Same question applies to mentions of other real figures, like Bill Clinton or Vladimir Putin.

Tim the Enchanter

Tim: I would whittle it down to referring to them by their title. For example, "The Minister of Magic (you can insert their name here, whoever it is) has a meeting today in Muggle London with their Queen."

. . . or something to that effect. It's acknowledging that the queen exists (or the President of the United States, Prime Minister, King, etc.) and, in a way keeps it current to the times.

If another mod disagrees, feel free to holler but that's my opinion.

~Nicole

Hi, yeah, my sister can't log in at all, and she was never able to even when she first registered. She says she put a very detailed report in her emails to mnffstaff@hotmail.com, did you not receive them? I know she'll be happy to resend them, if that would help at all.
-Cory

What's hotlinking? Everybody talks about it over in the BA but I cannot for the life of me work out what it means ...

Sertil, please resend the information to mnffstaff2@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Midnight Storm, hotlinking is using the bannermaker's photobucket (or whatever) account to link to your banner. You should save the picture to your computer, upload it to photobucket or another similar product, and use the code they give you. Photobucket only allows you a certain bandwidth to use, and each time the banner is used by someone it takes up bandwidth. Eventually, enough people will be "hotlinked" to the same banner (or same user's account) and the account will exceed its bandwidth and noone will be able to use the banner.

You'd think I'd been here so long I wouldn't have any more questions, but I do.

If you go to the HP Wiki, they include characters and other things used in the games and such -- even the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. What is the modly stance on these things creeping into fics? For example, apparently in the WWHP there is a store called The Magic Neep. Can we use that in fics? What about characters created for the video games? Or spells used in the films?

Okay, I sort of know the answer to the last :P and could guess the answer for the second, but I thought JKR had some input into the park, so I'm wondering if WWHP info could be canon or not.

I've always stuck to the books but The Magic Neep is such a fun name. :D

Thanks!
~Gina :)

Hi, I have tried to search for this as I imagine it's been asked before, but the page never loads. :(

I can't find a user named SortingHat in order to be sorted. I've been trying to make threads in the beta boards and the hospital wing but they're not showing up. I imagine this is because I haven't been sorted?

After struggling so much just to make an account, and now this, I'm starting to get very frustrated >.< :o All I want is some help on my fic!!

Spambots are taking over! Seriously, every time I log in there are about twenty of 'em online. Easy to recognize because their biography is "man", and their occupation and location are the same.

But they've started appearing in threads, too. They've posted in Sarah's (Sapphire at Dawn) and Ellie's (Sailing Girl) beta threads.

Do you think we could have a thing where yo send in spambot usernames so they are deleleted, or something? Ellie's beta thread now has an advertisement for drills. In Russian.