READ ME FIRST - All you need to know - The New Members Guide to the Forums

Welcome to the Handbook,
Here you can find hints, tips and tutorials from moderators and members of the boards that will help you on your first steps around these forums.

The first thing to do is register! If you haven't done this already, click the link at the top of this page and follow the on screen instructions. Once you've set up an account you can get sorted into a house.

The four houses are taken straight from JKR's wonderful books, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Each of these has their own Head of House and Prefect who look after the house forums and look after its members.

The heads of each house and their prefects are:

Gryffindor -

• Head : Karaley Dargen - Kara
• Prefect : muggle girl marauder - Lea

Hufflepuff -

• Head : mudbloodproud - Terri
• Prefect : Phoenix5225 - Kim

Ravenclaw -

• Head : ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor - Jess
• Prefect : The Ebil Minions (in other words, by committee)

Slytherin -

• Head : NikkiSue - Nikki
• Prefect : Viv - (Viv!)

You can go to any of these moderators for help and assistance, they are all happy to help.

To get sorted you must send a private message to the SortingHat, requesting a sorting quiz. It will then PM you the quiz and any further instructions in a reply.

I hope to see you in one of our fantastic houses soon! When you find out what house you are in, your name will be sent to the Head of that House and they will add you to their usergroup. Don't worry too much if this takes a little time, it just means that your HoH is slightly busy - you will be sorted shortly.

The next thing to do before you start exploring the site is read the rules. A lot of members skip this but it is essential if you don't want to lose any points for your new house or receive a worse punishment. Below is a list of the main rules of the Beta Boards and links that will take you to the rules and policies that MNFF and the Beta Boards hold.

Rules

• No netspeak. Please use English in full sentences with appropriate grammar and punctuation, to the best of your ability.
  
  
• Avoid spamming. Please read an entire thread before posting to be sure you don't repeat something that's already been said. If you don't have something substantive to add to a conversation, please refrain from posting.
  
  
• Do not put offsite fanfiction links, email addresses, or other inappropriate links in your posts. They will be deleted by the moderators, and repeat offenders may be banned from the boards.
  
  
• Be respectful and helpful. Remember that we have people of many ages and nationalities using these boards. Some of them are here to practice learning English. Flames and sarcasm will not be tolerated.
  
  
• Avoid double-posting. If you were the last person to post in a thread, please use the edit button to add to your post instead of adding another post. There are some exceptions to this rule. Exceptions are noted in individual forum rules/announcements.
  
  
• Custom Avatars and Signatures are permitted. Avatars may be no larger than 100x100 pixels and smaller than 20k. Signatures must take up no more than 500 pixels in width and 300 pixels in height, including all graphics and text. Offensive graphics and/or text may be deleted at the discretion of the mods. Animated avatars or signatures are for moderators only, any other animated graphics may also be deleted by mods.
  
  
• This is intended to be a family-friendly set of forums. It is not the place to troll for your next date. Unsafe internet practices and inappropriate material will be dealt with swiftly and severely by the moderators. If you notice something that concerns you, please contact a moderator.

Tolerance
Personal Information
Contacting Moderators
Fanfiction Writing Help and Policies
General Beta Boards FAQs

Now the boring rules part is over, it's time to introduce to the boards themselves. Below is a complete guide to the forums and the features which our members can use.
Welcome to the Boards!

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Q: My post count has suddenly gone down a lot. What happened?
A: Your post count increases when you post in threads in certain forums but not others. If your post count has fallen, it is because the thread you have posted in has been deleted.

Q: What are the messages beneath my screenname?
A: These messages are just little fun scenarios from Harry Potter. As your post count increases, the messages change. The only way to change this message is to increase or decrease your post count by certain amounts.

Q:Why do only some of my posts count?
A: Only posts in the help forums count toward your post count. This is to help cut back on people spamming to increase their post counts. Please make your posting about the quality of your input and questions, not about a number.

Q: My fiction has been in the queue for over a week. Shouldn't it have been moderated by now?
A: Moderators are busy people. We try to see as many fictions as quickly as possible but some categories are busier and therefore slower than others. Be patient. Your fiction will be read soon.

Q: Can I change my username or my house?
A: Short answer, no. Once you are sorted that is your house. Your screenname cannot be changed.

A Forum-by-Forum guide to the Beta Boards

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These three forums reside in the Ministry of Magic. These are the places where the moderators can tell you members any news, events or changes that have been made to the forums, as well as answer your questions and award house points. The House Cup is awarded each term, with each house competing for the title. You can earn house points by offering good, well thought out advice or taking part in one of the many challenges around the site. You can also earn points by taking part in our very own Hogwarts School, where our own professors teach a variety of Fanfiction-friendly subjects designed to help improve your writing and HP knowledge.

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The Beta Wanted forum is the place where you can go and create a thread asking for a beta to come and read your fiction. Please read the rules thread before posting as it gives you information about what to post in your thread.

The Beta Services thread is the place to go and offer your beta services if you do not have a PI Accreditation number. Please only post your services here if you have the time to follow up with your offer. Check your thread regularly in case of new posts.

The Beta Guild is the home of the PI Accredited betas. These are members who have taken the test from Perfect Imagination and passed. If a member has passed this test it means they have exceptional spelling, grammar, plot and general fiction skills that are useful when betaing for other authors. These are the Elite betas. They’re happy to help.

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The Character Clinic is the place to go if you are having trouble with characterisation or general character information. There are threads devoted to different characters in which you can find out a lot of ideas and information, or post your own question regarding that character. Please make sure that a character has not been posted before when posting a new thread. Read the rules before posting.

Similarly, Skele-Gro Plot Potion is there to aid you with your plot troubles, writers block problems or general plot walls that you may come across. If you are unsure of a plot twist and want to have new ideas and opinions on how you should write it, post in this forum and receive opinions from all different readers, writers and betas.

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The reference desk is the home of all canon Potterverse information. If you have a question but you can’t find your copy of Half-Blood Prince, post in there and find out all you ever wanted to know. The Reference Desk is also home to ‘The Language and Cultural Corner’ where you can find out about different cultures and information that you can use in your fiction, ‘The Fortnightly Foray into the Fandom’ which is a discussion forum based on specific chunks of Harry Potter information. These are judged on content and points are often awarded for the best thoughtful posts.

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Excerpts of Murtlap is our fiction critique centre. This is the place where you can post a short section of your fiction and receive feedback on its pros and cons. It is also the home of the Restricted Section where the heavy duty discussion takes place on subjects which are not suitable for younger readers. Again, please read the rules carefully before posting.

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General Fanfiction Discussion is the forum in which you can discuss all fanfiction and why you write it. You can discuss what works well in fanfiction and what you think JKR would think about it all.

The following are only available once you've been sorted!

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The Great Hall is home to most of MNFF’s writing challenges. These challenges are termly, fortnightly or monthly and they usually award points for the winners. The Hall is also home to two of the Beta Boards’ favourite clubs, Poetry Anyone – home of the poetry help and challenges, and the Duelling Club – where members can ask authors about their plots, writing styles and anything else about writing. As usual, please make sure you read the rules of these forums before posting.


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The next forum on the list will be your house forum. These are the common rooms of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin and will be your home during your time on these boards. Each house runs its own games, help threads and competitions and it is always fun to go and chat to people who are just like you! These are also the homes of your Head of House and Prefect who will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.


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The Room of Requirement is the base of all things Harry Potter. Here you can discuss your latest theories and thoughts about the books. Want to talk about why Dumbledore died, or whether Trelawney will buy a new shawl for book 7? This is the place to go!


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Deans Corner is MNFF’s own art gallery. If you have any Harry Potter fan-art, chapter drawings or you just want to enter one of the many drawing challenges, pay a visit to this shiny forum.


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The Three Broomsticks is the Drabble centre of MNFF, if you don’t have time to write a full fiction but you want to stretch your author’s legs, you may write a short fiction and post it here! The Three Broomsticks also plays host to numerous drabble challenges and The Gauntlet, our very own obstacle race for authors to fill in the blanks between different plot lines. If you sign up to the Gauntlet, you will be given a guide who will take you through different prompts and help you form a new fiction, ready to be posted onto the archives! For a change of pace, you might also enjoy trying your hand at signing up for the Quidditch World Cup - This is a fly by the seat of your pants story writing game complete with points, locker room and referees!


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The Classes forum is home to a number of different online writing classes, designed to improve a member’s knowledge of writing and the Potterverse. Each term, a new set of classes will be announced for members to sign up to. The professors will then take you through different topics and subjects each week, with discussion and tasks tailored to fit your ideas. Points are awarded within these classes for entries and submissions; they’re a great way to improve your writing ready to submit to MNFF.



If a thread or post doesn't appear on the forums straightaway after you post, it is usually because the forum you have posted in is moderated. This means that one of the site moderators looks through the threads to make sure they are suitable for the site before allowing them to be seen by the other members. Your post should appear within a few days.

Creating Your Signature

A signature is a banner or section of text that will appear on every post and private message that you send. To create your signature, go to your user control panel ("User CP") and click "Edit Signature." The following box will appear.

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To place a banner in your signature, upload the image into a image hosting site and copy and paste the IMG code into the box.

An IMG code is the url of the image wrapped in the code boxes: [IMG][/IMG]. Sites such as Photobucket often produce this code for you to make it easier for you to copy into signatures.

To make your signature banner link to your author page or fiction, simply add the url code of your page in code boxes around the banner.

e.g. :
example with spaces to allow code
[url = http://www.fanfiction.mugglenet.com ][IMG ]My Image[/ IMG][/ URL]

Signatures must be no larger than 300x500 pixels.

That is this big:
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You can also add text to your signature, quotes and messages are very common on our site. However, each signature is restricted to 350 characters, so choose your wording carefully.

Please note: Animated images are restricted to moderators only, any member who has a moving image in their signature will have this image removed. This is due to moving images having a larger memory and taking longer to load which is annoying for any members who still have dial-up internet. Also, any rude or generally unsuitable images or messages will be removed from the users signature as we are a family site with members of all ages and views. We don't want to upset anyone.

Choosing Your Avatar

An Avatar is a 100x100 square image which appears at the top of each of your posts. It will sit beside your username, house and Harry Potter tagline which changes with your postcount.

To choose your avatar, go to your user control panel and click "Edit Avatar." You will be taken to a screen which shows your current avatar, the MNFF pre-defined avatars, and a box for custom avatars.
Mugglenet Fanfiction currently provides you with 31 pre-set avatars for you to choose from:

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They range from character avatars, to houses and their founders. You may choose any of these avatars and wear it freely for as long as you like.

You may also choose to use your own "custom" avatar.

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Your avatar can be made in any graphics program as long as it is smaller than 19.5 KB. You can choose to upload it onto an image hosting website (such as Photobucket) and link to your avatar using the URL code that is given to you, or you can upload your avatar straight from your PC.

Please note: Similarly to signatures, animated Avatars are restricted to moderators only. If your avatar is offensive in anyway it will be removed and replaced with an avatar of the moderator's choice.

Groups on Mugglenet Fanfiction Beta Boards

The Susan Bones' Book Club (SBBC)

In the little visited corner of the Burrow, sits the Susan Bones Book Club. A society dedicated to reading fanfiction and discussing it. A group started over a year ago, the SBBC has seen many changes. Originally we were run in the four houses’ common rooms, but with the advent of the current forum format, we’ve been granted out own niche in the universe.

The processes and format may have changed, but the spirit of the group continues. In a forum dedicated to helping people with their writing, it only seems fitting that people have an opportunity to read the finished works. We read one-shots and chaptered fics from every category from Dark/Angst to Poetry, Canon Love to Fanon Love, History to Mystery.

Anyone interested in joining the community would be welcomed with open arms. To join, all you need to do is PM Rachel (lily_evans34) with an example of how you’d discuss the story “A Seed from the Ground” by Seren. It is also suggested that you have a minimum of 50 posts, but that can be waved with a recommendation from your Head of House, or another SBBC member.

Requirements to stay in the group are rather simple as well.
1. Read the weekly assignment, discuss at your convenience during that week.
2. Participate in the recommendation process.
3. Review one recommended fic a month.

That’s it!

So let me finish with five good reasons to join the SBBC:
1. Expand your reading experience by reading fics from genres you normally wouldn’t venture into. Believe me, you’ll be amazed at what you’re missing!
2. You have an opportunity to actually talk about the fics you read with someone who cares about fanfiction as much as you do.
3. The Ernie McMillan Effort Award! Impress your friends with a shiny new banner made just for you if you’re the person who makes the best effort! The award is given monthly.
4. Make new friends from other houses!
5. Have FUN!

S.P.E.W

The Society for the Promotion of Evaluations for Writers
(by Readers)

“Better reviews make better fanfics”

SPEW is dedicated to leaving quality reviews - and having a lot of fun doing it. Membership comes with review requirements, a “newbie tiara” that might or might not be cursed, and a complimentary straightjacket. They are, in short, an insane but dedicated branch of the fandom.

Each month, members of SPEW scour the fanfiction site, leaving beautiful reviews on a wide variety of fictions. They offer a reader’s prospective on each story, explaining what they like (and dislike) about a fiction and offering constructive criticism to help the author improve.

For more information about SPEW and how to join, follow this link.

BannerMaker’s Association

Tucked away behind one of Hogwarts’ many tapestries is the Bannermakers Association. Here are the people to go to when your signature is in need of some spark. You can request banners and avatars from members with a variety of graphical skills or sign up yourself to learn how to improve your own banners.

The BA will design banners for fictions, authors and challenges, so as long as your idea is related to the Potterverse, why not give them a visit. Be sure to look through the different threads and choose a bannermaker with the style you want.

The Association is also home to non-BA banners. Knockpixel Alley is the place to go and request of offer banner services to members without a place in the Association itself. If you don’t have the time to enter each challenge or you just want to create the occasional banner and show it off, this is the place for you!

So why not go along and check it out? Follow this link.

TUTORIAL - JOINING THE STUDENTS USERGROUP


Okay, now I know a lot of people are a little unsure how to do so, so I thought I'd add a tutorial here.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are trying to sign-up/post in a class but for some reason it won't allow you or says you don't have access, it's because you need to be part of the Students User group. Also, remember that with most classes if you haven't signed up to the class, you need to contact the Professor if you want to join in as they may simply delete your posts which you may have spent 40 minutes or so working on.

So, here's how to join:

1) Go to the top of the screen and click on settings.

2) Scroll down until you see the My Settings box. Click on Permission Groups in the My Settings Box. (On the Settings page, you can access many different things of your account, such as changing your signature/avatar, sending a private message, subscribing to threads, etc.)

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From this page can you join the Students User Group and also the different "clubs" around the forums such as the Susan Bones Book Club, Bannermakers Association, etc.

3) Scroll down and find the Students User Group and click in the circular button and click the "Join Group" button.

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4) Enter a reason for joining, such as "I would like to learn" and click "Send Request".

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And that's it! Remember though, be patient - you won't be able to post straight away until the appropriate moderator approves each of them - which they all normally get approved.

Have fun!

Tutorial-Editing and Deleting Posts

Many new members don't know how to do this, so here it a step-by-step tutorial on how to edit and delete your posts.

We'll start with editing.

First at the bottom right corner of your post, you will see these two buttons.

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You click on the first one, Edit, and it will bring you to this menu.

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Once you have clicked, "Go Advanced", it will bring you to this screen.

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Deleting

Remember, some forums will not allow you do delete your posts.

There are two ways to delete posts. One, of course, is more simple than the other. Here is the simple and easy way.


Once you are at this screen, there is a little button at the bottom that says "Delete". Click it, and it will delete your post.

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The button looks like this:

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Please keep these in mind, when going around MNFF.

Happy Holidays!

*Claire*:)