Rules & Guidelines

[BWI Admin]

Rules

When you join Birchwood Isle, you state that you have read the following rules and agree to adhere to them.

Basic Rules

• You must be over the age of 18 to play. No exceptions. Come back when you're 18.
• No photographs on the site. We do not use avatars at all and do not allow photographs to be posted to the site.
• Respect everyone. This means respecting their limits and not pressuring anyone into threads they don't want.
• Keep in-character conflict in character and out of character conflict out of character. Don't let personal feelings bleed into characters or take in-character problems to out of character.
• Don't break the world. Stay within the established lore of Birchwood Isle. For example, corporal punishment is the norm on the island.
• Staff decisions are final. This is Birchwood Isle. Love it. Live it. Or Leave it.
  

Registration, Characters, & Accounts

• Please register an OOC account. Use the same name you use on our Discord to make it easier for us to identify you.
  • You must register this account with a working email address. We need to have a way to reach you and this address provides the means.
• Make a separate account for each character. Each character needs to have their own account. You'll have to log in and out of each account.
  • SMF only allows one account per email address. Therefore, when registering additional accounts, you may use fake email addresses. You may either use a service like Temp Email or add dots into the middle of your real address (for example, we could use birchwoodisle@address.com, birchwood.isle@address.com, b.i.r.c.h.w.o.o.d.i.s.l.e@address.com, etc. They'll all work, including receiving emails!).
• Register your character as First Middle Last in proper capitalization. If you don't register with a middle name, we will assume your character doesn't have one.
• You may play as many characters as you want. Just remember that they each have to have their own account and their applications must be posted from their account.
  • If you have more than 5 child or adolescent characters, we suggest making at least one adult caregiver at the Orphan Village or a dorm parent at St. Jude's. If you have 10 or more child or adolescent characters, we must insist that you make at least one caregiver at the Orphan Village or a dorm parent at St. Jude's with a color Yellow or higher.
• Do not make parentless children or adolescents except under the approved systems. You may not create a child for a family that doesn't exist yet, even if you intend to request the parents. We do not allow you to request parents.
  • The approved systems are the Orphan Village and St. Jude's Academy.

Posting & Threads

• You may not post your character until your application is approved.
  • You will receive notification when your application has been approved. Any threads posted before this point will be permanently deleted, so be mindful of your approval status!
• Only post for your own character. Do not write any actions or dialog for another person's character.
  • This also applies to threads that involve corporal punishment. If you are playing the adult/disciplinarian, allow your partner to react. Don't try to say what their character did in response to any smack or stroke!
• Do not enter threads that were not made for you unless they are tagged [OPEN]. Not every thread is meant for every character. Only post to threads tagged for you or your character, or that are marked open.
• Mark Open Threads at the beginning of the subject line. For example: [OPEN] Mark's Day Out.
  • Please consider removing the [OPEN] tag when you have as many players in the thread as you want. That way, more people don't join due to confusion!
  • As long as your thread is tagged [OPEN] at the beginning of the subject, other people are welcome to join!
• Don't metagame. Do not give your character knowledge they could not have naturally obtained.

[BWI Admin]

Guidelines

The following are guidelines that will help you get the most out of your time here. These aren't rules and you can't "break" them, but following them will increase the likelihood of you getting more of the kinds of threads you want the most (and of course most of you are here to get spanking threads!)

• Give all of your threads equal attention. It is discouraging for your partner to watch you post your inner kid three times before posting your adult to their inner kid once.
  • This is a common problem on sites like this one, and uneven responses to threads is one of the #1 site killers. Do your absolute best to post to all of your threads in a single round of posting unless your partner has agreed to be skipped.
• Ask clearly for what you want. Don't make people guess at your preferences. Communicate clearly in your applications and talk to your partners.
  • There isn't a lot of room to be shy about what you want here on Birchwood Isle. It can be embarrassing at times, and many people are shy, but it's helpful to be forthright and honest about what you want to get out of a thread.
• Only have one thread per character at a time. This is not a rule, but it will help you keep track of what your character has gotten up to.
  • This one can be tricky if you've wound up in one thread with a partner who isn't as active as someone else you're interested in roleplaying with. We recognize that and therefore this is not a rule. However, it can be super helpful!
• Play at least one functional disciplinarian at the Orphan Village or St. Jude's Academy. This means playing at least one adult. Even if you only play one child, please consider playing at least one adult!
  • Please see the application supplements for information on what roles are most needed in the Orphan Village and St. Jude's. You'll really be helping us out!
  • Many players are more willing to play the adult to your inner kid if you are also willing to carry some of the load by playing an adult who not only interacts with children and adolescents, but is willing to discipline them.
• Get to know potential adopters before committing. We've tried to police this in the past and everybody winds up miserable. Now it's up to you.
  • Spend some time getting to know your intended adopter (or prospective adopted child) and their player before committing to an adoption. We recommend a minimum of three months of active roleplay prior to adoption.
• Refrain from judging others for their interests or preferences. You're allowed to like what you like and dislike what you dislike. Allow others to, too.
  • We allow a wide range of activities on Birchwood Isle. You're going to encounter some things that don't appeal to you. You don't have to participate, but you do have to respect others' right to enjoy what they enjoy!

[BWI Admin]

Member Privacy

We respect your privacy and anonymity on Birchwood Isle. The internet has largely lost this quality of anonymity that is so important within our communities. As much as we want to get to know you so that we can better meet your needs, your privacy is extremely important to us! Here are some guidelines regarding member privacy.

• No Birchwood Isle administrator will ever share your private email address. We require a functioning email address at which we can reach you if necessary. This will never be shared with any person outside of our admin team, including any moderators we add.
• Feel free to use an alias on this site. Neither of the founding admins use their real names on Birchwood Isle, nor do we use our most commonly-known aliases. Choose something you feel represents you that doesn't reveal any private information. Or use your real name, if you prefer. No judgement!
• Do not discuss what happens on Birchwood Isle elsewhere. What happens here is very special, intimate, and personal for most of our members. Please do not violate that by discussing what happens here with people who are not part of our site. This is very important!