Policies & Standards @ Next

Next Website Purpose

This site exists to publish the collected works of our authors, and to further the enjoyment of the works through critique, discussion, and debate.

Acceptance:

To become a member of this site is to agree that your participation will be governed by the rules and policies below, and the decisions of site management.

Rule and Policy Changes:

The rules and policies of this site are subject to change without notice and if they are changed will apply to all regardless of previous rules or lack thereof.

Intellectual Property Rights:

The works of the authors published here, including the characters, places, things within their works are the intellectual property of the respective authors, and may not be reproduced, republished, or reused in any manner without the prior written consent of the author.

The software and related designs used on this site are the property of Michael G Kellner, and may not be sold, distributed, reproduced, or reverse engineered in any manner without the prior written consent of the author.

The artwork and related designs used on this site are the property of Stephantasy, and may not be sold, distributed, or reproduced in any manner without the prior written consent of the artist.

Standards:

Works posted on this site must be properly spell checked, capitalized, punctuated, proof read, and offer reasonable adherence to the concept of dividing prose into phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. They also must be coherent and in a finished state. Rough drafts and unfinished stories should not be set to display publicly. The sole exception is serials, which are defined as episodic stories and must be published in finished chapters or episodes that meet the same standards as finished works. Serials should have a warning in the description that they are a continuing story that is not yet complete.

This is not a porn site. Stories that contain graphic sex and or violence as parts of a larger story are permissible within limits, so long as the sex and or violence are germane to the story. Stories that exist only as a vehicle for graphic sex and or violence without it being part of a larger story will be deemed pornography and are not allowed.

Stories that depict sexual acts involving minors are not allowed. US law makes such stories a crime and Next does not publish them.

Works that site managers deem inappropriate or sub standard will be removed.

Descriptions:

The descriptions in the story header should accurately describe the work, and warn of sexual, violent, or other disturbing content that some may find objectionable.

Ratings:

Authors should try to accurately rate their works. Next administrators reserve the right to change the rating on any item posted to the site.

If you are unsure how to rate your story, please consult the Ratings Guide.

Plagiarism:

Stories that are found to have been plagiarized will be removed, and the posting author may face the removal of the rest of their work and expulsion from the group, at the discretion of the site administrators.

It is the duty of the individual author posting here to guarantee that the work they post is their own original writing. It is not possible for site management to check the whole of published fiction in order to guarantee that works posted here are entirely original and the poster’s intellectual product.

If any work posted here is in part or whole your original work, and you have not authorized its publication by us, contact site management. We will do our best to resolve the situation and protect your rights as the author.

Civility and Respect:

Members will endeavor to speak to each other in a civil and polite fashion on our forums, and in comments and reviews. Disagreement is what makes discussion interesting, but please do so in an agreeable manner. Harassment, verbal assaults, name-calling, and other rude behavior will not be tolerated

Appropriate Topics:

When posting or replying to posts on forums, members are instructed to keep their topics apropos to the forum they are posting them to. The purpose of our forums is to discuss the works published here, writing in general, and other community related topics.

Commercial messages and political or religious tracts are not appropriate topics for our forums. Such topics will be removed, and members who persist in posting them will be suspended or removed as the site managers deem appropriate.

E-mail Address Harvesting:

Anyone found to be collecting e-mail addresses on the site for any purpose other than contact related to site activities will be expelled, and their stories will be removed from the archive.

Removals & Suspending Authors, Stories, and Forum Members:

Authors, their stories, and forum members who do not comply with site rules and policies may be suspended until they are in compliance, and removed if reasonable attempts to gain compliance are not successful.

All rulings made by site managers are final, and there is no higher authority. Site management has the final say on who and what will be published on this site.

Management’s Rights:

Site managers have the rights and duties to:

To run Next in the manner they deem will best serve long term interest of the site.
To decide who will and will not be a site manager by whatever means they deem best.
To raise money to cover the expenses of hosting and other costs of keeping this site on line.
To control the look, format, and features of Next.
To set site rules and policies.
To control unacceptable behavior.
To maintain order.
To keep the site on topic.
To decide whom may post what items to the site.
To rule on the acceptability of items posted to the site.
To remove materials we deem inappropriate.
To remove members who cannot abide by the rules and policies.
To change the rating or descriptions of items posted if they are misleading
To participate in any discussion on any of the site's forums or journals.