[INFO] RSTL Rules & Regulations [VOID]

Updated : 6/27/08 : To Co-Exist With Divisional Format

-- RSTL RULES AND REGULATIONS --

Welcome to your A-Z of RSTL rules and the regulations associated with them.
These rules and regulations are what the moderators will govern the league by, so read them, learn them, understand them and follow them.
The rules are crystal clear, but do have stipulations and consequences for breaches.
This post will clear up, in advance, what happens in cases of rule breaks.
Moderators will make rulings via this set of instructions so there will be no confusion between competitors and mods, as all are privy to this post.

DEADLINES

A - The deadline for verses is Thursday @ 11:59pm EST.
B - The deadline for extensions is 24 hours ONLY, making it Friday @ 11:59pm EST.
C - The deadline for voting is Sunday @ 11:59pm EST.​

RULINGS ON DEADLINE FAILURE

Mods have lives too and we're not always going to be active in the forum at deadline time. We rule on deadlines via the time on the board clock, set to coincide with EST. Check with a mod to make sure you have your timezone ratio in check with your own (eg. knowing you're 5 hours ahead in the UK).

Extensions are granted by Moderators if you ask before deadline A and before your opponent posts a verse.
If you require an extension and your opponent has already posted, your opponent must give their consent.
If you ask for an extension, your opponent automatically receives the same 24 hour time frame to post their verse.
If you have not been granted an extension but post your verse after deadline A, to the point that a moderator enters to check for no-shows, the battle will continue to the voting stage; should the opponent have shown themself.
If you have not been granted an extension but post your verse after deadline A, where your opponent has failed to post a verse it will be deemed a no-show.
Any verse posted after deadline B is deemed a no-show as the extension is not 24 hours and 1 minute, it is 24 hours ONLY.
Votes submited after deadline C, upto the point a moderator closes the thread, will be disqualified in the competitors links list, not in the battle itself.​

VOTING

D - You must post atleast 5 valid voting links for bonus points.
E - Voting on the "LEAGUE" Championship and Contendership battles is mandatory.
F - Votes must be atleast 2 full lines of feedback per competitor followed by the named vote.
G - Voting a tie result is deemed a failure to vote.
H - Voting links must be posted in your battle thread with the Champ and Contender clearly labeled.
I - Votes edited after 1 hour of posting will be deemed a failure to vote.
J - Voting is open to signed in competitors and moderators ONLY.​

RULINGS ON VOTES AND FAILURE TO VOTE

Voting can be a shady business at the best of times, but they are extremely important in making the league work. Votes decide the winners and losers of battles and are a valuable key to any competitors success, so stick to the rules and all will go smoothly.

If you breach any voting rule (including C and excluding E) it is deemed a failure to vote and you will be deducted 1 link, per violation, in your own battle that week.
A 'valid link' is a vote that does not breach any other rule.
Rule D is no longer subject to vote deductions per link not posted. 0 links = -1pt. 1-4 links = 0pts. With every 5 valid links earning you 1pt.
Some weeks may not see 5 other battles open for voting. In this instance you must vote on the full amount available to obtain that specific bonus point.
If your opponent fails to show, to follow rule H you must use the sticky thread Voting Links.
If you are deemed to not meet rule F, your vote will be disqualified from that match, and your voting link will be deemed invalid.
Former champions that decide to vote, without signing in to the league, must meet with ALL the rules outlined. Posting the 5 links in the Voting Links thread to be valid.
Rule I is only over-ruled with moderator permission, before the edit takes place. For instance, a vote that contains less than the 2 line minimum can be extended if a mod is aware that is the reason for the edit beforehand.
An edit that a moderator has not been informed about will be deemed invalid.​

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VERSES

K - Your verse must incorporate atleast 1 topic from the options that week.
L - Your verse must be a minimum of 12 lines to a maximum of 64 lines.
M - You must not edit your verse once your opponent has posted. Who in turn must not edit after the first vote is cast.​

RULINGS ON VERSES

This stuff is pretty straight forward but there are some stipulations.

If your verse does not reach the minimum of 12 lines it will be deemed a no-show and your opponent takes the win; if they showed.
If you exceed the 64 line limit, without first clearing it with your opponent before posting, the opponent will be informed and they can enforce a ruling of deducting 1 vote per 2 lines that exceed the limit.
A line is constituted as "word(s) + Enter", and we will not accept an argument of "this is a bar". The rule is set and everytime you hit enter after text, that is taken as a line. Obvious mod discretion given on anyone idiotic enough to never hit enter.
You may edit your verse before your opponent has posted and suffer no consequence.
The competitor to post last may only edit to the point the first vote is cast.
If you edit your verse against the above stipulations, it will be disqualified and your opponent takes the win.
You may ask a moderator to look at any case for an edit, for an individual ruling, where you will be given or refused permission on how much impact the mod decides the requested edit would have.
You may not leave a message asking if you can edit 'more of' a verse in later. Such an act will be deemed a no-show if under 12 lines or taken 'as is' if meeting requirements and the battle gets voted on, disabling your ability to edit. (Your opponent has no say in this matter and you should always assume they will show).
In conjunction with above, a 'verse' of "line 1, line 2 etc." is not a verse and will be deemed a no-show. Any variation of trying to expose a loophole will be left to the moderators discretion on whether it is constituted as a verse.
In further conjuction, all verses must relate (to an obvious degree) to the chosen topic highlighted in the verse post.
All lines of text within the verse post, outside of the highlighted topic(s) will be counted toward the total line count. Includes text in quote code and intro or outro text.​

MISCELLANEOUS RULES

N - Recycling is strictly forbidden.
O - Multiple No-Shows will result in suspensions.
P - You are limited to 3 posts only in your battle thread.
Q - Mods word is LAW and should always be respected as such.
R - Swaying of votes is extremely frowned upon.
S - You may only post your vote in any other match-up thread.​

MISCELLANEOUS RULINGS

These rules are no less important than the others and will be upheld just as stringently. This section of the rules will be the most likely to be updated and added to as and when a moderator sees fit, without prior warning.

If you are found to have recycled in a battle, whether that week or any number of weeks prior, your record will be changed accordingly to acknowledge this.
If you won a battle with a proven recycled verse, you will be stripped of a win and a loss will be added to your record.
If you lost a battle with a proven recycled verse, you will have an extra loss added to your record.
Recycling is a difficult rule breach for moderators to discover themselves, so it is the competitors of the league's duty to notify a moderator if they see a recycled verse.
A verse will not be deemed to have been recycled without sufficient proof of the breach. Links are proof, copy & pasted conversations are not!
If you are caught recycling numerous times, you will face a suspension or ban, to a level the moderators feel suits.
If you exceed rule P, you will be deducted 1 vote per excessive post. There are plenty of sticky threads to air views in.
If you fail to show for your battle you will be automatically signed out for the following week of competition, and you will need to sign-in via the appropriate sticky thread to compete again. (It is possible to sign-in early enough to be involved that very next week).
A record will be kept of no-shows and multiple offenders will be punished via sign-in suspensions.
Moderators word is law, their say is final, and if the moderating team agree, further suspensions or bans will be put in to place.
Anyone breaking rule S will be deducted 1 vote per violation.
Persistent abusers of rules, or those that are deemed to be an annoyance to the league, will face suspensions or have their sign-ins ignored. A ruling will be made and you will be notified as to why. Like it or lump it, the precedent is set on a case by case basis.
This discretion is also used on a case by case basis when it is deemed that a person (whether competing or not) attempts to sway votes in one favour.
Any abuse of the Tag feature on battles to sway votes will be deleted. With any post deemed to be swaying, being moved to our 'spill-over' thread, and the person involved being punished via any method outlined above.
All the rules from A-'Z' are subject to change at any time without prior notice, although we will make efforts to inform of 'major' rule changes.

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[INFO] RSTL Divisional Format Explained

Divisions Explained​

Everyone will be separated into 2 divisions, with each division having as equal number of writers as possible.

Within each division, battles will be paired roughly according to point tallies, however, if two people that recently faced off happened to get matched up again due to points being close, we will face them off against a different opponent from around their point total.

This is for all match-ups outside of League Championship/Contendership and Divisional Contender matches.

Losing a League Champ or Contendership will net you the honor of switching to the opposite Division you climbed.

This includes a 50% loss of 'Active Worth' upon losing in 'League' matches and falling back in to a Division.
To calculate the 50% on an odd digit, we will round up 1 and then half it (eg. 23 > 24 = 12 Active Pts).

Keep in mind, if all you do is win and minimum vote, you will not be as high in rank as someone who wins and votes on everything. Voting=Points.

Here's the example of what happens from the fifth week onward:

[Championship Match] Writer A v. Writer E (Winner stays to defend title)
[Contendership Match] Writer C v. Writer G (Winner advances to Championship)
[Red Division Title] Top two point totals in Red Division (Winner advances to Contendership)
[BlueDivision Title] Top two point totals in Blue Division (Winner advances to Contendership)

The losers of Championship Matches and Contendership Matches (but NOT Division Title Matches) will fall into the opposite division from which they came in order to generate new matchups. The alternate system can also generate matchups between divisions. New sign in's will be placed into divisions each week in a manner that makes the divisions as equal as possible, quantity wise, not necessarily quality wise.

For example, if both of the representatives from the Red Division lose in the Championship and Contendership, they will both fall to the Blue Division, giving that division an extra writer than the Red Division, so any new sign in for the week would be placed into the Red Division to balance it out.

Points/Worth Explained

Points = Worth
Prove Your Worth!
Worth can be built slowly by doing your bare minimum.
Or you can prove your worth to the league and earn additional points.
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How the Points work:

Match-Up Points

Win = 2pts
Loss = -1pt
Tie Result = 0pts each
Non-Alternated No-Show Win = 1pt
No-Show = -2pts
Alternate Opted/Activated Win = 2pts
Alternate Opted/Activated Loss = 0pts

Alternate Opted No-Show Win* = 2pts

*Opt in to the Alternate scheme to increase your chance of facing an opponent, if an opponent can't be found for you, you will get 2pts for the No-Show Win.

3-Way Win = 3pts
3-Way Loss = -1pt
3-Way 2nd Place = 1pt

Contendership Win = 4pts
Contendership Loss = 50% Active Points Reduction*

Championship Win/Defence = 6pts
Championship Loss = 50% Active Points Reduction*

*These will only alter the 'Active Worth' as the 'Accumulated Worth' will continue to build to indicate "Your True Worth". Whilst 'Active Worth' is used to configure ranks and are in live play each and every week that you compete.

Bonus Points

For every 5 valid voting links you post = +1pt (win or lose!)
No links at all = -1pt (win or lose!)
Bounty Match Win = +1pt
Early Bird Verse* = +1pt

NO Contendership and/or Championship Voting Link = -1pt Each

*If you post your verse before Tuesday @ 11:59pm EST

Signing Out = Active Worth Reset


Your stats will update everyweek, starting from all areas being 0 in Week 1.
This is an example format of how the spreadsheet will work:

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Additional Information​

Alternate Opt In

When your thread is set for your match that week, you have the option of entering the thread to check in and declare: "Alternate"

When you do this, you will enter a list of other Alternates that have opted in.
If you are no-showed against, you will then be pitted against another opponent who has also suffered a no-show and wishes to Alternate.

You MUST opt-in to this scheme before you post a verse!

We will not alternate anyone; without that initial request.
We will also not alternate anyone; who ask AFTER they post a verse.

RSTL Champion Gauge

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This dial will be used to showcase the Worth stats of the current Champ of a given week.
The orange needle and digital clock showing the 'Active Worth'.
A grey pointer needle the 'Accumulated Worth'.
It will be displayed in the Championship thread of the defending Champ, along with other sticky threads.
There is only one gauge! The name and stats will alternate as and when.
If by chance, anyone is able to become Champ and retain enough 'Active Worth' to tip 100pts, they will have a nifty looking (and very rare) .gif of a twitching needle at "100", with the digitial reading showing the point value.

More About Your Worth

As you can see from the points explanation post, there are various methods to obtain and lose points.

One that may interest you is the:

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When a competitor falls from a Championship Match, they will enter the opposite division to which they climbed.
They bring along with them a Bounty Point.
So whoever is closest on points to be matched up with the competitor in question, will be able to earn 1 extra point if they can further dent pride by beating him/her.
This point is not available to the fallen Championship contender/defender.

Additional Information cont..​

The Rules & Regulations have been updated from the Seasonal Format version to co-exist with the new Divisional Format.

These changes include regulations in regards to vote deductions and voiding wins.
"Hurray!" - you all scream?
lol .. those rules best suited the play-off format .. honestly.
There are still rule breaches that will disqualify votes, as we still need you guys keeping this place clean and tidy. However, they are less common than previous version, and the void is no longer a ruling (outside of recycling rule).

We're changing the mood around this forum and hope you guys will jump onboard and get into the feel of the points (and the effort you put in to earning those points).

We'll look at certain leniency areas that we can control with total unbias. The voiding of wins has gone, as the emphasis is no longer on your win:loss record. Take all the cheap wins you think you need to boost that record. The people that are giving the league the effort are those that will reap the reward of the points format and climb in rank. Simple as.

There are other things we can do with the points and we'll look at what we think will add to the fun as and when the time comes. An example of something we are looking at right now is allowing a form of 'Betting' with points in a match. This may end up being strictly for Champ matches or for the odd random week every 2 months or so.

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If you have any questions:

Please feel free to PM a moderator ~: Quriosity ; Lucifa ; nom de plume.

AIM:
Quriosity = joekraq
Lucifa = Lokoveli
nom de plume. = SZFFlowsSOONice

or use the [LOUNGE]/[SIGN UPS] sticky threads.