Rules

Treat others the way you want to be treated

Don't act rudely towards any one person in the group, mods and members alike! If you want respect, show some respect back to others! If you are harassing others in the group, you may receive warnings/strikes or be kicked from the group.

The group is 18+

As of 2024, Beyond the Sea has become an 18+ group. This does not mean that sexually explicit content and overly groteque descriptions of gore, horror, or other disturbing subject matter is allowed by default. There are still rules to submitting content that covers matters with an 18+ rating that can be found in the Content Rules section on this page.

Tourists under the age of 18 will have to wait until they are old enough to join.

You must join the Discord server to participate

PMD Beyond the Sea is a Discord-based RP group. If you want to experience the group, having Discord is a must. Announcement, group updates, community polls, some events, and more will be posted about there.

In the past, we used a DeviantArt group. While it is no longer being maintained regularly, you may request access to the group upon joining and we will let you submit things to the group's gallery.

Check the website for information before asking in #questions

To avoid repeating questions that may have already been answered or that may have answers that are available on the site, please be sure to check the website's pages, the FAQ, or even search via the Discord search function that your question has not already been answered by a mod.

The website has a search function (click the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of any page) that allows you to look up all the pages that contain the keywords you're looking for if you're unsure which of the pages to check.

If you still require clarification, you may ask in the #questions channel of the Discord or via #submit-a-ticket if you'd like your question to be private.

Wait at least 7 days for a response

Please give mods at least 7 days for replying to questions, design checks, character submissions, and any inventory-related concerns. Normally, rewards are taken care of every day or every other day! Please understand, sometimes life gets busy and we may run behind a little! If a submission or other query has not been addressed for at least 7 days (or if it has been buried beneath under concerns), feel free to give the mods a little nudge.

Contact the mods via Discord Tickets

If you have an issue or question, then consult the group! Ask on the #questions portion of the Discord or you can file a ticket in #submit-a-ticket and we'll get back to you! If your question isn't something that needs to be asked privately, please stick with the questions channel!

In addition to the 7-day rule, if you have not responded within 7 days of the mods responding to your ticket, you will be pinged! The ticket will not be closed until you give us the okay or unless we deem it's an appropriate time to do so, so don't worry! We're just checking in!

Private and/or personal inquiries that you don't want aired out in public should be sent via a ticket. However, if you have group-related questions regarding any general topics like character creation or design, it is preferred you ask in the #questions channel! This is just to help us keep all of our answers organized and immediately available for all mods to be able to reference off of rather than leaving lots of conversations regarding group mechanics buried across various peoples DMs!

Please note however that moderators will only be able to help you with group-related inquiries! We ask that you do not use the tickets unless you have constructive criticism, feedback, or suggestions to give; there is a matter that concerns your and other members' safety and comfort; and there is something the moderators can do about the situation!

Moderators have final say on approvals

While it is understandable to be frustrated if you are told that a design or a character's backstory requires changes or if a concept you pitched was not implemented into the group, please respect the final decision of the mods. Mistreatment and disrespect of the staff, passive-aggressive remarks, and arguments started in public or in staff members's DMs will not be tolerated and may result in a warning or a strike.

Keep in mind that some rulings are made in relation to previous decisions for consistency; though, something that may not be accepted now may have the potential to be allowed at a later date as constructive feedback is received. As decisions are made in agreement between staff members as a team, the person who delivers the news does not solely bear the blame of making a choice that is not to your liking. If you wish to discuss possible solutions, open a ticket via #submit-a-ticket.

Multiple accounts are not permitted

Having multiple accounts in the group/joining multiple times with different accounts is not permitted and anyone found attempting to do so will be permanently removed from the group on all accounts. On the same note, block evasion is not acceptable in any form, including attempting to make new/alternate accounts to get into the group after being removed or attempting to circumvent personal blocks by utilizing different platforms or accounts to contact someone who has blocked you.

Username changes and account deactivations must be reported

This will only keep things easier for the mods! If you change your username, please let us know either ahead of time or right after you change it so we can fix anything in the group's records containing your name. If your account is deactivated, and you make a new account and still wish to maintain membership in the group, please note the group and let us know! We'll add you back in, delete your old account from the member list, and we'll go from there!

Additionally, it is highly preferred that submissions are made using the username listed for you in the Group Inventory Sheets! If you want your username to be changed on your inventory, please let us know!

Collab etiquette

The group actively encourages collabs, but there are a set of rules that should be remembered when you decide to enter into a collab with other people.

✦ Notify your collab partner(s) if you're not going to complete a collab as soon as possible as a courtesy.

✦ Be sure to be mindful regarding finishing a part very last-minute into a deadline and giving your partner(s) little time to complete their part(s) of the collab after! Try not to give lines a few hours before the official deadline unless you have already discussed getting an extension.

✦ We're going to ask that those with lots of long-outstanding collabs please refrain from searching for more or reacting in the collaboration search channel until your others are complete or communicated as dropped.

✦ Communication is key! Try to always communicate with your collab partner on how far along you are or if things can't be completed by X amount of time.

If you are reported to have been repeatedly ghosting collab partners, not finishing pieces on time, or taking on more than you are able to finish within a promised time, we will implement a short cooldown on when you are next able to search for collabs. Depending on the severity of these actions, a strike may be issued.

The punishments will only be given for for noticed continued patterns of breaches in collab etiquette and not meant to punish anyone for slipping up once or twice on occasion.

Activity checks

Every April and every October we will hold an activity check. This involves submitting something to the group via one of the graders, and then filling out and sending a Google Form that will be made available when a check is active.

If you feel you will not be able to make an activity check, you may also request to go on hiatus in the group. For full information on how these checks work, see the Activity Checks page.

Specific content warnings must be included where needed

The following content must include a content warning:

• Drug usage

• Mentions of sex

• Abuse

• Intense violence, gore

• Murder, death

• Any kind of terminal illness

• Discrimination such as homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, etc.

• Near death experience

• Arranged Marriages 

Additionally, you must specify the context in which warnings appear, for example:

• e.g. for mentions of Sex: abuse, sex work, in general, etc.

• e.g. for mentions of death: murder, familial death, in general, etc.

If you're ever unsure of what might need to have a content warning, you're free to contact us privately via #submit-a-ticket. If you've found a history that goes against these rules or isn't properly tagged, please let us know!

Explicit descriptions must be omitted and/or hidden

Any content that involves detailed descriptions of sex, gore and violence, abuse, etc. must be left out entirely and will not be accepted into the group.

For applications, these things are allowed but they must be hidden from public view and warned against appropriately. This is for the benefit of those who may come across your story randomly as well as for the moderations who have to read through it for approval. Any backstory that delves into gritty details of death and violence and any mention of sexual violence be hidden from public view, and repeated failure to do so may result in a warning from the moderation team.

In general, please hold back on graphic descriptions of sensitive topics in your applications as they are reviewed by real people who may be upset by such things.

Lived experiences must be treated respectfully before/when being used in fiction

Once again, please be sure to research any topic you are unfamiliar with before including it in your characters's stories. Though this was mentioned in the Content Rules section already, it goes doubly so for mature topics that may have been traumatic to real people. These subjects must be taken seriously and any depictions of such things that are deemed offensive or incorrect will require correction before it is accepted into the group.

Do not spam or advertise in undesignated channels!

This includes artwork or groups alike. If you'd like to affiliate with us, that's fine! But, please, refrain from spamming such things in the comments. We have a #self-promotion channel in our Discord for things like this! There you can promote commissions, groups, and other things!

If you would like to make use of one of the various bots available, do so in #public-yahtzee.

Try to use the appropriate channels for discussion

Try to keep topics in their designated channels. This is not a hard rule and at times discussions can get carried away, but be mindful of where you are. RPing, mentioning anything NSFW, or venting about sensitive situations outside of the specific channels regularly however may receive a warning.

Venting and sensitive situations

The server has a #vent-away channel for those who wish to let off some steam. Any touchy subjects or even just general complaining can be done here. If you feel as though your venting may involve triggering matters however, please be sure to put it in a spoiler by adding || to both sides of the text.

For example:

• ||The text between these lines will be hidden from view until it is clicked on.||

As always, please remember to add a content warning if you do decide to hide your text in this way so that those who decide to read it know what they're getting into. Additionally, venting about severe mental health issues should be left out of the server entirely and we implore you to seek professional help. The members of the community are not equipped to help you through a moment of crisis and we want to make sure you have the support you need.

Do not publicly vent about other members or talk negatively about other groups, and avoid self-deprecating or self-critical comments.

Do not use harmful slang

Our group consists of people from all over the world from many different countries, religions, genders, and races. Do not use slang or slurs that could be considered offensive to anybody from any group, even if you yourself have reclaimed a particular word. If we see any harmful vocabulary being used, then a warning will be issued.

NSFW Channels

Though our group is for people 18 and over, our group is not inherently sexual by nature. You can gain access to those channels by going to the #roles channel to pick up the reaction role!

Art using bases, tracing, or heavily referencing other work

You are allowed to post artwork that uses bases or heavily references other work in the server as long as there is credit to the source (i.e. adopts, WIP character designs, showing off practice sketches/studies, etc.)! If the source can't be linked for any reason or you can't track down where it originally came from, you should at least disclose that the work is still referencing someone else's work.

However, remember that any art of this nature may not be submitted to the group's #grading-logs or as part of character applications!