The FIVE Levels of Privacy When Posting
There are five levels of posting-privacy. I have noticed that on occasion the In Character (IC) and the Out Of Character (OOC) lines get blurred, where we forget exactly what our character knows, could know, and can't know. There IS a difference - please understand each level.
In order of LEAST private to MOST private.
Types of entries:
1. Enrties in the community. Obviously this is the least private; all entries made in the community journal will be for everyone's eyes - bulletin posts, feast conversations, classes, etc.
2. AIM conversation-log entries. This falls under the *could know* category. The level of privacy about the AIM conversations depends on where the conversation took place. If it were in the Ravenclaw Common Room then only Ravenclaws could have heard it, in the library/great hall/etc. you have complete liberty to decide (pending that you weren't IN the conversation, lol) wether you were present or not. You can decide for your character what he/she does and doesn't know by what conversations she/she has "heard," regardless of if YOU OOC have read it.
3. Entries into journal. This is where you write in your journal the way that in the real world your write in your livejournal. Basically the livejournal entries are a compressed form of conversation - a way your character can relate thier life happenings, and all comments are ways of sustaining freindships that, were you actually LIVING as your character, you would sustain simply by bumping into people and having classes/dinner/etc. with them. Consider this the place to be friends/enemies and talk about stuff that friends/enemies would talk about. This is where you play out the outer portion of your character's personality.
4. OWLs. Letters posted both as entries or comments are rather private. They are strictly between the sender and the receiver unless one of the two shows the letter to others. Those others can, of course, be mean and gossip OR keep to themselves. You may only know IC about a letter that wasn't sent to you if you are directly told about/showed, it or you overheard talk about about (meaning IC you heard a conversation (AIM, #2... rules above), or heard it in compressed form from a friend (#3).
5. PRIVATE entries. These are entries about your character - be it what they're doing or thinking, other letters received from people not in the game, etc. - that you specifically mark PRIVATE in the subject line. These entries are readable by ALL OOC but by NONE IC! These are, obviously, the way to relate your character's innermost feelings, state of mind and being, and thoughts (as well as everyday happenings that don't occur with other characters present) to all of us playing and still have the other characters in the dark - as they would be without you telling them. This is where to show the inner portion of your character's personality.