words to live by!
community rules
Hello and welcome to Shaping Destiny, a fan community for the relationship between Merlin and Arthur! Before you start posting and participating, please take a moment to read through the following rules and guidelines. ♥
- All discussion must be relevant to Merlin/Arthur. This community is first and foremost a place that celebrates Merlin/Arthur as an OTP (One True Pairing), and while you are more than welcome to bring other characters and ships into the discussion (e.g. Merlin/Arthur vs. Merlin/Freya), the main focus should always be the Merlin/Arthur dynamic. Multishippers are absolutely permitted to participate in the community, but please keep in mind that this is NOT a community for multiple pairings- entries or comment threads that veer off to be moreso about an opposing ship will be frozen or deleted.
NOTE: Squee and discussion about Colin/Bradley is also permitted, as are all entries including recent news, articles, pictures, etc. You may also post C/B graphics and multimedia, but all fic, like M/A fic, must be confined to the Weekly Fic Post.
- All discussion must be posted to the community. External links to creative work such as vids, icons and picspams are allowed, but actual discussion entries should be posted directly to shapingdestiny. Although fanworks are the only exception to this rule, you are still very much encouraged to post your work directly to the comm. We'd love to host it!
- NO BASHING of characters/actors/pairings/other members. Please don’t misinterpret this rule as meaning you can’t discuss what you perceive to be flaws in the show and/or characters - this can lead to interesting debates between members and, as long as it’s civil, such discussion is more than encouraged. Bashing, however, is not. Confused?
Let’s compare and contrast:
NOT BASHING: I found Character A to be really rude and brash in this episode. I did not like the way Character A treated Character B and I really hope his characterization is better in the next episode.
BASHING: Character A is a FUCKING ASSHOLE and the actor is ugly and absolute shit at everything and I just want him to die already. I can’t believe any of you idiots actually like him.
NOT BASHING: I don’t like the way Arthur/Gwen was executed and that's why I prefer Merlin/Arthur. I understand that there are people who ship both pairings and thus probably disagree with me, but here are my reasons for preferring M/A:
BASHING: Gwen is a (INSERT DEGRADING WORD) and A/G shippers are (INSERT MOCKING TERM) and anyone who thinks otherwise better get the fuck out of this comm.
Get the gist? Cool down and please remember: there is always a more civil way to express your problems with the show. The mods aren’t going to come down on you with an iron first if you use profanity- we're all human and sometimes it happens in the heat of the moment- but you will get a warning if the profanity is used with the intention to hurt. Repeated instances of this offense will result in a ban. Please try to stay calm and remember that there are differences between bashing and civilly explaining why you don’t like something.
- Promotion of other communities and external websites are permitted, but MUST be related to Merlin/Arthur. Character-focused and general communities are allowed but you may not promote ship-based communities that only include one half of M/A, e.g. Arthur/Gwen. You are, however, perfectly welcome to do so if the ship includes BOTH Merlin and Arthur, e.g. Merlin/Arthur/Morgana. You do not have to ask a mod for permission to pimp your community, challenge or meme, but if you have any doubts about whether or not your promo item meets the requirements, please contact us.
- The LJ-cut is your friend! If your entry includes more than three pictures or 500 words, it should definitely go under a cut. All spoilers for future episodes MUST go under a cut. This does not include set pictures that are vague in its action, such as Colin and Bradley merely standing together and smiling, but anything specific and revealing key developments- say, a little wistfully, Merlin's magic being revealed- must be hidden. Learn how to add an LJ-cut here.
- Tag your entries. Help make the community an organized and multilayered resource! Click here to view the current selection of tags. Members are also capable of adding new tags that are not yet created, a hypothetical example being character: hunith. Learn how to tag entries here.
- Pimping fanfiction is prohibited. This action is done to avoid cluttering your friends lists. Read more details on this here.
- This is an OPEN community. The decision to lock an entry is up to the individual poster, but all entries are encouraged to remain public, especially those that contain news pertaining to the show or actors (e.g. articles, set reports, transcripts, etc.). Keep in mind that we are not the only corner of fandom- it is only common courtesy to share with the public!
- The only entries that MUST be locked are those that contain downloads related to the show. This does not include downloads for television appearances, fanvids, etc., but rather episodes of Merlin, Secrets & Magic and DVD special features.
- Anonymous posting is permitted, but IP logging is turned on. The mods will have no interest in your IP address unless you say something that verges on bashing or fanwank. It is understandable there are people out there who do not wish to comment under their own name (and it is for that reason anonymity has been made available), but this comm should overall be a happy and comfortable space - you don’t always have to be so shy! ;)
And lastly...
- HAVE FUN! This place was created for passionate M/A shippers to band together, and even if there are disagreements and differences, this is a warm environment where we all share a love for the same beautiful thing. Try to keep that in mind whenever you want to whack someone over the head for not liking Merlin’s new haircut. :P