Posting Rules: Collected and Updated

[muccamukk]

Please read through these rules and the cap_ironman comm info prior to posting.

MANDATORY FANWORKS HEADER FORMAT

Cap/Iron Man does not have a fixed header format, but creators must include all of the following mandatory elements in their fanworks headers. Failure to do so will lead to a PM requesting alterations, and deletion of the fanwork if the creator does not comply.

Fan art, fan crafts, and other misc posts:
Rating: You may wish to use the G to NC-17 system or something else, but please mark adult content clearly.
Warnings: See our warning policy below.

Fan fiction and fan vids:
Universe: Indicate the continuity the story is set in, be it 616, Ults, Marvel Adventures, Movie, Cartoon or something else. If you're writing a combination of universes, list the ones included. If you're writing an AU, list off which universe your AU is based. (For a wider explanation of the many Marvel universes, see our Multiverse Info Post.)
Rating: You may wish to use the G to NC-17 system or something else, but please mark adult content clearly.
Warnings: See our warning policy below.

As mentioned above, we do not have a fixed header format, but should you want a pre-formatted one that includes all of the requred elements, feel free to copy and past the following text box.
<STRONG>Title:</STRONG> <STRONG>Author/Artist:</STRONG> <STRONG>Universe:</STRONG> <STRONG>Pairings/Characters:</STRONG> <STRONG>Rating:</STRONG> <STRONG>Warnings:</STRONG> <STRONG>Word Count:</STRONG> <STRONG>Beta Reader:</STRONG> <STRONG>A/N:</STRONG> <STRONG>Summary:</STRONG>

For multi-part works, we recommend linking to previous parts, so new readers can easily get caught up.


WARNINGS
Warnings are, basically, tools for readers to use when deciding whether or not to read a story. Some people just want to avoid things they dislike; others have genuinely traumatic reactions to certain materials. We don't want to stop anyone writing what they enjoy, we just want to make sure we have a consistent set of standards agreed upon, so everyone knows what to expect when they click on a link

Mandatory Warnings
For rape, non-consensual sex (non-con), and sex with dubious consent (dub-con)
Rape and non-con are very similar; they are sexual situations where at least one party is not willing and there is not consent. This includes unwilling participants forced by a third party. Non-con is a broader descriptor than rape, and may include such things as non-consensual spanking. These warning should cover on screen events, and/or detailed discussion or after effects of rape or non-con.
Dub-con is sexual situations where consent is in doubt, but both parties are willing; this can include 'aliens made them do it' 'identity porn' or a manipulative seduction. If you're in doubt about whether your fic is dub-con or non-con, you can contact a moderator or go into more detail in your warning; it's absolutely fine to warn like this: "Issues of consent involving mistaken identity" or "Dub-con due to one partner being under mind-control"
Character Death, and Suicide
Due to the somewhat unique nature of character death in comics, we're going with 'Warn for character death in story even if it is a canon death.' If it's Classic Avengers, you don't have to warn for Bucky being dead, but if you're writing Civil War fic, let us know if you off Cap. Detailed warnings are fine; 'Character death but his ghost hangs around' is fine, as is 'Character dies but returns later'
Again, given the canon, suicide can be complicated in this fandom, but please warn for on-screen suicide, or intense discussion of it.
Underage Sex
If the characters are under 18, please warn. If the characters are clearly children, rather than teens, please warn for that.
Explicit Torture
Fighting, the occasional roughing up of a suspect, no need to warn. Passing reference to past torture, fine. if you're going into detail about the needles under the nails, please warn.

Repeated refusal to post mandatory warnings is a bannable offence.

Other Warnings and Kinks
We've put together a non-comprehensive list of other things that authors may wish to warn for. These are left to the discretion of the authors. We de appreciate their use, however, and given the audience, they're probably even good advertising.

Other warnings: these might include disturbing imagery, graphic violence, unhappy endings, drug use, partner betrayal and so on.

Kinks: BDSM is fine, lots of our members love to read and write it. However, in that BDSM is such a broad phrase, which means different things to different people, it may be more useful to break kinks down into specifics. Examples of this include: domination/submission, slavery, bondage, whipping, spanking, knife play, blood play, asphyxiation, latex, toys, double penetration and so on.

And not that everything is about sex, kinks can include genres like MPREG, gender-swapping, role playing, Nick Fury's Wrath, amnesia, incest, alternate universes, excessively sappy endings, and rainbows.

But warnings will give away the ending!
Sometimes a story will be less enjoyable if we know how it ends. So you can write 'hidden warnings'. There are various ways to go about this; the most comprehensive method can be found here.

Basically, you say 'this story has warnings; click here/highlight here/mousehover/ROT-13 to read.' I generally put a second LJ-cut after the main story containing spoilery warnings, and note in the header that it is there.

Authors: if you have any doubts about the warnings policy, contact the mods; we're here to help. We'll give you guidance on how to warn for your story in line with community standards.

Readers: if you have an unusual trigger that is not usually warned for, you have a couple of options. 1) PM the author and ask about it. 2) check the comments to the entry, and see if any of your friends have commented; ask them. 3) contact a mod. We'll read the story and let you know if it has your trigger in it. Please do limit contacting the mods to triggers, rather than dislikes.


PLAGIARISM
If you copy text from another author's work without permission and claim that it is your own work, you are plagiarising. (This is still true if you alter a few words to fit the new context). If you post art or icons made by someone else, and claim you created it, that's also plagiarism.

If someone commits plagiarism, or is accused of doing so, the following will occur. One of the mods will PM the offender offering hir an opportunity to explain. If ze does not do so to the satisfaction of the mods, ze will receive a warning, and the offending fic will be taken down. If this happens twice, we will ban the user from the comm permanently.

(For more information on the distinction between copyright and plagiarism, and plagiarism in fandom, see the Fandom Lore essay here.)


SPAMMING AND ABUSE
We strongly encourage authors to use a beta for stories of over five-hundred words. For more on beta reading, check out this on beta readers, who they are and what they generally do. If you want a beta, take a look at our Beta List over here.

We have also had continued complaints about abuse and spamming on the comm. Abuse leads to a less-then-favourable quality of fic and art, and is considered to include extreme and continued OOC development. Spamming leads to other peoples’ work being lost in the woodwork, which is something none of us wants. To rectify the situation we have made “continued spamming and/or abuse” a bannable offence. But do not live in fear of whether or not your post was spammy or abusive. If you are in violation of the spam or abuse rule we will PM you with a warning and suggestions to help. If you haven’t gotten a PM, you aren’t doing anything wrong.

Spamming
Spamming pertains to instances in which the poster posts content unrelated to Steve, Tony, or the Avengers, or makes multiple posts in a short period without trying to compress things into one post. This applies to works of the same type; if you post a fic, you can still post icons/meta/art separately.If you have written something with multiple parts or drawn a number of works very quickly, wait two days between posting instead of putting each thing up individually. Consider, for example, putting multiple related things -- such as short fics, chapters of WIPs or pictures -- into one post. This makes sure that nothing gets washed away and people don't lose track of everyone’s posts. If you have written a large fic, or multiple fics, consider posting them in your journal, or to an archive, and then linking in a single post to the comm.

Exception: when separation is needed for rating reasons: i.e. “pairing a G rated chibi with unrelated NC-17 sex scenes.”

Abuse
Abuse pertains to posts with extreme and noticeable OOC development and little to no attempts at revision for quality. This does not mean we are cracking down on Crack or AU's, but please try to remember, if you specialize in these genres, that there is a difference between humour and blatant disregard for characterization. Check your canon; back it up.

Note: The mods are not the canon police, nor do we wish to be. This rule is more directed at people who aren't even trying, rather than people who are experimenting with different stuff.


EXPLOITATIVE, MARGINALISING AND OPPRESSIVE CONTENT
While the mods cannot guarantee that the comm is a safe space, we are trying to create more room for historically marginalised peoples. Therefore, content that perpetuates and/or ingrains stereotypes of these groups will not be permitted by the mods. This includes, but is not limited to, content that is ableist, homophobic, racist, misogynist and/or transphobic. If a post is deemed to have oppressive content, the mods will discuss the issue then PM the poster to discuss the nature of the problem. If the original poster does not amend or remove the work, the mods retain the right to delete the post themselves.

This is not intended to limit the depiction of such behaviour - it's fine to write the Red Skull as the racist and foul character he is, for instance - but an author should not be endorsing such behaviour. We do encourage writers to warn if their work contains potentially upsetting incidences of racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, et cetera. Members can see further discussion of this policy here, and we encourage any member who is confused or concerned to ask questions, either by commenting to the post or PMing the mods.

We also encourage creators of fanworks to remember that Marvel is quite a diverse universe; though our primary characters here are white men, we welcome the inclusion of women, characters of colour, and disabled characters in fanworks.


LJ-CUTS, TAGS, AND LINKS
LJ-Cuts
LJ-cuts are your friend. They are everyone's friend. We encourage our members to make full use of them. If you don't know how to create an LJ-cut, go here for a tutorial before you post to the community, and if you still don't understand all that alphabet soup, ask one of our more experienced members for help sorting out the coding or try The Handy-Dandy Livejournal Cheat Sheet.

When should I use an LJ-cut, one might ask? Any time you're posting spoilers, full-sized images, content that is not safe for work (NSFW), fics, or icon-posts of more than 3 icons. If the visible "face" of your post is more than half a page, you need to use a cut somewhere. Remember, a lot of people get each and every entry from this community posted to their friends-list, so just try to be courteous.

Tags
Tags are those little helpful words which allow one to navigate journal entries with amazing speed and ease. We have tags for fic, art, scans, genre, rating, universe, challenges, authors (format x: username, if you don't have one, we'll make you one after your first post), and other fun things. Please remember to include them in your posts. While the mods occasionally sweep through the comm and tag everything in sight, it makes life much easier for all concerned when there is audience participation. If you'd prefer not to have your entries tagged, let the mods know, and they'll be left pure as driven snow.

Links
We encourage members to link to material on other journals. However, as a courtesy, please make sure that the entry you are linking to is a public entry. There are several communities in the comics-world, as well as several authors, who post either members-only or friends-only, and there's nothing more frustrating than reading about a really intriguing fic/art/rec, only to click on the link and find that you can't access the promised goody.

Again, please do not link to illegal downloads of comics, movies or tv shows.


If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions please either PM one of the mods, or comment on this post.

These rules were last updated 13 July 2012.

Comments

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Re the spamming issue, what do you recommend people do when the big bang challenge is finished in terms of posting fic or links to fic? (because all 10 of us posting multi-part fics directly to the comm would flood it completely).

Post a single fic announcement post where we link to the entire thing (on the big bang site or our journals?)? Post it like a regular long fic and follow the "two days between sections" rule?

[muccamukk]

Gah! I hadn't thought of that.

I totally just assumed that everyone was going to make a pretty header with hir art and link to the website. Either that or put it in multi-parts on you personal journal and link to the lot of them in one go.

The rules stand, so however you want to do it so it's only one post in the space of two days.

I think this might be dub-con but I'm not sure

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

WARNING: I have no idea what warnings this pet-ish Tony fic needs;
http://hohaiyee.livejournal.com/126621.html

There is a bit of a trick, I think it only looks like dub-con.

...and then there was that zombie fic (http://community.livejournal.com/cap_ironman/382504.html) from earlier, but like, zombies is enough eh?

Re: I think this might be dub-con but I'm not sure

[muccamukk]

Maybe just warn for dub-con (Or, "could be read as dub-con"), and not explain. There's enough ethical grey area to warrant it. That would leave your twist. I kind of think that's an advertisement for a lot of people anyway.

Zombies is a warning for zombies. I think you're good there.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

Abuse pertains to posts with extreme and noticeable OOC development

I have to ask if the covers using '90s' characterization over say 'Fraction's characterization'. In other words will it be considered OOC if we are not using current characterization?

As a mainly AU writer I'm just concerned about what is going to be the standard.

[muccamukk]

That's one of the old rules that it seemed like everyone had agreed on, so we left unchanged.

I wasn't around when the rule was made (when the Iron Man movie came out).

I had assumed that it was a back up for busting someone essentially posting a string of unedited badfic. I've certainly never seen it enforced since I've been in the comm, and there's been wildly different characterisations in play a couple of times.

[ellyr-in-ink.livejournal.com]

I had a question regarding the spamming policy (I know. I'm late about asking questions. I just needed some clarification.) The line states "Exceptions are fic or art of higher word count, quality, or separation needed for rating reasons."

What does quality mean in this context and how do you quantify it?

[muccamukk]

"extreme and noticeable OOC development and little to no attempts at revision for quality"

The quality there refers to the apparent work put into the story. If major characters' names are spelled wrong, and it doesn't seem as if the author would know an apostrophe if it offered its hand in marriage, then we may take issue with it.

This happens vary rarely.

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

Real quick given the recent post saying a beta line is required, you might want to come up with a "required" minimum header something like

Title
Author
Rating
Characters
Warnings
Beta

And put that more prevalently in the rules (like a lot of comms have uniform headers that you can find in the user_info).

Right now, having it under "suggested header" is probably why there was confusion on this point (like heck I thought it was still just if I wanted to until I saw that post)

[valtyr]

This is a good thought. :)We will give it a tidy up, and yeah, a copy-paste header is probably a handy thing to have.

[garrideb.livejournal.com]

We'll talk it over, but members here so rarely link to fic in locked personal journals (for obvious reasons - most readers, like you, won't friend someone just for a fic) that it hasn't been an issue.

To be fair, she did state upfront that only the first chapter would be unlocked, so it wasn't a bait-and-switch.

Still, worth a discussion, so thank you for bringing it up.

[sevencorvus.livejournal.com]

I couldn't remember if there was a policy on promoting communities, so I thought I would check if you minded me promoting the Avengers Crossover Community (http://avengers-cross.livejournal.com/)? Also, as a side note, can you think of other communities that I should promote on? (I think I've managed to lose track of all the marvel comms. (movies and comics)) Oh, forgot to mention that the Crossover Comm is on tumblr as well (http://fyavengers-crossovers.tumblr.com/)

[muccamukk]

That sounds fine. If you advertise here, it'll probably make the comics fandom newsletter. I'm not sure what other comms have what policies for advertising, I'm afraid.

[marvelgamesmod.livejournal.com]

I didn't see anything against this, but is it all right if I post a promo for the challenge I'm running? Info can be found at marvelgames2012

[muccamukk]

The rule is check with the mods first :)

Having done that, go forth and advertise.

[faerietayles.livejournal.com]

I'm completely new to this fandom and I was wondering if I'm allowed to ask for recs in this community, or if there is a community where I may. I don't want to break any rules, and Google isn't give my much community wise for this fandom!

[muccamukk]

You may ask for recs here, or over at cap_im_finders,

Alternately, as one of my co mods mentioned in this week's newsletter, we're hosting a rec week starting 4 June.

Finally, welcome to the fandom! We're glad to have you.

[clintbarton-mod.livejournal.com]

Hey there, I wondered if you would be interested in affiliating with clint_hawkeye and if we could promote the community here? Same goes for sciencebros which I'm also a mod on^^

Love
Cashay

(on an unrelated note: I adore the layout =) )

[muccamukk]

We're not affiliating with anyone as the profile is too busy as is (looking at fixing that... someday). Neither of those comms are really Steve/Tony related, so I'm afraid not on advertising, either. You might try the comics fandom newsletter though. I think most people read that.

(thanks! I like it especially now that the code's fixed and it's not an overlapping mess in IE9)

[sumeria.livejournal.com]

I wanted to ask-- I recently spent some time putting together an organized list of reading/chronological order for the last few years of marvel trades. It's not specifically Steve/Tony related, but the reason I did it was because I wanted to catch up on what was going on with them in the comics, and it took some effort to figure out what went where and in relation to what. And I thought that I might not be the only new/lapsed reader of comics here who might find it useful.

(Link to my post of it here (http://sumeria.dreamwidth.org/14590.html) if you wanted to evaluate it.) Anyway, I wanted to share it, but didn't want to spam the comm if it was deemed off-topic.

[muccamukk]

OMG! I'm really sorry it took me this long to get back to you. I was offline for a bit there. Yes, please post that if you want. I'm sure lots of people here will find it really useful!

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Hi there. I didn't see this in the rules, hence my asking here.

I've drawn a picture of RDJ (with the Stark facial hair) and was wondering if all posts have to be BOTH Steve and Tony, or if just a pic of Tony would be allowed.

TIA.

Link, if you need to see: http://tripperfunster.livejournal.com/261670.html

[muccamukk]

Just Tony is fine. We like Tony :D

[black-k-kat.livejournal.com]

Hey! I've been looking, but can't find mention of this in the rules: are we allowed to post Steve/Tony rec lists?

[muccamukk]

Certainly. I know lots of members appreciate them. You can tag it "recs" if you like.

[psiten]

Is this community a good place to promote a twitter write-in campaign to the People's Choice awards, supporting Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. in the "Best On-Screen Chemistry" category for their work as Steve Rogers and Tony Stark in The Avengers? Or is there a more appropriate venue that you know of?

Thank you!

[muccamukk]

That sounds pretty Steve/Tony related. I think it would be okay to advertise it here.

[comicsmod.livejournal.com]

Hi! I've recently started up a pan-comics discussion meme here : http://comicsmod.livejournal.com/
Would you mind if I advertised it here?

[muccamukk]

Haha. How times have changed. We used to ban you people :D

Yes. you're welcome to advertise. Make sure to include a note that I said it was okay.

[enmuse.livejournal.com]

Tried doing a bit of searching on the comm to see if I could find the answer to this myself, but still not sure sooo...

Is it alright to post a request for a beta? I have a specific project (NaNo '12 fic) that's major and well, I unfortunately don't currently have any strong connections with Avengers fans (or, more specifically, Steve/Tony fans).

And, uh, if it's not cool to post a beta request on its own - is it in bad taste to post the request as a "btw" note to a short fic? ;;^^

Thanks!

[whizzy.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for asking.

We do have a beta list: http://cap-ironman.livejournal.com/tag/beta%20list

You could try your luck there first. (It might be a little out of date.) I also don't see anything wrong with attaching a btw to another fic.

[scifiangel.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly new to the Stony ship, but it's wrapped around my heart and won't let go. I've made quite a few manips and drabbles and need to know how many things I'd be allowed to post in a day. Most of my stuff is on deviantart. I've done a whole set of drabbles that tells a "falling in love/first time" Stony story. Can I post it all at once or need to keep it to a few a day.

I'm about to join this com. I probably should have done that first, but I'm over eger I guess. Sorry.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Hi! Welcome aboard the good ship! :-)
If you have a series of drabbles, consider linking to them in one post. That then only counts as one thing, you see. It also makes it easier for your readers to find the whole thing. Consider doing something similar for the art, or space your posts out to one every other day or so. If you do a drabble post and an art post, please don't post them at once either, but wait. We currently recommend every other day as a guideline.
If a post of links ends up being really long, you should probably use a cut, too, just as a courtesy.

No problem! Eager is definitely good.

[c-mami.livejournal.com]

Hello, I'd like to promote the avengers remix challenge (avengers_remix), please could you let me know if it's ok? Thanks. :)

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Hi, a mod here. Go for it :) And good luck with the challenge!

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

I've written a gen story where I've racebent one of the characters to be African American. Since I'm not a person of colour myself, I'd really like to try and find a person of colour to read it through, first. So far, just asking on my journal and tumblr, I've struck out. And I read your beta list, and ethnicity isn't one of the things people list, like a second language. Really, that's what I wanted - someone to tell me if his dialogue sounds right, or if it's dreadful, or if I've made some terrible white-person faux pas without realising. Do you know of someone on the comm or in the beta pool who could help?

[whizzy.livejournal.com]

That's... not really something I would recommend. Race is not the same as ethnicity, and you'd be asking your beta to represent and speak for all "insert X group of people here", which isn't possible.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your post. I like to
write a little comment to support you.