Welcome to the Commons

[Lagomorph]

The Student Commons forum has been a long-standing tradition in our Supergroup. Originally, it was known as the "Student Information" forum, though it was later renamed to "Student Commons" to reflects its more casual nature. This post outlines how the forum works.

Posting Your Student Profile
Every enrolled student must post up a thread in Student Commons. This is actually one of the requirements to get off of probation. This thread serves as your "student profile" on the forums.

What do I need to post for my profile?
We do not have any specific rules about what you post as your profile. Our recommendation is that you try to include the following three things, in some fashion:

• Some form of RPish introduction. This might be part of your backstory. It might be a piece that shows your student introducing themselves to a class. It might even be your student addressing the reader directly. You're welcome to be creative! The goal is to give us some sort of IC feeling for who your character is.
• Some OOC notes. Is there anything we should know OOCly? Be sure to let us know. Maybe it's a warning that your character is a jerk IC. Maybe it's a heads-up that you're allergic to peanuts. Anything you think would be helpful to communicate to someone new to you and your character, feel free to address.
• Vital statistics. How old is your character? What grade are they in? What's their real name? What's their patrol name? You can even go a step further and outline some basic details: likes, dislikes, maybe even fill out one of those random email surveys you occasionally get from your friends.

However, the above is just a recommendation. As long as you post up something that helps give us insight into your character, you're fine.

What about the wiki?
Good question! You're very welcome (and even encouraged) to create an article for your character on the wiki if you like. If you make a wiki article for your character, please add a link to it from your profile so that people can find it easily. Your Student Commons profile will be most people's starting place for getting to know your character, so it should link to other resources like the wiki.

However, creating a wiki article does not eliminate the need for posting a Commons profile. The Commons profile is required, but a wiki article is optional.

Replying in Commons Threads
Part of the tradition for the Commons forum is that it serves as a place for new students to introduce themselves, as well as for other characters to greet them. When a new character first puts up a profile, please feel free to post a reply in their thread to say hi and welcome them to the school. Read through some of the older profiles for some idea of how others have done this in the past.

[Lagomorph]

Updating Your Student Profile
Part of the requirements for Sophomore rank and higher is that you must periodically make updates to your student profile. These updates are normally required at the release of each major update (Issue) to City of Heroes.

Character updates are important to keep the community aware of changes to your character. The lack of an update is often a warning sign that a character has stagnated or lost the interest of its player.

What do I need to post for an update?
The goal is to give the reader a sense for how your character has changed since your last update and for who they are now. So think about who your character was at the last update (or when you posted your initial profile, if you've never made an update), then think about what's changed since then.

We're very flexible on what you post, though. As long as you post something, you'll be fine. Some people have posted several paragraphs that gives a complete summary of their life since the last update. Other people have posted a short one-paragraph note that roughly indicates a few tidbits about who their character is right now. Either end of the spectrum is acceptable. You might want to read through some of the older profiles to get a sense for how others have made updates in the past.

How do I know when to post my update? How do I know if my last update counts for the current update?
Here's the process that gets followed for the updates.

• When the Issue goes live, you'll have 30 days to make an update to your Commons thread, if you haven't done so recently.
• If you've updated recently, you don't have to make another update. A "recent" update is any update made within the 60 days prior to the Issue's release date.
• Both dates will be announced in the SC Digest after the Issue goes live.
• Once the deadline passes, any character who has not made an update in the time allotted will be demoted to Freshman rank and put back on probation.

This gives a well-defined 90-day window for players to make updates to their characters.

What if I just posted my profile?
Yes, your profile counts as an update. If you posted your profile during the 90-day window, you're fine.

What if I'm on academic leave?
If you're on academic leave, the requirement will be waived.

What happens if I get demoted to Freshman rank and put back on probation?
Exactly what it says: then you get demoted to Freshman rank and get put back on probation. Similar to a new member, you'll be on probation for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, you'll need to check in with the SC.

At the check-in, the SC will first check to see if you meet the objective prerequisites for getting off probation. Some of these you'll already have met from getting off probation for the first time: getting 15k prestige and getting the uniform (unless you, for some reason, no longer have your uniform). The third requirement for Freshman is to post a profile in Student Commons; in this context, however, you'll be required to have made an update to your profile. Thus, this gives you a total of 120 days to make some form of update to your profile. If you still haven't done so, you will be removed from the group.

Since the lack of a character update can be a warning sign that your character may have lost your interest or may be stagnating, the SC will also check in with you to discuss your character. If everything seems fine and the only problem was that you missed the deadline, then you'll get promoted back to Sophomore. However, if you are having issues with your character, the SC may work with you to set some goals and then give you a 30-day extension.

What if I'm an Upperclassman?
UC are expected to set a positive example, and failing to make a character update is a bad example.

If an Upperclassman fails to make an update on all of their toons, then the player will be demoted. Their access to the private Upperclassman forums will be removed. They will temporarily be allowed to keep their third alt slot. At the end of their probation, the SC will decide whether or not to re-promote the player to UC rank. At that time, if they are not re-promoted, they will lose the third alt slot. Re-promotion is not guaranteed.

If an Upperclassman makes an update on one character but fails to make an update on another character, then the player will retain UC rank. However, if necessary, they may be required to transfer UC rank to the toon that made an update.

What if I've been making updates on the wiki?
That's great! We encourage you to keep on doing that. However, that doesn't count towards the character update requirement. You still need to post something, even if it's minimal, to your profile as an update.