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• I'm new and confused? Where do I go and what do I do?
• What is the LotR plaza?
• What are RPGs? (see Role Playing FAQs)
• How do you Role-Play? (see Role Playing FAQs)
• How do you create a character? (see Role Playing FAQs)
• How do I join a region, and which is the best one for me?
• How can I earn more fanatic points, and what are they for?
• What is spam?
• What is a supporting member?
• I can't enter the Derndingle of Mystery/Supporting Member forum. Why?
• Some people have different icons to me. Can I get a special icon?
• How do I change my plaza name?
• Can I change my password or email address once I've joined?
• How do I activate and edit my signature?
• What are PMs?
• What are plaza credits and how are they used?
• How do you use the Battle Arena?
• Can I start a new topic?
• I've forgotten where the thread is I posted in? What should I do?
• How do I add a picture or link to my post?
• People keep using acronyms like R/A/M that I don't understand. What do they mean?

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~ I'm new and confused? Where do I go and what do I do? ~

First of all, you're in the right place! Reading through the information on this page will help you to understand a lot of the plaza, and hopefully help you enjoy yourself here. Also, be sure to read the Role-Playing FAQs for help with creating a character and other role-playing issues.

Another good place to check out is the  Newbies and Introductions, where there are welcome forums, places where you can ask questions and make friends, and even recruitment threads for each region, so you can receive a bit of help choosing which icon you would like.

As well as this, most region forums have their own Newbie help threads, normally found at the top of each forum called something like 'Visitors and Newbies'. These are great places to post to get help finding your way around a region you have chosen to visit, and advice with threads and roleplaying.

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~ What is the LotR plaza? ~

It’s a website run by fans of Tolkien for fans of Tolkien. It contains a whole range of activities to get involved in, and you are sure to find something that you enjoy. Take a look at the break down below to find out more:

The forums

 > Discussion Forums

 > Out of Middle Earth Forums

 > Role-Playing in Middle-Earth

 > LOTR Network Issues

~ Discussion Forums ~

 The discussion forums are a great place for Tolkien Enthusiasts to discuss their passion with other like-minded people. There are a wide-range of areas and topics covered here on the plaza, so be sure to have a read through the descriptions below. Please also remember: everyone should be courteous and respectful to other members and Ad hominem (Latin for "at the person") arguments are not tolerated.

Basic Lore is for general questions and discussions about Tolkien's books. (Movie discussion should go in the Movies Forum). Advanced Lore is a special forum for high quality threads which started elsewhere. No one should start a thread in Advanced Lore, since threads only go there after they've proven themselves in other forums.

Middle-Earth People and Races  is a place for you to discuss the various people and races from Tolkien's writings. Middle-Earth Locations is designed for debate on the places portrayed in the books, as well as the geography of Middle-earth, and similarly, Middle-Earth Languages is for talks about languages and scripts important to Tolkien, including both his invented languages and the real-world languages that inspired him.

For a forum to discuss books by and about Tolkien, books that influenced Tolkien, and more recent books that have been influenced by Tolkien, please check out The Books forum. More specifically, the Children of Hurin is a forum to discuss the most recent Middle-earth book, including both the content of the book and its reviews and reception. It also covers discussion about the First Age.

Tolkien - The Man  is an excellent place to discuss matters of Tolkien's life and biography. And the Scholars Forum is a new and special forum where we present and discuss original material from Tolkien scholars.

For a chance to talk about any and all aspects of The Lord of the Rings films, and new ME related movies, be sure to check out The Movies forum. And last but certainly not least, the Cottage of Lost Play is a forum where you can share your fan-fiction and Tolkien-based art-forms, from poetry to pictures, or perhaps a more original form of presentation.

~ Out of Middle Earth Forums ~

Here you will find a few forums that don't fit within the world of discussion or role-play. Out of Middle Earth features events and threads that aren't based directly on Tolkien. The Newbies and Introductions forum is here, which is a great place for all new members to go. Legolas Love Letters is a place to enjoy gossiping and chatting about the films and the characters in a relaxed atmosphere, and the battle Arena Forum is a place to find and talk with people to fight with in the Battle Arena. Lastly, Scene and Heard is a forum celebrating those plaza members who search each other out offline, with plans for meets, pictures, and chats about what goes on.

 ~ Role-Playing in Middle-Earth~

The Plaza Regions are places for you to role-play within the world of Middle-Earth. Set in the third age around 3014 (between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), it has a wide range of places to explore. All of the famous places are here, from the Shire to Mordor, and by developing your own character, you can step into the role-play world and taste what it is like to live in Middle-Earth.

As well as this, you can follow the story of Bilbo Baggins through role-play in There and Back Again, join in different types of RPGs and activities in RPGs and other Games, or perhaps get permission to enter one of our private forums and discover a new side to yourself in the Derndingle of Mystery.

The four regions you can visit are listed below:

 - Eriador

 - Western Mountains

 - Shadowed Lands

 - Wilderland

~ LOTR Network Issues ~

This is the area where all the planning, running and administrating of the website takes place. LOTR Site, Shop and Plaza Related contains information about the site, as well as the many plaza families that have grown over the years. Administrator Messages is the place to go if you have an account problem or issue, and its where some announcements are made by the website Administrators. Abuse and Spammers is for those who may have received abuse from another member, or wish to report someone who is breaking the plaza rules. The Public Relations Forum is designed to help the plaza gain better reputation on the net and in the real world, and if you are a supporting member, you may also see a Supporting Member Forum here, full of special things for those who help the site by donating financial aid.

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How do I join a region, and which is the best one for me?

Joining a region is easy. Once you have 20 plaza points, you can go to the career centre and click the 'Join a Region' button. This will take you to a list of options, and you pick the one you want, press enter, and earn your shiny new icon and rank.

If you ever want to change region again, just go back to the career centre and click 'Change Power' at the bottom. This will cost you 50 plaza points, but if you really want that new icon and a new region allegiance, it’s well worth it.

Choosing which region you want to join is much harder. Everyone loves their own region, and thinks theirs is the best. The truth is, each one has a different character and style, and you may have to do a bit of investigative work beforehand. For some people, its an easy choice, they've always loved horses so choose Edoras in Western Mountains, they have a dark-side they'd love to develop, so Shadowed Lands is an easy choice. A few kingdoms are known for other things: Shadowed Lands for its base in canon role-play, The Four Farthings in Eriador for its silliness and games. The best place to go is the Region recruitment threads in Newbies and Introductions, where members from each region are there to help you choose and make you feel welcome.

In the end, only you can choose your region. Try and find a place that feels like home, that you enjoy and have fun in. And don't be worried about getting it wrong first time, lots of members will change two or three times before they settle, and changing region can even be a fun way of making new friends and trying new things.

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How can I earn more fanatic points, and what are they for?

Fanatic points are the points that appear beside your name on your profile and posts. The more points you have, the higher a rank in your region you can achieve. You can also use fanatic points to pay for a change of name, or change of region. Other than this, fanatic points don't actually do much else, except perhaps reflect a member's activity and involvement on the plaza.

There are many ways to earn more fanatic points. One of these is the Knowledge Halls, where you gain points for each quiz you take. Another way is to post good quality posts in a point-earning forum, such as a region or discussion forum. Each post over the minimum character requirement (200 for many, or 400 from some forums) will earn you one or two points. But make sure you contribute to the thread, as posts that are spam or general chattiness may be deleted, and you may not earn any points at all.

Lastly, you can earn points through tribute. Tribute points are points given away my Rulers, Admins and Maiar to members who have shown devotion to a thread, who have excelled beyond expectation, or who deserve an extra treat for their efforts.

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What is spam?

Spamming is something that can be difficult to understand. Essentially, it means anything that doesn't fit within a thread. Since each thread on the plaza is designed for a specific purpose (whether it’s a role-playing game, a discussion thread or even a newbie help thread), then being sure you contribute to a thread in some way will make sure you aren't spamming. General chattiness, for example, is often spam, but in a thread designed for such chatting and making friends, it may be perfectly acceptable.

If one of your posts unfortunately falls under the category of spam, it will most likely be deleted by a ruler or admin, but they will often do their best to help you avoid this again by sending you a PM or explaining how to avoid it. You will only get into trouble if you repeatedly spam, so don't be afraid of asking questions and trying things out. And of course, when in doubt, reading the Opening Post of a thread or other people's posts is a great way to see what's acceptable and what's not.

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What is a supporting member?

A support member is someone who helps to fund the plaza by donating financial aid. There are many ways of doing this, from a one-off PayPal payment to a standing order, and a range of different prices. Supporting members gain benefits, including their own private forum and advanced PM system. You can tell who is a supporting member from the shiny ring icon in their profile.

To become a supporting member, click on the link on the left-hand side of your screen, or go here: Become a Supporting Member

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I can't enter the Derndingle of Mystery/Supporting Member forum. Why?

These forums are known as 'Private' forums. Only members can enter these. You need to be a supporting member to enter their forum, and similarly, you need to be a member of the Derndingle of Mystery to enter that one too.

To join the Derndingle of Mystery, all you have to do is fill up the form which is found here >> << and email those details to Hoth at banecookie@gmail.com

To become a supporting member, click on the link on the left-hand side of your screen, or go here: Become a Supporting Member

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Some people have different icons to me. Can I get a special icon?

Most of the special icons belong to Rulers, Admins and Maiar. These are the people who help run the website, make decisions about its future and do their best to help its members.

Some ranks (the ones with 'tribute rank' and 'special rank' at the bottom) are rewards for getting involved, helping out around the plaza, and being helpful members. Members are given these for a month at a time, with a few added bonuses such as a higher rank and more credits per day. As a new member, you could try your best to earn one of these by posting in your region, joining in with activities in different forums, and just generally getting involved. If, one month, you happen to be the person who stands out the most, you may receive on of these for your efforts.

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How do I change my plaza name?

Currently, the option to change your plaza name is broken and the plaza coders are trying to fix it. Until it is fixed, the only option is to make a polite and loving request from an admin through PMing one of them or posting in admin messages, and be patient with the coders.

Hopefully soon we will all have a shiny button that says 'profile name change' beside our current name in the 'Edit Profile' section of the Member Control Panel.

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Can I change my password or email address once I've joined?

You can change your password or email address through the Member Control Panel, at the top left of every forum page. Within this, click 'Edit Profile' and you will find options for your email address and password.

You should make sure your account always has a valid email account attached, as the Admins will use this email to contact you about account-related issues off-plaza. It is also important that you guard your plaza password, as sharing your account is against the plaza rules and may get you into trouble.

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How do I activate and edit my signature?

Go to your Member Control Panel, located at the top left hand side of any forum page. Within this, you will find a section called 'Edit Profile', where there is an area for you to type details for your signature. You can edit your signature further using BBcodes.

For example, to make your signature appear in the centre of the screen, use [center] sig goes here [/center].

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What are PMs?

The PM (Private Messaging) function allows members to send messages that can only be read by a specified recipient, in a similar manner to an e-mail. The Private Messenger can be accessed by clicking the ‘# New Messages’ link at the top left of the site of the forum, or through the Member Control Panel.

Alternatively, PMs can be sent to a member by visiting their profile and clicking the link that says ‘Send Private Message’.

Whilst the PM function is open to all, there are some restrictions in place for non-Supporting Members. The inbox of Non-Supporting Members is limited to storing five messages. If the inbox is full, you will not be able to receive any more messages. There is also a limit of one per hour on the number of PMs that a non-supporting member can send. Supporting members are able to store up to five hundred messages, and have no restrictions on the amount of PMs that they can send.

To become a supporting member, click on the link on the left-hand side of your screen, or go here: Become a Supporting Member

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What are plaza credits and how are they used?

Credits are the Plaza’s form of currency. They can be collected once in every 24 hour period by visiting the Salary Office, via the Finance Centre. The amount of credits you receive is the same as, and increases with, your rank number.

Credits can be used to purchase items for the Battle Arena. They can also be transferred to other members, subject to approval by an administrator.

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How do I use the Battle Arena?

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  Can I start a new topic?

Most forums have clear rules about opening new topics. You should check the rules of each forum before you open a thread there. But to help you out, here are a few general rules:

In regions, you need the permission from the rulers. Some regions have a thread where you can suggest thread ideas.

The discussion forums are different. You are welcome to open a new discussion as long as it is on a topic relevant to that forum, and you are not opening too many threads at once (there is no limit, but be sensible). You should also be sure there isn't already a discussion open based on a very similar topic to your own, and you should make an effort to get involved in other threads too. And remember: Everyone should be courteous and respectful to other members.

No-one should open a thread in Advanced Lore, as this forum is only for those threads that have grown into a high level quality discussion, and threads will be moved here by the forum administrators.

In Out Of Middle Earth - you are limited to open three active topics at once, though most individuals will never need three active topics unless heavily involved in the forum.

Some forums simply expect you to be sensible when opening new topics, such as Administrator Messages, Battle Arena, and  Newbies and Introductions.

Remember to check out each forum's rules if you aren't sure.

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I've forgotten where the thread is I posted in? What should I do?

First off, don't panic! We understand this place is big and scary and easy to get lost in, so we added a fancy feature to everyone's forums to help you search for people's posts. Just go to your profile and click the 'Find members posts' link on the right. Here you can specify dates and forums within which your post may be, and use Key Words to narrow down the search. Try a few combinations and you should find what you're looking for.

If that doesn't work, try broadening the search parameters by looking in other forums. Your thread or post may have been moved to a different place. Changing the 'Search forum' option should help with this.

If you still don't find it, then there's a chance your post, or the thread, has been deleted by a ruler, maiar or admin. If this is the case, it won't appear in the search. A post can get deleted for number of reasons. It may not be suitable for the plaza, it may be spam, or it may have been off the topic of the thread. A ruler and admin always tries there best to give a reason for deleting a post either in the thread, or through a Personal message (PM). If you still can't find your post and don’t know if it’s been deleted, try contacting the forum administrator or a ruler, and they may be able to explain.

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How do I add a picture or link to my post?

For a link, first highlight the text (or picture) you wish to link. If you don't, you'll just end up with a random web address in your post. Then click on the  option above your post. You can then type in the http address of the page you are trying to link to (remember to remove the http:// from the beginning of the address if you've copied it directly from the web-page bar).

Check that your link works by using 'preview', and finish off by clicking 'ok'. This should add a shiny link to your post. You can add links to text and to images in this way.

For a picture, click on the  image above your post. You can then enter the URL of your image. For the URL, be sure to save the image to your computer and upload to an image hosting site such as photobucket.com, rather than 'hotlinking'.

Hotlinking is where you link an image directly from its original site, without saving it to your computer and using your own storage space. This isn't allowed on the plaza as it steals bandwidth from the other site.

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  People keep using acronyms like R/A/M that I don't understand. What do they mean?

The plaza is full of shortened terms such as R/A/M and LotR that newer members might not know, and older members take for granted. Here is a detailed list of many of those that may appear on the plaza:

Forum and Region Abbreviations:

BL: Basic Lore
AL: Advanced Lore
AM: Administrators Messages
COLP: Cottage of Lost Play
OOME: Out of Middle Earth
N&I: Newbies & Introductions forum
LLL: Legolas Love Letters forum
AM - Administrator Messages
BA (BA forum): Battle Arena (Battle Arena forum)

Immy: Imladris

KD: Khazad-Dum
MT: Minas Tirith

Rohan: Another name for the Riddermark

WC: The White Council, and old name for Isengard

Lothy: Lothlorien
TaBA: There and Back Again

DoM: Derndingle of Mystery

SM forum: Support Member Forum

Vali - Valinor, the Ruler and Admin planning region, hidden from normal members

Book abbreviations:

LotR: Lord of the Rings
FotR: Fellowship of the Ring
TTT: The Two Towers
RotK: Return of the King

TH: The Hobbit

TS: The Silmarillion

CoH: The Children of Hurin
HoME: History of Middle Earth
UT: Unfinished Tales
Bolt: Book Of Lost Tales
ME: Middle Earth

Everyday Plaza Terms

R/As: Rulers/Administrators
RAMs: Rulers/Administrators/Maiar
Admin: Administrator

NKR: Normal Kingdom Rank, those who are not RAMs

SM: Support Member, a member who donates financial aid to the plaza to help with its running costs.
IC: In Character. On the Plaza you create your own character. In certain threads you post "In character", meaning you play as that character.
OOC: Out of Character. The opposite of In Character

RL: Real Life
RP/RPG: Role-Play/Role-Playing Game. This is an example of where you post IC.
NPC: Non Player Character - a character that you role-play that is different to your normal character. Your normal character, for example, is the one you might share your plaza name with.

IR (previously IK): Inter-Region (Inter-kingdom), activities that take place between one region and another

Other Plaza Terms

KP: Kingdom Page, a web page where information for a certain kingdom or region is stored.
NP: New Plaza
OP: Old Plaza, referring to an earlier version of the site. Also, Opening Post, the first post in a thread, which normally contains the thread instructions, explanations and rules.

FP: First Post, another name for opening post - the first post in a thread, which normally contains the thread instructions, explanations and rules.

GM: Games Moderator, the runner of a thread or RPG (also, some believe it to mean God-Moder, but this is not truly the case, as even GMs cannot overly god-mode)

Suspend: if your account is suspended (by an Administrator), you won't be able to post anymore but the posts you have made earlier will remain.

PM: Private Message, a forum messaging system within your profile

Trib: Tribute is points handed out to members by the RAMs, normally as a reward for good posts, exceptional involvement, helping out their region, winning a contest, etc.

Sig: Signature, which appears at the bottom of your posts when turned on.

Bump: a word meaning to 'bump' a thread to the top of the forum by posting there

General Plaza chat:

LOL: Laughing Out Loud
LMAO: Laughing My *Bottom* Off
TY: Thank You
Glomp: A super hug that involves some jumping

*g*: grin or giggle
poke: used to get somebody's attention

IM(H)O: In My (Humble/Honest) Opinion

brb: Be right back

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 By Állàcan Beorhtlig

Special thanks to Brandybuck, Eledhwyn, Thali, halfir and LOTR