Chapter Charter

What a Chapter is, how to establish and join one, and its rules

What is a Chapter?

A Chapter is: a community of users who have banded together to encourage each other to write and worldbuild. It is a social group like a writers’ circle, and each one will have its own culture, etiquette, and patterns.

A Chapter is not: above the rules of the rest of the server, a place to disparage other users, a steam group, or a meme dump. The air can be relaxed, but a chapter must be used for its purpose or it will be dissolved. There will not be competitions between Chapters hosted by the staff or site at this point.

A Chapter gets its own role and channel within the World Anvil Discord Server. Only Staff and members with that role can see the channel.

Formation

A Chapter forms when 10+ users approach the Moderation Team with a:

• Designated Leader
• list of Discord names of all members
• ...and their World Anvil usernames
• list of any House Rules you'd like to add

Once we’ve reviewed the list and verified that all of the members are viable to join a Chapter, we will create a channel for that Chapter and give the Chapter members their role.

Chapters that demonstrate gender, cultural, national, or other biases in membership, in any measure, may be prohibited and will be subject to additional observation to ensure that they do not violate World Anvil's principles of inclusion and diversity.

Joining a Chapter

Look through the list of Chapters in #info-chapters and DM a leader if a Chapter appeals to you. They may have their own process for accepting or denying members. Do not harass Leaders if you are denied, but if you feel the reasoning was unjust please notify a Moderator.

Leadership

A Chapter must assign a leader from members of the Worldbuilders Guild of Grandmaster rank or above.

Responsibility

The Leader is responsible for working with the Staff to add or remove members, and may seek advice from Moderators on how to maintain quality and community within the Chapter using the Chapter Leader channel.

The Leader is expected to provide guidance to problematic members and to advise them on proper behavior. Leaders may contact the Moderation team for advice on how to handle this. If a rule is in violation of server rules, Leaders may flag the Moderation team to handle it.

Leaders are expected to set the proper tone for the Chapter and will be held to a higher standard of behavior.

The Leader has final say on all Chapter matters, as long as the server-wide rules and etiquette are followed. Leadership may be revoked by Moderation if a Leader isn’t fulfilling their duties. The members of a Chapter will not be held responsible if the Chapter Leader breaks the server rules or etiquette.

Succession

The Leader can pass on the torch to another leader, provided they are also a Guild Member. If you wish to do this, please notify the Moderation Team so that they may verify the change and update the records.

Adding/Expelling Members

To add members, send the name of the Members to a Moderator for review. The moderation team will then check their history and, so long as there are no problems with that user, provide the role.

To expel members, send the name of the Member and the reasoning to the moderation team. Moderation may decide to discuss the matter with you if they are unclear or feel like the removal has malicious intent. The user will be provided with the reason for their removal.

Facing Dissolution

Facing Dissolution means that a Chapter is up for discussion by the Moderation Team as to whether or not it is serving its purpose and should be closed.

If a Chapter is Facing Dissolution then the Mods will discuss its purpose, direction, leadership, and user base. They will decide if the Chapter needs to be dissolved and notify the Leader.

Benefits of a Chapter

Why should I make a chapter?

— You, probably

A Comfy Space

My friends and I all love WA, but the server size is daunting...

If you're shy, or dislike like the speed at which the larger channels of the WorldAnvil Discord move, you might consider starting or joining a Chapter.
Having a Chapter means having a cozy place in the server to worldbuild with your friends, and so is great for our more quiet members who want to be a part of the server but are overwhelmed by the pace of it.

A Focused Place

I want to see a writing circle for horror authors!

Perhaps there's some niche interest or topic you want to discuss, or you're working on a particular medium such as webcomics or animation. Having a Chapter gives you an easy group of people with a similar interest!

Site Recognition

Chapters will be getting their own pages on World Anvil! And all members of a Chapter will have it marked in their profile.
Expect to see more engagement through the site for Chapters as more features supporting them are added to the site!

Chapter Rules

_{Server rules enforced by the moderation team}

^{House rules demonstrated by the leader}

Eligibility for Joining a Chapter

1. You must have a World Anvil account to join a chapter
2. Users may only belong to one Chapter at a time
3. Users may not join Chapters more than once every 3 months
4. Users may not harass Chapter members to join a Chapter
5. Breaking Server Rules doesn’t remove you from a Chapter
1. Mutes are still server wide and will affect Chapter channels
2. 3 Strikes against the Server Rules is still a Server Ban
3. Your Leader may be informed of your transgression and given the option to remove you from the Chapter.
6. Breaking House Rules in a Chapter is not breaking a Server Rule
1. If a user is invited to join a Chapter, that Chapter Leader will be advised of all previous House Rules that user has previously broken and any Chapters that the user has been expelled from.

Eligibility for Leadership

1. You must have a World Anvil account of Grandmaster or above to lead a Chapter
2. You may not ping server roles recruiting for a Chapter
1. If you leave the guild you will be asked to choose a successor
3. If you receive a warning you may have your Chapter leadership revoked
1. You may be asked to name a successor

Chapter Activity

1. A Chapter is to support multiple world builds, not just one
1. If a Chapter clearly exists for one world only, it will face Dissolution
2. Chapters must remain active, or face Dissolution
1. If a Chapter falls below a headcount of 10, it faces Dissolution (Soft rule)
2. If a Chapter does not regularly worldbuild, it faces Dissolution
3. A Chapter can have some House Rules
1. These must comply with server-wide etiquette rules
2. Provide these so we can pin them
3. Leaders enforce House Rules through peer pressure and good example
4. Moderators do not enforce house rules
4. Chapters must be in English, everything else can happen in the international channels
5. Chapters that become too transient, with numerous joins and expulsions may Face Dissolution
6. Staff will avoid posting in Chapters unless invited to take part in the conversation or if they are added to that Chapter. Staff can still only belong to the one chapter.

How to keep your chapter active and happy!

Here are some ideas you can use to keep your chapter happy and engaged. Feel free to take them and adapt them to your own chapter's needs!

• Arrange specific activities:
• Comment Circles: gather the chapter for rounds of mutual feedback.
• Mini-competitions: organize competitions or challenges within the chapter, or engage with the official World Anvil events within the chapter.
• Book clubs: choose a book to read as a group and meet every week to talk about it!
• Chapter-themed prompts: choose or create a prompt that fits your chapter's theme and see how different members approach it!
• Keep a good chapter health:
• Keep everyone active! Ping the entire chapter regularly for activities or check-ins. If you see a member who's not very active, consider pinging them directly and engaging with them (for example, asking about their projects or a recent article you saw from them).
• Having many inactive members in a chapter can kill momentum and turn the entire chapter into a silent channel. Chapters are not designed for lurking, so ask inactive members if they still have time to participate (they can always come back later)!
• Raise the profile of your chapter to find new members!
• From time to time, we ask community members to be stream guests. If we approach you, don't miss this opportunity to talk about your chapter and invite people in the audience to join!
• Submit to our Quarterly Chapter Roundup! We'll include you in the blog and encourage people to join your chapter.
• Organize unofficial challenges as a chapter. This will show the chapter is active, fun, and has a lot of initiative!