Welcome to "A Galaxy of Stars Web Competition!"

We're so glad you are interested in joining us. What follows are the Rules for membership. Please read through them all and, if you are still interested in joining, simply click on the link button at the end of the list.

Thank You!

MEMBERSHIP RULES:

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP RULES

1. All sites seeking membership must meet the following criteria:

׃May not contain any generally offensive material, i.e., non-artistic nudity, profanity, racism, etc. The management retains the right of determination on these matters.

2. You may compete on more than one team but not against yourself. If, for example, you have pages devoted to your family genealogy and pages about your pets, you may place them into different teams to compete but not all on the same one. (Note: we will be expanding our teams as more members join so more team options will become available.)

3. All members MUST be subscribed to their Team(s) newsletter(s). This is a Newsletter-only list so traffic will be pretty light. If there is an interest in having a chat list then one will be created; subscription to any chat list will NOT be mandatory.

TEAM VOTING RULES

1. Members MUST vote for their own sites (Self-vote) a minimum of three (3) days each voting week to avoid censure and/or Suspension.

׃Voting only 3 of 4 eligible voting days will result in your site retaining its position at that Level.

2. To Advance to the next Level: Members MUST Self-vote all four (4) voting days in order to advance to the next level.

3. Failure to Self-vote

׃Failure to Self-vote 3 times/week - 1st week = a Warning from your Team Leader.

׃Failure to Self-vote 3 times/week - 2nd week following the Warning = 1 week's Suspension from competition.

׃Failure to Self-vote 3 times/week following return after Suspension = immediate removal from the competition. You may, of course, re-apply for membership but will begin again in a Probationary state.

׃Probation - the member will have one month to maintain the Self-vote requirement. If the member does not meet that requirement, their site will no longer be eligible for membership.

ELIGIBLE VOTERS

1. The member - You must vote with the email address, or alternate(s), you noted on your application to join. Your IP address is recorded. **It is your responsibility to notify your Team Leader of any change to your voting address.**

2. Family/Friends - Up to five (5) family and/or friends using your recorded IP address are eligible to vote. You will be asked to supply their address(es) on the application, or as they become available. **NOTE: The Team Leaders will NOT contact you to clarify an address. Any vote received from an unregistered email address at your IP will be discarded.**

SCORING

1. Scoring is based on a descending "10" scale. Most votes received = "10", 2nd highest number of votes = "9", etc.

2. When no Self-vote is received, the count will reflect a "D" in that day's column. Each team's Vote page contains a Legend noting what each comment letter means.

POINTS

1. Every 10 points earned gives you a "Buy." What that means is if you accidentally miss a day voting for your own site, you will not be penalized for that missed Self-vote if that missed day would cause you to be dropped down a Level.

You don't have to do anything, the Team Leaders keep track of this count and will automatically give you the "Buy" and deduct the used points from your overall accumulated earned points total.

**NOTE: This does NOT apply at the Championship Levels; Team Level only.**

Here's how it works:

:first 2 consecutive weeks of 4 Self-votes = 5 points

:every consecutive week following those 2 weeks = 2 points

(so, if you Self-vote all 4 days for 5 consecutive weeks, you will earn enough points for one "Buy.") Plus,

:each day you post a Cheer = 1 point

:contributing a Cheer - images or text = 1 point

:referring a site = 1 point/each accepted site

You cannot Advance on "Buys"... they will only keep you from dropping back to a lower level. Also, you may only use 2 "Buys" in any given voting week.

ADVANCEMENT

1. Team Levels:

׃Level I - Four highest scored sites advance to Level II. (All new member sites begin here.)

׃Level II - Two highest scored sites advance to Championship Semi-final Level.

2. Championship Levels:

׃SEMI-FINAL ROUND

- One week competition: winner advances to the Finals. All regular voting rules apply.

׃ FINAL ROUND

- Two week competition: scores are cumulative over the two weeks of voting. Overall winner will become that week's Champion and wins a seat in the Ultimate Champion competition at the end of the year. (The Ultimate competition will take place in November - we are closed for the Holidays from the first full week in December through the first full week of January.)

ABSENCES & STATUS CHANGES

1. Each member is responsible for notifying the Team Leader if a Leave of Absence is required. You may take Leave up to 2 weeks without losing your position at the Team Level.

'LOA' is not granted at the Semi-Final or Final Rounds.

The exception, of course, is an emergency situation. (Please contact your Team Leader as soon as is possible in the event of an emergency. We do NOT require personal details. If you have been Disqualified at any point during that emergency time, your status will be changed to reflect an Excused Absence with no penalty.)

2. Change of Status:

׃New voting and/or contact Email address. Also, new address(es) for family/friends.

׃Extended Absence - this means that you will not be able to compete for longer than the granted absence of two (2) weeks. The only consequence of an 'ELOA' is that your site will return to Level I upon your return.

׃Dropped by Request - you request that your site be removed from the competition. **NOTE: If you compete on more than one team, please notify each Team Leader individually. A 'CC:' email is certainly allowed.

**NOTE: Sites that request to be dropped themselves are ALWAYS welcome to return at a future date.**

Finally, we ask that you be courteous and reply whenever your Team Leader contacts you. Please believe there is always a very good reason why they are contacting you.

Any questions about the Rules? Contact me at: admin@nlscweb.net

Still interested in joining? Click on the following button then complete the application form in full. Thank you for your interest in joining "A Galaxy of Stars Web Competition!"