Kitten FAQ
1. Why is it called The Kitten The Witches and The Bad Wardrobe?A bit of history: The Kitten, as we affectionately call it, is a board dedicated to Willow and Tara from the show
Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It has its beginning in the willtara mailing list. When Tara first showed up on
Buffy some of us saw the chemistry right away. Shortly a mailing list was created. The more dedicated (read obsessed) began chatting regularly. A dissatisfaction with the chat software at egroups (then onelist) led a few to flee to Yahoo. Many a night were spent on Yahoo chat groups discussing the minutiae of the show. Zelda and xita grew tired of not having all the wonderful thoughts saved. We were also frustrated with the lack of leadership on willtara. A quick decision led to the creation of the board at inside the web in the summer of 2000 (problems there led us to Novogate in September 2000, thank you ITW). We would like to thank everyone on chat that night when we all voted on the name. You will never know how many names we came up with before settling on The Kitten (Miss Kitty Fantastico), the Witches (Willow and Tara, surprise!) and the Bad Wardrobe (just look at basically everything Willow and Tara have ever worn). The name is of course inspired by the book report about
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that Willow was going to do during her dream sequence in the episode “Restless”. Anyway, mainly we created the board to continue building the bonds of the community we have found through Willow and Tara. Your moderators would like to say that in the years we have spent online we have never found a better community. Willow and Tara bring out the best in us. After a couple of changes in moderators, the Kitten is now in the hands of DrG, bytrsuite, maudmac and xita. The community grew and became 2 forums, the Kitten and Different Colored Pens. The growth spurt was not done and eventually we were kicked off Novogate because they couldn't handle our traffic. We went to ezboard in a quick haste in March of 2002 and kept on growing; in April 2005 we finally grew tired of the ezboard gremlins and moved onto our own space.
2. What are the different forums about?The main forums can be found
here now.
• Willow and Tara topics as well as anything about Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson can be found at
Witches and Vixens.
• Willow and Tara fanfiction can be found at
Different Colored Pens. (Please read the
Pens FAQ.)
• The W/T fanfic beta process has a place in our newest forum:
Beta Pens. (The Pens FAQ applies here as well.)
• Willow and Tara, Amber or Aly wallpapers, music videos, drawings, etc., can be found at
Magic in Two.
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered topics and everything not at home in the other forums can be found at the
Kitten.
• Creative efforts by our board members can be found at
The Inward Eye. (Please read the guidelines posted in the first thread.)
• TV shows, movies and related topics can be found at
Genuine Molded Plastic.
• We also have other forums and several archives. Completed W/T fics are archived in
Willow/Tara Completed Fics Archive (Authors A-K) and
Willow/Tara Completed Fics Archive (Authors L-Z).
• We have a website,
The Nether Realms of the Kitten Board. It contains all kinds of W/T goodies.
3. What is off topic?Most topics can be discussed in one of the forums that we have. Of course anything related to Willow, Tara, Amber or Aly is on topic as long as it doesn't go against the Willow and Tara romantic relationship.
BtVS, its creator and any other show made by him and or Mutant Enemy can only be discussed in
The Litterbox forum.
Specifically: Anything past the last ten or so minutes of "Seeing Red" is off topic, except if it relates to the Dead/Evil Lesbian Cliché, which can be discussed in the
Lesbian Cliché FAQ thread. Topics questioning W/T's relationship, lack of chemistry or depth, etc., are NOT welcome. W/Other and/or T/Other is not welcome anywhere on the board.
No topics questioning Willow's or Tara's sexuality. It has been well established on the show, in interviews, at conventions by the writers and the actors that both are gay in big gay love with each other. It is pointless to get into what ifs.
No fanfic or fanart, other than Willow/Tara or Amber/Aly related of course. The reasons as to why these things are off topic have to do with past negative experiences that we’d rather not repeat or dwell on. Of course there are W/T fans who still like the show and everything about it, so for them it would not be pleasant to read negative comments, and there are also Kittens who do not want to talk or read about that show at all except for Willow and Tara. If you wish to discuss these topics you can easily do so on one of the many other boards on the internet where these things would not be off topic.
4. Can I post random tidbits?Sure! Topics with a limited interest, so to speak, can go in a daily thread where random stuff is welcomed. It's also a place for us to say hi to each other and to post about anything we want. Anyone can make a daily thread. Don't be afraid to do so, just make sure to label it properly. The daily thread title has to include the day of the week, the date and to make it easily recognizable and for tradition's sake, please add a "MKF" (Miss Kitty Fantastico) to it. For example: "It’s Sophomore Level Psychology Thursday MKF 4/4/04" or "Happy Friday MKF 5/5/05.
5. Can I post fanfic, stories, wallpapers etc.?You can post Willow and Tara fanfic and poetry on
Different Colored Pens. Please read the
Pens FAQ to find out all the rules for posting in that forum. Willow, Tara, Amber and Aly wallpapers, drawings, videos, etc., should be posted in the
Magic in Two forum.
The Inward Eye is the place where board members can share their original work (no fanfic, fanart allowed). This board has a few rules which are posted in the first thread on that forum. It is a forum meant for Willow and Tara lovers, but the creative efforts there are not about W/T or any show. GLBT subjects are greatly encouraged but not limited to that. Posting new threads requires an established membership of the Kitten board.
6. Do you have other posting rules?Of course we do, we are nothing if not anally retentive about keeping things neat and tidy.
Please read this before you make a post on the board! We encourage lurking. It is a good way of finding out if you fit into the community and you'll get to see what makes the Kitten tick. If you want to introduce yourself, please do so in the in the
Introduction Thread Before jumping into a thread, try to read the entire thread. The first post in each important thread will have crucial information about what the thread is about.
• One thread per topic. Repeat topics will be closed and/or reposted in the existing thread. Before starting new threads, check to see if you can post it in an existing thread. If you have a random question, it could go in the "Ask Any Question" thread that most forums have. To make finding an old thread easier, we have made a categorized list of threads for the Kitten, Witches and Vixens and Genuine Molded Plastic forums. These will be in the first threads of each of those forums.
• Do not change the fonts (color, size, face, etc.) of your messages. We will edit you if you insist on making all your posts stand out by using different fonts. Different fonts are allowed but only to highlight certain things occasionally. Do not abuse the fonts!
• Avoid quoting entire posts immediately above yours. It's repetitive and we want to keep the board smooth.
• Avoid posting 2 consecutive posts in the same thread. Try editing your post and adding the additional commentary there. Obviously sometimes double posting is allowed if you are bringing legitimate new info to a thread.
• Users may only have one active account.
• If you have questions about the moderation of the board, please get in touch with one of the moderators. (Contact information for all the mods is
here.) Do not post about it on the board. When a moderator edits or deletes a post, we always try to message or mail the poster to explain why. So please make sure you have a current and valid email address in your profile or keep an eye on your private message inbox on the board.
7. What can I include in my signature?No sigs or avatars using quotes or images from Season 7 or anything past "Seeing Red." Sigs and avatars are hard to avoid seeing, and there are many people avoiding anything having to do with that. No images of any kind in sigs. This includes smilies. You can have one line for your name, one separation line and 3 lines of text. The text size can be either smaller or the same size as the text of the posts. Changing color, bolding, or italicizing is fine. We have a thread for tips and testing your signature, the
Test thread. You should write up your sig in your
profile at the Kitten. (Please note that, unlike at ezboard, changing your sig at a phpBB board will change the sig in posts you've made in the past.)
8. How can I add or change my avatar?Please remember that we don't allow avatars containing images from Season 7 or past "Seeing Red.” Your avatar can be no more than 100x100 pixels, with a file size no greater than 300KB. You can add/change your avatar in your profile page. The avatar control panel is all the way at the bottom. There, you'll see a box where you can enter the URL of the avatar you wish to use. Clicking "Submit" will put that avatar in all your posts, including ones you've made in the past. You can test avatars in the
Test thread. We also have a thread on Magic in Two, the
Official Avatar Thread for avatar info, requests, and testing.
9. Can I talk about Amber’s and Aly’s private lives?No. Their private lives should stay private. Any discussion will come only from anything they decide to make public, like Alyson’s wedding etc.
10. Can I post pictures?Yes. In fact, please do! We have lots of threads for pictures, pictures of you, your town, and pictures you’ve taken. Do not hotlink images that are not on your own webspace, unless you have permission to do so from the person who is paying for the bandwidth. (Hotlinking, or direct linking, is when you use code tags, like , to cause an image to show in your post.) You may do this if the images are on your own webspace. However, please don't do it too often, because it will slow the board down, especially for Kittens who are on dial-up. It takes a long time to load a page with lots of images, especially if they are large files. And we want the pages to load as quickly as possible. Please keep something in mind about hotlinking. Even if you have permission to hotlink to an image, this can lead to problems if the site you're linking from changes hands. It's possible that you would then find that the URL of your image now leads to something else, which could be extremely disruptive for the board, especially if a very large image or porn is now at that URL.
11. How do you guys post those smilies?When you make a post, you will see the smilies to the left. These are only the first 20. To see the rest of them, click "View more Emoticons" and that will open a popup window that shows every smilie we have available. If you use a smilie by clicking on it, it will automatically insert itself at the
end of your post. For the smilie to appear in the middle of your post, you will have to either type the code manually or go down to the end of your post, copy the code, and paste it wherever you want the smilie to appear within your text. This might take some getting used to, but you will probably quickly learn the code for the smilies you use most often.
12. Can I post in HTML?No. At the new Kitten, we will all be using
BBCode.
13. I am having general phpBB problems. What can I do?General information about phpBB can be found
here. For help with using phpBB (registering, posting, private messages, usergroups, searching, watching topics, and profile settings), see
Using phpBB. They've even got some little flash tutorials that will show you how to use phpBB
here. Scroll down to the "End user section. phpBB has support in many languages besides English
here.
14. Do I have to register to post?Yes. Register
here. Please remember that registration at
The Nether Realms of the Kitten Board is separate from registration at the Kitten board. (The Nether Realms is a fan listing and has nothing to do with posting on the board. It serves the purpose of being a community data base where you can post your picture and give us details about yourself. If you want your picture added to the Nether Realms, please email xita at
xita@xita.org with the picture or a link to it.
15. How do I edit/delete my post?Make certain you are logged in. You won't be able to edit or delete unless you are logged in. To
edit your post, click on the "EDIT" button in the upper right corner of your post. This will take you back to the posting form where you can make any changes. You can only
delete your post if it has not yet been replied to - that is, if it is the last post in the thread. You can delete in one of two ways: Either click the "X" in the upper right of your post or click on the "EDIT" button and then check the box beside "Delete this post" and click the "Submit" button. You will be asked "Are you sure you want to delete this post?" Click "Yes." Your post should now be deleted. But please remember that this will only work before another post is made after yours. If another post is made and you're no longer able to delete yours, and your post contains information you want gone, just edit your post.
16. How do I reply with quotes?You can quote in a few different ways. Find the post you wish to quote from. Click "QUOTE" in the upper right corner. This sort of automates the quoting process. You’ll see the BBCode tags are already inserted at the beginning of your post window. Doing it this way does quote the entire post, so please edit the text inside the quote tags if you wish to quote only some of what the original poster posted. If you are quoting from several different posts at once or quoting from an outside source, you will have to click on the "Quote" tag in your posting form or you can also just type "{quote} {/quote}" and paste the text to be quoted inside the tags. To cite the source of your quote, type {quote="NameToQuote"}Whatever NameToQuote said that you want to quote.{/quote} The name of the person you are quoting does have to be within quotation marks. Use [ instead of { and ] instead of }
17. Hey, I like you folks, can we chat somewhere?Of course we have to chat! There are two chats, one on the board and one that's part of the Yahoo Group
kittenchat. The board chat is a Java-based IRC chat. It's always going at all times of the day and night. Just click on "Chat Room" on the Kitten board's main page. Because this chat works differently from the old ezboard chat, we've made a help page for you
here. The Yahoo chat is nightly, beginning at 8 p.m. Pacific time. (10 p.m. Central, 11 p.m. Eastern) For most European, Middle Eastern, and African Kittens, that would be about 3-8 a.m. For Asian and Australian Kittens, about 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. We also have a thread with contact info for various instant messaging programs, the
Names & email addresses thread.
18. Where can I find some sites about Amber Benson, Alyson Hannigan or W/T?You can find these and all kinds of other links all together at
The Kitten Board Links.
19. When does my posting level change?Your posting level will change automatically. The levels are
here.
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