The AllSpark started out as a board where people could find refuge from persecution, a place without plotting, scheming and fighting, a place where the administrators were people who actually posted on the board and not faceless deities dispensing justice from on high. Over the years, the board staff lost sight of the original tone of the board, and many problems and conflicts arose because of that. The current staff wishes to begin anew, with a fun board where members don't have to worry about getting flamed by another member (or even a moderator or admin), or have their posts edited for no reason. In light of that goal, these are our simple rules:

• We ask that you do not post pornography or explicit sexual descriptions on the board.
• We ask that you treat others as you would prefer to be treated.

A rule that we the staff try to follow is that if you come to the AllSpark as a new member, or even a former member who is returning after an absence, you come without any baggage. What you have done on other boards is no concern of ours. In the words of the Gerry and the Pacemakers:

"People around every corner,
They seem to smile and say
We don't care what your name is, boy,
We'll never turn you away."

Even if you're a famous Bad Guy on another board, when you come to the AllSpark you arrive with a clean slate. If you encounter any questions from staff or members about your former board, be assured that it's not an interrogation. It's merely a way of letting you tell your story in your own words.

This is a board for second chances, for people who miss having fun, or feel they have nowhere else to go. In the words of Emma Lazarus:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"