Our Rules

In order to organize our work, I propose a few rules.

1) All Scholars admitted to this project must be vouched for by an existing Scholar.

2) On the first turn, each player writes will an entry for the letter 'A'. Simply come up with the name of the entry, and you write 100-200 words on the subject. At the end of the article, you sign your name, and make two citations to other entries in the encyclopedia. These citations will be phantoms -- their names exist, but their content will get filled in only on the appropriate turn. All citations for the ‘A’ turns will be for non-A entries.

All turns will begin on Monday and end on Saturday. Any Scholar who misses three turns in a row will be eliminated from the project.

On successive turns, you will write entries for B, C, D and so on. However, you need to make three citations per entry. One must be a reference to an already-written entry, and two must be to unwritten entries.

It's an academic sin to cite yourself; you can never cite an entry you've written. Writing entries to fill in the “phantom” citations is strongly encouraged.

All entries must be signed with your Scholarly name. When done, add your entry in the appropriate place on the Index page.

3. Despite the fact that your peers are self-important, narrow-minded dunderheads, they are honest scholars. No matter how strained their interpretations are, their facts are accurate as historical research can make them. So if you cite an entry, you have to treat its factual content as true! (Though you can argue vociferously with the interpretation and introduce new facts that shade the interpretation.)

4) After each ‘Z’ turn, I will review our progress and determine our need to continue.

5) His Imperial Majesty has placed it within my power to grant certain titles, honors and distinctions to those who work on this project and for your efforts in creating especially important and creative entries, I will grant such honors. Such honors should be added to the scholar’s signature on each entry created thereafter.

6) Please avoid WikiWords. Let us use the bracketed linking style instead. It looks much nicer. But don't worry overmuch. If a style error happens, it is easily corrected.

These, then, are our rules. This is our Great Commission. This is our dear cause.

Your faithful Scholar,

Bartley