Rakhisis' Void
(With a FAQ Section)

Tiamat's Answers to NDR FAQ:

Where is the guild website/What happened to the guild website?
Currently the guild site, neodragonriders.com, is down. For the time being the Guild Rules and such are placed on Kalexiano's Petpage. The owner basically decided that she needed a break from maintaining such a site. A recent update on the guild says:
Update from owner- "neodragonriders.com has been sold.. got an offer I could not refuse. We will still be getting a website. So it will still be fun rebuilding. ;) And I won't be so over ran!
The following is the owner's message that was posted prior to the site being shut down. I recommend you to read it, since it may explain a few things to you.

Saturday January 7, 2006
To all members of Neo Dragon Riders Guild, and all of Neopia

It is with great difficulty that I must tell you all, that as of Monday, January 9th, neodragonriders.com will be taken down. This has not been an easy decision to make, so please do not complicate matters by yelling and screaming at me. It will not change my mind.

I have been playing on neopets for a 4� years, and since my website went public and grew as fast as it did, I have not been able to enjoy my time online anymore. Everytime I come online__, I am hounded by people wanting graphics help, how to make things, corrections to be made on my site, etc etc etc. My time spent doing these things has stopped me from be able to actually PLAY on neopets and talk to my friends and enjoy my free time. I recently have gotten a new job which has taken me out of my home more than when I started the site 2� years ago. So when I come home, I want to spend time with my family, not being harrassed. It hasn't been fun for me anymore, and that's not ok with me. I want to enjoy my neopets time, and not have to be constantly bombarded with people wanting me to do their dirty work. I don't get paid to run this site. It costs ME money to have this up for everyone, and its just not worth it for me at this time.

I am not saying the site will be down forever. I will eventually bring it back to life, in *my* time and how *I* want it to be done. This will most likely take me a couple of months to do. Things are going to change, New graphics will be added, things will be removed and it will be my decision as to what I put back up. You may even enjoy the new surprizes we will be adding. So no worries, we will be back to make neopets even more fun! I just need a break.

All graphics and such currently on the site will still work. I am aware there are certain things that TNT has changed in their coding which will not allow certain graphics to work. Sorry, I will not fix them at this time. I will do my best to fix those I keep when I bring the site back up in the Spring. Please do not mail me asking me to fix old layouts and such.

I want to thank everyone for their support in my site over the last 2� years. I have loved running it, and making all of the wonderful graphics for you all. Please respect my decision in closing down the site for a few months. The site will be even better when it gets re-launched in the Spring.

Thank you to all of my guild members for your support. I look forward to being able to come into the guild and actually get a chance to talk with you all again.

Guild members will be happy to know that I will make the guild private in a short time. I think its time we had some peace and quiet!!!

Thank you all very much.

Silver

Does NDR have contests?
No, it does not since they are not allowed by Neo's rules. But we do have free activities (they do not have any kind of material prizes, they're just for fun).













Does NDR have newbie freebies?
No, we do not. We get a lot of new members every day, it would get too expensive to give away stuff to everyone.














Why are you (all) ignoring me?
It is most likely that we (members of NDR) are not intentionally ignoring you. There are times when the members that are present are not talkative or are preoccupied during slow times, or have nothing in mind for a response to a post. Even people with "fancy fonts and cool avies" (as one person claimed that these people get all the attention) get "ignored" sometimes; whether or not you get a response depends on different things as: time, current activity of the board, and the content in which a post has.
To go further on that... Simple posts such as "Hi there" doesn't give much for people to respond to and is a flat way to start a conversation. But often enough NDR's guild boards just get really busy and it is unlikely that every post you make will get responded to specifically. Among many new posts that can occur in a short time, your post may simply be overlooked. It is best not to take it personally.

If we do seem to be really ignoring you, here's a few things to consider... Are you: Repeating yourself over and over again or saying the same thing differently? Maybe saying something that people may not be interested in? Asking a question that people may not know the answer to? Are you putting us on a guilt trip for not responding to your posts to your satisfaction, or just having a negative attitude? Anything like what is previously mentioned is probably why people do not respond to your posts. People generally do not like to talk to people who do this.



Why are you (all) being mean to me?
Most NDR members try not to be mean, but some do take following guild rules seriously, and may sound gruff. You might be breaking a rule and members may simply be inf0rming you of such. To avoid finding things out the "hard" way (getting "yelled" at), I suggest that you read the guild rules before you post.












What is "being active"?
Posts are a general way to show activity, but not the only way. Helping others, and participating in guild activities are also ways to be acitve.















What do members do for fun in the guild?
Mostly we just chat on the guild boards. Conversation varies from day to day. Occassionaly a major activity involves our attention, but this is also often expressed on the guild boards.













What are the ranks in this guild?
The entry rank for NDR is Hatchling. The following ranks in ascending order are: Dragon Healer, Dragon Knight, Dragon Mage, then Dragon Rider.



















How do I move up in rank (to Healer and/or above)?
To be upped to a Dragon Healer rank, you need to have the following requirements: atleast 2 weeks of membership, atleast 50 NON-spam posts, and prefereably a NDR banner on your lookup, shop, or petpage(s). (This promotion may not occur immediately when you reach these requirements; there are a lot of members to look through.)
For promotions higher than Dragon Healer, is based on Council's decision. They take into consideration how: active you are, your helpfulness, your general attitude, and your respect for guild rules and other such things.







When will I be promoted/Can someone please promote me?
For a promotion to Dragon Healer, as soon as the definite, stated requirements are met your promotion will come as soon as possible. For the higher ranks, please be patient, for the requirements for evaluation are not so defined as needed for Dragon Healer. (Please reguard the previous question to see what is considered for promotions) There are a lot of members in NDR to look through and evaluate who gets promoted. Promotions are done by the few people that have that administration power and promotions are done when those people have the time to decide who gets promoted and decide it's time for a promotion to occur.
My personal advice is to be humble and patient. Do not ask for a promotion as if it is due, it just tends to sound arrogant.





Can I be a *insert Rank title and/or position here*?
Higher ranks (such as Dragon Knight to Dragon Rider) or postions (such as Board Monitors or Sub-Council) are generally not given to people to ask. Ranks are evaluated by the people with that admin power and come when those people decide a person deserves the rank. Postions are offered by the guild leader when she thinks a person is worthy of the position. I'm sure she has her own ways of evaluating who gets such a postion, but my guess is that she takes into consideration the person's maturity, responsibility, helpfulness, activeness, and other such characteristics needed for a particular position.





Can I be demoted?
Yes, you can be. If you have been inactive for a couple of months for unexplained reasons. Is is taken into consideration that people do have "real life" responsiblities, or may go somewhere with no internet access for vacations and other things. You can also be demoted if you are disrespectful to other members of the guild and constantly break other rules, but admin members are more likely to suspend or ban such members.













I'm going a away for a while, will I get demoted?
It is unlikely that a vacation or anykind of trip somewhere will take as long as needed to get demoted. Do not worry.













What are the guild rules?
The following is stated in no particular order of importance. This is also copied from the original source of the site. For the time being the Guild Rules and such are also placed on Kalexiano's Petpage.

General Rules
Anyone who harasses another member in NDR..
ANY member... even friends can't get out of this one. So don't try.

WILL be suspended if they are found harassing another member in this guild. Kelly and I don't like to be put into this situation.. But we have no choice. This rule can not be broken.

Number One Rule-Keep The Peace On The Boards!

Do Not use the words Contest or Donate on the guilds boards. We do not have contests.. we have do have FREE activities. Those words (contest and Donate) set up a red flag in neopets filters... BIG No no! We will not have them in our guild. Donating is not required.. Giving to the guild is always on a want to bases. All gifts to the guild.. are given back to the guild. Thank you.

Any member who has been caught scamming, hacking, or stealing from other guild members will be banned.

Any member who leaves the Guild will lose all rank and privileges granted to them. If said member returns, he/she can join again at entry level and work through the ranks again.

Any member who advertises the guild by putting items up in auction, do so at their own risk. Council is not responsible for any losses of items by doing this, nor will council 'track' down the person and try and get your item back.

All activities run through the Guild are done for free. No one is ever required to give anything to the guild in order to participate in any activity. (With the exception of NDR Swap/Trade, which allows members to trade a randomly picked item of value around 200-300np for a higher priced item, usually 3000-4000np)

No member is required to give anything to the guild EVER. Those member's who do wish to help the guild in the way of NP or items, do so OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL. Anything can be given to the Guild through Silvermoon737, or Raynn1's trades. Anything given to guild is greatly appreciated and is always given back to members in the way of new giveaways.

Promotions are given to those members who have shown exceptional leadership, helpfulness and friendliness to other guild members. Moving up in rank does not happen overnight and will be Council's discretion on when someone moves up in rank. Please do not ask, beg, or plead with Council to move up in rank. Your first rank change will occur after two weeks of being a Hatchling AND a minimum of 50 posts in the board. Please give it time after two weeks. Council members cannot see everyone's rank change everyday and it may take a while for us to move you up. If after two weeks you notice you have not been moved, please send a friendly reminder to a council member to have your rank evaluated. Council reserves the right to change this rank change at their discretion.

Council is always available for any questions or comments. Suggestions are always welcome for new ideas. Please do not abuse this 'open door' policy by spamming Council members with messages. While most members feel that the leader is the only one to answer questions, this is not true. ALL Council members can take your questions or comments. The leader is only one person and can very easily get plagued with 150 neomails from members. Try to keep this in mind when you are looking for an answer to something.

Any member can be demoted for poor behaviour, spamming, rudeness or by being inactive. It is up to Council to decide when the member can be reinstated. Council fully believes in a respectful guild. If you are found to be disrespecting ANYONE in the guild, you may be subject to a demotion in your rank.

Message Board Rules
Spamming is strictly prohibited! Spamming is considered anything of the below that is done CONSTANTLY:
-Posting messages back to back when no one is online__.
-Posting messages containing less than a sentence, or only contain a word, a smiley face or of the like.
-Posting anything that contains no rhyme or reason behind it (ie: lalala)
-Telling people they are always spamming.
-Neomailing Council members on a daily basis to complain about someone/thing.

The calendar may not be used to promote anything. The calendar is for birthdays, guild events, and random bits of personal engagements. Use discretion when posting anything personal on the Calendar.

Members may advertise their own personal Shops, Galleries, Giveaways, Beauty Contest Entries etc. in the message board or the guilds Newspaper. Please be aware that too many postings are considered spamming.

Contests and Raffles are strictly prohibited by Neopets. The guild and all members are expected to abide by these rules. No one is to run any contest of any kind. Council only runs giveaways and there is never a 'fee' to take part in them.

Do not use CAPS when talking in general. It is considered Yelling and is not acceptable. 1 or 2 words within a full sentence is okay every once in a while.

Do not ask/beg for rare items. This is inappropriate and unacceptable.

Do not beg/plead for any member to make you a neofriend. It is up to that person to decide who is on their lists.

Swearing, Yelling, Begging, Vulgarity and Rudeness are not acceptable. Members can be demoted or suspended for doing so.

People do not like to be reminded about spamming, or double posting. Do not start 'jumping' on a member if they happen to double post or is posting a few messages together. Use common sense. (If you happen to double post, do not post a message saying ?oops, sorry? or of the like. Double posting happens. No need to bring more attention to it)

Do not become a tattle-tail. It is not very becoming.

There are board monitors already in place in the guild. If you are not one, please do not act like one. If you feel someone is getting out of hand, please let council know and they will deal with it.

Treat others as you wish to be treated. Do not insult or harass members.

If you are asked by a Council member to stop doing something, please stop doing it. Disrespecting council is unacceptable at any time. Council can and will demote or suspend anyone who is disrespecting council or other members.

Any violations of the message board rules can result in Suspension and/or Blocked from the Guild.

Council fully believes in treating everyone like adults. Therefore, try and act like one. Use common sense when dealing with anyone's messages. Treat it with a grain of salt.

No one ever sets out to intentionally hurt you with a comment. If someone says something that bothers you, work it out with that person before you send any messages to council regarding the problem. Everyone's opinion is important and matters. Treat everyone equally and fairly. Remember, this is only a game. Don't take everything personally. Enjoy, and have fun.

That's too long. What are the guild rules in a nutshell?
Alrighty, here's a summary I made. But if want full explainations on why we have such rules, I suggest you read the full version to fully extend your understanding. These are in no particular order of importance.

1) Maintaining peace on the boards is important.
2) NO spamming.
3) Be polite and respectful to Main/Sub Council and other members.
4) If you are asked by a Council member to stop doing something, please stop doing it.
5) Do NOT use the words d0nate, c0ntest or their other ways with -s, -ing, -ed, etc.
6) It is NOT required to d0nate to the guild, members can do so on their own free will.
7) Do not ask/beg for members to give you (cheaply priced) items and/or NP.
8) Do not continuously ask/beg members to be your NeoFriend.
9) ANY extreme persistant unwanted behaviour from someone will result what that person being suspended and/or banned.

*Remember: Leave the enforcement of the rules to Main/Sub Council and Board Monitors. Do not persist reminding someone of the rules if one or more of the previously montioned positions is present and dealing with that person. Doing otherwise just upsets things more. If someone is getting out of hand, contact a Main/Sub Council member or Board Monitor if none is already present.

Why is the guild leader's neomail inbox full? I need to talk to her!
Neomail Inboxes can only contain a max of 100 neomails. This limit can easily be reached in a short time for the guild leader, since a lot people always think that she is the only one that can answer their questions. Before you try to neomail her consider this: Is it really something that you can only contact her for, or can you ask another person? Is your question already answered somewhere else?











Why isn't she accepting neofriend requests?
She has her own personal reasons. But a good guess could be that it would get really tiring to have tons of complete strangers or mild aqquaintances asking to be neofriends.

Answers to Tiamat's FAQ:

Where did you get the name "Tiamat?
I got it from two books: Jeremy Thatcher the Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville and Dragons A Natural History by Karl Shuker, Simon & Schuster.














Where did you get your lookup?
Usually a lookup says were you get it on the graphics or states credit in a written way. Mine work the same way. Just look for credit first before asking. More often than not, the lookup I'm using I made myself, so I didn't get it from anywhere but from my own creativity.













Can you make me a lookup?
Most likely not.
Why not?
Because I'm often busy doing other things. And if I do have the time, I have to have the inspiration to make one. Requests are open for close friends (they know who they are), and the Main and Sub-Council of NDR so long as I have the time to make a lookup, and that they host the images on their own image host. I apologise to the others that would like a lookup from me, but I have to keep my list small for my own sanity reasons.











What's your code for�?
Sorry, but I don't have the patience to jump through hoops to figure out a way to give strangers the codes I'm using (neomail doesn't allow some codes to go through). If possible, I'll tell you where I found it instead, which is most likely from csshelp's petpage and her related material.

I do occassionally help some people with coding, but I only help people I know, and for codes that I don't mind explaining at the time. Sorry, I have my reasons for being selective.












How did you learn CSS and HTML?
CSS: I get the most CSS help from csshelp's petpage and such. HTML: Again, I just learned from guides here and there� as I understood more, I learned more complicated coding. Basically, I learn mostly from guides, but I also learn from the observation of other people's codes. I don't mean that I use other people's complete codes as my own, just bits and pieces in my own order�if I do completely or mostly copy a code, and it's not common coding that most people know and use, I do state where I get the coding.







Want to be NeoFriends?
Sorry, most likely I'll say no. I blocked NF requests because I kept getting them from complete strangers or from people that are just acquaintances. If they were the latter, I blocked NF requests also because I felt bad for refusing people that I just met that do seem quite nice and friendly. I like to know people for a while and talk to them regularly before I want to be NeoFriends with them. If someone I have known for a while does want to be my NF, just neomail me to ask. :)










Do you want to battle?
Sorry, I don't usually 2 player battle, unless I need a sort of avatar. The only BD participation I usually do is wars and maybe the occassional 1-player battle.














Can you give me *insert item name(s) here*?
No, work for your own items like everyone else. I'll only give items to friends as gifts, and that's only when I can.

I've been asked, despite this answer, to give items for the pack rat avatar (or for whatever other reason) because my name has been seen on the Money Tree. Sorry, but the Money Tree is the ONLY way I'll give things to a random stranger. I find it funny how people can come to the conclusion that I'm that generous from what I give to the Money Tree... I'm actually pretty cheap towards the Money Tree in my opinion. ^^;

Can you give me some NP?
Same as before: No, work for your own NPs like everyone else. I'll only give NP to friends to help them out, and that's only when I can.













Is 3DNAger's name based on DNAgel?
I have read the manga (well, some of it; volumes 2-9 I think... borrowed them) to see what everyone was talking about when I was asked this... -.o No, I didn't get the name from either the show or the manga. How I came up with his name is explained on his Petpage.

Answers to Neopian FAQ:

Can you give me *insert item name(s) here* or some NP?
The most likely answer you will get is no. People work hard and take time to get their items and NPs (this also includes their Pets). Because of this, it is unlikely that they'll give away items to someone they do not know. Gifts are given on a want-to basis and are often exclusive to close friends and such; do not expect people to give you things.










What is spamming?
SPAM is short for Short Pointless Annoying Messages. This consists of saying things like "lalalala" for no reason, typing in incomprehensible chat speak or leet, and constantly repeating the same thing. Depending on where you type your messages, just typing one word or smiley can also be considered spam. Read the rules of the boards you are posting in (guild boards tend to have more elaborate rules from the public NeoBoards) to know the specific preferences of that area, before you find out the "hard" way.







How do you make NP?
There are several ways of doing this. The most easiest way tends to be playing games and sending your score to a max of 3 times. The most effective way to make NP seems to be RSing, which is short for ReStocking. RSing is the process of buying items from NeoShops and re-selling them at a higher price in your shop, trades, or auctions for a profit. This only works though if the item(s) you buy sell for higher prices than what you bought it for. The other way is investing in the Stock Market.There are also Random Events that you can get NP from, but being random means that it is not a reliable source.







Where/How do you get items?
There are a few ways to get items. One way to get some is through the "Daily Freebies." But this items are mostly "cheap" ones and are not worth much. The other way is to buy them, either through the NeoShops, the Market (aka the Wiz), trades, and/or auctions. There are also Random Events that you can get items from, but being random means that it is not a reliable source.










Where is the Hidden Tower?
It is not so "hidden" anymore... You can find it to the left of the Faerie City towers in Faerieland. The link is here, if you are too lazy to look for the link yourself. :P














How do I change my avatar? And font?
To find out where you go yourself, just click "boards" on the sidebar, then "chat prefs." On the resulting page you will find a scroll box with all you're available avatars. Choose one then press "sumbit" on the bottom of the page. For your font, you need to know neoHTML (a way of coding). There's some available font codes on neodragonriders.com under Font Fun. Just copy and paste the code in the neoHTML section on you chat pref page. To save press "submit." The same works for siggies (signatures) except you put the code the Signature section instead.







Where do I put the lookup and/or shop code?
For lookups, click on "help" on the sidebar, then "user prefs." Copy and paste the code in the "About Me" box and save. For shops, go to the "Create/Edit a Shop" page and copy and paste the code in the "Shop Description" box and press "Update Shop.

I tried to put these screenies mostly in chronological order, but some might not have quite made it. Sorry I'm too lazy. ^^;;