If you have a problem with another member, do us all a favor and take it up with that particular person directly. Please, for the love of all that is holy to you, do not start a war and try to drag the admins and mods into the middle of it with you. For those of you who are mods, do remember that your powers are restricted to particular tasks. So if you have an issue with someone, here's what you should do.

1. First try discussing it with the individual in question. Nine times out of ten an agreement can be reached between two people if they just take the time to talk about their differences.

2. Barring step one does not work, then and ONLY then should you contact the board moderator(s) of the particular board in which you are experiencing problems. If you can't work things out between yourselves, then chances are the board moderator(s) can work it out for you. Though we really don't like to have to do that.

3. Provided step two does not work, then and ONLY then should you contact a global moderator. Same thing. Global moderators can probably take care of what a board moderator can't, but we really don't like to have to do that.

4. If none of that works, then and ONLY then should you contact an administrator. Same thing again. If you can't handle the issue on your own, the board moderator can't take care of it, and a global moderator can't take care of it, then the administrator will bust out the big guns and start whooping ass. Seriously, if you bother me with your issues before going through the above three steps, I'm going to hurt you. A lot.

DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, go and whine to Mike. With this new system he's the first one you're going to see listed as administrator. That is NOT the Nefarious SM anymore, people. Again, I repeat, DO NOT contact Mike. The only people who should be contacting him and talking to him about the site and the forums and all that, are myself and the other IWA members who know the system. That's all he's here for: the system.

Here are three ways to get in contact with other members to discuss your issues privately.

1. On this site there is a nifty little tool called a PM. That stands for private message. You can send a PM to anyone who is a member of the forum. It works a lot like e-mail, only it's restricted so that members only receive it on the site. It is entirely private, as the name states. Meaning that the discussion will only be visible to you and the person you have sent it to. The Administrators, Global Moderators, and Board Moderators can NOT see your private messages. So begone paranoia!

2. E-mail. Some site members have their e-mail addresses listed as private. That's fine. We all like our privacy. However, despite that, some people know who's who anyway and how to contact them via e-mail. There's also that nifty little PM tool that works well in requesting an e-mail address from another member. There's nothing wrong with asking another person if they wouldn't mind being contacted in that fashion instead. It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is no. Ohnoes!

3. IMs. Hey. Guess what. That works the same way as e-mail. Some of you know who is who and how to contact them using AOL's instant messenger programs, or other programs. AOL, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, ICQ, etc. Those options are available, and some members have those contacts listed in their personal profiles. It only takes about ten seconds to look it up. Really. It won't hurt you.