I. Rules Page: Introduction
A. This page contains all the rules and regulations for the International Saimoé League, including procedures, penalties, and so forth.
B. This page has been last updated on May 21, 2008.
II. Contestant Requirements and Eligibility
A. Any character may be eligible to enter this league, as long as the following conditions are met:
1. A contestant must be an anime character. If a contestant does not represent an anime, she is not qualified.
a. There are no limitations as to the airdate of an anime, as long as the anime exists.
b. There are no limitations as to the length or content of an anime. We accept TV series, OVAs, and movies.
2. A contestant entered or nominated must be either female or exhibit female-like qualities. Regardless of gender, all contestants will undergo a background check. If there is insufficient information from a character's background, the contestant will not be eligible.
3. A contestant must be either a sufficient positional finisher in a Saimoé tournament that has a sufficient amount of international participation or must be nominated by the voters.
a. Regardless of automatic qualifications, there will be 64 contestants each year until a plan is initiated to expand or decrease the number of contestants.
b. During the International Saimoé League 2008, automatically qualified contestants include the following:
i. Anime Saimoé Tournament of Japan, 2006 and 2007 – Top 16
ii. Korea Best Moé, 2006 and 2007 – Top 16
iii. Korea Super Best Moé - the preceding year - top 16
iv. If necessary, a preliminary nomination round will be held to guarantee that there are sixty-four contestants. A contestant can be nominated by the various voters who take part in this event to ensure that the contestants will be able to take part in this event.
c. There will be forty-eight automatic qualifications for the International Saimoé League 2009. They are listed as follows.
i. International Saimoé League 2008 – Top 16
ii. International Saimoé League 2008 – Necklace winners, provided that they have obtained at 63 league points
iii. Korea Best Moé 2008 – Top 8
iv. Anime Saimoé Tournament of Japan 2008 – Top 8
v. Korea Super Best Moé 2006-2008 – Top 8
vi. International Saimoé League 2008 – Candidates who have obtained 63 league points who have not met the requirements above, in order of rank.
* A preliminary nomination round will be held to determine the remaining sixteen contestants.
**. If the total of automatic entries would exceed forty-eight, there will be order of priority among the requirements listed above until no more automatic entries are available.
III. League Procedures
A. The sixty-four contestants that meet the eligibility requirements will take part in a round-robin tournament.
1. Each contestant will take part in sixty-three matches, once against each contestant.
2. There will be thirty-two matches a day, three days a week. Contestants will be within a match during Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, unless otherwise noted and informed by the administrator. All other days of the week will be used to tally votes and update the official standings.
3. Matches will last for a total of about 24 hours, no less unless other wise stated. At the end of the 24th hour, the match ends, and contestants will have a temporary break before meeting her next opponent.
B. The match is solely determined by the number of votes received from the voters.
1. If a contestant has more votes than her opponent, the contestant records a win and the opponent records a loss. The number of votes received will be recorded in the database to address standing tiebreakers.
2. If a match ends with two contestants having an equal amount of votes, the end result is a draw, and the number of votes will be registered. An overtime match will be held on a later date to determine the winner. Votes in a tiebreaker match will not be recorded in the standings database. Instead, one vote will be added to the winner's total during the regulation match.
C. Standings will be determined as follows:
1. The utmost priority lies within the number of league points. Points will be determined as follows:
a. A win results in 2 points.
b. A loss results in no points.
c. In the case a tiebreaker is needed to be played, the loser of the tiebreaker results in 1 point.
2. In the case more than one contestant holds the same amount of league points, the following tiebreakers will be held in this order:
a. The tiebreaker's first priority lies within the number of wins.
b. The second priority lies within whoever won the head-to-head matchup between those contestants.
c. The third priority lies within the vote differential.
d. The fourth priority lies within the total number of votes.
D. At the end of the season, contestants placed in the top 16 slots of the standings will take part in a seeded double elimination tournament.
1. In the case of a draw, where grave circumstances prevent an overtime match, the tiebreaker will be determined by the head-to-head winner in the round-robin tournament.
2. All other match rules applied to the round-robin tournament will apply to the double-elimination tournament.
E. “Prizes” will be awarded to contestants for achieving particular goals. In addition to the tiara for the double-elimination championship as well as a bracelet and a pair of earrings for being ranked first at the end of the round-robin, contestants may also receive a necklace for being ranked first at a particular period. Standings will be applied to a nine-match time frame within the duration of the period. All standings rules will apply.
IV. Polling Procedures
A. All polls will be run in a radio-button type format.
1. There will be one submit button per page. Voters must make all decisions between contestants A, B, or abstinence before clicking the submit button. Once the submit button submits data, the voter will not be able to change votes.
a. The ballot submitted to the server will contain the voter's IP address and the date and time submitted in addition to the choices.
b. If one is to request a voting change on a ballot, a voter must e-mail the administrator at [email protected] with the IP address used to send a ballot.
2. Voters are allowed only one vote per IP. Failure to comply with this statement results in a temporary or permanent ban, depending on the degree of damage.
a. If a voter clicks the submit button repeatedly in order to garner more votes, the voter will be banned from the polls. Duration of the banishment depends on the degree of damage.
b. If a voter uses a proxy to change IP addresses in order to garner more votes, the voter will be permanently banned from the polls.
B. All polls will be posted on a single page per day.
1. The polls will have at least three given choices: one for each contestant, along with the default option of abstaining from voting in that arena.
2. Each vote for a contestant counts as 1 point. If the "abstain from vote" option is chosen, the vote for that particular match will be negligent.
C. Because participation in this league is also an issue, all voters must vote for a contestant in at least a designated number of arenas.
1. Should there be 32 matches a day, a voter is obligated to vote for a contestant in at least four arenas.
2. Should there be 4 matches a day, a voter is obligated to vote for a contestant in at least one arena.
3. Failure to comply to this statement will result in the vote being discounted. Repeated offenses will result in a temporary or permanent ban depending on the degree of damage.
V. The Nomination System and Procedures
A. The nomination system uses a weighted system. Voters will nominate accordingly to the strength of nomination.
1. Voters can nominate up to 8 contestants, giving 1 point to the least favored contestant, 8 points to the most favored contestant, and so on.
2. For each contestant, the points will be tallied, and the top contestants will fill in open slots accordingly.
B. There are restrictions as to how a voter can nominate:
1. Each voter can nominate once and only once.
a. If there is more than one nomination per IP address, the latest nomination will be taken.
b. If there are many nominations from the same IP address, depending on the situation, the IP address, as well as the voter sending the ballot, can possibly be banned from voting.
VI. Forum Guidelines and Rules
A. We welcome voters from all across the globe to join our forums, and we recommend that they come to speak with other voters from around the world. However, in terms of general rules, the following apply:
1. With the exception of the region threads, we ask that all communication within the forum boards be in standard proper English. This includes proper capitalization and punctuation at all times. Excessive abbreviation and leet-speak (l33t-speak) are not allowed. Failure to do so will result in your post being removed. Depending on the degree of damage, forum privileges may be removed for a period of time.
2. Under no circumstance is piracy allowed in any portion of the forum board. All messages requesting, providing, or otherwise discussing information about the use of illegally obtained media, or any service that aids in the illegal acquisition of such media, is expressly forbidden, This includes but is not limited to: RAWs and fansubs of any anime, RAWs and scanlations of any Manga, illegal copies of software, direct rips from DVDs and CDs, and so forth. Although the purpose of this tournament is to garner more attention to Japanese animation, it does not give us the right to post any content that can be considered a copyright breach. Depending on the degree of damage, forum privileges may be removed for a period of time.
3. We would like to encourage a friendly environment. Because of this, insults, harassment, flaming, trolling, baiting or other similar abusive behaviour towards other voters in the forum board will not be tolerated. This includes the use of "retort images". Images used to convey a "come back" message are also forbidden in all areas of the forum board, as they are often offensive and only serve to ignite flame wars.
4. We also encourage the participation of young minors in this event. Because of this, Any content that is of a pornographic, extremely violent, repulsive or disturbing nature, or otherwise unsuitable for minors, is expressly forbidden.
a. Content expressed in this thread includes Japanese artistic pornography, i.e hentai. Any hentai content will be deleted and severe consequences will be initiated, even if the purpose is to campaign for a particular contestant. Hentai degrades the value of the tournament as well as the young contestants who participate in it. Therefore, it shall not be posted here.
b. While you are strongly discouraged from posting potentially offensive or risque content that could be considered unsuitable for viewing at work and school, we understand that in some cases it is of value to a discussion within the forum. In such cases you may link and only link to it using a URL tag provided it is both suitable for minors over thirteen years of age and is accompanied by appropriate warnings such as NSFW (not safe for work). The inline-image feature (IMG tag) must NOT be used for such content. Failure to comply will result in removal of forum privileges.
5. Soliciting, defined as an offense that incites, recommends, or advises one to commit a "crime", is NOT allowed in the forum boards. This includes but is not limited to posting referrals, posting petitions, advertising websites that require initial registration, and inciting subscriptions. Failure to comply will result in removal of forum privileges.
B. The following rules govern what posts and threads members are allowed to create on the Forum. They apply to all forums but do not apply to signatures or user profiles. The moderating staff may allow exceptions to these rules or impose additional rules for certain threads and forums. If any exception is given, details will be given in forum announcements, stickied threads, or the first post of that respective thread. The moderators do not have full control of these exceptions: the administrator has the final say in any acceptable exceptions and additional rules.
1. Nonsense will not be tolerated. "Nonsense" refers to posts that do not have anything constructive in correlation to the thread. If you do not have anything helpful to say in a thread or you do not know the answer to a question, please don't say anything at all. Posting with the sole purpose bump a thread could also be considered nonsense. This can be defined as necromancy, and is only acceptable if the bumped post has anything constructive to add. Failure to comply will result in the corresponding post being removed. Repeated offences will result in removal of forum privileges.
2. In order to keep order in the forum, some specific forums are limited, in which general users are not allowed to create topics in these forums. However, other forums are not as restrictive, in that general users are allowed to create topics.
a. In the case where a forum is not limited, general users are allowed to create topics. However, we require that all threads serve a purpose. Pointless threads will not be tolerated. Usually, this happens in the General Chat forum, where topics that do not fit in other forums are discuss. Although we encourage discussion of anything and everything, this does not mean that you can post absolutely anything there. All threads must server a purpose, regardless of what forum. This includes but is not limited to:
i. Greeting and Farewell threads. These threads are pointless and only serve to bring attention to yourself. The general chat forum already has a greeting thread in order to introduce yourself. If you must give attention to the fact that you are leaving, send them a private message. Failure to do so will result in your post being removed.
ii. Forum games or "Who are you" threads. Threads like "the word game", "the person above you", or "which character are you most like" are pointless. They are normally focused more on quantity rather than quality, i.e mostly noise or one word replies that are not necessary. Failure to comply will result in removal of forum privileges.
iii."Rate that" or "post your" threads. These threads ask people to post or rate avatars, signatures, desktops, etc. These are actually tolerable, but permission must be asked, usually by a request thread in a specific forum or a private message sent to the administrator or moderator. Failure to comply to this rule will result in the topic being removed. Repeated offenses will lead to removal of forum privileges.
iv. Trivial polls or "What Type" threads. These threads request unimportant information from other members. Examples would include "How tall are you" and "How old are you" threads. If polls are added, the thread becomes a trivial poll. This is completely intolerable. These types of threads are dangerous, as revelation of trivial information can result to identity theft and more. Failure to comply will result in the topic being removed. Repeated offenses will result in removal of forum privileges.
b. In the case where the forum is limited, there may or may not be a request thread in these forums. In this case, you may request a thread be started and a moderator will do it for you. You may post the first topic of the intended thread within the request thread. All requests will be reviewed before approval.
c. There are exceptions to these rules. If you wish to create a thread from the above types that could possibly serve a useful purpose, send a private message to an administrator or moderator, preferably the administrator. If you get permission to create the thread, remember to include the name of the moderator that gave you permission within the first post.
3. Image heavy posts are not acceptable except when circumstances apply. Posts must contain more than just images or links to images. In addition, do not post large images unless it's specifically applicable to the thread in question. Any image that is generally large in size should be linked by means of a URL tag. Small thumbnails, which link to the larger images, are an acceptable alternative.
a. Because we are using a separate shared server from Zetaboards, a partner of Invisionfree, hiding images in spoiler tags will be acceptable at the moment. However, hiding images in spoiler tags does not save on bandwidth. Even if the spoiler is never opened, the entire image is downloaded every time the post is displayed. Although these are acceptable, it slows down the loading of the page, therefore, it should be refrained as much as possible. If an image is too large to be posted regularly, please place it within the spoiler tag.
4. Cross posting, defined as posting the same message more than one forum or more than once in one forum, is not permitted. Please take care to post your message in the forum or thread it is best suited. Do not post a message to an existing thread when it is irrelevant to the topic. By reading descriptions under each forum, you should be able to find the right location. Questions if a correct forum cannot be identified should go to the forum administrator and moderators. Failure to comply will result in topics/posts being removed. Repeated offenses will result in removal of forum privileges.
5. Advertising without the permission of an administrator or moderator unless it forms an important part of an on-topic reply to a previous post, where providing a link containing information would be of specific interest to the topic, will not be tolerated. This includes soliciting other members to send mail or private messages in exchange for such information. We will not tolerate the use of our facilities to send or distribute unsolicited advertising. All advertising must be authorized by a member of staff prior to publication, either by a clear exception in the rules or a private message from a member of staff. Failure to comply will result in a topic or post being removed. Repeated offenses will result in removal of forum privileges.
6. Public personal conversations will not be tolerated here. Theards with only two people chatting about personal matters are generally irrelevant to everyone else. If you wish to chat with other members, please use the private message feature or contact the member directly using e-mail or instant messaging. Failure to comply will result in removal of forum privileges.
7. Avoid flammable and cyclic topics. Please be aware that political and religious discussions often cause very heated debates with little give or take on either side. They normally start out interesting and sensible but rapidly degrade, inducing many members to start flaming each other. Please try to keep the discussion interesting and polite. Failure to do so will result in the topic being closed.
C. In order to keep the forum fast and quick for those who wish to see signatures, the following limits are imposed. Various combinations of images and text are permitted in signatures. Failure to comply will result in your signature being removed with warning. The following combinations are listed below:
1. Text only signatures may have a maximum of six lines of text, including blank lines, assuming the default font size or smaller. Larger font sizes means that fewer lines are allowed.
2. Image only signatures must have 50,000 bytes (50 megabytes) or less with a maximum size limit of 500 pixels wide and 160 pixles tall.
3. Image and Text signatures may have a maximum of two lines of text, including blank lines, assuming the font size is default or smaller. Larger font sizes are not permitted. Image limits must be 50,000 bytes (50 megabytes) or less with a maximum size limit of 500 pixels wide and 120 pixels tall.
4. Advertising within signatures are permitted and are exempt from restrictions found in the Posting Rules, provided the site, product, service, or event being advertised and the content of the advertisement complies with the rest of the rules. If you are unsure of this statement, please ask an administrator or a moderator.
VII. Disclaimers
A. The names of all contestants as well as the title series that they represent do not in under any way belong to the International Saimoe League. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
1. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.
a. Clannad
b. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)
c. Kanon
d. Lucky Star
e. Full Metal Panic
2. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Shaft, Inc.
a. Negima?!
b. Hidamari Sketch
c. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
3. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Studio Deen Co., Ltd.
a. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
b. Fate/Stay Night
4. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Nomad, Inc.
a. Rozen Maiden
b. Sola
5. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by Oriental Light and Magic Incorporated.
a. Utawarerumono
b. ToHeart2
6. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by MADHOUSE Ltd.
a. Strawberry Panic
b. Cardcaptor Sakura
7. Names from the following title series are copyrighted by J.C.Staff Co., Ltd.
a. Shakugan no Shana
b. Zero no Tsukaima
8. Names from the title series Hayate no Gotoku are copyrighted by SynergySP, Ltd.
9. Names from the title series Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha are copyrighted by Seven Arcs Corporation.
10. Names from the title series ARIA the Animation are copyrighted by Hal Film Maker.
11. Names from the title series Bamboo Blade are copyrighted by Anime International Company Inc.
12. Names from the title series Code Geass are copyrighted by SUNRISE Inc.
13. Names from the title series Kamichu! are copyrighted by Aniplex Inc.
14. Names from the title series Minami-ke are copyrighted by ASREAD Inc.
15. Names from the title series School Rumble are copyrighted by Studio Comet.
16. Names from the title series Spice and Wolf are copyrighted by Imagin Co., Ltd.
17. Names from the title series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle are copyrighted by BEE TRAIN Production Inc.
B. The genuine accuracy of all forms of outside information, including but not limited to: biography information, Saimoe histories, and copyright information, is not guaranteed. Therefore, the International Saimoe League, its staff, and its owners, cannot be held legally liable for any harm caused by the use or misuse of information contained within these web pages.
C. The International Saimoe League is a non-profit organization and therefore does not seek to gain money via any revenue. All voting is free of charge. There may be cases where donations will be asked for technical purposes, but donations are decided by the voters themselves, and the decision will not be forced by the International Saimoe League in any form or matter.
D. All matches are originally scheduled to begin at 0:00 GMT on a predetermined date. All dates are tentative. The administrator reserves the right to change a date and proposed time for each and every match. All changes will be announced prior to the original starting time of the proposed match in question.
E. Not all of illegal voting can be detected, nor is an attempt to ban a proxy voter effective in any form or matter. While the administration will do its best to rule out all forms of multi-voting, it is understandable that not all forms of multi-voting can be detected. Should one decide to multi-vote, one should do so intelligently or else face severe consequences.
F. The website itself is currently being run on a Weebly server, and is therefore not in complete ownership of the International Saimoe League. The voting polls themselves are being run in a server owned by the International Saimoe League. Should Weebly shut down the website for maintenance issues during a match date, the International Saimoe League is not responsible for votes lost during that time period. A voter should take care of the situation and save the voting page should the case stated above take place.
G. The purpose of the International Saimoé League is to attempt to induce a fair system of matches so that contestants can have a chance to take part against every other contestant. While the fairness of the overall schedule is guaranteed, the fairness of each respective necklace period is not. The International Saimoé League seeks to find a method to ensure equal parity for each necklace period. Should one necklace period be leaned toward one contestant to ensure the security of one contestant in this league, it is not an intention. Therefore, the International Saimoé League cannot be held legally liable for any imbalance to the schedules.
H. If an IP is banned and the voter in question feels that the ban is not fair, the voter may request a removal of the ban. All arguments made to “unban” an IP address or region should be sent to [email protected]