Since this is a brand new board, we didn't get the chance to state all of our general policies regarding BBS matters! So here's a clear statement regarding User Names and Avatars (the little icons under your name)
At this time, all major/minor character names from the .hack series have been reserved. This means that you can't register for a name like 'Mimiru' or 'Shugo', or variations thereof.
Our reasoning for this is because, mostly, it wouldn't be fair if someone took the name of your favorite character that you wanted before you got to the board. It's not a 'first come, first serve' thing, that's hardly fair! So, in order to prevent arguments and/or confusion (such as using numbers for letters, or other such things to make it appear that you have the character name, which confuses the admins to death), we're keeping character names as a moderator-only thing for the moment.
It's possible that, in the future, we may find a reason to give out a character name (perhaps a contest, or especially good behavior?), but for now, they are reserved. Those who try to evade this will be asked to change ^^;
Regarding Avatars, we request that you do not have a duplicate avatar. Meaning, if a registered user already has a certain character icon, do not take it and use it for your own. We don't have an avatar library, so it's up to you to provide your own.
There are a few reasons for this, but mostly it's,
A) Some of us put work into capturing and creating our icons, it's rude to just take them without permission
B) For us Moderators who often have to skim through threads, it's confusing to see the same picture for two different people. We don't often have the time to read every name, so we tend to use the avatars as identifiers.. that's their purpose in the first place, really o.-
So, please follow these guidelines ^^; it makes our job so much easier.
*ninjas off* Shu~ppa!