The Institute

This page represents all of the rules and regulations that all clients of The Institute are responsible for following. They are subject to change and it is your responsibility to make sure that you stay up to date with them. In addition to the rules on this page, any rule posted to the main body of the site must also be followed. If you find a rule on the main site, or sent to you via e-mail, which is not included here, or find a discrepancy in the rules, it is your responsibility to report it immediately.

In addition to rules which are posted here, clients may be given Standing Rules which apply just to them. Standing rules carry the same force as the ones listed here. They are documented in a page which is linked from the profile page. sissy jenny stated it very well in [one of her comments](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/2009/11/rules_are_made_to_be_followed):

> Following these Rules and Regulations is a privilege and studying them thoroughly is the least that can be done in appreciation for the effort put forth by our Female Superiors.

Remember: Failure to keep track of the current rules does not exempt you from following them.

### Table of Contents ### {#ToC}
* [Communications](#communications)
– [Email Etiquette](#email-etiquette)
– [E-Mail Addresses](#communications-email-addresses)
– [Accounts](#communications-accounts)
– [Spelling and Grammar](#communications-spelling-and-grammar)
– [Respect Rule](#communications-respect)
* [Objectives](#objectives)
– [Types](#objectives-types)
– [Treatments](#objectives-treatments)
– [Evidence](#objectives-evidence)
– [Reporting](#objectives-reporting)
* [Pictures and Videos](#pictures)
– [Naming Convention](#pictures-naming-convention)
* [Reporting Results](#reporting-results)
– [Splitting a Post](#reporting-results-splitting-a-post)
– [Pictures](#reporting-results-pictures)
– [Treatments](#reporting-results-treatments)
– [Categories](#reporting-results-categories)
– [Tags](#reporting-results-tags)
* [Hints (to keep you following the rules)](#hints)

### Communications ### {#communications}
Good communications form the basis for relationships at The Institute and these rules attempt to improve communication to create lasting relationships.

#### Email Etiquette #### {#email-etiquette}
There are [many fine site that cover email etiquette](http://www.google.com/search?q=email+etiquette) and not being a jackass is not something that should have to be covered in the rules for this site. Since this is an issue, here are some tips for being a better communicator:

1. Be concise and to the point. For every rambling message that a Mistress has to decipher, we could have replied to three or four others in the same time period.
2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions. If your Mistress asks you five questions in an email, how many do you think you are expected to answer? (Hint: This is not a trick question.)
3. Answer swiftly. Do not keep your Mistress waiting.
4. Do not attach unnecessary files. You Mistress should not have to question why you have attached some random picture to your email.
5. Don’t leave out the message thread. If you are replying to a question or following up on some other issue, do not make your Mistress guess as to what you are talking about.

#### Email Addresses #### {#communications-email-addresses}
When sending an email, the display name associated with the address, must be the name you are known by at The Institute. For example, the display name for the account `”Stacee Skye” ` is Stacee Skye.

Since many client will not want to change the display name on their primary email account, most open a secondary account. (One of the PREMIUM services that we offer is e-mail accounts that meet this guideline. Ask your Mistress for more information.)

#### Accounts #### {#communications-accounts}
All clients must have an account on The Institute website. The login name must sufficiently match the name you are known by at The Institute. Since many clients were readers first, a capability to [change your user name](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/wp-admin/users.php?page=wpvn-username-changer) has been added.

All clients must have a [Gravatar](http://gravatar.com/) which has been rotated so that the top of the picture is facing up. You should confirm it shows when you post comments. THIS IS A SECURITY FEATURE. Really. (Anyone can post as you if they know your name and URL you usually use, but they can only post with your Gravatar if they also know your email address.) The image you are using for your Gravatar is subject to the whim of your Mistress and may be changed at any time.

All clients must have a [Twitter](http://twitter.com) account and follow The Institute [@cdpunishment](http://twitter.com/cdpunishment). Unless special dispensation has been given, the picture associated with the Twitter account must be the same as your Gravatar.

All clients must maintain a [Dropbox](http://www.dropbox.com) account which will be used to [report results](#reporting-results) to the Mistresses.

#### Spelling and Grammar #### {#communications-spelling-and-grammar}
When communicating with any person related to The Institute, or posting on The Institute’s web site, you must use proper spelling and grammar. This is true for making posts, writing comments and sending emails. The Mistresses deserve better than your sloppy spelling and grammar.

* Except as required for proper formatting, only one consecutive space is to ever be used. Do not put two spaces after a period. Do not put two spaces after a colon. [Just don’t do it.](http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/spaces-period-end-of-sentence.aspx)
* Avoid excessive spaces. Do not put spaces before colons. Do not put spaces between quotation marks and the text you are quoting. (“This quoting is correct”, while ” This quoting is wrong. “)
* SHOUTING BY USING ALL CAPITALS is **never** appropriate.

When you are referring to The Institute, you should note that it is a proper noun. Do not disrespect this institution by referring to “the institute”, it must **always** be capitalized. You are a member of The Institute–not just any institute.

#### Respect #### {#communications-respect}
Clients must show proper respect to all of the Ladies and Mistress of the Institute.

1. Clients will always refer to the Mistresses as Ma’am or by their fully titled nam
2. In order to be respectful and avoid wasting the Mistresses’ time, clients will always inform the Mistresses when they will be out of town or otherwise unavailable for assignments for an extended period of time.
3. Anytime an assignment is given, a punishment is noted, or grade is bestowed, that action shall be acknowledged and accepted in the same manner as originally sent. When acknowledging an assignment, use the same care in your reply that the Mistress took in crafting the assignment. (For example: [Pieclown’s acknowledgment](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/2009/03/cheer_me_up_2_-_revelation#comment-1200): “Hello, I see I have more writing to do.” is unacceptable. The correct response should be similar to the following: “Mistress Amber, I accept your assignment to write a second chapter for the Cheer Me Up story series.“)

### Objectives ### {#objectives}
Objectives are a requirement that us put on a client that they must perform and then report on in a timely manner.

#### Types #### {#objectives-types}
There are four types of objectives that may be given to a client:

* **Assignment** is the default type of objective given to a client in order to train them in our methods. It will usually involve dressing, bondage and humiliation.
* **Punishment** is a stronger form of an assignment, usually reserved for when clients break the rules or otherwise perform poorly. It will usually involve stricter (or longer) dressing, tighter bondage and greater humiliation.
* **Treatment** is a requirement that a client brings on herself for failure to promptly complete assignments and punishments. It will involve dressing full time.
* **Objligation** is a recurring activity that the client is required to participate in (as described below), but of which the client will not be reminded. If obligations are missed, punishment is a likely result.
* **Task** is similar to an assignment, but doesn’t involve training. It could be better described as administrative.

#### Obligations #### {#objectives-obligations}
Clients are expected to comment on posts several times a week.

Clients are required to vote in all polls which appear on the site.

#### Treatments #### {#objectives-treatments}
The rules for performing treatments have been suspended.

#### Evidence #### {#objectives-evidence}
An objective cannot be considered completed unless evidence is submitted which proves that it was carried out as designed. Pictures and video are the standard methods of evidence. The pictures must be able to prove that the objective was fully carried out. It is not enough to simply have a picture of the end state and to force the Mistress to make the assumption that the steps in the middle were carried out.

If there is no evidence, it did not happen.

#### Reporting #### {#objectives-reporting}
An objective is not considered completed until the results have been reported in all required manners. (If a client gives up on an objective, then that also must be reported.) All clients will be given [posting](#posting) privileges on the site. The results should be posted there.

### Pictures and Videos ### {#pictures}
The pictures must be taken at the best possible resolution and be in focus. (A fuzzy picture doesn’t help anyone.) Ensure that the lighting is good, adjusting the lights and retaking the picture if necessary. To save time, before starting the objective take pictures of just the wall. If possible use a solid color backdrop. (Several towels, sheets, or trash bags hooked together can be used)

#### Naming Convention #### {#pictures-naming-convention}

The picture file needs to be renamed after the picture comes off your camera immediately and named in all lowercase: `prefix_yymmdd-nnnXZ+CCC.ext`, where

* `prefix` is assigned to you when you join The Institute
* `yymmdd` are the two digit year, month, and day that the picture is taken
* `nnn` is the number of picture. This starts at 001 at the beginning of the day and resets each night. (To keep videos separate from pictures, a video counter starting at `801` should be used. If you are creating screenshots from a computer, start with `501`. For completely manufactures pictures, based on more than one original, start the numbering with `901`.)
* `X` is an optional picture tag, explained below
* `Z` is a one digit numerical counter added *only if* leaving it out would duplicate an existing filename. This could happen, for instance, if a picture featured two people and two different thumbnails were created based on the picture. This counter is *rarely* used.
* `+CCC` is a counter which starts at 001 and is only added when the source of the picture is a video. The remainder of the file name is the same as the video, while the counter represents different frames grabbed from the video. The plus is a part of the counter, and only included in this scenario.
* `ext` is the extension of the file (e.g. jpg)

When posting pictures, the file will likely need to be resized and thus the file name need to have a tag. (Original files which have not been modified will not have this optional tag.) A tag is added after the filename to reflect the size. As an example, for a thumbnail size, `pieclown_090201-004t.jpg` would be appropriate. The picture `pieclown_090201-004s.jpg` is the same picture, but in the small dimension. Pictures must be scaled and named properly before being posted.

Tag | Description |Dimension
—|—- | —
t |Thumb |128×128 max
e |Eensy |400×300 max
s |Small |800×600 max
l |Large |1024×768 max
x |X-large |1600×1200 max
c |Cropped Only| (no scaling)

The larger number must be exactly the larger of the numbers, the smaller number can be no more than the smaller number. So in the case of 400×300, the picture *must* be 400 and the smaller can be no more than 300. If a file does not fit these dimensions perfectly, crop the photo to such size. As an example, 600 X 770 for a small picture.

### Reporting Results ### {#reporting-results}
The results of all objectives must be reported on the site–all clients have some level of posting privileges. (The site runs on [Wordpress](http://wordpress.org/) and there is [basic help](http://wordpress.org/support/) available online.) In addition to creating the post, all evidence (at full resolution, un-retouched and un-cropped) must be submitted to the Mistresses via [Dropbox](http://www.dropbox.com), unless other means are arranged.

The general order of steps required to create a post on the site is:

1. [Login](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/wp-admin/edit.php) to the site.
2. Create a [New Post](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/wp-admin/post-new.php). _The newest clients will not have the ability to create a new post. A blank post will be be created for you to edit.)_
3. Give the post a title. Some titles are straight forward and others show creative thinking. _One may have been provided for you and, if it is, you must use it._
4. Upload appropriate media for the post (using the toolbar between the title and the edit window).
5. Edit the text of the post. The rules of [Markdown Extra][me] formatting are to be used. Except in special cases, only Markdown Extra formatting may be used. Therefore, do not use the HTML generated for showing pictures with captions. Only Markdown Extra. Help is available online for [Markdown][df] and [Markdown Extra][me] formatting.
6. If the objective was given on the website, ensure the text of the post contains a link to this location. If it is necessary to quote an email that gave the objectives, the email text should be included as pre-formatted text. (Using Markdown, this requires putting four spaces before each line of text.)
7. Select the correct [category](#categories).
8. Add the applicable [tags](#tags).
9. Publish the results. _Some clients will only have the option to change the status to pending. Once it is in pending status, it will be reviewed before it is published._

[df]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax
[me]: http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/extra/

The sub-sections below go into greater detail about how to execute the steps above.

#### Splitting a Post #### {#reporting-results-splitting-a-post}
When the post is long, a split is made. This is accomplished by placing inserting <;!--more-->; in the text. The part before the split is the only portion that will be shown on the main page. Except in extraordinary circumstances, no more than one full size picture should be included before the split.

#### Pictures #### {#reporting-results-pictures}
Pictures should be included when appropriate. Without explicit permission, you may only post pictures that have been taken of you or for you. If you need to use pictures from the web, re-use permission must be obtained. Contact a Mistress for more details.

* `s` size pictures are the largest that can be posted on the site. If these are posted directly inline, as opposed to being linked, then they must be in portrait mode. No pictures which exceed the normal reading layout width of the site are allowed to be used.
* `e` size pictures (in portrait) are all that can be used on the profile.
* If a great number of pictures are to be posted, they should be posted as clickable thumbnails.
* All size `e` and `t` pictures must be linked directly to a size `s` picture (so it will expand when clicked).

Links to pictures that have been uploaded can be found at `http://cdpunishment.com/institute/images/yyyy/mm/` where `yyyy` is the four digit year and `mm` is the two digit month the picture was submitted for posting. Note that the month the picture is submitted for posting should be the same month that the post is actually made. Pictures which need to be uploaded to a page (as opposed to a post) should be handled through a Mistress.

#### Treatments #### {#reporting-results-treatments}
The rules for performing treatments have been suspended.

#### Categories #### {#reporting-results-categories}

* [Activities](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/activities) These are objectives given to clients or reports of objectives. This can be a report of general activity by the client.
* [Administrative](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/administrative) These post deal with operation of the site. _Not to be used by clients._
* [E-mail](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/e-mail) – These are posting about E-mail received by the Institute. _Not to be used by clients._
* [Fiction](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/fiction) – These post are fiction stories written by the author.
* [Ideas](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/ideas) – These posts are for ideas the author may have for clients to perform. It may include comments on ideas found on other web sites.
* [Picture Post](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/picture_post) – These posts are of pictures the author has found to be of interest. Many of these are set so the picture is still linked to its home site. _Use only if directed._
* [Uncategorized](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/uncategorized) – Available, but unused.
* [Web Sites](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/category/web_sites) – These are web sites that the author believes to be worthy to be visited. _Use only if directed._

#### Tags #### {#reporting-results-tags}
Tags are different from categories. Tags are comments on the activity in the post. This would include what persons are involved, ([`amber_shummer`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/amber_shummer) or [`pieclown`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/pieclown)), punishment being used ([`clothespins`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/clothespins) or [`paddled`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/paddled)), or other recurring themes.

* The tag for the client(s) affected by the post must be included.
* New tags should be kept to a minimum. (i.e. do not add a new tag if there is already a very similar one existing.
* [`assignment`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/assignment) or [`punishment`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/punishment) or [`task`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/task) must be used when results are reported.
* [`treatment`](http://institute.cdpunishment.com/tag/treatment) must be used as appropriate.
* All appropriate tags for a post should be included.

### Hints (to keep you following the rules) ### {#hints}

[Firefox](http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ ), [Safari](http://www.apple.com/safari/) and many other browsers include a built-in spell check option. You should put it to use.