Hi there! You’ve decided to join the VAC, whether it’s because you’re curious about voice acting, you want to make further steps in your voice acting career, or you’re casting something. The VAC is a very large server with members in the quintuple digits and active conversations at any given time. It’s fantastic to see, but with such a large group of people there’s bound to be clashes in behavior and expectations of others. I hope to clear up any confusion and frustration by outlining how we expect you and everyone else to behave.
So, what is the VAC?The Voice Acting Club is a forum and Discord server focused on voice acting. It was started by working professional voice actress Kira Buckland, and over time has evolved into what you see here. We foster the passion of those interested in voice acting and associated skillsets, from the newest of the new to working professionals you might have heard in your favorite video game.
The VAC is moderately professional in presentation. We want people to strive to be the very best they can be and as such we want to have a feeling that the server and forum can be resources that professional voice actors can point to and say to curious young fans “Go there to learn how to voice act”. We allow for a fairly relaxed atmosphere but don’t want to have the same vibe as your IRL friend’s silly memey Minecraft server. Because of this, we want to limit things like memes and allow them only in their dedicated channels (#the-garbage-can, #positivity, etc.). This doesn’t mean you can’t joke around and playfully rib your friends, but just be aware that this isn’t the primary reason the server exists.
What do we expect from you?
• We expect you to be a good person.
• We expect you to be courteous and friendly.
• We expect you to be accepting of others of different backgrounds, sexualities, faiths, and so forth.
• We expect you to be generally mature.
• We expect you to actually be you – we won’t allow any impersonations of others, whether it’s a malicious attempt to pretend to be a popular content creator, or you forgot to change your display name from a celebrity that you were roleplaying as.
I list these out as we’ve had trouble with people who have not been these things. This doesn’t have to stifle your personality by any means, just be aware that the VAC primarily is a place to work and collaborate and learn, and not purely to shoot the shit with your friends.
Language on the VACAs the VAC is an open, accepting place, we do not allow the use of slurs or any potential dogwhistle words. This includes not only the slurs you’re used to (the n-word, fag, retard, tranny), but also words commonly used in the anime sphere which can be extremely problematic for pedophilic or transphobic connotations (loli, shota, trap). I’ll try to address arguments for the use of these words going forwards:
Why are you censoring me?It’s because the VAC is such a large place, full of people of all races, sexual identities, and so forth, that it’s cleaner to do a blanket ban. This is not something that we decided out of the blue, we have had complaints about many terms from people the words target, and have decided that these words have no place in our community.
What, does this mean I can’t even swear?Fuck no, swear as much as you fucking want (well, don’t go overboard, it’s not cute). It’s the intent of slurs to hurt others which makes them a problem.
But fag means cigarette in British English! (and so forth)This is true. I’ve heard people use it myself in everyday life, completely innocently. But the people who bring up this sort of argument usually do so in poor faith. If the word is used in context, such as quoting a line clearly about cigarettes regarding the word "fag", or talking about a bear trap regarding the word "trap", then that’s fine. Just don’t use this good faith to push boundaries.
What’s wrong with loli/shota/trap?Though these words are common in the anime community, loli and shota are often tied to pedophilic contexts which makes them dangerous to tolerate. We understand a lot of people use them to describe voice types, but I’ll give you some alternatives later. Trap is often used to hurt trans people, by associating them as people tricking others into sexual relations with them only to surprise them by being the “wrong” sex – look up trans panic defense. While it is commonly used in the anime community to refer to a cis male character who looks incredibly effeminate, the cross-contextual problems is still damaging enough to ban it. I will again give you alternates later. I want to mention that I, the person writing this, came from anime spaces online where this terminology was commonly used, and I understand it can take a little while for you to really scrub it from your vocabulary, but try and be aware of what you’re typing.
I’m from [insert country here] and we don’t see words like retard/faggot/so on as offensive, just as jokey insultsCultural differences are understandable but the server is
primarily US-based, with a smattering of other natively English speaking western countries represented. Because of this, we expect you to hold yourself to the cultural linguistic expectations of the US as a whole. If it’s considered insulting in the US, it’s insulting here. You wouldn’t drive on the left side of the road when you’re visiting the US just because you drive on the left side in your country, right?
I’m trans and I don’t care if I’m called a trap/tranny (and so forth)That’s fine, but the VAC is not the place to argue this as we’ve had other trans people be hurt by this language. It’s totally fine for you to use this terminology in your own space, such as your own server or your Twitter, but just not on the VAC.
In the end, that’s the crux of what we’re requesting: Just to not use slurs on the VAC or towards our members. We’re not here to get into fights and tiffs, we just all want to voice act!
Here are some alternatives for commonly used anime terms, especially in a voice acting context:
Loli: Young girl, high pitched female, female child
Shota: Young boy, high pitched male, male child, prepubescent male
Trap: Otokonoko, feminine male, masculine female (“reverse trap”), androgynous male/female
Profile picturesUntil such a time as Discord allows different profile pictures in different servers (unless you have Nitro!), you will need to be careful about what you have set as your profile picture. If you wouldn’t want your mother to see it, then it’s probably not a good idea to have such a picture while you’re on the VAC. It’s your usual standards of decency – no gore, no explicit sexual imagery, no offensive material, and so on.
If you want to have a profile picture that’s about a historical event, we must advise you to take extreme caution as to what the implication may be, regardless of your intent. If you want to have a picture of a Nazi soldier because you think the uniform looks really cool, you will likely be asked to change it as it gives the appearance of you having Nazi ideals.
Even drawn art may result in a request for you to change your profile picture. Even if you think Pepe the frog is hilarious, the connotations are not particularly funny. Save that for reaction images on your buddy’s server.
Display namesThankfully, Discord allows you to change display names over different servers. The same guidelines as in language and profile images are in effect here – no slurs, no insults, nothing crude or uncomfortable. Feel free to have fun, though. People often change their display names for holidays, so it’s not like we insist you keep the same name all the time. Additionally, don’t use a username that implies you’re impersonating someone – using something like “Crispin Freeman” is not allowed, but something like “Poor man’s Crispin Freeman” would be fine. That does make it harder for people to recognise you, however, and we recommend you keep a fairly consistent identity just for your own sake.
Sexual topicsNSFW voice work is a non-insignificant part of voice acting, and plenty of VAs in the server have worked on NSFW projects in some capacity. For this reason, discussion of sexual projects and voice work is permitted on the server within tasteful bounds. As we have a channel specifically for NSFW voice work discussion, please be aware that discussions about NSFW work should be moved there if it goes beyond abstract discussion of a project which has NSFW content. The NSFW channel is only accessible by those who have filled out the NSFW application form, in order to better protect younger users.
All interaction surrounding NSFW topics should be strictly professional. It’s absolutely fine to joke about how awkward it was when a roommate came home early as the voice actor was performing NSFW lines, but it is absolutely not fine to talk about how sexually aroused you became from someone’s performance.
We would heavily prefer users under 18 try to abstain from the conversations which happen outside the NSFW channel, but there are legitimate reasons why a minor might join in – particularly, things such as asking if performances they’re being asked to do are within reasonable bounds for a minor.
The courtesy surrounding NSFW topics extends to making sexual noises in voice chat. If you are found being uncomfortably sexual in voice chat, even if it’s in a joking way, you will be muted and possibly banned. Because we have minors on the server, we cannot take any risks in an environment like voice chat. Even if you are a minor yourself, you will still be muted and possibly banned.
Erotic artwork and pictures are not to be posted in the main chat. The NSFW channel does allow for more leniency in this case, but should not be full-blown pornographic artwork, should preferably be marked as a spoiler to allow people to choose whether or not they wish to see it, and should be in context of a project someone is working on or something which is holding auditions. Basically put, images that err on the side of ecchi/cheesecake are acceptable in the NSFW room. When it comes to images of kinks which aren't explicitly NSFW but are still very much kinks, please use your best judgement and mark them as a spoiler. SFW pictures from an NSFW project someone is involved with are fine. We do not allow images of real life people in any NSFW context.
Sexual harassment of any members is strictly forbidden and will result in you being permanently banned.
PoliticsPolitics is not something that can be avoided – a lot of what I’ve written about in this document has been at least partly political in nature. The server is primarily left-leaning, but doesn’t discriminate unless people express their political beliefs in an offensive way and/or attempts to bait someone of a different political persuasion into an argument. Naturally, incensive alt-right views and memes will be deleted and you will be at the very least warned, if not banned (even if it was a “joke”).
It is not forbidden to discuss politics on the server in suitable locations (#off-topic, etc) so long as people don’t get into heated arguments. American politics are more scrutinised on this account, but as we’re a global server you’ll likely see someone talking about the political climate in their own country. It can be interesting to learn about other countries’ politics!
But remember, this is a voice acting server, so discussing politics other than things like VA unionisation isn’t something that needs to happen all the time.
ReligionThe server has absolutely zero religious leaning, and is open to people of any faith. As such, bashing any religion is not permitted, whether it’s something like someone being distinctly antisemitic, or an edgy atheist teenager posting anti-Christian memes. You will be banned if it’s deliberately incensive and if you won’t back down, and warned if you’re simply being ignorant.
Like political discussion, however, general discussion of religion is fine. Religion has a rich and fascinating history, whether or not you believe in the actual teachings. Talking about how you went to the Sistine Chapel, for example, is completely fine.
Once again, this is a voice acting server, and religious discussion shouldn’t have to happen every day.
Emotional supportSometimes, we have bad days. That’s okay. You don’t need to keep it all bottled up, but at the same time, it’s not fair to dump your emotional issues on people who aren’t expecting it.
For this reason, we do not have a “vent” channel and will not be implementing one. Vent channels often don’t serve their purpose and end up with people falling into self-destructive spirals, as other members aren’t truly emotionally equipped to deal with someone else’s issues – most people aren’t trained therapists. People expressing suicidal ideations will be immediately reported to Discord’s Trust and Safety in order to get them the help they need, but this will not be discussed in the server itself. If you want to talk with your friends about your problems, please make a group DM or server with everyone’s permission.
This doesn’t mean we’re not allowing any negative emotional expression – that’s weird and dystopic. Sighing about a dry spell in your voice acting is fine in reasonable amounts (that is, not every time people discuss landing a role for instance). It’s okay to say “Not feeling so hot today, does anyone want to hop into voice chat to keep my mind off it?”, so long as this doesn’t devolve into people playing therapist for you. Think of it this way: If you’d talk about a given problem with a classmate or coworker in real life, then that’s fine.
If you feel you or a friend may be a danger to yourself or others, please call your local crisis hotlines.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines Inebriation in chatAs a large amount of the server are over their local drinking age (or in a part of the world where marijuana use is legal), it's not impossible that someone may get a little too sloshed and come into talk in the server. This is just how life is sometimes - a bit of self medication and desire for chat and affirmation can lead people wandering onto their social medias when perhaps they shouldn't. We don't particularly care if people are under the influence while chatting, so long as they still adhere to the rules.
This means there is
absolutely zero excuse for nasty and offensive behavior while inebriated. All the expectations here still apply, and the rules as a whole as well. If you are a mean drunk or a lewd drunk, try to avoid coming into the server and the forums. The you who appears when you're drunk is still an intrinsic, real part of you, and that is why the rules still apply. If you wake up to a killer headache and find yourself muted or even banned, please take this time to reflect on yourself.
Troublemakers and youWhile the mod team tries to be as active as possible, a lot of us are busy adults with day jobs or college to eat up our time. Therefore, there might be times when people are causing problems and mods don’t seem to be doing anything. If this happens, there’s a few things you can do.
We have a bot set up called "VAC ModMail". It's easy to find in the member list - it should be between the Admins and the Moderators, and its name is bright yellow. If you message this bot, it will send your message to a channel only visible to the moderation team. This way the entire team becomes aware of your issue and can discuss things immediately.
If there's something you want to contact a single member of the moderation team about, you can directly message a moderator or admin with a green activity light – this probably means we’re online but doing something else at that very moment. By directly messaging us you can immediately alert someone to the problem. It’s probably a good idea to message more than one admin/mod, as there’s every chance someone’s left their computer on while they’re out shopping or something. Just let the mod know which channel the problem is in, and what the problem is. If you have a screenshot that’s doubly helpful, as sometimes people will delete their posts to remove proof of them causing trouble. We do have a method of seeing deleted posts, but having them in context is incredibly useful. If there is a problem in voice chat, if you’re able to, recording the conversation will absolutely help the moderation team as otherwise it becomes a he-said-she-said situation.
You are also completely free to ping @moderator (all admins also have the moderator role, so you don’t need to double up). This is particularly useful if someone is being a pain in a public channel right at that moment. Of course, don’t abuse this privilege, but it’s a good way to alert more than one person at a time. I would suggest DMing the ModMail bot as your first port of call, though, as some people have notifications for role @s turned off so wouldn’t get pinged, but get the (1) alert if they’re currently on Discord.
Do not try to combat these people yourself, as attention is what they want.
If someone seems to be genuinely unaware of their behavior being inappropriate, then you can try to gently temper them down (such as people using “loli” without realising the connotations aren’t appropriate). Don’t try to do more than just tell them why they shouldn’t do/say something, just simply link them this document if they have more questions. If they start getting belligerent, pull back and contact one of the moderation team.
MinimoddingAs an addition to the above, please don’t try to behave like a moderator would if someone has made a dumb mistake – that is, don’t seem too authorative and harsh. This can make a potential member feel we are an elitist community, which is very much not what we want.
Let’s imagine someone has just posted something in #casting-call-paid, simply consisting of “hey I need a female voice dm me if youre interested”, and the mods haven’t pinged them about it yet in #casting-call-discussion. You can tag them in #casting-call-discussion and let them know they’re breaking the rules, but you can’t make yourself out to be an authority.
BAD: “@username, you are breaking the rules. The server rules clearly shows you need a deadline, payment information, and more general information about your project. Please fix these issues or your post may be deleted.”
GOOD: “Hey, @username, would you mind adding more info? I don’t really know what your project’s about and there’s no deadline, so do you know when you’re going to stop accepting auditions?”
If they get a bit belligerent about deadlines or something (this happens quite a bit), you should probably message the moderation team via the ModMail bot so they can take over. We might be a pretty professional server but we don’t want to dogpile on newbies who might not understand why deadlines are good and scare them away.
We do open moderator applications every now and then, though - if you're finding it a bit frustrating to hold back, make sure you apply!
Callouts and gossipThere are bad people in every community, and it’s important to protect those who don’t know about them. However, a lot of times callout posts can devolve into ugly drama and fighting among those involved. Additionally, some callouts just really aren’t that important and only serves to fuel said drama and fights. For this reason, callouts are generally not permitted to be posted on the VAC.
Despite this, if you think there is a genuine danger to other members, please contact the moderation team to express these fears. If it’s decided that a callout post is indeed warranted, the moderation team will post it on your behalf. This is not a common occurrence, but it has happened before. Keep in mind that this still needs to be related to voice acting – if it’s, say, an artist who has worked with voice actors before, a warning will not be posted unless they are currently targeting people in the VA community.
Reasons the moderation team will post warnings about others:
• They are sexually abusive and manipulative, particularly towards minors
• They are explicit, prolific scammers
Reasons the moderation team won’t post warnings about others:
• They have failed to pay you for your work, and this is the first time such an issue has occurred
• They underpay
• They are racist/sexist/etc. in their own spaces
• They have drawn NSFW material of inappropriate subjects
This does not mean we condone these actions by any means, but it’s outside explicitly protecting our members. At that point, it’s up to an individual’s judgment to work with these people or not. You are more than free to post those sorts of callouts on your Twitter account – you might see some members reblogging it. It is simply an issue of causing a scene on the server that we wish to avoid.
Additionally, sometimes in the voice acting community, allegations about professional voice actors sometimes sweep through. While it’s okay to chat about these things in a fairly impartial way as it happens, as time drags on, bringing these subjects up can cause nasty and tiring fights. The Vic Mignogna/KickVic/IStandWithVic is one such case most people are aware of. Regardless of which side you stand on, this case has been going on for over two years and at this point is nothing more than two subsets of internet users viciously attacking each other over one person. For this reason, any discussion of these sorts of events will be heavily scrutinised and if things seem to be veering into an ugly confrontation, actions will be taken to cease the conversation.
In ConclusionWe don’t want to make you seem like you have to be on your best behavior all the time and that you can’t lay back and relax, that’s the furthest thing from our minds. We simply want to address problems we’ve already had, and nip potential problems in the bud going forth.
As the server grows, so too does the need to be a welcoming and fun environment. We want VAs of any race, gender, sexuality, religion, and neurodivergence to feel like they have a place to come to for discussion and questions about voice acting. By ensuring insults and provocative comments aren’t tolerated, we can be sure that troublemakers won’t try and skirt by the rules, and everyone else can feel like they have a place to come home to.
If there are any problems or questions, feel free to message me or another admin either on the Discord server or here on the boards.