Rules &
Guidelines

General Conduct

Respect and Integrity: All members and prospects are expected to act with integrity and respect. This is a no-drama club. Disrespecting another member will not be tolerated. If you are disrespected, report it immediately to a Joint Chief (JC) and do not engage further. Engaging back will result in you being held equally responsible.

Prohibited Content: Posting any pornographic, or personal illegal drug-related (including marijuana) content is strictly forbidden.

Club Logos and Name: VOTL logos and the club name are registered trademarks. You are not permitted to use them to create personal projects, merchandise, or obtain free items from companies without explicit, written permission from JCs or founders.

Solicitation: Do not sell anything within the club without prior approval from the JCs or founders. Do not recruit VOTL members to other clubs, promote other clubs’ events, or swap earned VOTL patches. Doing so will result in an immediate and permanent ban.

Herf Etiquette: Be mindful of background noise affecting the herf environment. If you are on a Herf with a third party (friend, spouse, etc.), you are responsible for making sure they understand the nature of the conversation. You must also ensure that no children are present if the conversation contains adult themes. If you feel offended or uncomfortable, you are responsible for jumping off the Herf.

All Members & Probationary Members are expected to hold themselves to military standards all have signed up for. Failure to follow the above conduct and the rules below will result in placement into inactive status and/or up to removal from the club.

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Membership Requirements

Prospects (Probationary Members)

Probationary Period:  Potential new members will go through a probationary period of up to six months. This period can be shortened by a founder based on a prospect’s consistent participation in discord chats, Herfs, meet-ups, club events, and raffles. At the six-month mark, if a probationary member has not yet received their patch, the founders and the JC will meet to discuss the individual’s future with the club and determine if they should be invited to stay.

Weekly Herfs: As a prospect, you’re required to join us for at least one herf each week, between Sunday – Saturday. This is a crucial part of what keeps our community strong and connected. If you know you can’t make it to the weekly herf, you must let a JC or Founder know, as well as post up a message in the discord “speak your peace” as early in the week as possible. We get it, life happens, but last-minute notices make things difficult. The only exceptions are family or health emergencies. In those cases, please inform a JC or Founder; we’re here to support you.

Discord Participation: Daily chatting is recommended but not required. 

Monthly Raffle: You are not required to participate in the monthly raffle, but doing so may help you get patched in sooner. 

Inactivity: If you are inactive for 30 consecutive days, you will be removed from the server. You may be re-invited at the discretion of the founders, or JCs.

Patched Members

Discord Participation: Daily chatting is recommended but not required. 

Weekly Herfs: As a member, you’re required to join us for at least one herf each week, between Sunday – Saturday. This is a crucial part of what keeps our community strong and connected. If you know you can’t make it to the weekly herf, you must let a JC or Founder know, as well as post up a message in the discord “speak your peace” as early in the week as possible. We get it, life happens, but last-minute notices make things difficult. The only exceptions are family or health emergencies. In those cases, please inform a JC or Founder; we’re here to support you.

Monthly Raffle: You are required to participate in the club’s monthly raffle.

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Club-Specific Rules & Traditions

Call Signs: All members will be given a call sign based on other members’ input. Once a call sign is assigned and an item is provided to that member with said call sign then the call sign is locked in.  A call sign may be temporarily changed at any time by JCs or Founders. 

“Butcher of Cigars” Title: If you ruin a cigar on a Herf, you will earn the “Butcher of Cigars” title. You must use a provided “Butcher” profile image and keep the title until the next person butchers a cigar . 

Boat Crews: All patched and probational members are tied to a boat crew. Each boat crew has a JC as a crew leader, see boat crew channel in discord for what crew you are part of. Each JC will regularly reach out to each member on his team. Each team member should also be checking in on each other.  

Raffles: All raffle entries are non-refundable, regardless of being a patched member or probational member. 

Minimum raffle entry is $20 per month. This will equal 2 entries into the raffle.  Any $10 above the minimum entry will equal 1 additional entry into the raffle; example $100 will give the member 10 entries into the raffle.

Venmo is used for all raffle entries. To enter, your venmo comment must include the current month in number format, the 15th, and a present emoji (or a Christmas tree emoji for July); example: “2/15 🎁“. Do NOT include other words in the Venmo post and do NOT list as “Goods and Services” . Failure to follow these instructions will result in your entry being disregarded, potential placement into inactive status and/or up to removal from the club for repeat failures.

Once opened for the month, Venmo entry and screen shot of entry must be posted to the raffle channel no later than1600 PST on the 17th of each month.  

Monthly Raffles are sponsored by each Boat Crew (BC) excluding July (Christmas in July) and the December Secret Santa raffle. 

BC will at a minimum donate 1 sealed box of cigars for each of their sponsored months, along with at a minimum 1 five pack of cigars and/or cigar related swag for the Loser Raffle, the BC is also responsible for shipping to the raffle winner.  If using the VOTL secret spot, VOTL will cover shipping to the winner.

January & June – BC1

February & August – BC2

March & September – BC3

April & October – BC4

May & November – BC5

July – XMAS in July Raffle (No Standard Raffle, Rules will be posted in Raffle Channel)

December – Secret Santa (No Standard Raffle, Rules will be posted in Raffle Channel) 

Loser Raffle – Monthly raffle winners will be tracked throughout the year; those non-winners will be added to a monthly “Loser Raffle” where they may have a chance to win that month.  Winning at any time throughout the year or winning the loser raffle will remove said participant from the loser raffle, until January 1 the following year. Probational Members are only entered into the Loser Raffle for the month they participate in and only if they do not win one of the raffles. 

Earned Items: We are a club where items are earned, not freely given. Membership patches, coins, and other items have a meaning and are not to be bought, sold, or traded. Our earned patches & other items should always be in the forefront of any photos with other patches.

Distinguished Achievement Award:  JCs may at times choose to recognize a member for going above and beyond expectations. If a member is chosen the club will purchase a 5 pack and ship it to the deserving member.

Member of the Year Award: In order to be selected as the member of the year you must have been recognized as a Distinguished Achievement Award recipient within the past 12 months.

Trades: All trades between members are personal. The club is not responsible for any trades that go wrong.

Sales & Personal Stores: If members wish to sell something or post links to a personal store please consult with a JC or Founder before doing so. 

Social Media Posting: All members and probationary members are encouraged to post their VOTL status and earned items on the discord as well as on their social media apps. Please avoid other club patches in any post that references VOTL. Our earned patches & other items should always be in the forefront of any photos with other patches.

DISCORD: Different channels are in place to allow central locations where specific conversions can be had.  Additionally these consolidated channels allow for locations for photos, GIFs, etc in their respective areas, to avoid cluttering channels such as speak your peace. Individual discord channels may have rules that apply on discord only, see pinned messages for channel specific rules. 

Non-Compliance to Herfs & Raffles: Our club has a simple three-strike rule. If a rule is broken, the member or probational member receives a strike.

Strikes 1 and 2 result in a one-week inactive status on the discord.

Strike 3 results in permanent removal from VOTL.

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Special Circumstances & Exceptions

Active Duty Military: Active duty military members stationed overseas or deployed will have waivers for participation requirements on a case-by-case basis. You must contact a JC to let them know of your situation.

Founder’s & Joint Chief Discretion: Founders & JCs will work together to modify rules & guidelines for the betterment of the club on an as needed basis or at a minimum of once a year.