Makes me wonder?
General Discussion
The more I think about this the more it completely irks me. This isn't about telling someone where they can roleplay, who they can be friends with, or what kind of court they can start. I have been in the SL Courts for a few years and this is what I see.
There have been far too many cases of people that love "title shopping" in the the SL courts and the people in charge of the various courts have grown tired of it. When building a court roleplay you're wanting to find like minded people that shareand add tothe vision of what you are wanting to create and make it enjoyable for eveyone. Those creating these courts spend a lot of time, energy and money to create something beautiful. A nice environment for family and friends to enjoy, learn and have fun. When you have the "title shoppers" going from court to court looking for something bigger and better yet not really contributing anything to the roleplay those in charge create measures to keep this "title shopping" from happening. Codes of conduct are created explaining exactly what your role is in the court you wish to join and it is expressly written that if you take this role in this court you are not to go "title shopping" in another court for something better. If you decide you wish to go to another court or create your own court you must leave your title in the previous court you joined behind. You are also told if you are caught going around "title shopping" you can be kicked out of the court for doing that.
When you join a court, get a code of conduct, sign it and return it you are agreeing to the terms of that court roleplay and the code of conduct you signed. When you do something that violates that it'sa breech of contract just as in rl and you pay the price for it. It's not telling you what you can or can't do, who you can be friends with nor what court you cancreate on your own. It's called holding you to something you signed and agreed to. To me that makes perfect sense and it isn't telling you who you can be friends with.
As far as the "copy cat courts", that is another problem entirely and unfortunately not much can be done about that. There are a few courts that have been in sl for years and have an excellent reputation, ie Versailles, Orange-Nassau, Boheme. These are well established courts that pretty much all in court roleplay know about. When you have courts such as these with established reputations, roleplays and such it gets rather annoying when people decide to steal an idea and put their own spin on it that ends up causing nothhing but drama.
I myself do not understand the need for there to be copycat courts at all. The baroque court era is not the only time frame that can be done in sl though for some reason that is what people are stuck in. There are so many other wonderful time frames and courts that can be done that there would be no need for any copycat courts. But that would require someone to have an original idea and that seems to beyond peoples way of thinking for some reason.
In short there isn't much to be done for these copycat courts except for the original court to either try and bring the copycat into an agreement and merge the roleplays orstand their ground and keep doing what they are doing; having a fabulous roleplay and a reputation for excellence that will outlast said copycat court.
As far as telling you who you can be friends with. No rational adult would try to tell someone who they could or couldn't be friends with. This isn't middle school after all.
And lastly for court roles. Like I said, if you join a court and are given a code of conduct to agree to and sign before joining a court you know exactly what you are getting into when you join that court. When you are kicked out of a court for bad conduct you loose your right to complain about it as you did agree to and sign a code of conduct. You knew what you were getting into beforehand.