Site Guide

Community Rules & Boundaries

To keep AfterLife safe, creative, and free of toxicity, we ask all members to follow a few simple rules. Break them, and you might find yourself exiled. Read the full details on our Community Rules page.

Vitae Points

Vitae Points are your reputation score, earned (or lost!) by community activity:

  • Someone views your profile: +1 point
  • Someone views one of your journal entries: +1 point
  • Someone upvotes your journal entry: +2 points (downvote: −2)
  • Someone upvotes your photo: +1 point (downvote: −1)
  • Someone upvotes your forum thread: +1 point (downvote: −1)
  • Someone upvotes your forum comment: +1 point (downvote: −1)

You can check your total Vitae Points on your Profile page. You can also see how your score compares to everyone else by visiting the All Profiles tab in the nav bar and sorting by Most Venerated.

Once you reach 50 Vitae Points, you’ll unlock Profile Stickers (currently a desktop-only feature). You’ll see an “Edit Stickers” button appear on your profile once you qualify.

As your Vitae increases beyond 50, you’ll gradually unlock additional sticker slots and special sticker packs to further customize your profile.

Just a heads-up: if your score ever drops below −50 points, it will trigger an automatic ban—so play nice and help keep the community safe and fun for everyone.

Invocations

Invocations are a light‑hearted way to get someone’s attention or say hello. When you invoke another member, you playfully steal 1 Vitae from them. You can only invoke someone once — after that, they’ll need to invoke you back before you can do it again.

Think of it as a playful interaction that helps break the ice and adds a little fun to your Vitae balance.

Style & Subculture Houses

When you join AfterLife, you can choose a House that best reflects your style or subculture—goth, emo, alt, metalhead, punk, and more. Your chosen House will give you:

  • A House badge displayed on your profile.
  • The same badge displayed on your forum posts and your entire profile card in the All Profiles directory is restyled to match your House’s theme.
  • Contributions you make (journals, posts, etc.) will add to your House’s Vitae Index, showing how active and vibrant your House is compared to others.

In the future, we plan to introduce House challenges and contests—friendly competitions where Houses can earn rewards or recognition together. Choose the one that feels like home and help it rise in the ranks!

Roles & Badges

On AfterLife, special icons appear next to member names to indicate their role:

  • Supporter Ankh: Shown for Supporters — members who subscribe monthly to help support the site.
  • Moderator Eye of Horus: Shown for Moderators — trusted members who help keep the community safe and enforce the rules.

These badges are visible on profiles, in the chatroom, and across other areas of the site.

Spotify Music Player

AfterLife uses Spotify’s official embedded player to share music on the site. By default, this player streams 30–second previews. To listen to full tracks:

  1. Make sure you're logged in to your Spotify account in the same browser.
  2. If you're not logged in, the player will only offer 30–second previews.
  3. Spotify Premium is not required — logging in with a free account is enough for full playback.
  4. You can click the Spotify logo in the embed to open the playlist directly in the Spotify app or web player.

Quote of the Week

The rotating Quote of the Week widget highlights a handpicked quote each week. Use it for inspiration or share your own quotes in this forum thread.

Homepage Features

The Home page is your central hub. Here's what you'll find:

Left Sidebar

  • Unread Offerings: Notifications like friend requests, comments, veneration alerts, and mentions appear when you first log in.
  • The Pulse: A curated news feed highlighting alternative-oriented updates in fashion, music, subculture, and events.
  • Community Polls: Create or vote in active polls. You can view total responses and results right away.
  • Chatroom Module: Shows how many people are in the chatroom right now and the last message sent.
  • Coffin Couture: Our weekly contest theme — see the current theme, vote on entries, and submit your own.
  • Coffin Couture — Winner’s Spotlight: Highlights last week’s contest winner. You can view all past winners in the Coffin Couture archive.

Main Content

  • Missives: Official site announcements and updates from the AfterLife team.
  • Fresh Graves: Recently joined members, so you can welcome newcomers.
  • Community Panel: A four‑tab panel where you can browse Journals, Whispers, Photos, and Music uploaded by members.

Right Sidebar

  • Event Calendar: Create or RSVP to upcoming events to stay connected to the community.
    • Newly created events must be approved by a moderator before appearing on the global Event Calendar.
    • Confirmed RSVPs will appear on your profile under Events.
  • Sunlight Clock & Moon Phases: Displays how many hours remain of sunlight (or until sunrise) and shows the current moon phase.
  • Recent Discussions: Displays the most popular or active threads to help you stay in the loop.
  • Lifeblood of the System: A quick way to subscribe and support the site.

Journals

Share longer‑form thoughts by writing journal entries on your profile. Each entry supports a title, body, and images, and can receive comments and votes. Your latest entries may also surface on the homepage.

You can also group your journals into a series, making it easier to follow ongoing stories or themes. Browse all journal series at Series.

You can search through all uploaded journals by going to Journals.

The Archive

A growing collection of articles exploring the culture, origins, and evolution of alternative communities. Hand‑selected essays and long‑form journals live here, curated for depth and historical perspective.

Explore more in the Archive.

Photos

Showcase your style, art, or moodboards by uploading photos on your profile. Each image supports a caption to help express the story or meaning behind your visuals. Once added, latest uploads appear on the homepage.

You can search through all past photos by going to Photos, and you can filter by style/subculture to browse exactly what you’re into.

Whispers

Whispers are short-form posts for quick thoughts, updates, or conversations. You create Whispers from the Community Panel, interact with others in the Whisper feed, and reply directly to keep the conversation flowing.

Music

Members with Artist Profiles can upload tracks to share their music with the community. Uploaded music appears in the Community Panel, where others can listen and interact. AfterLife supports embedded playback for these tracks.

Profiles

Explore member profiles via All Profiles, manage friends in your Friend Dashboard, or view and edit your own under My Profile.

Artist Profiles

Members with Artist Profiles can upload tracks and share releases with the community. You can browse all verified artist pages by visiting Music Artist.

Anointed Circle

Browse all current site supporters in the Anointed Circle.

Forums & Chatroom

Click Forums for topic-based discussions, or join the real-time Chatroom.

House Vitae Index

The House Vitae Index shows the total Vitae Points earned by each House across all its members. It’s a way to see which Houses are most active and thriving in the community.

View current standings in the House Vitae Index.

Site Guide & Settings

Once logged in, open your profile menu to find:

  • Site Guide: this walkthrough.
  • Settings: update email, password, and preferences.
  • Log Out: securely sign out of your account.

Need More Help?

If you have questions or run into issues, please email xxafterlifecontact@gmail.com or post in the Feedback & Support Forum, or contact a moderator or admin.

Support AfterLife

AfterLife runs on love, caffeine, and community support. For just $2.50/month, you can help us cover server costs and keep building a space for everyone who doesn’t fit in anywhere else.

View all Supporter Perks →