I have a few rules for our NCIS Forum, and it should help us to get the most possible enjoyment from our humble boards.
Thanks to IrishEyes, one of the USA Forum Moderators, we now have this and the Welcome Newbies Thread “pinned”. She also provided us with the following USA Forum Guidelines:
Based on many discussions on the board, here are a few guidelines, rules of etiquette and suggestions for newbies and anyone else in need of a refresher course.
1) Please don't type in all caps. It's considered yelling and you can be seen as rude. You have a “shift” button on your keyboard, please use it.
2) Punctuation, grammar, and spelling (your English teacher would love to know you learned to use them). Please remember that English is not the native language for many of our posters. Using “netspeak” or not using punctuation, capital letters, grammar, etc, can make your posts difficult to understand. Also remember that not everyone here is under the age of 20 so the “netspeak” looks a lot like gibberish to us and makes some posts more than difficult to read.
3) Duplicate threads. Please check to see if there's already a thread started about what you want to discuss. If you can't find one, then there's a search feature at the bottom of the main page. It's a pretty good bet that if you want to discuss a particular topic, it's already got at least one thread dedicated to it.
The Admin of USA has stated that duplicate threads will be locked. So to avoid aggravation to yourself and others, please do a check first. Then, if your topic doesn't appear, feel free to start a new one.
4) Remember that we can't see facial expressions, hear vocal intonations or hear the laughter that someone may have been experiencing when they wrote you a reply. This means that sometimes something you might find offensive wasn't intended that way by the poster. If you find something they said to be offensive, please ask for clarification before assuming they meant to be mean. If you don't feel comfortable posting your question to the board, then send the poster a PM (click their name, then click "private message"). Don't just assume they were trying to be mean and get in their face in return. That's how board wars get started.
5) Speaking of board wars, please don't bring difficulties on other boards here. If you're having issues with another board, deal with it there. Don't post a link to their board here and ask people to go over and read/respond/help. It'll only get ugly and I dare to say, none of us want that.
6) Remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Which, in plain speak means: Be nice, play well and if you're feeling grumpy or full of angst, go sit in a corner until you're able to play well with others. We all have feelings and can be hurt rather easily if poked hard enough. Just because we can't see each other doesn't mean the words can't hurt.
7) Don't feed the trolls. This means that if you see an offensive post, don't reply. This only makes the problem get worse, and the trolls come back.
These are a few general things, but are IMPORTANT to follow.
Have a great time on the forums!
Kimbee
Edited by Kimbee, 23 July 2010 - 07:17 PM.
