BOARD ETIQUETTEMany of us have been members of other boards and have seen that there are some things that people do (or maybe we ourselves have done at one time or another) that annoy other members. In the interest of avoiding problems before they start, here are a few of them…
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POSTING IN ALL CAPSThis is considered the internet equivalent of shouting, and should be avoided (unless, that is, you
are intending to shout at someone – which brings its own set of issues
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POSTS THAT LACK CONTENTWe believe in the old saying, "Brevity is the soul of wit" – therefore, we don’t have any rules about how long a post must be (i.e., some boards have a 10-word minimum). However, we do ask that you try to make your posts interesting to
all readers. Short personal comments (such as Thank-You's, etc.) are fine, 'cause it's all part of getting to know each other, but please don’t be offended if we periodically ‘clean house’ - deleting posts that aren't of general interest. We would only do this so that readers who come along months from now trying to ‘catch up’ can do so more quickly.
OFF-TOPIC DISCUSSIONWe don’t mind a little off-topic discussion! We’re all for good conversation, and good conversation sometimes wanders. Don’t be afraid to let that happen and don't feel guilty about it when it does. There are only 2 ways that this could be a problem:
1) If it dissolves into a long personal
chat between 2 people that is likely to be of no interest to anyone except the people involved. In that case you should consider taking the conversation to PM (personal message) – these off-topic posts may eventually be deleted when we ‘clean house’ (see Posts That Lack Content, above). However, if you make us laugh sufficiently in the course of the conversation, we might turn a blind eye... ;D
2) If it goes on for so long that the original topic is compromised. If it’s a really interesting, lively topic, we may actually give it a home of its own by creating a thread for it on an appropriate board and perhaps even move the comments to the new thread (via copy & paste). If so, you can consider it a compliment!
WHEN POSTING IMAGES, DO NOT HOTLINK!Hotlinking occurs when you copy an image from another site
directly to BB. This uses the other website’s bandwidth (which
they are paying for) – it’s the cyber-equivalent of hooking into your neighbor’s electricity, water or cable.
It’s a little confusing to me, but I’m told that the best way to be sure you
aren’t hotlinking is to right-click on an image, click Save As – then store it in your own photo files. The next step would be to upload it from your files into one of the many free image-hosting sites (i.e. ImageShack or Photobucket) – at that point you’re free to post it here from your IS or PB account.
On the flip side of the coin, please don’t hotlink FROM our site, ‘cause that uses OUR bandwidth!
If you aren’t sure how to do this, feel free to post questions on the FAQ/Help thread and we’ll help you learn!
GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUEWhen posting pictures, articles and other info, please credit your sources whenever possible. We realize that some of these things have been floating around the internet for so long that the original source has been lost in cyberspace, but if you know the name of the writer, the photographer, etc., it would be proper courtesy to note it.
'Borrowing' from this forum and from Rocker-U is welcome - if what we do here is noteworthy enough to be quoted elsewhere, we'd consider it a compliment! But we DO ask that you be mindful of 3 things:
- Carry over any credits we have given to OUR sources;
- Do NOT post or repost photos that appear to have come from a skater's private album without first asking permission, just as we have done. If there's any doubt, ask us first.
- Please mention that you saw it here!
IMAGE SIZESPlease be considerate of members who still have smaller screens and keep your images to a maximum total width of 650 pixels. (When they get too wide, some people have to scroll back and forth just to read the posts.)
In addition, your 'signatures' should be limited to
quotes, rather than images. It's because we already post so many images here that adding unneccessary ones increases the likelihood that pages will load sloooowwwly. Avatars are okay, but they can be no larger than 100 x 100. Thanks!
PROMOTIONS / ADVERTISING / SPAMPlease don't advertise here. If you are affiliated with a business, website or fansite that is DIRECTLY related to short track speedskating, and you'd like to tell our members about it, PM (Personal Message) us or e-mail us. If it's a good fit for our forum, we'll find an appropriate place for you to mention it. All unapproved solicitations will be deleted.
WHEN 'QUOTING'......pleeeease don't quote loooooong strings of photos! If you are commenting on the entire group, please do so without making us look at the same string of photos 27 times! It makes the page exceeeeedingly monotonous, and for some it may make it load very slowly or not at all. If you want to comment on a
specific photo and don't know how to isolate it from the group, just ask in the FAQ/Help thread, and someone will be happy to teach you!
DON'T FEED TROLLSIf someone starts making serious trouble (as opposed to healthy debate, which we have no problem with), please don't respond - just ignore, and report the problem to a staff member. Multiple responses just make more work for us in modifying or deleting the offending comments.
IF YOU MAKE AN ERROR IN YOUR POST......there's no need to create a new and separate "Oopsies" post. Instead, use the Modify button to edit your original post. Keep in mind that you must be signed in for the Modify button to be visible.
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We're not going to waste a lot of effort policing any of the above, but we just want y'all to be aware that these are things that could annoy others on the board, and we ask that you take them into consideration when you post. Thanks!
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