These guidelines if followed can help you get more from the forum and make it a more pleasurable experience for everyone.

General

1. Be polite.

2. Try to make understanding as easy as possible.

Remember:

* Add whitespace to your posts. Use enter for paragraphs.
* Capitalize Correctly. All uppercase is considered screaming and very rude. All lower is hard to read.
* Use correct punctuation. Never use more than one question mark or exclamation mark and only at the end of a sentence.
* Never use "leet-speak" or slang. The purpose of language is beeing understood, not sounding cool.
* Never invent acronyms, use as few acronyms as possible. It's called a problem, not a "pb" and a question, not a "Q".
* Read your post over before posting it. Try to catch typos.

3. Report bad posts. If you discover an abusive post or someone posting a thread in the wrong section.

4. Go easy on the images, they may help to explain something more clearly or indicate a problem you are experiencing better but you have to remember that not everyone has the same amount of bandwidth to waste on downloading large image files. If you feel you have to post images, make sure that they're properly compressed and no more than 100KB at the absolute most.

5. Images are not welcome in signatures, as they can significantly increase the load time for users. Your avatar is a space for an image, your signature is not.


When Asking Questions

1. Use search option before posting.

2. Don't talk yourself down. Don't call yourself an idiot, we have all been newbies at some point. Don't add things like this to your posts:




No question is too stupid.

3. Don't mark your question as important or critical. All questions asked are equally important.

4. Come back to the forum even after your question has been answered and give your thanks to the people who helped you. Try to generate that good, warm, fuzzy feeling amongst your peers.


When Answering Questions

1. Don't be cruel. We have all been newbies at one point and no one needs someone telling them how stupid they are.

2. Don't use jargon in your instructions if it can be avoided, newbies may not understand. If you don't have any better answer than RTFM (Read the fine manual), just be quiet.

3. Always assume that the user is a newbie unless you're certain the user is not. Give detailed instructions.

4. Explain each step of the solution. The ideal solution to a problem should be able to teach the user how to solve similar problems in the future. Teach people to fish, don't just throw them a salmon.