New members and use of forum

[Peter van Es]

Dear all,

I've noticed that many people have found the "Quote" function on the site, and prefer to use that over the normal "Reply" button at the top of a thread. However, there are some good manners to be observed when replying with a quote:

• never quote when you are the first or second reply to the message, as your message will end up just next to the original message.
• If you edit a quote, make sure that you leave the opening and closing quote tag intact. Type your text after the closing tag, not inside the quote tags. Review your message, and Modify it if it is incorrect.
• If in doubt, don't quote. If it does not add much, it just uses up scarce database storage.

Additionally, please observe the following guidelines:

Photographs

We prefer photographs to be uploaded here... we hate it when photos linked here disappear from the site where they are stored because of inactivity or account deletion or because the hoster or photoservice has gone out of business, or modified it's storage scheme.

Secondly, when you do upload photographs, keep the maximum dimensions to 800x600 pixels at all times. Not everyone has a screen as wide as yours and horizontal scrolling to read messages is a pain in the ****.

Text

PLEASE DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS IN A MESSAGE. In the Internet world this is considered to be shouting and thus rude.

Please try and check your spelling before posting your message, and correct any errors. Use the Spell Check button!

For more Netiquette (Net - Etiquette) check this article: http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ia_nq.htm


Thanks for your cooperation

Peter

[Richard Madison]

To add a bit to Peter's comments...

Before starting a new Message Thread, look at the Forum subject area descriptions and start the new Thread in the Forum that best describes your subject matter...this will save Moderators the job of moving a Thread to another Forum.  Actually, very few Threads belong in General Discussion. GD is not the Forum for just any message. General Discussion is for Threads that do not belong in one of the other forums.

Also, it saves readers from having to open messages they are not interested in if the Subject Line describes the content in some specific way. A Subject such as "Big Trouble" is a poor choice. Readers cannot tell what is being discussed so they have to open a message they may not be interested in.

If the Subject was " Big Trouble with Auto Transmission" then readers can open or skip the Thread according to their interest.

Some of you may notice that some very general subject lines have been changed to add specifics..that's usually me helping to identify the content. Please use descriptive Subjects.

Thanks to all for your contributions,

Richard M, Moderator