Announcements

[DanTheBanjoman]

Starting a thread

• Use a decent thread title, threads like "help me","weird problem", "Please help!", etc. mean nothing, please make the title of the topic clear.
• Describe your problem as clearly as possible, give system specs and mention what you've already tried.
• Read the manual; don't be lazy. Do some research yourself, if your question can be answered by Google in about 2 seconds you're better off googling.
• Use decent language, of course not everyone speaks perfect English, this isn't an excuse not to try. Correct language and punctuation make things easy to read.
• Don't ask for warez or other illegal activities. (ie piracy, porn) Threads will be locked or deleted. Discussion about these topics may be allowed at moderator discretion. The discussion of related issues are permitted within reason.
• No bumping within 24H, we all help for fun. Don't expect people to help you right away, sometimes it just takes some time.
• Watch your language - We're not super strict about this, but it's not necessary.

Posting in a thread

• Be polite, if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all. This includes trolling, continuous use of bad language (ie. cussing), flaming and insulting others.
• Short and pointless posts like "yeah", "me too" or "haha" can be made on the rest of the internet, not here. Post count doesn't increase your e-penis.
• Stay on topic, changing the topic won't help the discussion.
• If you reply to multiple posts use the "multi quote" button, that way the forum is easier to read.

Reporting and complaining

• All posts have a "report post" button on the left side of the post, click it when you feel something is inappropriate.
• If you disagree with moderator actions contact them via PM, if you can't solve the issue with the moderator in question contact a super moderator. Don't start public drama.
• Each forum has several moderators, contact them when you feel there is something wrong.
• If you can't work something out with a moderator a supermod will be happy to try to solve the issue.
• Administrators are really busy people, don't bug them unless your issue can't be solved otherwise.

Threads that should/will be closed

• Threads that request forums to participate in something illegal. For example, we will not tolerate threads requesting how to pirate Windows, where to buy marijuana, how to compromise a PC, etc.
• Threads started purely for the sake of starting a thread, aka a "spam thread".
• Spammed advertisements

Signatures/avatars

• Let's face it. Signatures/Avatars are fun. So the first thing you need to do, should you decide to get one, is figure out how to see everyone's signatures and avatars. To enable signatures and avatars, go to your UserCP, select Options, and in the Thread Display options, enable signatures and avatars.
• You may have an avatar of no larger than 150x150 and 19.5KB, and it can't be animated, unless a super-moderator/administrator put it there. Any violations of this rule will be removed at moderator discretion, with little more than a link to this announcement as justification.
• You may have a signature that contains whatever is on your mind. However, we must ask that you keep profanity, vulgarity, insensitivity, and flaming out of your signatures and avatars. Any signatures that bother us will be changed at super-moderator/administrator discretion. No sexually oriented avatars or signatures are allowed.
• You can link to wherever they'd like in your signature, within reason. We will mainly ignore said signature links anyways, unless they are brought to our attention. If you report a signature to a supermod via PM, we will take a good hard look, PM the offending user about it, and if necessary, change it.
• You may have a signature picture. To enable this, go to "upload avatar" in your UserCP, and upload a signature picture. Then, once it's uploaded, click the "insert signature picture" hyperlink under the picture you just uploaded. It must be no larger than 500x100, and it certainly can't move, unless a super-moderator/administrator put it there. Again, all violations of this rule will be deleted at a super-moderator/administrator's discretion.

Behavior that is inappropriate/should be reported

• Insulting other forum members (calling someone makes you look stupid anyways)
• Racist, hateful, and otherwise demeaning comments will not be tolerated; whether meant as a joke or not.
• "Trolling"

  Originally Posted by Wikipedia

  Trolls can be existing members of a community that rarely post and often contribute no useful information to the thread, but instead make argumentative posts in an attempt to discredit another person, more often than not based on what they thought was said rather than what was actually said by the other person, concentrating almost exclusively on facts irrelevant to the point of the conversation, with the intent of provoking a reaction from others. The key element under attack by a troll is the forum or group's recognized and agreed upon power structure. To this extent, a troll does not necessarily have to make malicious or incorrect comments

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28internet%29
• Posting useless/wrong information in response to a serious topic.
• Non-constructive criticism of a person's English
• Posting "FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt), especially if the poster is trying to pass it off as legitimate news.
• Posting a lot of tech news articles in the forums. One or two things when the newsposters are all on vacation is nice, but in general, please leave the newsposting to the news posters. It's their job.
• Post whoring (posting nonsense for the pure joy of it, otherwise known as spamming or thread-crapping).

Following these simple guidelines makes our job as moderator a lot easier. Even though we try to keep the behaviour we expect from members as clear as we can moderators can still hand out warnings at their own discretion when and where they deem necessary. Please keep this in mind when posting.