The fun forum for Playmobil® fans of all ages!
| PlaymoFriends Forum Tips and Etiquette If you've never used an Internet discussion forum before, it can be difficult to know what sort of posting behaviour is acceptable and what is not. Following these tips will help to ensure your time at PlaymoFriends remains an enjoyable, positive experience for both yourself AND - just as importantly - all of your co-members too! · Use the subject line wisely When you start a new message topic on the forum, try to keep your subject line concise, yet informative. Lines like "Check this out" or "Can someone answer this question" are examples of ineffective subjects. You will see a faster response time if you use informative subjects (Like - "Whitening discolored parts", or, "Part number needed for set 3821"). · Avoid overuse of capital letters On the Internet, anything that you type in all-capital letters is considered to be "spoken" loudly or shouted. This is a great way to emphasize certain words, such as "I absolutely LOVE Playmobil!" Used correctly, it can add an extra level of personality and meaning to your posts. An entire message posted in all-caps, though, is considered to be shouting. This is generally considered rude on the Internet. All-caps messages are also more difficult to read, and should be avoided simply for reasons of comprehension. · Do not use 'text language' or Leet Messages written entirely or mainly in text language are hard to read, and members who don't have English as their first language could have major problems in understanding them. Please do not post in 'txt spk' and do not use Leet (substitution of symbols and numbers for letters), Leet slang or any other word-obfuscating language. · Stay on topic as much as possible Please pay attention to the topic of your messages, and check that it still relates to the charter of the forum to which you are posting. If you don't know the answer to a posted problem/question or have nothing intelligent or helpful to contribute, please don't post in that topic. · Don't flood the boards Power-posting is when forum members post 'empty' messages to boards, in order to simply increase their number of posts more quickly. Don't try to build your post count with "welcomes" or by replying to every comment in a topic you start, because nobody likes that. If you reply to a message, make sure you have something to say. Power-posting clutters up the boards, clutters up the 'new posts' function, and uses extra bandwidth and server space. While we don't mind people using bandwidth to chat usefully on the forum, we do mind people using it just because they want a more impressive post count. If you're not sure whether or not you're power-posting, take a moment and think it over before you post. · Don't bump topics repeatedly Replying to your own topic (particularly in rapid succession) for the sole purpose of moving it to the top of the messages index for more exposure is heavily frowned upon. If you have just posted but forgot to add something that was relevant to your post, then you should add it by using the "modify" button on your previous post, rather than double-posting to the same topic. · Don't repeat posts or cross-post Please do not post identical topics in more than one board, as it can cause confusion and annoyance to other forum users. If your message or question is not answered immediately, it is probably because none of the users who are currently logged in know the answer to your question or have an interest in the subject. Messages can remain visible for quite some time, so users who log in later might be able to see your message and answer it, if they are so inclined. · Quote previous posts for clarity If you are replying to the last post in a long topic, it is perfectly understandable and acceptable to simply answer it without quoting the previous post. However, if you are replying to a post further up in the topic, you may want to include a quote from, or a short recap of, the post to which you are replying. This helps the users who are reading the topic sequentially to figure out which post you are answering. · Trim your follow-ups Do not quote the entire content of the message to which you are replying unless it truly aids the clarity of your response. Include only as much as is necessary for context. Remember that if someone wants to read the original message, they can; it is easily accessible. A good rule of thumb is, don't include more quoted text than new text. There is always a need for some trimming - either a salutation, a signature, some blank lines or whatever. If you are doing no trimming whatsoever of the quoted text, then you probably aren't trimming enough. |