carriagedriving.myfreeforum.org

admin · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject: Guidelines for the Whip's Forum

Hello,

Everybody wants to get the most out of "The Whip's Forum".

1) "Friendly and helpful" is the rule of the day. Take the time to write well and communicate clearly. Remember that it's easy to offend by accident when writing.

2) Only post a message to one forum. Please don't copy-and-paste a post into more than one forum, in order to get attention. You may not like the attention you get!

3) Post to the correct forum. When your post starts a new thread, please post to the correct forum. You can generally zero in on the right forum by first scanning the major categories and then reviewing the description of each forum in that category.

4) Stay on-topic. When posting to an existing thread, please stay on the main topic of the thread. If you have "something else" to say but that part of your post would be off-topic, split that part off, find the right forum for it, and see if a thread is currently active. If yes, post to that thread. If not, start a new thread.

5a) Please keep a high signal-to-noise ratio. The principle here is that everyone posts ONLY to help-or-be-helped, never to "pitch" other whips. It is a fundamental cultural guideline.

That means "no pitches, please." Blatant self-promotional posts are the best way to get banned. So are posts with affiliate links in them.

Inform and help. If your post has some great content, it's OK to weave in touch of self-promotion for your site. We delete low signal-to-noise (i.e., low content, high self-sell) posts.

Part B of this "no self-promotion" guidelines is...

5b) Use a ,p.short, "no-pitch" sig. You may add a one-line tag under your name (i.e., directly in the actual post), short and sweet. But, if you want a longer sig (multi-line or longer phrases), you must use your Forum Profile to create it. This makes it easier for monitoring of all signatures, to be sure they are in compliance with the following guidelines...

3 lines (max), not more than 20 words total (counting the URL as one word), straight text (no bold, colors, graphics, animations, etc.), laid out as follows...

Line 1: Your Name on first line
Line 2: Slogan on second
Line 3: URL on third (this URL must NOT be an affiliate URL, must NOT be a redirect-URL, and the landing page must not "pitch" SBIers). Links that are NOT allowed elsewhere in the forums (ex. affiliate links) are also not allowed in your sig.

You may link to the home page of any site you own. Do NOT link to files in your sig (ex., PDF files).

While the above is the recommended format, it's the spirit of it that counts. Keep it non-promotional.

Bottom line: It's fine to have an appropriate link in your sig, but please remember the basic guidelines above.

6) Please respect moderator decisions.

Moderators give of their time freely and generously, moving posts to the correct spots, editing out promotional links, and so forth.

They make many changes to posts. If one (or more) of yours is edited or moved, please do not take offence. Instead, learn from it and move ahead. It's not personal. The moderator(s) do give willingly of their time, but it is simply not fair of us to debate or ask for justification for, say, a post moved to a different forum.

So if a mistake is made, just let it be and "play it where it lies." Very few mistakes are made, of course, and the net result of the collective moderator effort is a much better experience, at many levels, for all of us.

Give them a hug and a great big "THANK YOU" every now and then. They deserve it. :Smile:

7 ) So... no flames/bad language. Nasty posts will be deleted. If it happens repeatedly by the same person despite a warning, that person will be removed from the forums. We live in a world where far too many people's lives are ruined by a very few bad ones. Not here, so if you have ever flamed in another forum, please note..

We will NOT allow negative disruptors to ruin the experience of this friendly spot where all come in good faith and spirit to both help and be helped.

All the best,

Ellen

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