General bulletin board guidelines

[crickettdt]

Very interesting Buzzly! As someone relatively new to boards, i found it interesting - and luckily i have been posting within the guidelines you so elegantly outlined.

[planetsim]

As good as it all sounds your likely not too see anyone actually following that at all..

Sorry. But its my opinion..

Most nOObies dont look at stickied threads or Rules nor do they even search.. Poor nOOb they may find an answer without that hassle of waiting..

But in our age.. No one wants to search nor read posts that probably should be read.. but are too lazy..

[BuzzLY]

I don't think it's a matter of laziness -- it's just a question of education. When you call a helpdesk, do you go through their automated service to see if your problem has been documented, or do you immediately hit "0" to get to an operator?

People may not know these guidelines. That's why it's in the Newbie forum, and stuck at the top. Hopefully, a few will read it, and learn from it.

Now that we have these guidelines, if a newbie doesn't follow them properly, we can simply give them a link to this thread, rather than flame them and insult them.

As Martha would say... "that's a good thing." 😃

[dalecosp]

Yeah, not bad. Nice to link to RFC's too, but I have to wonder whether someone who's "noob" enough to need all these rules would have any concept of what to do with a whitepaper.....

The Cheetos thing was funny, indeed.

Also, I thank you for the effort involved...you could be truthful though, and say whether or not it was highly original or dubious IP theft, heh, heh.

Lastly, on the "flame war" participation thing....you should probably give a stern warning about how addictive they are, and that the only antidote is "cold turkey", maybe with a description of killfiles, etc....

🙂

dalecosp

[dalecosp]

Originally posted by dalecosp


The Cheetos thing was funny, indeed.

Sorry, Cheezits, WHT.....

What key should the Anthem be whistled in, legally speaking?

dalecosp

[BuzzLY]

Originally posted by dalecosp
... I have to wonder whether someone who's "noob" enough to need all these rules would have any concept of what to do with a whitepaper.....

...

...you could be truthful though, and say whether or not it was highly original or dubious IP theft, heh, heh.

...

What key should the Anthem be whistled in, legally speaking?

Not sure if they would know what to do with it, but that's why I included the pertinent part in my post. If they are interested in reading the whole thing, that's what the link is for.

I don't know what you mean about "dubious IP theft..." The article itself was totally original -- I wrote it right here on this forum. The only "stolen" part is the bullet points, which of course I give credit to the RFC.

Pick any key you like -- and be sure to record a wav file for us to hear it 😃

[cahva]

One thing that irritates me most is when people add their code and dont use php or code tags. It would be so much nicer to solve someones problem when their code is in a readable format. I mean, someone slaps 2 pages of php and html-script without using

- or [CODE]-tags. Now thats not very pleasant to read, is it?

Especially in this forum it should be included in the general guidelines...

[rIkLuNd]

I totally agree with you cahva! it's much easier to help people when you can see their code better!

[BuzzLY]

I have created a section of the guideline for ideas specific to this board. I have included your suggestion for PHP tags. If you have any other suggestions, let me know, and I'll consider putting them into the guidelines.

Thanks!

[dalecosp]

Originally posted by BuzzLY


The only "stolen" part is the bullet points, which of course I give credit to the RFC.

&&

I have pulled this list directly from the official <link>Netiquette Guidelines, RFC 1855.</> I have only included those that apply to this board. For the full list, see the RFC.

Doh! Excuse, please sir. I'm beginning to realize just how much Google has affected my reading comprehension habits. Certainly the bullet information was familiar; I sincerely apologize for any irritation caused by my earlier post.

As for the National Anthem, I do have a cool arrangement for 5-part 'a capella' vocals, but they'd roast me if I asked them to do it with Cheezits. C/Db, ends on the 6/9 chord.... 😉

[BuzzLY]

Originally posted by dalecosp

... I sincerely apologize for any irritation caused by my earlier post.

Not at all... no irritation here 🙂

As for the National Anthem, I do have a cool arrangement for 5-part 'a capella' vocals, but they'd roast me if I asked them to do it with Cheezits. C/Db, ends on the 6/9 chord.... 😉

Um... ok. I believe you. LOL

Besides, I asked for whistling, not a capella voices. 😉

[Elizabeth]

Well BuzzLY old pal it looks like your Netiquette has been working as this post has been read NUMEROUS times and the number of "help me please" posts has gone down considerably.

Great Job! 😃

One quick question about the "flame wars" though- do we have to be nice ALL the time?

😉

-Elizabeth

[BuzzLY]

woo hoo! That's good. "If I can just reach one Newbie, my job has not been in vain." <GAG>

Hey... I say there's nothing wrong with a flame war now and then to get it out of your system. What's the fun in being nice all the time? 😃

[clintonium]

Way to go Buzz! A nice contribution.

I think everyone should have a buddy like Clyde. A buddy who will step up to the plate and heimlich the bajeebies out of 'em when that rogue bit of junk food threatens an early demise. A buddy that will throw them over a chair and pound on them until the offending morsel, now moist with phlegm, rockets from their esophagus like a junk food bullet. But, alas, buddies like Clyde can be hard to find.

Maybe we could start something on the boards called the "Clyde Award" for those who really go the extra mile to help a fellow PHP'er in need... 😃

[BuzzLY]

LMAO! The "Clyde Award." I like it! 😃 Now if we could just get someone to draw the award...

How about the "Phil Award" for those that are pointed to the guideline and learn their lesson well? 😃

[Weedpacket]

Originally posted by Elizabeth

One quick question about the "flame wars" though- do we have to be nice ALL the time?

Oh, I hope not - I just had my LART revarnished and I'd hate to see all that work go to waste...

But the Guidelines should be Required Reading for all new members. I could perhaps add a couple of pointers:

• There is an edit button on each post. You can use it to edit or even delete your posts. If you accidentally double-post (or even novemuple-post), don't compound the error by saying "Oops; double post": Delete the excess. Ditto for those problems you solve yourself before anyone else has replied. It's useless to say "nevermind, i fixed it myself" when one has to mind enough to read the post before they read the nevermind. "I just wasted your time for you; hope that's all right." Now if you said how you fixed it, then that's different: people who have the same problem as you would welcome seeing a solution if their searches turn up your post.

• Personally, I hate people who just say "bump" solely to get their post back to the top of the list. It's just that I loosely translate it as "I haven't thought about this problem since last time." Okay, maybe sometimes someone who could have answered did miss it, but did you do anything about it in the meantime? And as for those who bump every hour or two...

RFC1855 is a good reference - as befitting the closest thing the Internet has to laws. One that is better suited for mailing lists and forums, though, would be Eric Raymond's How to Ask Questions the Smart Way. Actually, I just noticed that both the Guidelines and ESR use the dtcc.edu URL; I (again, personally) tend towards the plain text official version at the IETF (URL above). Not that there's any difference of content, just formatting.

But great to see this thing; I would have written one myself, but I decided I'd probably just start swinging my LART about in a threatening manner...

Updated the link to ESR's guide.

[BuzzLY]

Thanks Weedpacket. I have added your points to the guideline.

So, do you think your LART is as big as mine? Mine is a little weathered -- it's got many notches. 😃 Plus, it doubles as a ballpeen hammer!

[dalecosp]

....doubles as a ballpeen hammer!

and from somewhere out there:

"knobkerries, semiautomatic weapons, flamethrowers, and tactical nukes...."

So, BuzzLY, I assume yours is not in the last category....

🙂 dalecosp

PS. Over on "[e-mail]" this is known as a "clue-by-four", but I'm not telling you gents anything you're not already well aware of, methinks....

[BuzzLY]

Heh... I prefer having a small LART. Sometimes it's thinly disguised, and only after reading my post a couple of times does the recipient realize they have a bump on their noggin 😉 I enjoy the art of subtlety...

oh, and by the way... (whispers and points in Elizabeth's direction) that's not a gent.

😃

[dalecosp]

Originally posted by BuzzLY
Heh... I prefer having a small LART. Sometimes it's thinly disguised, and only after reading my post a couple of times does the recipient realize they have a bump on their noggin 😉 I enjoy the art of subtlety...

oh, and by the way... (whispers and points in Elizabeth's direction) that's not a gent.

😃

Yes, I know, but she'll have to weigh in on the LART subject....

dalecosp