All Newbies Read This Before Posting

[Switch]

WELCOME NEWBIES!

Whether you're new to the concept of online forums or regularly use them please take the time to read through this post to gain an understanding of how we run things around here.

 

CONTENTS

Chapter I - The Environment

Chapter II - SPAM

Chapter III - Flaming

Chapter IV - Trolling

Chapter V - Thread Necromancy

Chapter VI - Thread Hijacking

Chapter VII - Review Theft

Chapter VIII - Bad Advertising

Chapter IX - Vigilantism

Chapter X - Constructive Criticism

Chapter XI - Multiple Accounts

 

CHAPTER I - THE ENVIRONMENT

These forums are a place for people of all ages to talk about pretty much anything and everything but with a clearer focus on gaming. Despite the fact nearly all the members here are Morrowind or Oblivion players please respect the fact that not all members will be, and you don't need to be to post here.

 

We have members of all ages here, young and old. As a result the maturity of threads varies from thread to thread and I encourage people to simply move on to the next thread if they believe a thread's subject matter, or the things members are talking about, are below them. On a related note, speaking from 5+ years of running these forums, it is important for younger members to understand that a high post count does not mean you gain more respect or attention here. With this in mind please don't try to reply to every single active thread on these forums unless you have something useful to add to the conversation. Common sense really, but we do have many young folks come here who think posting in every thread will make them more popular and it is just not the case.

 

 

CHAPTER II - SPAM

Spam is...

 

1) Posting one liners. Replying to a thread and just saying something like "hey!" "yeah!" "lol" "I agree" "no" etc..

2) Posting the same thread/post repeatedly in order to gain attention.

3) Posting something completely off-topic (OT) that has nothing to do with the thread.

4) Posting in a thread to simply "bump" it back to the top of the forum listings with no additional or useful content.

 

 

CHAPTER III - Flaming

Flaming is...

 

Posting personally or generally insulting remarks towards someone else, or a group of people (examples include calling someone an "idiot" for having views different to your own or being particularly demeaning to someone who is younger than yourself).

 

 

CHAPTER IV - Trolling

Trolling is...

 

Deliberately attempting to goad people into a "flame war" (or, simply put, a "female dog fest") by posting disparaging remarks or comments that you know will incite a negative or nasty response.

 

 

CHAPTER V - Thread Necromancy

Thread Necromancy is...

 

Reviving a "dead thread" (a thread that has had no new posts in it for more than a month) with something that has no relevance to it. For example posting "hey cool" (see SPAM) or "that was really helpful, thanks".

Please look at the date of the last post in a thread before posting something that lacks any real substance. If it was a month or more ago you can assume that this thread is dead, and unless you have something constructive to add that will continue the discussion, don't bother.

 

 

CHAPTER VI - Thread Hijacking

Thread Hijacking is...

 

Posting something unrelated to the topic in order to gain attention for your post or simply to steer people off the main topic.

 

 

CHAPTER VII - Review Theft

Review Theft is...

 

The posting of, word for word, a review created by someone else on another site without giving proper credit to the original creator, thus making it appear as your own work. Not only is this theft, it's also seen as an easy +1 to post count, and hence it is considered spam. The idea of writing a review on a game or something else is to do it in your own words so people can view your opinion on it, not so they can read something ripped from another site that you're using to spam.

 

 

Chapter VIII - Bad Advertising

Bad advertising is...

 

The posting of links to a site you own or are a part of without a decent amount of information supplied with it. If you are new to the forums and begin by posting links to your own forums asking others to join your post(s) will more than likely be removed.

 

 

Chapter IX - Vigilantism

Vigilantism is...

 

Performing a moderators job or impersonating a moderator by telling someone they have done something wrong or against the rules. There is a "Report" button underneath each and every post on these forums -- if you believe someone has broken the rules please use this feature and a moderator will be there to sort it out pretty quickly. It is not your job to tell others what they can and cannot do on these forums.

 

Chapter X - Constructive Criticism

 

Constructive criticism is voicing your concern about an idea or implementation of a mod as well as providing a possible solution.

 

This requires both parts:

• Constructive = Providing a solution
  
• Criticism = Voicing concern
  

Constructive criticism is NOT directed at any person or group of people. Any comments that are directed at people can fall under vigilantism, flaming and trolling.

 

Chapter XI - Multiple Accounts

 

Only one account per person please. If you can't post with your main account it's likely what you're writing isn't going to be productive in this community and you might find your old account removed too. The only exception to this rule are admins / moderators which have normal accounts for testing the site without elevated privileges.

[Dark0ne]

This thread has been updated with a few important changes and clarifications. It has also been opened to allow people to ask questions regarding the current rule set.

[Switch]

Probably a good idea... maybe this will help to iron out a few misunderstandings!

 

As far as I can see from that, bumping is now prohibited completely except when posting new information yes? But according to that rule, would that mean anyone could double post/bump their thread if they had new information, even if say only 5 minutes had passed since posting?

[Vagrant0]

Probably a good idea... maybe this will help to iron out a few misunderstandings!

 

As far as I can see from that, bumping is now prohibited completely except when posting new information yes? But according to that rule, would that mean anyone could double post/bump their thread if they had new information, even if say only 5 minutes had passed since posting?

Nah, that's what the wonderful modify feature is for. You can tag additional information to older posts. Doing so doesn't bump the topic up to the front, so people aren't likely to see it though. The only real point of the bump here is just to get your topic moved up and flagged as unread so that people are more likely to see it. But given how slowly some areas move, there shouldn't be any reason to change anything. Most of the bumping situations I've seen seem related to people not getting answers after a few minutes, and not those topics which are over a day old and havn't been answered.

[dyfed99]

Hi.

I have a question about the Image Share section of the site.

I have uploaded many pics and deleted some because it seemed to me an incorrect or annoying behavior.

Can someone explain if there's a rule or "etiquette" about, please?

[Dark0ne]

Not really any etiquette for image sharing -- the idea is to share what you like to do with the ES.

[Shadowmane2001]

Well As per the Rules I kept up on them. Also Read the Post on Tommy, and Well On forums and such I kinda follow my own Rules, Be nice, Polite to others, Avoid Excessive posting and the use of Bad words, and dirty names. And search for things I might wanna post about.

 

Still good idea to keep up on rules.

[WoogieMonster]

I think it is very interesting that we have over 500,000 members and yet fewer than 8,000 have read this thread. Is there no way to increase this number? It probably sounds draconian not to let people post until they have (because it is) but it seems to me it would reduce your workload...

 

You have to read and agree to the EULA before you can play a new game, but do you actually do it, or do you just skip to the bottom and put a mark in the box? Making people visit the rules thread will not accomplish anything other than making that number increase. If 3 of every 50 new members is a flamer/troublemaker, forcing them to look at the rules is not going to make them better people, it will only give them one more thing to be a jerk about. Their first thread will be "WTF why did I have to read the rules before I could post?" except it will be written in horrible grammar and every word will be abbreviated in internet retard-speak.

[worm82075]

I think it is very interesting that we have over 500,000 members and yet fewer than 8,000 have read this thread.

 

500,000 members of TES Nexus who download files. Given the available statistics I think it is safe to assume that fewer than 10,000 people use the forums, so chances are most of them have at least skimmed this thread.

[TheTerminator2004]

Exactly worm, and many of them don't post at all, or only drop by to quickly ask for tech support etc, so, it looks like most members have read this thread. :)

 

Then again, you have to consider that many people will have read it more than once (this is something like my third time now, for example), so that statistic is probably far from accurate.