Posting Etiquette for our Forum

[Rich]

I wonder if it would be a good idea to have a bit of a brainstorm and come up with a few guidelines for posting to our forum. I am sure this would help iron out misunderstandings and encourage people to post who may be reluctant to for fear of breaking some kind of unwritten etiquette.

So I'll make a start with one which has already been pointed out:

If it's your first time, a brief introduction would be nice - Who you are, where you live, if you have a wood, it's type etc.

Be polite, disagree, but respect other people's rights to hold differing views.

If a thread starts to go 'off topic', start a new one with a new title, makes it easier to find again.

sure there's lots of others.....

[woodbodger]

Can I just add that I really enjoy reading these forum and sharing info and problems, I would like to see a lot more interaction as it seems to be a small coteri of people all the time; lets have more from more of you.

[tracy]

Ah, yes, we do have loads of 'lurkers' woodbodger..... love everyone who reads the forum to say hello!

Can we ban Greyman's bad jokes? ;-)

[adam]

Seems to me that rather than having loads of "rules" we'd get a few more contributions if we all embraced the principle of "be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send" a little more enthusiastically.

[Rich]

Hi Adam,

I agree with your sentiment entirely. However it's not a question of having loads more 'rules' to obey and enforce. We all obey 'rules' in our everyday life anyway, rules of conversation, grammar (well sort of!), body language etc. we don't nesessarily have these written down because generally we learn them as we grow up. The point I am trying to make is that we didn't all grow with the internet and sometimes we're not quite sure what the 'form' is when posting or replying. I just thought it would be a good idea to have a few guidelines to help out! It might encourage a few 'lurkers' or the unsure to contribute to the forum.

[Nigel L]

In my humble opinion as an administrator of another forum who has seen what can happen if posts are taken to the extreme.

I suggest the following :-

To quote Rich "Be polite, disagree, but respect other people's rights to hold differing views." no other rules are needed.

Create a "Chatter" forum for gentle banter with a bit of humour observing good taste to engage the newbies / lurkers.

Consider creating an idiots guide to using the forum, whist its quite simple to use not everyone has the same IT literacy.

[greyman]

Bythe modern miracle of wi-find I can answer Trays "bad joke" comment by saying that I resemble that remark. I have joined the 21st century and am typing this on my telephone using the hotel wi-fi. I heartily agree with the etik, etcet, ettyk, being polite to one another

Greyman

[jillybean]

I often listen to Parliament on the radio. they are extremley rude to each other, but begin with "The Honorable Gentleman" (is an ass). Maybe we should adopt this etiquette. it would be a lot more stimulating than not posting what we really feel for fear of upsetting those more sensitive. Having said that, we all detest being bullied online, or anywhere else for that matter. sometimes I read arguments, and cant see where the problem is or understand why people are getting upset. I guess that's one of the quirks of this type of communication, if we were all sitting in the pub together wires may not get so easily crossed.

[James M]

On all forums there is a tendency to fail to see what the problem is when one person attacks another and you happen to agree with it. We are mostly here for our own reasons not the benefit of the forum.

No personal abuse and no telling other people the values they should hold, should be the rule, or if it is allowed then allow it to its fullest extent and let the flame wars ensue.

I agree with jillybean - don't pretend we like each other or each other views if we don't.

If there are complaints then we expect the mods to be saints if we think they are impartial and don't hold opinions of their own when we go to them with a complaint. I suppose ultimately, woodlands.co.uk own the forum and it's up to them and the mods have to be careful.

The result is usually a response which fails to resolve any issues.

Let's get on with it. We are due a big bust up about the politcs and morals of shooting and animal pest control sometime soon. I'll be happy to start that one.

[splodger]

i help to moderate a "gardening" forum - and it is like no other forum that i have used

it has unlimited space and no limit of topics to chat about - gardening, strangely enough is often the least used section sometimes - but it the one thing that unites us all - there is no limit or restriction on discussion topics - in fact if there is not a forum that covers a particular subject of interest - we just create a new one

we have the ability to have live chat events - have live quizzes through the winter etc etc - we even have a ranting forum - where members can let off steam

because of this - the moderating duties are kept to a minimum - spammers have been the biggest pain - but even this has been addressed now

it is only a small forum (about 600 members) but has always been friendly and quite relaxed - there will always be a difference of opinion (bit boring if there wasn't really) and occasionally there will be a "personality clash " but i like to think that we are mature enough to deal with an abject difference of opinion - after all it is easy enough to ignore topics / posts that don't interest you or may upset you

i find this SWOG forum quite quiet - but would like to get to know you all a bit better and look forward to a bit of banter