After reading fraglette's post, re: adding dates to titles for topics, in Ian's thread re: Matlock gathering, I feel the need to request Matt provides the site with clear definition of what exactly is permitted and what isn't.
In the terms and conditions there is nothing mentioned about site etiquette /rules for the forum and chat room.
Like Ian said he wasn't here a year ago so wouldn't know that the moderators had already requested that other members include a date in their topic title.
Some folk aren't just new to B M they are new to the internet and as such are (more often than not) clueless as to what is and isn't ok.
For example, the chat room... if I had a quid for every time someone has asked 'what's *ROFL' mean? I'd be able to buy Matt his own chip shop (he burns them when he cooks em)
*ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing
CAPITAL letters are used for emphasis only, to type a whole post in CAPITAL LETTERS MEANS YOU'RE SHOUTING and is considered a bit bolshy, it's also pretty difficult to read, especially if it's a long post.
Most forums have some rules but until those rules are in print on the site confusion, and resentment, will keep happening.
(BTW would mods be willing to correct other members via PM instead of in the forum, reason I ask is once it's posted in the forum another debate ensues and the thread goes 'off topic'
Cheers.)
So, whadya say Matt? All rules and basic etiquette for the site, added to the Ts and Cs?
The reason that a moderator will post a jokey (or what is supposed to be a jokey comment) is so that other people will learn, ie put a date on a meeting topic, bumping an old topic is a sly way of doing things IMO, sending a PM is for serious breaches.
There are so many nuances that a definative rules page would actually be more like a book, that is why there are moderators. Otherwise Matt would be able to write a code and if you breached the rules then the post wouldnt happen.
All I would say is use your common sense. If you wouldnt say it IRL then dont say it on a forum or in a chat room.
Respect your fellow members. There are always internet trolls and we do take stern action against them on the rare occasions they raise their heads.
Make posts and threads as clear as possible.
Simples, eh?
frag 'grrr!!' in my opinion isn't a jokey comment, even if ya stick an LOL on the end.
Other members will only 'learn' if they actually read that specific comment in the forum, hence my request for basic rules to be in print somewhere where everyone can see them.
I still think a rebuke, no matter how light hearted, is best done via PM and not on the forum not only to avoid the topic going OFF but to avoid an argument on the forum.
It's ok you saying make posts and threads clear but even when the author thinks they have they haven't. lol if ya see what I mean?
Not sure what you mean by bumping a topic being a sly way of doing things.
I agree that putting some sort of "rules" for site etiquette in is a good idea, however does everyone read the t & c's anyway??? I think not... alot of people including myself just read the first couple of lines with any site then click and tick.
The t & c's are not blatantly obvious to find on the site either, just a suggestion but maybe putting a button at the top of the page along with the others might be a good idea, they took me a minute to find and i am internet savvy!
(BTW
would mods be willing to correct other members via PM instead of in the
forum, reason I ask is once it's posted in the forum another debate
ensues and the thread goes 'off topic'
Cheers.)
whats BTW ? is that another quid ? im just pretending idk lol
For the benefit of those watching in black and white
BTW - by the way
IRL - in real life
I do believe that the sage wisdom of wikkipedia can assist here.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_slang_words
Putting my previous post aside, don't you think that part of Kwak's original post is a bit of an oxymoron? Requesting in public that the moderators correct members in private via a personal message? surely to fall into the remit of her own suggestion she should have sent that part of her post to the moderators email address?
Just emphasizing that their two sides to every tale and the English language being a blend of Latin English and French nothing is black and white. apart from Latin but that is another discussion completely.
tbh i dont mind people askin in chat what stuff means it only takes a second to explain and chats not overloaded often and peeps will soon pick up the jargon imho
Why was my text changed? In my original post. I don't know about anyone else but in all the years I've been using the internet, and various forums, I've NEVER known moderators/site owners edit posts because they didn't like the size of someone's text, or was it a case of showing me who is boss?
Never before in any of my posts, or anyone elses posts, has the text size been edited so why now?
Paganprince, the reason I posted in the forum, re: mods rebuking other members, was to let everyone know what I said. You may not know me in person but I've been on here long enough for folk to know that I never say owt on here I aint willing to say in person and I don't believe in all this behind folks back talk either.
Some abbreviations are NOT internet standard and that's where some folk get confused, myself included.
I'd appreciate it if my posts were NOT edited unless the words I type are abusive or racist.
Thank you
I dont know why it was but i can hazard a guess Kwak.
When you change your text colour and size, (referred to as chaging your font) it puts all the formatting code at the beginning and end of the block of text. This is invisible in normal use. The more changes you make to your font the more formatting text there is.
Now Matt put a lot of work into having a "preview" facility when you move your cursor over the thread title, so you can see the first few lines of text and make a decision as to whether to open the thread.
If you have changed your font then all that can be seen in the preview is the text formatting, rendering all Matts hard work useless. I dont understand why it is visible in the preview when it isnt in the thread, that is beyond my ken.
So it is best if the opening message in a thread is in the default forum text, or as close to it as possible.
Hope that explains it, maybe try it and see that every so often I can answer technical questions. I surprise myself at times.
Most people understand that there is a level to all websites where the owners and moderators have to work behind the scenes. We do have discussions on what is best for the site, we do send private, and I would stress the word PRIVATE, messages to people who are causing concern by their actions or attitudes.
We usually expect people to treat private messages as PRIVATE, and also let the past be the past. It is extremely frustrating when members keep bringing up the past and bringing things that were raised in private into the public side of the forums.
If someone were to post a private message into the forum, without the consent of the sender then I would take stern action against that person, whether it was a direct copy or a he/she said kind of post.
Common sense has a place in all things, so does consideration and tolerance.
I guess in theory that room etiquette be posted somewhere, but to be honest, who would want to compile the list of abbreviated terms when there are so many and so many variations? Example, ROFL might to one person mean Roll On the Floor Laughing, but to another it might mean Roar out F**kin Laughing...
Surely best that if people don't know what something means, they ask? What is the problem with that? I don't personally use the chat on this site, but have also used many over the years, and have never been bothered by someone asking for a meaning.
There are already enough rules/regulations governing this forum...do we really, in all honesty need more I wonder?
C x
I don't think that any more rules are needed, as I have said before.
We dont live in a police state, we are all adults, even if its only by birth certificate rather than attitude, and too much regulation ruins a site.
We are a happy little bunch, a bit like family. We squabble, we sulk, we laugh, we cry, we all help each other out, we dont want to see harm come to anyone.
Every so often, a rukkus will start, messages mis-read, mis-understood, mis-typed. Don't swear, don't name call, don't try and drag others into it, and Don't interfere in someone else fight (unless you are staff, in which case get the ref's whistle ready to go)
Do sit back, get a bowl of popcorn and and enjoy the show
It's life, but not as we know it, it's life in a little purple world, people are different when you get to know them, and you can read the posts in their voice, with their expressions.
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