Gazelle/templates/rules/forum.twig

<ol>

<li>Many forums (Serious Discussions, Chat, etc.) have their own set of rules.
Make sure you read and take note of these rules before you attempt to post in
one of these forums.</li>

<li>Don't use all capital letters, excessive !!! (exclamation marks) or ???
(question marks). It seems like you're shouting!</li>

<li>No lame referral schemes. This includes any website or any other similar
scheme in which the poster gets personal gain from users clicking a link.</li>

<li>No asking for money for any reason whatsoever. Although we care about your
friend who lost everything, or a dying relative who wants to enjoy their last
few moments alive by being given lots of money, <?=(SITE_NAME)?> is not the
place for it.</li>

<li>Do not inappropriately advertise your uploads. In special cases, it is
acceptable to mention new uploads in an approved thread (e.g. <a
href="forums.php?action=viewthread&amp;threadid=841">Post your first upload here
so people snatch it</a>), but be sure to carefully read the thread's rules
before posting. It is also acceptable to discuss releases you have uploaded when
conversing about the music itself. Blatant attempts to advertise your uploads
outside of the appropriate forums or threads may result in a warning or the loss
of forum privileges.</li>

<li>No posting music requests in forums. There's a request link at the top of
the page; please use that instead.</li>

<li>No flaming; be pleasant and polite. Don't use offensive language, and don't
be confrontational for the sake of confrontation.</li>

<li>Don't point out or attack other members' share ratios. A higher ratio does
not make you better than someone else.</li>

<li>Try not to ask stupid questions. A stupid question is one that you could
have found the answer to yourself with a little research, or one that you're
asking in the wrong place. If you do the basic research suggested (i.e., read
the rules/wiki) or search the forums and don't find the answer to your question,
then go ahead and ask. Staff and First Line Support (FLS) are not here to
hand-feed you the answers you could have found on your own with a little bit of
effort.</li>

<li>Be sure you read all the sticky threads in a forum before you post.</li>

<li>Use descriptive and specific subject lines. This helps others decide whether
your particular words of wisdom relate to a topic they care about.</li>

<li>Try not to post comments that don't add anything to the discussion. When
you're just cruising through a thread in a leisurely manner, it's not too
annoying to read through a lot of "hear, hear"'s and "I agree"'s. But if you're
actually trying to find information, it's a pain in the neck. So save those
one-word responses for threads that have degenerated to the point where none but
true aficionados are following them any more.  <p> Or short: NO spamming </p>
</li>

<li>Refrain from quoting excessively. When quoting someone, use only the portion
of the quote that is absolutely necessary. This includes quoting pictures!
</li>

<li>No posting of requests for serials or cracks. No links to warez or crack
sites in the forums.</li>

<li>No political or religious discussions. These types of discussions lead to
arguments and flaming users, something that will not be tolerated. The only
exception to this rule is the Serious Discussions forum, which exists solely for
the purpose of intellectual discussion and civilized debate.</li>

<li>Don't waste other people's bandwidth by posting images of a large file size.
</li>

<li>Be patient with newcomers. Once you have become an expert, it is easy to
forget that you started out as a newbie too. Try to help them out if you can.
</li>

<li>No requesting invites to any sites anywhere on the site or IRC. Invites may
be <strong>offered</strong> in the Invitations forum (which is restricted to
Elite and above), and nowhere else.</li>

<li>There are some language threads (e.g. French, Greek) in the Chat forum.
Apart from these, no language other than English is permitted in the forums. If
we can't understand it, we can't moderate it. Some FLS members speak other
languages. You may send them a PM if you have a specific question and you do not
feel comfortable in expressing yourself in English.</li>

<li>Be cautious when posting mature content on the forums. All mature imagery
must abide by <a href="wiki.php?action=article&amp;id=96">the rules found
here</a>. Gratuitously sexual or violent content which falls outside of the
allowable categories will result in a warning or worse.</li>

<li>Mature content in posts must be properly tagged. The correct format is as
follows: <strong>[mature=description] ...content... [/mature]</strong>, where
"description" is a mandatory description of the post contents. Misleading or
inadequate descriptions will be penalized.</li>

<li>Threads created for the exclusive purpose of posting mature imagery will be
trashed. Mature content (including graphic album art) should be contextually
relevant to the thread and/or forum you're posting in. If you are in doubt as to
whether a post is appropriate, send a <a href="staffpm.php">Staff PM to the
Forum Moderators</a> and wait for a reply before proceeding.</li>

</ol>