Thanks for this guide Jurnis, WOW DID I LEARN ALOT.
At first i saw a newb, not knowing the rules or the do's or donts.. but now that i have read Jurnis his guide i am now up to date and all my fellow forumers love me!
Its great!
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Thanks for this guide Jurnis, WOW DID I LEARN ALOT.
At first i saw a newb, not knowing the rules or the do's or donts.. but now that i have read Jurnis his guide i am now up to date and all my fellow forumers love me!
Its great!
Dang, now it is no wonder why I'm not making any internet friends... Thanks Jurnis now I know what I am doing wrong.
I humbly thank you all for your support, but the thread has not been finished.
I am going to expand it now.
I would love your feedback on any suggestions that you might have to offer!
I think teh bleh might be influencing some of the newcomers...
In that case, they might need to refer to the OTD Manual for this LOL
This was a very helpful and well written post. Thank you Jurnis for posting it.
Here is more of the manual.
Responses to threads and posts, in general
I will try to make this section short, as I am not here to teach you how to think. I am merely here to lay down many of the spoken and unspoken rules of the Off-Topic Discussion as much as I can.
1. Do so thoughtfully. Be creative, and at least think of something to say before blurting it out, whether through sheer thoughtlessness, or just to buffer your post count. Not putting thought into your responses shows complete disrespect for the person who you are responding to, and it is frowned upon by most or all OTers.
2. If you are going to flame someone, whether you are insulted or just plainly are uncomfortable with their comment, do it like a civilized person.
Voice your opinion and/or concerns with all due respect to the object of your dislike/unapproval/hatred of the person being flamed with respect. They may have posted for some reason other than offending you. People who flame others without consideration of their feelings or reasons for posting are most of the time viewed as childish and immature. Don't be one of them.
3. If you quote them, quote either the entire post, or the section of the post where they say the comment that evokes your response. Don't twist their words, or cut off the part where they may say something more about the thing you are talking about and referring to.
This is called taking words out of context, and twisting their words and of course this will make not only the original poster angry, but will cause the entire community in general to shun you, and you may be the object of constant flaming for a time afterwards.
When you quote, leave the words unchanged, and true to the original intent, and post thoughtfully in response to their words. It will work out better for you in the long run if you keep to this practice.
5. Make doubly sure that both the thread and their posts are either in jest, dead serious, or somewhere in between. Someone could be making a light joke, and you may misread the intent, or you could make a joke yourself and find later on that people are flaming you because you posted on the topic of existentialism, death, or otherwise.
The same goes vice-versa. People could be annoyed or offended at you. If you post a serious comment on a thread full of jokes, and one meant to be a joke, people might just laugh at you, and tell you to cool it (a rather embarrasing experience, I have had this happen to me). If someone starts joking on your serious threads, it is likely that they are trolling and/or spamming, and therefore do not really deserve a reply in their posts, because they are pointless, and therefore your time would be spent in the same manner. Life is too short for too many pointless flamings about spam posts.
6. There are moments when you feel like you don't belong in that thread, or you are mad at a poster who said something offensive to or about you, you don't like the topic, or you don't know about the topic, and etc.
It is in these sort of moments when you just need to drop the thread and move on to another. If you are angry, come back when you are cooled down, and respond like a civilized person. If you are not familiar with the topic, or feel uncomfortable about it, move on and come back when you are ready for it. If you feel that you don't belong in that thread, don't post in it until the atmosphere is suitable for proper breathing.
This will eventually get noticed by the community in general, and you may grow to be respected for this.
7. Be civilized. If you are not, then of course people will constantly flame you, spam your posts, shun you for the most part, and above all not take you seriously. That is probably among the more important rules of the OTD.
Reputation
Reputation, when referring to the green bars at the top right of your posts, are originally supposed to be a sign of recognition by the community as a whole for doing the right thing when posting.
However, this has been abused on occasion, and also, some of the well-known posters do not receive as much reputation for their fellows. Therefore, reputation is on occasion not the best way of judging a person. Just to let you know.
It is a good thing, but when it comes down to it, it is the unseen reputation that rules this forum, not the green (or Thalin's red) bars that you see all the time.
And, of course, rep has its own rules.
1. Don't make threads or posts specifically asking for free rep. You earn it. And it also makes the whole community look down on you.
2. Making alternative Forum accounts just to boost your reputation count is strictly forbidden and abhorred throughout the entire Evony Forum Community. Could possibly lead to infractions, or bans in the worst case scenarios for these sort of people.
Moderators
This subject is very important to every poster, no matter how long they have been here.
These people are here to help you and the community. They are the people most flamed for things that they have not done, nor are responsible for.
They are always behind the scenes, getting to know the posters in the community, great or small, and will be there if you have a problem.
These people include the Moderators, Representatives, Super Moderators, and Administrators.
These people are more involved in everyone's posts than everyone knows (except the Mods lol)
I shall lay down a couple of casual rules to follow, and a few points about Moderators. (The Moderators, the Reprtesentatives, Super Moderators, and Administrators are commonly simply referred to as Mods.)
1. There are numerous inside jokes and "cults" having to do with the Mods. Please learn these, as you will enhance your experience here by at least having the knowledge of some.
2. The Mods are to be addressed respectfully when you hae a problem. Flaming a Mod to solve your problem does not work all that often. Address them in a neutral tone, and they will at least give you the respect to listen.
2a. "The Mods are always right."
2b. If in case a Mod is wrong, refer back to Rules 2 and 2a. (another light moment)
3. The Mods are not always the looming monoliths some people refer to them as. Mods are people too, and they have feelings, concerns, hobbies, etc. of their own. Get to know them, socialize with them, and just have fun while staying within the rules that have been set up for your best interest.
4. If a Mod gives you a Warning, or an Infraction, don't flame them. Instead, think about why on earth they could actually have the guts to do that to you. Then come out with a neutral and respectful tone, and they will properly address your concerns.
4a. When you have these sorts of problems, send a Private Message (commonly referred to as a PM) to the Moderator in question, and so discuss it from there. Posting threads or Visitor Messages are not necessarily the best ways to get to your Moderator(s).
4b. When you get Warned or Infracted don't panic; it's not the end of the world. You probably tripped, and most of the time the Infractions, and the Warnings, expire, and you can go about your business like normal. (By the way, the world only ends if you are banned.)
4c. It is not allowed, although it happens, to talk all over the place about your Warnings, and Infractions. The Mods don't like it, and the community might look down on you for it, just because either you are bragging for being naughty, or complaining about it out in the open, making you look rather childish.
5. When a Moderator pokes at you in a fun way, whether or not others are also doing it, don't take it as an insult. Remember, Mods are people too, and also a part of the Community. They don't do Moderating duty in every single post that they make. Otherwise, we would have nothing but Scrooges banning, warning, and infracting us every time we post something stupid.
Word Usage
This is probably one of the more important aspects of this Manual. I cannot tell you how many people have been flamed for bad choice of words.
So, here are a few tips:
1. Refrain from swearing. Doing this in excess will likely get you infracted or banned soon.
Instead, use words like Dang or Darn, instead of D***, or friggin' instead of f***ing.
People condemn others who do this, and also, you never know if kids are reading all the cuss words you slap into your posts.
2. When you are posting, sometimes the connotation of your words produces a very negative effect on your entire post.
I have had the misfortune of making this mistake earlier on, by using the term "Grammar Nazi." It offended people, and I was promptly asked to dismantle the signature for its content. Of course, I will do my best not to do that in the future.
Don't make my mistake. Know the full meaning of the words you post, because one wrong word can ruin your entire post, and heavily damage your reputation within the community.
3. Your post will have many words that influence the tone of what you are saying. Be careful of your words, because one misplaced word can make your post look like something that you never intended it to be.
For example, you are making a joke, and the choice of words you use can be easily translated as a blunt insult to another, and even you see it. This is one of the chief things to avoid while posting--tone of voice.
Even one word can dominate your post, and send it crashing down in ruin and fire, as others pommel it with flames that otherwise would not be there if only you had said it differently.
Please tread carefully in this matter, as it may be damaging to your public image.