Posting guidelines reminder

[Mike]

Hi Folks,

Your feedback about the Somersoft forum whether as a comment in a post or a Private Message is always welcomed by me personally and I'm sure that goes for the other moderators, too. It shows that you care about the board and displays a sense of community we are trying to foster.

That's why when we do receive complaints we take them seriously. Your opinion is worth a lot to us and we will try to resolve issues if we can. Often, though, it is a tricky balancing act between not enough moderation and too much. If it is deemed too much we are open to criticism that we are inhibiting freedom of speech. That is why self-moderation is the best solution.

We only speak directly to individuals as a last resort when we feel that they haven't taken our guidelines to heart or they have forgotten them. We don't have an extensive Posting Guidelines document like other sites have because the subject matter of property discussion lends itself to sensible discussions. Since that may be too dry for some people the forum has a few outlets like the Chat Room and Coffee Lounge where people can engage in banter and show more of their personality.

While there are few obvious forum posting rules that most of us are aware of such as "no flaming allowed", ("flaming" means personal attacks. When the focus shifts to the people involved in the debate rather than the subject allegedly being debated.), another problem creeping into the forum which some of you have brought to our attention is "excessive posting". This forum is addictive and some of us, including myself, have let our addiction run amok at times. Usually it's just a phase we go through. Fortunately, I'm prohibited from posting excessively because I am away at work so much otherwise I probably would need to go into therapy to control my addiction.

For those of you who can't help posting frequently please be mindful that many others on the forum may tire of your excessive contributions unless you make them interesting, relevant and move the discussion forward. If you notice many of your posts are relatively short and are not replied to it could be that they are of the banter variety and would be more appropriately placed in the Chat Room or Coffee Lounge. It comes down to self-moderation again and remembering that this forum is a community and a bit of thoughtfulness goes a long way. Your presence on this forum and the community spirit you display is much appreciated. Enough from me, for now. The following post has an extract from Motley Fool posting guidelines which can generally be applied to our forum and following that are some humorous posts about exessive posting I found on the net.

Regards, Mike

 

[Mike]

Posting Guidelines from Motley Fool

Make Your Posts Informative

We have high standards in these discussion boards. The best way to start a discussion is to contribute to it. So if you want to start a new thread of discussion it helps if you have done a spot of research of your own. We love messages that explain a company's products or business, particularly when members are sharing their special expertise. And of course, analytical research work is always a bonus, like earnings estimates, or analysis of the balance-sheet information. Always keep in mind that you are more likely to draw responses and additional help when you provide some information yourself.

Nobody likes a message if it:

offers little or no information;
contains emotion at the expense of reason;
hypes an investment opportunity;
attacks another person.
This one for example, manages to do all those things in just two lines:

"XXL, this Ones HOTTT! BUy before monday!
Should Double in 6 Mths!!!! anyone who disagrees is an idiot."

The exclamation marks in the above post, the use of just an EPIC code, the complete lack of any financial information, and of course the over-celebrated hotness of the stock will only repel the thoughtful reader, whether novice or advanced, whose time online has just been wasted by reading such a post. We are generous here at the Fool. We assume the best of every participant and new members are given a certain amount of "benefit of the doubt". However, a person posting in the style above would have used up at least one unit's worth of benefit of the doubt.

This is not to say, either, that you have to always write a lengthy message providing elaborate information about a company about which you want to ask a question. Just that we want the reading of our discussion boards to be time well-spent for everyone, and that means providing as much information, thought, and help as possible.

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Be considerate with your use of network resources. Your individual usage may not seem like much compared to the net as a whole, but in aggregate, small savings in disk or CPU add up to a great deal. For instance, messages offering thanks, jibes, or congratulations will only need to be seen by the interested parties -- send these by mail rather than posting them. The same goes for simple questions, and especially for any form of "me too" posting.

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Hi,

I'd like to offer my apologies to this group about excessive posting by me today and yesterday.

But please DO consider contacting your local member about senator Alston's censorship proposals !

Felipe Rodriquez
Thu, 1 Apr 1999

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04/01/02: Regarding my annoying, excessive posting...
Posted by: [email protected] (BatRay)

Did y'all notice my absence this weekend ? I mean up until about 1pm PST on Sunday??? Wasn't it great??

I'm about to make you an offer you can't refuse... An online petition to allow me to move to Southern California. I promise you I would have better things to do if I lived down there. I insist!

So just get in line and vocalize your need for me to get a life. I'll present it to the judge. I think it'll sway him.

Thank you for your time.

Reply: Describes just about every regular poster in Crankyland.

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"Dear Emily Postnews"

Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour, gives her advice on how to act on the net.

Q: I cant spell worth a dam. I hope your going too tell me what to do?

A: Don't worry about how your articles look. Remember it's the message that counts, not the way it's presented. Ignore the fact that sloppy spelling in a purely written forum sends out the same silent messages that soiled clothing would when addressing an audience.

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Q: How should I pick a subject for my articles?

A: Keep it short and meaningless. That way people will be forced to actually read your article to find out what's in it. This means a bigger audience for you, and we all know that's what the net is for. If you do a followup, be sure and keep the same subject, even if it's totally meaningless and not part of the same discussion. If you don't, you won't catch all the people who are looking for stuff on the original topic, and that means less audience for you.

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Q: What sort of tone should I take in my article?

A: Be as outrageous as possible. If you don't say outlandish things, and fill your article with libelous insults of net people, you may not stick out enough in the flood of articles to get a response. The more insane your posting looks, the more likely it is that you'll get lots of followups. The net is here, after all, so that you can get lots of attention.

If your article is polite, reasoned and to the point, you may only get mailed replies. Yuck!

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[Sunstone]

Dear Mike,

Thanks for the proactive efforts to keep this the BEST property investment resource in Australia.

Cheers,

Sunstone.