Netiquette

[Nitro]

fghellar suggested that we have a Netiquette to keep everyone in line.

I'd like to suggest that you, as the forum's admin/owner/starter/etc., put up some guidelines or netiquette tips for posting in the forum.

The reason for it is that I really dislike such sayings as "this sucks, that rox", which are unfortunately very common in many forums out there. I think this kind of post has nothing to add to any healthy discussion. Until now, I've read every post here, and I intend to keep reading all of them. But, if they start to loose the high-level standard they have now, I will surely want to keep away from here. And I believe I'm not the only one.

I couldn't agree with him more. So, I'm asking you guys to reply with some guidelines.

• 1) No swearing - I believe this is an obvious one
  
  2) Don't be rude - Another obvious guideline.
  
  3) No bashing - Don't come here and when someone says they use foo, don't say that foo sucks, and instead you use foobar because it rocks. If you are going to cut down on a program, do so politely and state why you don't like it.
  
  4) Keep on topic - If you are replying about something to do with something like iptables, and someone mentions a configuration tool that runs in KDE, don't start talking about KDE, stick to the topic. Go start a new topic and post a link to the old one if there is relevant information there.
  
  5) Search before posting - As this forum grows more and more problems will have been solved here in the past, hopefully if you use the search feature you can find a problem similar to the one experiencing and find the solution right away versues waiting for others to reply.
  
  6) No personal attacks - These forums are not a place for you to take cheap shots at <name> because he/she did something before. Do that some place else (or better yet, get over it).

That's all I can think of at this time, hopefully you guys will have some better suggestions for guidelines.

EDIT: Made sticky as a reminder. Need to do something with this besides leave it on the last page. --pjp

[pjp]

Probably ought to do something more with this. FAQ, etc.

[AlterEgo]

Personally, I'd move 5) to 1)

Also, I'd like to see CAPITALIZED TOPIC TITLES banned
And images in people's subtitles: it 's a waste of bandwith.

[pilla]

And images in people's subtitles: it 's a waste of bandwith.

My avatar plus the image in my sig sum up to only 5.41 KB, which is less than the maximum avatar size (7 KB) and almost the same that you have in your avatar (5 KB). Thus, I think that banning those images in the sig is not necessary as far as people keep them small.

[hensan]

I think 1) should be no excessive swearing, I think people should be able to handle the occational four letter word.

[pjp]

I'd like to see CAPITALIZED TOPIC TITLES banned

It'd be nice, but would take a large paid staff to prevent them.

And images in people's subtitles: it 's a waste of bandwith.

If it were up to me, I'd ban avatars and sig images

[masseya]

It'd be nice, but would take a large paid staff to prevent them.

No, it would take a LARGE PAID STAFF.

[teknomage1]

I've said it before and I'lll say it again. I know english is a second or third language to a lot of posters here and I'm not trying to insult anyone but...
lose with one 'o' is th present tense of lost and the opposite of win
loose is a term meaning not tight or a derogative term for a promiscuous woman.

[pilla]

I've said it before and I'lll say it again. I know english is a second or third language to a lot of posters here and I'm not trying to insult anyone but...
lose with one 'o' is th present tense of lost and the opposite of win
loose is a term meaning not tight or a derogative term for a promiscuous woman.

And your point is.......

[teknomage1]

From the initial post:
"But, if they start to loose the high-level standard they have now, I will surely want to keep away from here. And I believe I'm not the only one. "

It's a common mistake all over the internet and it can make people look really bad, I just figured maybe people could use a reminder on the correct usage and netiquette seemed like a good place for it.

[pilla]

From the initial post:
"But, if they start to loose the high-level standard they have now, I will surely want to keep away from here. And I believe I'm not the only one. "

It's a common mistake all over the internet and it can make people look really bad, I just figured maybe people could use a reminder on the correct usage and netiquette seemed like a good place for it.

I see. But as myself, fghellar speaks Portuguese as a first language, and English as the second one. I am sure we all do our best to correctly speak English, but some mistakes and typos are beyond our control.

Anyway, if everybody agrees, we can change the Forum language to Portuguese, and I am sure we will reduce our errors. The side effect is that you all will have to learn Portuguese, and probably will produce much more errors than us in English, because Portuguese is much more harder to learn than English.

My point is that typos and errors are beyond control, BUT swearing, bashing and posting off-topic can be controlled.

[fghellar]

I've said it before and I'lll say it again. I know english is a second or third language to a lot of posters here and I'm not trying to insult anyone but...
lose with one 'o' is th present tense of lost and the opposite of win
loose is a term meaning not tight or a derogative term for a promiscuous woman.

From the initial post:
"But, if they start to loose the high-level standard they have now, I will surely want to keep away from here. And I believe I'm not the only one. "

It's a common mistake all over the internet and it can make people look really bad, I just figured maybe people could use a reminder on the correct usage and netiquette seemed like a good place for it.

Actually, "loose" can also mean "to make less strict, relax". In this sense, "loose the high-level standard" can be interpreted as "make the standard less high-level"; on the other hand, "lose the high-level standard" would be more like "drop the high-level standard entirely". Anyway, thanks for the advice!

[skunkworx]

lose with one 'o' is th present tense of lost and the opposite of win

[M]yself [and] fghellar speak Portuguese as a first language, and English as the second one. I am sure we all do our best to correctly speak English, but some mistakes and typos are beyond our control.

I don't think teknomage1 meant any disrespect to non-native English speakers, nor do I think he was implying that every typo is a cardinal sin. I, as a native English speaker, am also flabbergasted by the number of people, native English speakers even, who confuse "lose" with "loose." I believe he was simply reacting to what is unfortunately becoming a very common spelling mistake, one all us native English speakers are hoping to make a little less common.

On that note, it's apparent, not appearant!

Actually, "loose" can also mean "to make less strict, relax".

That's loosen.

Getting slightly back on topic...

I think 1) should be no excessive swearing, I think people should be able to handle the occational four letter word.

Just because one can handle it doesn't mean one should have to. I'm not in favor of crucifying every last utterance of a four letter word, but is it really that hard to use alternatives like "darn" or even "s***" when the occasion calls for it?

[hensan]

is it really that hard to use alternatives like "darn" or even "s***" when the occasion calls for it?

If a situation calls for a 'fuck', I want to be able to write fuck not 'darn' or 'dang-didli-ang' without someone starting to bitch about it and trying to censor me.

[pjp]

The point of "Netiquette" is that cursing is inapropriate and inconsiderate.

[kaidon]

I'd like to see CAPITALIZED TOPIC TITLES banned Smile

It'd be nice, but would take a large paid staff to prevent them.

wouldn't it be possible to cut that down by using client-side javascript, without having to touch the server-side app?
using something like:

Code: Select all

function checkForm(objForm)
{
	...
	var words = objForm.subject.value.split(" ");
	var firstLetter, restOfWord;
	for (var i=0; i<words.length; i++) {
		firstLetter = words[i].substring(0,1);
		restOfWord = words[i].substring(1);
		if (/^[A-Z]+$/.test(restOfWord)) {
			restOfWord = restOfWord.toLowerCase();
		}
		words[i] = firstLetter + restOfWord;
	}
	objForm.subject.value = words.join(" ");
	...
};

shure, it wouldn't work for the console-browsing-guys (no js). but i guess those don't do that anyway.

just the thoughts of a newby.

cheers

[pjp]

It also wouldn't work for anyone turning off javascript.

[mukwuknuk]

2) Don't be rude..... isn't this a bit vague? For example, in the U.S. I've noticed it's considered highly insulting to correct another person's grammar, while in other countries (but not all) folks appreciate it if their grammar is corrected.

Also, if swearing is banned, will I still be allowed to write "RTFM" (read the manual) or "DFO problem" (dumb operator)?

Sorry -- just couldn't resist a light jest.

[jondkent]

How about sensible titles for queries, seems that a few with titles like "Its broken ..help" are appearing recently.

[Flammie]

2) Don't be rude..... isn't this a bit vague? For example, in the U.S. I've noticed it's considered highly insulting to correct another person's grammar, while in other countries (but not all) folks appreciate it if their grammar is corrected.

In my opinion there's nothing wrong in correcting people's grammar, and especially if it hinders understandability it must be done! The issue is that meta discussion of course does never belong inside a thread, but is better done using private messaging system or off-topic-discussion board if applicable (in cases some mispelling or such systematically plagues more than one writer).

[regeya]

Obvious trolling for flames; personal attacks sometimes stem from someone posting obvious flamebait (I'm thinking of one particular user who rarely posts outside OtW, but won't post the user's name.)

[Bague]

Yah, I agree with Regeya, flaming and trolling are probably some of the worst netiquette there is.

On the swearing thing, I think some light swearing can be valid when used in the right context, for instance,

What the hell were they thinking?

(Even though Hell is varied upon the swearitude factor)

Dammit, my little brother just reformatted my Hard Drive!

Whereas I do agree with it being bad netiquette when people say things like,

OMG windoze is fuc*ing ghey

(I'm not going to point out the other obvious problems with that last quote, but you get the point).

A lot of things can change with context, such as the difference between:

That band is gay

and

I was hanging out with some of my gay friends the other night.

(NOTE DENOTATION GAY)


Etc. Etc. I myself may use some light swearing is it will add positively to the post (I mean, imagine it being "Fankly dear, I don't give a darn" instead of what it is supposed to be, for the context damn shows much more stress and meaning to the point).

As far as the thing with Sig Images, I myself can't stand sig images as they seem to clog things up (and on big topics) slow things down. Avatars I like though, because I can know who the person is without looking at thier name.

[abzs2k]

4) Keep on topic - If you are replying about something to do with something like iptables, and someone mentions a configuration tool that runs in KDE, don't start talking about KDE, stick to the topic. Go start a new topic and post a link to the old one if there is relevant information there.

I think this one applies to a lesser extent on the discussion forums (OTW, GC, etc) than on the support forums.

[Albert_Alligator]

Yes, no swearing....I have a couple of nephews who are just getting into Linux, and I've directed them here. Its a little hard to forbid them from the 'Off the wall' forum without blocking the entire site...and I'm not their dad. He also would like a cleaner atmosphere for younger users (who haven't already been indoctrinated by the crudeness and crass crowd).

Thanks for the effort in asking this.

Al

[abzs2k]

Yes, no swearing....I have a couple of nephews who are just getting into Linux, and I've directed them here. Its a little hard to forbid them from the 'Off the wall' forum without blocking the entire site...and I'm not their dad. He also would like a cleaner atmosphere for younger users (who haven't already been indoctrinated by the crudeness and crass crowd).
Al

Which is exactly the reason I think posting Pornographic links should be banned in OTW. But when I said that, everyone just turned on me and gave me all that BS about its nothing you haven't already seen before, they won't hurt you, etc.
Infact, I would like the mods opinion on it so here is the thread.
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=145367