Darrin
03-10-2008, 05:12 PM
Read the forum guidelines (Added 3/10/2008)
After you finish reading this post, read the forum guidelines before you do anything else. They're stickied in the general section. They're there for a reason. Not only are they there to uphold a certain moral standard, but they are there so that users technically conform to the standard set by Minnesota Paintball Association. Who provides the forum.
I know it's a nuisance reading all the rules, but you may just save yourself embarressment at a later time. There are rules regarding conduct, profanity, buying and selling, spamming, and so on. Be sure to read and understand them, don't be one of the people that get told off because they were too lazy to read them.
Identifying troublesome users
The sad reality is, despite your best efforts to steer clear, and the moderator's best efforts to quell breaches of the forum guidelines, troublesome users do exist on virtually all internet forums. The MNpig forum has never been different. You'll know them under many nicknames, such as troublesome users, problem users, trolls, flamers, whingers, and so on. These are the laymen's terms.
In reality, a troublesome user is somebody who pushes the boundaries of the forum guidelines and of moral behaviour. They are the ones who can be seen putting other people down. Ie- saying that person is stupid, or wrong.
Additionally, they say things clearly meant to insult a person... "Get a life" or "You suck", yet claim they are only joking. Let it be forever known that the usage of smilies to indicate sincerity has never and will never be an exact science. The interpretation of sincerity lies with both the poster and the reader. Not just the poster.
The last key indicator is a person who constantly critisizes things. A person who seldom says anything good or constructive, and must constantly tear down the opinions of others. You may be able to think of more examples of ways to identify troublesome users.
Dealing with troublesome users in a way that doesn't require a moderator
The time tested and best method is to ignore them. Most troublesome users are able to continue being troublesome, because people respond to what they say. It's the old axiom of bullying, or advertising. Ignore it and it usually goes away. Usually.
How to conduct yourself in a manner that conforms to the forum guidelines
Generally speaking, you will conform to the guidelines if you read them and exercise common sense. Unfortunately, for some people, be they plain idiots or just young adults still learning right from wrong.... common sense is in short supply. So here's a few helpful tips to get you started.
* Do not assume that smilies change the intent of the message. The concept of smilie is, you use it, and it implies jest, or joking, or playfulness. However, what is or isn't playful is not an exact science, and it's also open to abuse. Person A may insult person B, insert a smilie, and claim it was a joke. It's NOT a joke if the other person takes offence. By your words you have breached the forum guidelines and you will suffer the penalty.
* Ask yourself, Is my post constructive? or destructive? A constructive post will offer a suggestion for a better outcome next time around, where a destructive post will simply critisize whatever the outcome was.
* Do not assume that people perceive the world on the same levels you do, and treat those levels with respect. For example; this could mean for the youngster, recognising that older people are not into video games. And for the older person, recognising that young people do not have a political stance.
And most important of all, the ethic of reciprocity....
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
And If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Fill In Your Profile
Please take the time to fill in your profile. Click on "User CP" and "Edit profile". There are spots for your name, age, location, interests etc. The reasons for this are threefold,
1. Shows the forum users you are not hiding behind anonymity, and are making yourself accountable to what you say.
2. Allows the forum users to help direct you towards other local players/fields/suppliers.
3. To help mods spot fake accts.
Read guidelines when selling 2nd hand gear
You'll see in the 2nd hand section there are comprehensive guidelines for buying/selling 2nd hand gear. Please read these thoroughly before buying or selling. Paintball markers are air guns, they and compressed air/co2 tanks have certain legal issues associated, that you need to be aware of before buying or selling.
How to post pictures
If you want to post pictures, you need to have them hosted somewhere. You cannot link from your hard drive (Obvious yes, but you'd be amazed how often people make this mistake). Use the image tags on either side of the image URL when making your post. For example, if the image URL was...
www.mnpig.com/title3.jpg (http://www.paintball.co.nz/gui/title3.jpg) you would type,
[ img ]www.mnpig.com/gui/title3.jpg[ (http://www.paintball.co.nz/gui/title3.jpg%5B) /img ]
(Removing the spaces in the pre URL and post URL tags.)
This will display your image in your post. A popular image hosting provider is www.photobucket.com (http://www.photobucket.com/), they will even put the IMG tags in for you, so you just need to copy and past the URL.
Basic netiquette
Firstly, read the forum guidelines top to bottom. It's a standard rulebook regarding what's an acceptable level of conduct. Beyond that, here are a few do's and don'ts...
DO Proofread your posts for spelling and grammar. Nobody is perfect, but people appreciate literacy.
DO Post topics in appropriate areas. The forum has categories for a reason.
DO look for similar topics before creating a new one.
DON'T write posts in CAPITALS. CAPITALS MEANS YOU ARE SHOUTING. FUTHERMORE, IT'S LAZY.
DON'T use l33t speech. It's hard to read and most forumers have very little tolerance for it.
DON'T use text speak. There is no excuse for it. You have a qwerty keyboard in front of you, not a cellphone keypad.
DON'T double post topics in multiple categories. If you have something important to say, it WILL get noticed despite being posted in only 1 category.
After you finish reading this post, read the forum guidelines before you do anything else. They're stickied in the general section. They're there for a reason. Not only are they there to uphold a certain moral standard, but they are there so that users technically conform to the standard set by Minnesota Paintball Association. Who provides the forum.
I know it's a nuisance reading all the rules, but you may just save yourself embarressment at a later time. There are rules regarding conduct, profanity, buying and selling, spamming, and so on. Be sure to read and understand them, don't be one of the people that get told off because they were too lazy to read them.
Identifying troublesome users
The sad reality is, despite your best efforts to steer clear, and the moderator's best efforts to quell breaches of the forum guidelines, troublesome users do exist on virtually all internet forums. The MNpig forum has never been different. You'll know them under many nicknames, such as troublesome users, problem users, trolls, flamers, whingers, and so on. These are the laymen's terms.
In reality, a troublesome user is somebody who pushes the boundaries of the forum guidelines and of moral behaviour. They are the ones who can be seen putting other people down. Ie- saying that person is stupid, or wrong.
Additionally, they say things clearly meant to insult a person... "Get a life" or "You suck", yet claim they are only joking. Let it be forever known that the usage of smilies to indicate sincerity has never and will never be an exact science. The interpretation of sincerity lies with both the poster and the reader. Not just the poster.
The last key indicator is a person who constantly critisizes things. A person who seldom says anything good or constructive, and must constantly tear down the opinions of others. You may be able to think of more examples of ways to identify troublesome users.
Dealing with troublesome users in a way that doesn't require a moderator
The time tested and best method is to ignore them. Most troublesome users are able to continue being troublesome, because people respond to what they say. It's the old axiom of bullying, or advertising. Ignore it and it usually goes away. Usually.
How to conduct yourself in a manner that conforms to the forum guidelines
Generally speaking, you will conform to the guidelines if you read them and exercise common sense. Unfortunately, for some people, be they plain idiots or just young adults still learning right from wrong.... common sense is in short supply. So here's a few helpful tips to get you started.
* Do not assume that smilies change the intent of the message. The concept of smilie is, you use it, and it implies jest, or joking, or playfulness. However, what is or isn't playful is not an exact science, and it's also open to abuse. Person A may insult person B, insert a smilie, and claim it was a joke. It's NOT a joke if the other person takes offence. By your words you have breached the forum guidelines and you will suffer the penalty.
* Ask yourself, Is my post constructive? or destructive? A constructive post will offer a suggestion for a better outcome next time around, where a destructive post will simply critisize whatever the outcome was.
* Do not assume that people perceive the world on the same levels you do, and treat those levels with respect. For example; this could mean for the youngster, recognising that older people are not into video games. And for the older person, recognising that young people do not have a political stance.
And most important of all, the ethic of reciprocity....
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
And If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Fill In Your Profile
Please take the time to fill in your profile. Click on "User CP" and "Edit profile". There are spots for your name, age, location, interests etc. The reasons for this are threefold,
1. Shows the forum users you are not hiding behind anonymity, and are making yourself accountable to what you say.
2. Allows the forum users to help direct you towards other local players/fields/suppliers.
3. To help mods spot fake accts.
Read guidelines when selling 2nd hand gear
You'll see in the 2nd hand section there are comprehensive guidelines for buying/selling 2nd hand gear. Please read these thoroughly before buying or selling. Paintball markers are air guns, they and compressed air/co2 tanks have certain legal issues associated, that you need to be aware of before buying or selling.
How to post pictures
If you want to post pictures, you need to have them hosted somewhere. You cannot link from your hard drive (Obvious yes, but you'd be amazed how often people make this mistake). Use the image tags on either side of the image URL when making your post. For example, if the image URL was...
www.mnpig.com/title3.jpg (http://www.paintball.co.nz/gui/title3.jpg) you would type,
[ img ]www.mnpig.com/gui/title3.jpg[ (http://www.paintball.co.nz/gui/title3.jpg%5B) /img ]
(Removing the spaces in the pre URL and post URL tags.)
This will display your image in your post. A popular image hosting provider is www.photobucket.com (http://www.photobucket.com/), they will even put the IMG tags in for you, so you just need to copy and past the URL.
Basic netiquette
Firstly, read the forum guidelines top to bottom. It's a standard rulebook regarding what's an acceptable level of conduct. Beyond that, here are a few do's and don'ts...
DO Proofread your posts for spelling and grammar. Nobody is perfect, but people appreciate literacy.
DO Post topics in appropriate areas. The forum has categories for a reason.
DO look for similar topics before creating a new one.
DON'T write posts in CAPITALS. CAPITALS MEANS YOU ARE SHOUTING. FUTHERMORE, IT'S LAZY.
DON'T use l33t speech. It's hard to read and most forumers have very little tolerance for it.
DON'T use text speak. There is no excuse for it. You have a qwerty keyboard in front of you, not a cellphone keypad.
DON'T double post topics in multiple categories. If you have something important to say, it WILL get noticed despite being posted in only 1 category.