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The International Simutrans Forum Rules and Guidelines - explained version

Started by IgorEliezer, February 20, 2010, 09:53:58 PM

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IgorEliezer

The International Simutrans Forum Rules and Guidelines - explained version

If you need more explanations about forum rules and guidelines or anything is not clear enough, the text below may be helpful. It will explain each item of Simutrans Forum Rules and Guidelines and shows you recommendations that you can follow for a better participation in the community:


1. "The International Simutrans Forum is the official community of "Simutrans transportation simulator" and has the goal of gathering developers and fans to discuss, develop and publish Simutrans" - This states what this forum is for. Keep in mind too that we are a community where people help each other, voluntarily on their free time. Here is not a personal space nor a place where private support is given.


2. "13 years-old is the minimum age required to become a member of the community" - We do have to take some precautions to try and discourage it. We think that members should have a minimal maturity in order to fit into culture of our community.

We had a lot of troubles with children that sign up and don't behave adequately (start to spam, multiple posts in a row, posting on wrong boards, harsh posts and so on) and keep doing so even after several warnings and punishments (punishments are needed when warnings no longer work).


3.a. "be nice and respect other members, as well as their opinions and works" - Please keep posts friendly. Please do not flame your fellow forum members. Please refrain from making personal attacks. Please don't attack the ideas that your fellow forum members have. Constructive criticism is welcome; attacks are not.

Please refrain from objectionable subjects. We listed some discouraged subjects below:

- The subject of military technology is generally discouraged in Simutrans. First, it is a transportation simulator; second, many contributors come from countries and philosophies that discourage military (e.g. Germany and Japan as two examples of many). (Note: There may be military add-ons for Simutrans, but they will never be added to the main paksets);

- The subject of nuclear technology is generally discouraged in Simutrans. This is a controversial subject for many people. (Note: There are some nuclear add-ons; again, they will never be official. At this time, they are tolerated along with other add-ons, but at some point in the future may be separated);

- The subject of politics should be taken with care. Part of the reason we have been able to build a friendly community is precisely because we typically set politics aside. There may be room in the future for a section of the forum that would be highly moderated to discuss such topics, but that time has not arrived. Discussion of certain things is tolerated, such as elections in a particular country.

:idea: Tip: If you are saying something that might offend others, consider refraining.

- The subject of religion is the least discouraged of these topics. It does seem that there are many who are not at all sensitive to the subject, and it doesn't seem to have come up in the forum very often.


3.b. "not offer by any way offensive, harmful or hateful content" - We discourage members from posting material that could disturb or offend the community. Please, do not post any material which is false, defamatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy. This rule applies to posts, avatars, user names, signatures, profiles, attachments or any forum tool and resource.


3.c. "not post and link copyrighted material without permission" - this is a legal issue: respect copyrights of any material, belonging to the community or not. Give credits if original author required it. Do not post someone else's work as your own; this is plagiarism, which will not be tolerated.


3.d. "follow rules and guidelines created for the forum, boards and community's activities" - Rules and guidelines exist to protect the community as well as their activities and works. Besides the rules and guidelines created for whole forum, there are other rules and guidelines that were created for specific boards (examples: Help Request, Bug Reports and Extension Request boards) and community's activities (example: competitions, translations). They exist because they facilitate the processing of forum activities, as well as board moderators, project leaders, developers and other members in charge want to keep track and control of their works.

:idea: Tip: rules and guidelines for boards and activities are in sticky topics and have a "[Guideline]" tag in topic title.


3.e. "not behave like, act or impersonate Administrators and Moderators" - Administrators and Moderators are fully capable of moderating the forum, so there is no point you behaving like one. Reminding kindly others of the rules is okay, but do not try to pretend to be a moderator or administrator of forum, not even order a member how to behave. You may be banned for it.

Please, do not ask moderators and administrators to lock a topic, delete a post, punish a user, or do other administrative action. If you see someone is causing any trouble, report rule-breaking post by clicking on "Report to moderator" on post's footer. Please, do not post about it on the forum itself, trying to call everybody's attention will not help at all.


4.a. "post in correct and appropriate sections/boards of forum" - Please, keep the forum friendly, useful and easy to navigate for everyone, including for you. Keep in mind that this forum is not a chat where you can talk about anything anywhere at any time.

This forum has sections and boards (also known as "forums") for each activity, this makes any post or material be easy to be found. Otherwise, the forum would be a big mess and most of posts would be lost. For instance: If you want to ask for a help, post in Help Request. If you have an idea, use Extension Request board. If it is about a specific pakset, use correspondent pakset board. This topic introduces you how the forum works: Introduce yourself to the community.

:idea: Tip: Read and follow forum board description before posting. The forum board descriptions are just under forum board name.




4.b. "only post one idea or issue per topic" - Please, search before you post to see if a topic with the subject of your interest already exists. If the topic already exists, consider posting on it. Besides, if you ask a question that was answered a lot of times before, it may make you look like a dumb.


4.c. "make your topic titles descriptive showing what the topic is treating" - Please, use meaningful topic titles. Make your topic titles descriptive so that readers may know what is in the topic before opening it. This makes the search and the support really easier for everyone else, including for you.


4.d. "try to keep posts generally on-topic" - It is acceptable to make off-topic posts. However, in general, it is much better to try and keep a topic on-topic. If you would like to reply to a post with an off-topic reply, here is the recommended procedure:

      1. Click the "Quote" button/link to start a reply with the appropriate post.
      2. Trim down the quote to the relevant portion
      3. Copy all the text to the clipboard
      4. Click the "Home" link in the top menu
      5. Navigate to the appropriate board
      6. Start a new topic, and paste the quote, then your reply.
      :exclaim: NOTE: The quote will have a link that will point to the original topic, and so interested members can see the original topic; but this will allow the new topic to take off and not interfere with the original topic.

Silly replies are tolerated if they do not derail a topic. However, a moderator may have to split multiple such replies off and move them to an appropriate place.


4.e. "double-post only to add new and useful information that otherwise can be missed" - Double-posting is defined as making a post when your previous post is the last post on a topic. Please avoid double-posting if 24 hours have not passed; always prefer to modify () your last post and make it as comprehensive as possible.

However, it is acceptable to double-post if you are adding new and useful information that other people might miss if you just edit a post, such as: new details for debugging or development purposes, announcement of releases and updates, attachment of files, and sufficiently long posts with actual content. On the other hand, if the post seems you are begging attention, trying to rush people or it could be easily added in your last post without harm to the discussion, a moderator will likely be forced to merge your posts. The persistence will be considered spam.


4.f. "do not spam" - Spams are unwanted messages. If someone signs up for a forum account with the only purpose of advertising a site, game or anything that is not related to Simutrans, it is considered as spam. This forum was created for people who want to participate in Simutrans Community, not to be used as advertising space.

Also, excessive pointless posts are considered spam as well. If a member start posting lots of posts that don't add anything to the discussions, an administrator or moderator may ask such member to stop.


4.g. "write properly and in understandable way" - This forum is an international community, people from many places around the world visit this forum. Most of them use automatic translators which are incapable of translating texts that contain slangs and bad writing.

We recommend you use proper capitalization, punctuation and correct spelling (occasional mistakes are okay). When a discussion depends on a clear understanding, avoid l33tspeak, excessive Internet acronyms and text abbreviations. It is almost impossible to help a member if he writes a message hard to decipher.

We have English language as main language of the forum. On the other hand, we have sections of this forum dedicated to other languages. You may write in any language you choose in any board, as long as you also include the proper translation on the language of that board. If you are still unsure, you may provide an alternative translation, in English preferentially.

Posts with abusive use of colors, bold, CAPS LOCK, font size and any other kind of text formatting make the reading difficult. Posts overpopulated with smileys are annoying too. Please, avoid making long and unnecessarily quotes, specially from a post that is just above yours. Why should people read an entire post again?

Also, do not try to make your topic or post more important than everybody else's, this includes topic and post titles.

:exclaim: Most important thing: follow instructions that administrators and moderators give you.

IgorEliezer

1st Amendment: Changes the double-post rule - explained version

Was:
Quote4.e. "do not double-post (posting two times in a row in the same thread) within 24 hours" - Please do not double-post. Double-posting is defined as making a post when your previous post is the last post on a topic. Instead of double-posting, please edit/modify your last post instead.

The official exception to the double-posting restriction is that if twenty-four hours have passed and you are adding significant new information, it is acceptable to double-post in such a case. However, if you are not adding significant new information, or twenty-four hours have not passed, a moderator will likely be forced to merge your posts.

Now:
Quote4.e. "double-post only to add new and useful information that otherwise can be missed" - Double-posting is defined as making a post when your previous post is the last post on a topic. Please avoid double-posting if 24 hours have not passed; always prefer to modify () your last post and make it more comprehensive as possible.

However, it is acceptable to double-post if you are adding new and useful information that other people might miss if you just edit a post, such as: new details for debugging or development purposes, announcement of releases and updates, attachment of files, and sufficiently long posts with actual content. On the other hand, if the post seems you are begging attention, trying to rush people or it could be easily added in your last post without harm to the discussion, a moderator will likely be forced to merge your posts. The persistence will be considered spam.