Forum Guidelines

Do not abuse other members. This includes flaming, swearing, humiliating or mocking other users. The moderation
team will not tolerate this on any level.

If you are distressed or offended by inappropriate language please inform us immediately via the Practitioner contact form.

Search before creating a thread. You could be creating a duplicate of a thread which has already been created, such as a
server release or a tutorial. This rule may be overlooked depending on the quality of your thread.

o not spam. Simple replies such as 'lol' or 'ty u' or anything like that will be considered as spam and you will most likely
be warned. In addition to this rule, any posts which don't relate to the topic being discussed or a post which doesn't help a
user's problem, will also be treated as spam.

Post in the correct section.

Do not double/triple/quadruple post. One post is enough, if you have something else to say just edit your last post instead
of double posting (if there's a post after your last post that's fine, what we mean is don't create another post if the last
post was posted by you).

Don't hijack a thread. This means don't change the original topic of a thread to fix your problems. Stick to the topic at
hand, if you have a problem then make a thread for it, don't use someone else's.

Search before posting. There may already be a thread created about a similar problem you have, so search the forums instead of cluttering it up by making multiple threads on the same problem.

Keep your messages short - if you want to write an essay put it on a web page or somewhere else where people can look at it if they choose, then send a short message to the forum announcing it.
 
Only reply if you have something new to add - don't send messages just saying "I agree with Fred" or similar - unless Fred is isolated and really needs support. Silence is generally taken to imply agreement!

Reply to the forum not to the sender of the message - messages to a discussion forum are intended for public discussion. You should always reply to the forum unless you have something personal and private to say to the sender.

If you are introducing a new topic choose a new subject line that makes the subject of your message clear to all.

Be thoughtful and generous in your response to other people's messages - try to consider what might be useful in what they
are trying to say even if you disagree with it. Some would say this is the most important guideline of all!

Never be rude or dismissive about someone's messages - if you have any complaints about other people's behaviour take it up with the forum moderator rather than trying to deal with it yourself. Being rude or dismissive leads to "flaming". Even if it
doesn't, it makes lots of forum participants very uncomfortable, not only the person you are being rude about!

Always sign your messages - please add your name at the end of your message, in the way you would normally introduce
yourself. This helps to make the discussion friendly, since people can then say "I agree with Fred that . . . " or "Hello Fred, thanks for your useful comment. My own view is that . . . " This is particularly important if your name isn't clear from your email address.

About "quoting" in replies to the forum

A common practice in newsgroups, forums, email discussion lists is "quoting" - you include part of the previous person's
message and then reply to it. This is helpful in providing context for your reply but its often overdone and can be irritating, for example:

  You quote the whole of the last message;
  Then the next person quotes the whole of your new message including the whole of the earlier one that you quoted;
  The next person quotes all of both messages . . .

You can easily see how this might escalate!

In ordinary email, some people always quote the message they are replying to. This is a matter of taste but please don't do
it in the Forum. Here are some basic guidelines for "quoting":

Only quote when its necessary - often the meaning and context of your message are clear without any quotes

Don't quote the whole message - it may be quicker and easier for you but remember several hundred people may be reading your message, if you want them to pay attention to you and your ideas, an extra few minutes to help them will be time well invested;

Never put the whole of the prior message at the beginning or end of your message, this is never necessary and just adds more traffic to the networks, file space for anyone who wants to keep the messages for posterity, and no value whatever.

Don't relay whole texts from outside the forum to the forum (including messages from other lists or private messages you
receive). Quote selectively from outside texts in the context of a relevant discussion, and tell the forum where to find the
original text or the discussion forum where it originated.

Quoting messages outside the forum

The author of a message sent to the discussion forum is the copyright owner of that message but by posting it in a publicly
accessible forum has effectively placed it in the public domain. Our understanding is that anyone can subsequently quote from any message, but should state:

  * who was the author
  * the date
  * where it was published

Example:

  "The moon is made from yellow cheese" (Joe Bloggs, 31 February 2009, VCDT Online discussion forum)

Care should be taken not to quote out of context in a misleading way. For example if Joe Bloggs actually said:

  "It's as crazy as saying that the moon is made from green cheese"

it would be very misleading to quote him as saying:. . . the moon is made from green cheese"

Signature blocks

We ask that participants "sign" their messages with their usual name (for example "Best wishes, Fred Bloggs", see above) and there is no objection to adding a short "signature block", for example:

  Best wishes,

  Joe Bloggs
  VCDT Practitioner
  joe@joebloggs.co.uk
  www.joebloggs.co.uk

However please don't make your signature block much longer than this and please don't add irrelevant material, especially
advertising copy, clever formatting etc. All this does is increase the traffic level on the network and the forum server - if you want to impress people with your understanding and know-how, the best way to is through the relevant content of your
messages!

Note, the above are not intended as "hard and fast" rules. Common sense should prevail.

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