10 Things You Should Never Do When Using a Forum

Just as there are suggestions outlining what you should do when participating in a forum, there are also rules about what you should not do. Following the Community Guidelines and the suggestions below will likely generate good responses from other members and provide you with a pleasant experience.

1. Never post profanity in any fashion including implied profanity, abbreviations or lingo text suggesting profanity. You know what that is - and so do the moderators.

2. Never 'hi-jack' another member's thread. If you have an issue that needs to be resolved, create a new topic rather than posting your issue in an existing thread. Of course, if you wish to contribute to an ongoing thread with a similar experience to the main topic, then please do so.

3. Never post any personal information in your public message. This includes full name, phone number, email address, etc. If the community has a Private Messaging system, observe the same cautions there as well. The majority of participants in a community forum are good people; however, there are a few scoundrels out there. Be careful!

4. Never overuse the quote option if available. Some communities allow you to insert another person's post into your reply as a quote. If you are directly responding to the latest post, there is no need to quote it. When the quote option is overused, the new text becomes lost in the numerous quotes included in the post.

5. Never 'bump' your message with a new empty post just to bring it up in board placement. Remember, the community members are volunteers and will help if and when they can.

6. Never post advertising or links to advertising and do not use the community as a platform to promote your own agenda such as soliciting members to join an online petition, contribute to a social media site, etc. These posts will be quickly removed.

7. Never plagiarize. Often it is helpful to post content from another member or source. If you do this, be sure to give the original author or source credit for the information.

8. Never get involved with name calling and personal attacks. While most communities encourage debates and discussions, they would like it to be carried out in a climate of mutual respect.

9. Never go off on a wild rant. Most communities will allow members to express their displeasure over a product or service. If yours is a case of dissatisfaction, post the relevant issue while avoiding stating the same issue over and over. Avoid off-color remarks and any content that is unrelated. Most people don't want to respond to a 'madman.'

10. Never argue with the moderator in public. The vast majority of moderators are trained to place their personal feelings aside and evaluate each message post according to the Terms of Service and User Guidelines. Generally, if a moderator needs to edit or remove your post, the moderator will send you a note as to why the action was taken and cite the guideline involved. If you feel your comments were misinterpreted, then by all means contact the moderator privately and explain.

Remember, The First Amendment does not apply here, so don't bother going down that road. When you registered for the community, you agreed to abide by the guidelines when posting messages.

Respecting the Community Guidelines and the other forum members makes for a productive and enjoyable experience for everyone.