Sorry im a bit lazy so heres the whole thing.
Behavior and Etiquette
Jump in and Post!
If you’re new to our community, it may seem intimidating to jump in and start posting publicly. Don’t be afraid to join, or start, a discussion. New people are always welcome here. We have a very supportive community that serves up heavy doses of encouragement and enthusiasm, while taking pride in its inclusiveness. While we hope that you will become an active participant and join in discussions, you’re welcome, of course, to simply hang out and observe threads until you feel more comfortable making a post.
Keep feedback constructive.
All feedback on the game is appreciated as long as it is constructive. Keep it straightforward and include examples and facts when applicable. For example, “This game is ****!” or “This game is dying!” is not constructive feedback. “I am way annoyed with the following things about the game and here’s why…” is constructive and useful to us. The best way to get your opinions recognized is not to be abusive or offensive, but to be constructive and communicate in a mature fashion.
Keep feedback high-quality.
Please avoid frivolous and duplicate postings. Threads to announce that the servers are up (after a downtime), for example, or threads made just because you want to be the “first post” in a newly created section of the board, are not quality postings and cause us extra work to remove.
Respect the opinions of others.
Often arguments can’t be won, so if you have a contrasting opinion, please state it simply and clearly. If necessary, agree to disagree with others who may have differing opinions. When discussions turn to long, hostile arguments, the thread will be closed or removed. Sometimes people can write something that you may find offensive, but before launching into a public condemnation, please consider that the person may not have intended to cause offense. It is very easy to misinterpret a post on forums. There is absolutely no need to resort to insults. Respect others' views even if you disagree with them.
Also, do not dismiss other players by calling them “whiners”, “fanbois”, or other derogatory terms, or suggesting that they “just quit”. This is not constructive.
“Write conservatively, read forgivingly.” Text messages can be prone to misunderstanding because it can be difficult to guess the writer’s intent. It’s best to be conservative with sarcasm when writing, and assume good intent when reading.
Remember the Human.
The other people on this forum are real people, and PlaneShift developers, moderators, and Game Masters are people too. They have feelings. Please respect those people - they are here to help you.
Personal Disputes.
Please do not use these forums for personal disputes, heated debates, flame wars, etc. You are expected to treat each other with respect in the forums and take any personal disputes to a private mode of discussion off the forums. If you should find that your discussion is becoming too heated or someone is becoming far too passionate about their argument, please take the discussion to private message or email.
If you're having a problem keeping your temper under control, get it under control, or post somewhere else. It's supposed to be fun. It's not combat. It's not necessary for it to become personal. If you want to point out an error, that's fine, but please find a way to do it that isn't the written equivalent of an eye-roll.
Have Patience.
All the participants of this forum are using the forum and participating in discussions on their own time. If you post a question and no one responds, you shouldn't take it personally. If someone knows, they'll contribute. If they don't, they won't.
Be gentle with the Wayfarers.
Remember, everyone was a beginner at one time! We don't want people to feel intimidated. Some may appear on the forum before having read these guidelines, so give people a break if they don't yet know the intricacies of forum etiquette. Even if a poster repeatedly misses etiquette tips, give him or her the benefit of doubt and don't let your irritation own you.
If you don't have the patience to point them politely toward the posting guidelines, please ignore them and let somebody who does have patience answer them.
Smile Sparingly.
One of the first common sense lessons is that text communication lacks the intonations that express emotions in voice communication. This can cause problems and confusion for many people, until they discover good use of emoticons, or smileys. While it can add color and express conversation more poignantly, they aren't absolutely necessary and can be used to excess, annoying those that have mastered them (as well as slowing page load times). Simple rule here: If adding an emoticon doesn't improve the clarity of what you are trying to communicate, then it doesn’t. If what you have written can be taken more than one way by the reader, by all means, clarify with an appropriate emoticon. ‘Tis better to give a real smile by your wise posting than any .gif image.
For Effective Communication, Try English.
This includes proper grammar, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and word usage. Not everyone enjoys writing as if in an English class all the time, but it's true. English is such a complex and colorful language that it is entirely too easy to be misunderstood even when spoken, and more so when written without inflection. This is also a matter of respecting your intended audience, and garnering respect for yourself and your own intelligence. If your post reads like a phone text message, you may want to go over it again or risk coming off as lazy and uncaring. If your difficulties are due to English not being your native language, state it openly. You will find that most folks will be glad to help out anyone willing to learn… and slam anyone that should know better but is too lazy to even try.
Ignore Spammers.
Spam is a blight upon the face of the net. Nobody likes it. However, it is hard to avoid. Despite our best efforts, you will occasionally see spam within the PlaneShift forum. If you feel the need to flame the spammer, don't do it publically. Complaining about spam in public increases noise, but not signal. It may make you feel better, but it doesn't help. So report the spam to make sure it finds the exit quietly, and with whatever remains of grace it can salvage.
Do not flame the staff.
They have the final say. This forum isn't a democracy. Your vote doesn't always count. They try to please everyone they can, but in the end, they're charged with making this community as enjoyable for as many people as they possibly can. They can not always be right, nor can they please everyone with the decisions made, but they're doing their "jobs" and hopefully we can all agree that they're doing their bests to ensure a good community here. Even if you despise authority and curse down the highest ranking official in your national government, let it be known that senseless acts of lack of respect will not be tolerated.
If you feel that an egregious oversight has been made, then please PM any of the forum administrators: Acraig, Vengeance, or Talad. Do not post complaints on the forum.
This last one is strictly personal. You are posting problems and asking complete strangers to solve them with no expectation of reward other than the satisfaction of knowing we helped. Hey - that's what we're here for and we're happy to do it. Still, as is the case with pretty much everything we do in life, an occasional "please" and "thank you" won't hurt and are really nice to hear.
