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Posting Netiquette

What's Posting Netiquette anyway? Here are some posting tips for those who may not be familiar with Netiquette (Net Etiquette) or how to post a message in our forums. (Collected from various locations on the Internet.)

  • From http://web.archive.org/ (site.aol.com)
  • Lurk. Read the newsgroup without posting for a while if possible. This is known as "lurking," and it will give you the flavor of the newsgroup.
  • Read the FAQ. Find and read the newsgroup's FAQ, or other list of Frequently Asked Questions and other important and useful information. It can answer questions you didn't even know you had, and it's the quickest way to learn about a newsgroup or forum.
  • Stay on-topic. Know what's on-topic and what's off-limits. Every newsgroup is a little different in what it talks about, and how it does the talking.
  • DON'T SHOUT. TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING. It's easier to read a mix of upper and lower-case letters.
  • Never, ever post "MAKE MONEY FAST." It doesn't work, it gets people really mad, and no matter what it says, it's probably illegal. (Subject to immediate removal from TreeWalk's forums and newsgroups.)
  • Everyone hates commercials. Be very hesitant about posting advertisements or commercial messages. This also gets people really mad. (Subject to immediate removal from TreeWalk's forums and newsgroups.)
  • Ignore "trolls." Some people get a thrill from posting "flames" (really obnoxious messages) just to get a rise out of people. Sad, isn't it? (Subject to immediate removal from TreeWalk's forums and newsgroups.)
  • Don't "spam". spam is posting the same message to dozens, even hundreds or thousands of unrelated newsgroups. No matter how important you think your message may be, it's not worth it. Think about it - if everyone posted about every topic, no one would be able to find anything. (Subject to immediate removal from TreeWalk's forums and newsgroups.)
  • Be Original. Don't overquote: Copying a long post (more than 20 lines) just to add "I agree" or "me too" is considered bad form.
  • The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember, every expert was a newbie once.

Unsuitable language is also subject to immediate removal from TreeWalk's forums and newsgroups.

Top-posting. Why should I place my response below the quoted text?
From http://web.archive.org/ (allmyfaqs.com)
Usually, the reading-flow is from left to right and from top to bottom, and people expect a chronological sequence similar to this. Especially people who are reading a lot of articles (and who therefore would qualify as the ideal person to answer your question) appreciate it if they can read at first the text to which you are referring. The quoted text is some kind of help to remember the topic, which of course will not work, if you place the quoted text below your response.

Furthermore, that's the standard. This may sound as a weak argument, but since people are not used to reading the other way around, they have no idea what you are referring to and have to go back and forth between the referenced articles, have to jump between different articles and so on. In short - reading the article becomes more and more difficult - for people who read many articles it is reason enough to skip the entire article, if the context is not obvious.

And besides: doesn't it look stupid to first get the answer and then see the question? (Aside from Jeopardy, of course.)

Furthermore, you (yes: You) save a lot of time using this way of quoting: You do not need to repeat what the person you refer to wrote, in order to show the context. You just place your comment after the text you wish to comment upon, and everybody immediately knows what you refer to. Also, you realize which text you are *not* responding to and can delete these parts.

So: using this technique you save time, your readers don't have to waste time, you save bandwidth and disk-space. Isn't it great what you can achieve by such simple means?

Multi and cross-posting
From http://web.archive.org/ (physci.org)
Sometimes it is not clear which group a question belongs in, so the poster sends it to two (or more) separate groups. This is known as multi-posting and is very counterproductive, as it causes different threads to develop on those different groups. There are other good reasons not to multi-post, but instead to restrict your post to a single group, or alternately cross-post it.

Having said that, don't cross-post either. Only people who already understand the scope and nature of the groups should consider cross-posting, and even then should only do so on rare occasions. In a nutshell, if you have any doubt that a message should be cross-posted, don't!

If you have any other questions about how to enjoy our forums, please ask in the "General Discussion" group (ntc.discussion). We hope to see you there!

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