Forum Usage Rules & Tips

[anwar]

For the benefit of new users, here are some tips and tricks on using this forum.  

1 ) While attaching photos, please restrict them to the needed information only.  Please avoid posting pictures that are too similar to each other, as hosting them longer term takes up valuable forum storage space.

2 ) If you want to get email notification when new topics are posted in any board, use the "Options" drop-down on the right side while viewing that board, and choose "Notify" from the drop-down menu.

3 ) If you want to post Youtube videos, just paste the normal Youtube link, the forum will automatically do the embedding.  

4 ) Avoid using capital letters too much as it is considered "shouting" on online etiquette. More over, it makes paragraphs much tougher to read.

5 ) Do not "Quote" previous posts unnecessarily, as it is plain duplication... use the "Reply" option instead. Also, if you are trying to answer a specific point from a previous post, quote just one or two relevant lines only from the previous post.

6 ) Do not change the font size, style (like bold, underline etc) or color unnecessarily.  You can change this sparingly to highlight something if absolutely necessary, otherwise post in simple text to help maintain the uniform look and feel of the forum.

7 ) Please refrain from using SMS language/shortcuts on the forum.  Take a few seconds more and write in full sentences... that makes the matter easily readable to everyone. Everyone is interested in READING what you have to say, but NO one is interested in GUESSING what you have to say !

8 ) If you are accessing the forum on a mobile device, you can access a WAP/mobile version by adding "/?imode" or "/?wap" or "/?wap2" to the page URLs. It works in almost everywhere, except a few specific pages (like the "Recent Posts" list, which can be worked around by using the "Unread Posts" link).

9 ) This IS a forum with English as the primary language of communication.  There is nothing wrong with having a limited amount of quotes/sentences here and there which are in other languages, it is quite understandable.  But having entire posts/threads in NON English repeatedly is not something that goes well with the varied nature of the audience of this forum... hence such activity will be discouraged using appropriate means.

10 ) All members are expected to treat others with mutual respect.  Do not take others for granted, even if you feel they are friendly enough, and post anything that may be insulting or hurtful to others, even for fun.  When in doubt, consult with the person whom you may be commenting on before posting something that you see as funny, but may not be the understood the same way by the other party.

11 ) Do not post the same thing in multiple threads.  As people read the forum mostly using "Recent posts" or "Unread Posts", they will see your post regardless of which thread it is in.  Posting the same information in multiple threads IS just unnecessary (and annoying) duplication.

12 ) Do not post topics with confusing/general names such as "Help" or "Help needed" or "For Sale" or "Wanted".  Put a meaningful topic name.  We will delete your topic and ask you to repost otherwise.  This is needed for readability of the forum.  

13) Since spammers are putting non-RC related sites in their signatures, we are adopting a strict policy of NOT allowing any non-RC related web links in member signatures.  Please do not put any non-RC related URLs in your signatures.

14) Creating multiple accounts on the forum will cause all such accounts to be deleted/banned. The only exception is for store owners who wish to maintain separate accounts for personal and professional/store use.

More... as needed !

[anwar]

Now you can "Bookmark" topics that are of interest to you.  While viewing a thread, just use the "Topic Tools" drop-down menu from the top right, and choose "Add Bookmark".

You can view and manage all your bookmarks from the "My Bookmarks" option in "Quick Links" sub-menu from the main menu.

[anwar]

One more thing to note..

Please be careful about the spelling of subject/heading of new topics (i.e. "topic names") when you start new threads.  Since the subject is used to create the URL (web link), any spelling mistake will cause the link to be ranked lowed in search engine rankings (like on Google and Bing), and also in local searches on rcindia.org itself .  This will prevent others from reaching the topic you started, when they start looking for the useful information you have already posted.

So please be extgra careful about the spelling of topics you start.

[anwar]

4 ) Avoid using capital letters too much as it is considered "shouting" on online etiquette More over, it makes paragraphs much tougher to read.

Here is Google pitching in on the "all caps" (a.k.a. "online shouting") issue :

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/12/google-wants-to-take-your-caps-lock-away/

[anwar]

Wanted to remind everyone about item [5] in the list above    Despite my suggesting this earlier multiple times, people are un-necessarily using the "Quote" option, instead of just using the "Reply" or "Quick Reply" options. 

So once again, please do not quote if you are responding to the LAST post in a thread.  Even otherwise, do not quote the whole of the previous post, just quote what you are responding it.  If someone write 5 lines in a post, and you want to quote/discuss one of those 5 lines, then quote just that !

It might be my earlier association with writing software, that I have become obsessed with following certain common sense rules in such matters (like intending and commenting source code).  I hate the fact that certain threads on forums like RCUniverse are totally unreadable because of the large amounts of quoted texts (and nested quotes, which are even worse!).  Currently I am having to edit many posts to get rid of the wanted quotes... which are, simply put, blatant duplicates which only serve to lengthen the threads, especially when someone reads the whole thread later on

Please note this going forward, and help me keep this forum "clean" !

If you see "Last edited by anwar" below any of your posts, 99% of the time you have quoted UNNECESSARILY

[anwar]

Item [9] added in the first post regarding use of non-English languages. 

Idi Amin ki jai !