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Home page Forum Rules and Usage > Forum Usage Permanent link to this page
 
 
Author Message:
trex1512
Forum Usage
26 April 2007 16:02
Anonymous
Making the most of the Forum

Our Forum can be very active, and many of regular members who have formed a strong online community. There are some simple things you can do to quickly get the information or help that you are looking for from the Forum.

We are keen for you to join us and contribute to keeping our community supportive and enjoyable, and the following tips are drawn from the managers' many years experience of online communities.

Give your post a clear and detailed title. The title is not your introduction; it's an attention-grabber. If your post is called "Do you ever do this?" it will get missed and you'll feel neglected. If you call it "Ever got really drunk and forgotten your password?" you'll meet people with helpful and relevant stories to share. Similarly, a post called "Exams..." is not much help to us, but "Exams coming up, PHP advice please" is much clearer. Write the title last, after you finish your message. That way you can more easily summarise what your message is - this is the point of a title.The title is not your introduction; it's an attention-grabber.

Keep your posts "On Topic" and relevant to the category you are posting in. Don't direct posts to a single person. All posts are there to be read by anyone and everyone. We do not encourage or allow posts called "For Johnny" or "Are you OK Bob".

Picture the guy who's never Googled "CMS" before. When posting and responding please do think before you click about the person on the other side of the city, or the world, who might be reading your posts. Picture someone who has never used a CMS before and has never asked anyone the tricky questions; this is the first time he/she Googles "CMS" and after an hour he stumbles across our Forum. Would your posts scare him off?

Put your Location in your Profile. Update your profile to tell us in what part of the world you live. It will make answering your questions, and understanding your stories much easier. We have members from all around the world. A city, state or country is enough - don't be too specific.

Search! Before you post, hit Search at the top of the screen to see if we have recently discussed your topic - and provided witty and informative answers. Feel free to post a response and bring back to life an old discussion.

Use the Quote function well. If you're responding to a specific part of a long discussion, click the Quote button on the part that you are referring to - THEN don't leave the entire message in your quote - highlight and delete out all but the part you want to refer or respond to. This might take some practice, but please use the function properly.

Share your experience. This is so important it gets a mention in the rules too. The Forum is here for sharing experiences, and sharing things we've learned through our experiences. It is not for telling each other how to live our lives. It is not helpful to cut and paste information out of other websites or books. Add your story, share your challenges. When saying what works or went wrong for you, give us some context - a simple distinction like whether you are a new computer user or a veteran of 30 years, makes for a much better conversation.

Instant gratification. It can be exciting and fulfilling to know the exact answer for someone's random, tricky question. And it can be pretty cool to have a website where your name is up in lights, maybe a thousand times, for all to see. Just have a reflect on the instant gratification you're getting as you hit post. There's no competition to respond to every single message, or contribute every single thought that crosses your mind. Go for quality, considered posts and you'll fast earn respect from the community.

All admin issues, good and bad, direct to the moderators. With technical hitches, log in problems, complaints or constructive criticism about the Forum or Drake CMS Forums in general, please email

Drake CMS. This address is prominently blazed across the top of the Forum so you can't forget it. Posting admin stuff on the Forum is not the best way for us to deal with anything, and disrupts the Forum from doing what it does best.

And above all, be respectful. Kind, thoughtful, considered, funny and reflective will also be tickets to success and fame. Do unto others ... you know the drill. If you want people to help you, or make you laugh, then you'll need to do the same for them.

With technical hitches, log in problems, complaints or constructive criticism about the Forum or Drake CMS Forums in general, please email. All posts are there to be read by anyone and everyone.

Keeping safe

Please read if you are under 18
Everyone needs to be sensible and cautious about sharing information about themselves on the internet. If you are under 18 and using the Drake CMS Forums website, we ask that you and your parents/carers read the following and stick to this advice:

Always ask permission from your parent or carer before you give anyone on the Internet your name or address or any other personal details. This includes the name of your school, your photo or any personal information about your friends and family.

Remember that people you might meet online may not be who they say they are. Someone claiming to be a 12 year old girl could really be a 40 year old man.

If you want to arrange to meet someone you have so far only met online ask a parent or another adult to go with you and always meet in a public place, preferably during the day.

Tell your parents or another adult you trust if you see upsetting language, nasty pictures or something scary on the internet

For more information, visit Chat Danger- how to keep safe in chat rooms.
 
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