Tweet
Forum Guidelines (Please do) – The Etiquette Guide
- It’s a good idea to read through the topic listings on the site, keeping an eye open for new, interesting topics and other participant’s comments, before getting involved in the discussion yourself.
- Before starting a new topic, check if there is already a topic open on the subject. If so, contribute to it there.
- Use descriptive titles for new posts. Avoid vague titles like ‘Help’ or ‘Question’. You will receive a better response to your posts by being more specific or descriptive about the content of your post.
- Once you’ve left your comment, keep an eye on the forum to see what other people have to say.
- Always respect the views of other participants even if they don’t agree with you. Remember that contributions to forums are personal opinions and should be considered as such.
- Be constructive. It’s okay to disagree with other posters; in fact, we encourage debate. Try to be interesting and stimulating – and provocative and controversial at times, where appropriate. Agree to disagree, maybe, at times but just try to steer towards a positive exchange; that is all the forum team asks of you.
- Always keep things civil. We recognize that this can be difficult at times, especially when you are passionate about an issue, but it is important to keep the discussion focused on the issue rather than letting it deteriorate into a battle of wills.
- Refrain from making contentious or quarrelsome entries and ignore other members who appear intent on quarrelling. They will soon be spotted by the moderating panel and advised accordingly.
- If you feel that someone has insulted you or violated any rules or guidelines, report their comment to the forum administration. Avoid replying to the offending post since this is likely to be seen as if you want a dispute. The administration will look at the offensive comment and take appropriate action – its removal if necessary.
- Lend a helping hand. Some of us are real computer experts and feel at home using social media and online networks. Others are newcomers or too old to catch up with the new media. If you can, please offer some help.
- Do not be afraid to share. If you’re not sure about the information you see within the forum, share that feeling. We need you to communicate about Thai news etc.. in order to maximise its relevance and value.
- When newcomers arrive, say “hi” and welcome them. Help new members to ‘learn the ropes’ about how to find information and resources and how to get involved.
- Stay on topic. This forum has been created for the specific purpose of enabling members to discuss and debate the topic as titled. Off-topic posts may be deleted at the moderator’s discretion.
- Turn off the ‘CAPS LOCK’. Writing in ALL CAPS is the equivalent of SHOUTING and can cause offence. Do use CAPS occasionally, though, in order to give special emphasis to the odd word or two – NOT THE ODD LINE OR TWO! And, as you can see, it’s also harder to read.
- Avoid using abbreviations, acronyms or text talk (e.g. LOL, FWIW, etc) which, whilst meaning something to you, may well be meaningless to others. By sticking to plain and proper English, more people will understand the points you are trying to make. Your entry should read like a brief essay or news report – not like a phone-text message.
- In consideration of readers’ time, try hard to limit your posts to 10 lines or less. Some of us have daytime jobs and moderators will edit or remove entries that are too long.
- Choose one discussion topic under which you would like to post each of your unique comments. Don’t cut and paste the same comment into several discussion topics. These will be considered duplicates and may be removed.
- Avoid ‘trolling’. Trolls intentionally incite annoyance or offence, either by insults or pointless nit-picking of user comments. They add no value to the debate and, if spotted, will be excluded permanently from further forum use.
- Avoid bullying, harassing or threatening other participants. If another participant proffers an opinion that you don’t agree with, you have no right to demand (a) that they support their position with a detailed argument or (b) that they respond to your questions. It is up to each individual to participate in the forum as much or as little as they wish. Let freedom and respect be all users’ watchwords.
- Please respect the moderators and administrators. Their job is to keep the forum safe and constructive so that everybody gets to have his or her fair say.
- Do not post personal information about another forum user. This Includes identifying any individual by their real name if they have not already done so or provided personal contact information.
- Don’t defame anyone or any organisation. A comment is defamatory if it lowers or harms the reputation of a person or organisation. If you wish to accuse someone of committing a crime or being an idiot this is not the place to do it.
- Don’t defame, insult or threaten the King of Thailand or any member of the Thai royal family, whether living or deceased or criticize the monarchy as an institution.
- Don’t post anything that could be considered intolerant of a person’s race, culture, appearance, gender, sexual preference, religion or age.
- Don’t use obscene or vulgar language. Lots of people from different backgrounds participate in forums. We want our users to be able to do so from home, work, school, university or wherever they may be. Disguising swear words by deliberately misspelling them doesn’t make them any less offensive.
- Don’t personally insult or harass other participants – ‘flaming’ in forum jargon. Always focus on the logic of the argument rather than the individuals involved in the argument. Users are entitled to choose not to enter into a debate with you.
- Don’t post links to any inappropriate, offensive or illegal material or to any website, username or entity that is deemed to be in breach of rules 1-6 above. Inappropriate content is anything that may offend or is not relevant to the discussion.
- No advertising or links to advertising or “Spam” is permitted. Advertising or Spam is defined as posting a link for the purpose of selling, soliciting, or promoting by someone that has ownership or other “vested interest” to the website involved, including efforts to promote other online forums or websites by website owners.
- If you are a website owner and have a link that you consider may be of interest to the forum, please submit it to our admin team and we will review your submission. Such links must be appropriate and abide by rules 1-6 or they will not be approved.
- Don’t use multiple usernames. Posting under multiple user accounts will result in the banning of any offenders.
- Avoid usernames consisting of trademarks, company names, website names, or obscenities.
- Don’t post copyrighted material, unless with the consent of the owner and accepting that "The Virtual Worlds Travel Network LLC" disclaimer applies.
- No cryptic posts. Using cryptic messages to ‘skirt’ the rules is contrary to the essence of the forum and not permitted.
- Don’t post offline personal contact information (e.g. your home address, phone numbers, etc.) and do not ask for personal information from others. This is to protect your security and identity.
Comment