| WHAT's GOOD | |
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Letter Format
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1. An optional greeting, followed by a blank line.
2. Paragraphs of reasonable length, each separated by a blank line. 3. A optional salutation at the bottom, separated from the body of the report by a blank line. |
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Standard Punctuation
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We all learned this in elementary school, and in the Forum it generally amounts to putting commas between phrases and periods at the end of sentences.
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Standard Capitalization
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Again, we all went to elementary school, and we all know that you should capitalize the first letter of sentences, names of people, places, streets, cities, countries, names of races and religions, etc.
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General Politeness
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This reminds me of the old saying about pornography "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it". The same holds true for recognizing uncivil behavior: "General Politeness" just means referring to other Members with a minimal level of civility.
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| WHAT'S NOT GOOD | ||||
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NO Chatroom Style Writing
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Please do not write in chatroom style with no capital letters or punctuation.
The Forum is not a chat room, it's a permanent archive of travel reports. |
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NO Chatroom Abbreviations |
Please refrain from using the following or similar chatroom abbreviations:
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NO Weird Punctuation |
Please refrain from using any of the following writing abnormalities:
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NO Writing In All Proper Case |
Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless. |
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NO Writing in all CAPS |
THIS IS THE INTERNET EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING, IT'S DIFFICULT TO READ, AND IT'S SIMPLY NOT NECESSARY UNLESS YOU ARE EITHER LAZY OR AN EGOMANIAC. |
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NO Writing in Regional or Ancient Dialects |
Please do not compose your reports in regional or ancient dialects such as..
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NO Links to Competing Forums |
I think this may come as a surprise to some members, but you may not use my forum to promote competing forums. This includes MSN, Delphi, Google, or Yahoo groups. |
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NO Telephone Numbers |
Telephone Numbers are not permitted in the Forum at any time or for any reason.
Please use the Forum's Private Messaging system to provide telephone numbers to other Forum Members. FYI: This limitation is necessary due to a few persons who have in the past abused the Forum by posting bogus reports including telephone numbers of innocent third parties (typically ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, etc.) for the sole purpose of causing problems for these individuals. |
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NO Email Addresses |
Email addresses are not permitted in the Forum at any time or for any reason.
Please use the Forum's Private Messaging system if you wish to contact another Forum Member. FYI: This limitation is necessary to maintain the integrity of the Forum's Private Message system as a Subscription Membership benefit. |
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NO Personally Identifying Information |
Please do not post any member's Personally Identifying Information, as follows:
The following items constitute Personally Identifying Information and will be deleted.
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NO Banned Words |
The words "Whore", "Bitch" and "Cunt" are not allowed because these words are commonly used to denigrate women, and that's not what this website is all about.
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NO Safe Sex Complaints |
No Safe Sex Complaints Forum Members wishing to criticize other Members for not following what they consider to be safe sex procedures may do so only in the Safe Sex Thread. Members may not comment upon, criticize or confront other members on this subject in the general discussion threads. Any such "safe sex complaints" posted in the general discussion threads will be deleted without comment. However...
No Safe Sex Bragging Members may not repeatedly post about or otherwise taunt other Members regarding their refusal to follow safe sex procedures. Specifically, references to having sex without a condom may be made only by incidental reference and shall not be the focus of any report. Such "safe sex taunting" reports will be deleted without comment. If you want to criticize another member for not following what you consider to be safe sex practices, then send him a PM. It does no good to criticize members for not following what other members may consider to be safe sex practices for the following reasons: 1. It never serves to change any one's behavior. 2. It's a disincentive for members to contribute. 3. It almost always leads to arguments. 4. It provides a "cover" for Serial Antagonists to provoke other members. To address the usual arguments: 1. If a guy wants to engage in sex without using a condom, that's his risk and his business. 2. If a girl wants to engage in sex without using a condom, that's her risk and her business. 3. If YOU want to protect yourself from either or both of the aforementioned parties, then YOU should use a condom for sex all the time and thus YOU will be protected from the allegedly unsafe sex practices of the other parties. |
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NO Grand Goodbyes |
Public resignations AKA "Grand Goodbye" posts are not permitted, largely because these posts are generally nothing more than a public "Kiss Off" from Serial Antagonists who are trying to stir up one final round of trouble before they switch to another alias.
Any Forum Members posting a public declaration that they are resigning from The Forum will have their membership status changed to "Retired Member" which will result in the immediate loss of all posting and Private Message privileges. |
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NO SPAM |
Spam is defined as postings to the Forum that are contrary to the purpose of the site, including:
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Compliance |
Report Posting Guideline violations as follows:
Please report violations of the Forum's Posting Guidelines via the "Report this post to a moderator" link at the bottom left of every report. Violations of the Forum's Posting Guidelines will be addressed as follows: All reports that appear to be violations of the Forum's Posting Guidelines will be edited or deleted without comment. Given the difficulties in verifying reports suspected to have been copied from other websites, said suspect reports will not be investigated unless I am contacted by the original author or the webmaster directly. |
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| WHAT'S NOT CONSIDERED | ||
Spelling |
This would be an impossible task. |
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Grammar |
Another impossible task. |
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| THE PURPOSE of POSTING GUIDELINES | |
SPAM Control |
Uncontrolled SPAM will kill a Forum like a cancer. |
Better Readability |
Standard capitalization and punctuation rules have been utilized for centuries because it's simply faster and easier to read writing that follows these generally accepted conventions.
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Improved Reporting |
It's my theory that people tend to write better when they are asked to adhere to minimal punctuation and capitalization conventions. Instead of just casually banging their thoughts out onto the keyboard, they tend focus a little more on what they're doing, which improves their ability to communicate with the rest of us, which is to everyone's benefit.
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| PHOTO POSTING GUIDELINES | |||
What's Allowed |
The following types of photographs are acceptable for publication in the Forum:
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What's Not Allowed |
The following types of photographs ARE NOT acceptable for publication in the Forum:
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Enforcement |
Please report Photo Guideline violations as follows:
Please report violations of the Forum's Photo Guidelines via the "Report this post to a moderator" link at the bottom left of every report. Violations of the Forum's Photo Guidelines will be addressed as follows: All photos that appear to be violations of the Forum's Photo Guidelines will be deleted without comment. Given the difficulties in verifying suspected professional photos or photos suspected to have been copied from other websites, said suspect photos will not be investigated unless I am contacted by the original photographer or the webmaster directly. |
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