- Captain Penguin
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- Exalted Member
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Lo there do I see my Father.
Lo there do I see my Mother,
My sisters and my brothers,
Lo there do I see the line of my people
Back to the beginning.
Lo do they call to me,
They bid me take my place among them
In the halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave shall live
Forever.
It seems I am in grave error. Having failed to properly and fully read the forum Code of Conduct, I did not realize cross-posting, no matter what the purpose, is in fact in violation of these Conduct rules and as such I request that this thread be locked and/or removed entirely. My apologies. I have been duly warned and informed of my error and there will be no repeats of it.
Thank you,
Captain Penguin
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I'm posting this on the Halo 3 forum and the general Se7enth Column and Bungie.net forums. If you think it doesn't apply to you, it probably does. If you're too lazy to read the whole thing, it definately applies to you.
Forum Etiquette:
Pertinent Definitions:
Forum:
noun
1. a public meeting or assembly for open discussion
2. a public facility to meet for open discussion
Etiquette:
noun
1. rules governing socially acceptable behavior
I have been a forum monkey for a while now, under different aliases and on many different types of forums and as of late, particularly with the advent of the massively online gaming community, the manners and conversational abilities of the general forum populace has degraded to near unintelligible levels. Redundant topics, spellings errors, typos, and an apparent lack of caring for grammar has made the internet a place where intelligence is held as a second-class privilege and speed of reply is of tantamount importance in comparison. The “Edit” and “Preview” buttons might as well not exist.
Some forums are worse than others. HBO’s forum is a capitol of typemanship and grammar adherence in comparison to what these forums have fallen into being. In all sincerity, think of what the non-gaming community would think of gamers if they spent 15 minutes browsing these forums. They would probably come to the consensus that we are all uneducated and ill-mannered children who were unable to progress past junior high and had never seen a keyboard before today. I however, refuse to be lumped into such a demographic and have the reputation of gamers worldwide because a few hundred thousand are too lazy to use spell check and admit that punctuation marks have a purpose.
Right now, these forums are horribly disorganized, due in part not to Bungie but to those who inhabit the forums. There are hundreds of individual topics which all say the same thing and thousands more that do little more than make hollow complaints or broadcast shallow and ne’er followed up observations. Along with this, many of the posts, particularly those holding complaints, are near-impossible to read, due to bad typing, spelling errors, lack of proper sentence structure, and an overall absence of proofreading. They teach English in school for a reason, people. Please don’t let that portion of the nation’s taxes be wasted. It’s not only aggravating to those of us who care, but it is also an embarrassment to our culture as a whole.
The primary thing that gets people to listen to you is respect. In environments such as this where our only outlet is words, the best way to get respect and the attention of your peers is to present yourself as someone who is intelligent and has a valid point to present. Typing “z0mg bungie h4xx0red the br!!!!11” is not going to get near as positive and in-depth a community response as it would if it were stated as “Why does the BR not seem as powerful in the Halo 3 Beta? Aside from the fact that it was merely a Beta, I think Bungie may need to work on weapon balancing. What do you think?” This is just a rhetorical question as an example and not my own opinion, so don’t bother answering that, please. The point is that if you want people to listen to your ideas, you need to present them in such a way that your audience knows exactly what it is you’re attempting to convey and the type of response from them you are requesting. Never be afraid of being overly verbose; more information is always better than not enough.
The easiest way to do this is to actually pay attention to what it is you are typing. Fix your typos and spelling errors as you go along, if you’re unsure about how a word is spelling, type it into M.S. Word and spell-check it. I’m writing this in Word right now, in fact, before I post. I encourage all forum-goers that if your response in more than a few sentences which you can proofread yourself, then type it first in Word or an equally capable program with a spell-checker, then once it’s proofread it can be posted in all confidence of being a coherent and understandable post. If a magazine and website article is riddled with errors and typos then the audience does not take it seriously and dismisses its validity. Do you expect your audience to react any differently to your own writings?
However, before you post anything, at all, unless in direct response to a previous post, always use the “Search” feature to make sure a thread about the same topic has not already been started. If another thread exists about the same topic, post your opinion on that one and bring it back to the forefront of discussion. This will not only cut back on the rampant clutter that these forums suffer, but it will also keep the discussion in question constantly moving forward and developing. It’s always easier to follow a single topical thread than to try and simultaneously follow three or four threads that generally discuss the same thing but ultimately result in no valuable discussion.
Notice the key word here is “discussion.” Forums are places to discuss ideas and questions. As such, before posting a new topic you need to consider the question of “Is this really worth discussing? Will this further to minds of the community farther by being brought up?” If the answer to these is no, then it is probably wiser to not create a whole new topic for that particular idea. Instead, find a similar related discussion already in progress and add in your question, observation, or suggestion to that thread. Creating a whole new topic, especially one that’s redundant and provides no new insights, merely to say “I don’t like Master Chief’s new armor texture” is unnecessary and does not merit an entirely new thread. Instead go and look for a pre-existing thread on graphics and/or textures and post your opinion there, where it is pertinent and will not get in the way of the forum as a whole.
These forums are in dire conditions right now and badly need reorganization from within and the best ones for the jobs are those who make up the populace of the forums. This includes you and me. As such, in order the better the conditions of these forums, here are some guidelines that, if used regularly and consistently, will drastically improve the appearance and discussive quality of the community as a whole:
-Check your spelling and fix your typos before submitting your post.
-Before creating a new topic, use the Search function to make sure a similar or even identical topic doesn’t already exist. If one does, chime in on that one.
-Always ask yourself if what you’re about to post is actually useful information and/or worth actual discussion.
-Proofread, proofread, proofread! Grammar rules exist for a reason. Punctuation marks, paragraphing, proper capitalization go a long way towards making you look like you know what you’re talking about.
-Do your research. Always check your facts before presenting them as such. If you are post your opinion and not fact, make sure you say so.
-Always consider the possibility that some of the Bungie staff or someone equally important is reading the forums. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t say/type directly to them.
-Be courteous. Arguments get us nowhere. The best way to further a discussion if to watch your temper, keep an open mind, and be civil about resolving disagreements. This is a place is discussion and sharing, not a boxing ring.
-If you’re joking, make sure everyone else knows it. A lot of times fights are just simple misunderstandings about missed jokes and vague sarcasm. Make sure we know you’re joking or being sarcastic.
-If someone is being a total n00b, it’s ok to call them out on it as long as you’re not outright mean or cruel to them. Constructive criticism goes a lot farther than just pointing out someone’s faults. Instead of making fun of them and being, instead point out what their mistake is and then follow up by suggesting a different approach or giving them the proper information.
-Stay on topic or at least tag your post as *OT* if it is off-topic. These are Halo and Bungie forums and we need to keep the information and discussions where they ought to be: about Halo and Bungie.
[Edited on 08.05.2007 2:51 PM PDT]