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Posting Guidelines
[blue]Greetings everyone,
A few months ago I proposed a relatively limited set of minimum posting requirements, which after a period of public comment, were made a part of this Forum's operating policies.
These Posting Guidelines may be reviewed by selecting the "Posting Guidelines" link in the left side menu bar, but they essentially encourage Forum Members to use standard capitalization and punctuation. Chat room format is specifically discouraged. The Posting Guidelines do not require good grammer, good writing, or correct spelling.
Since these Guidelines were enacted, I have noticed an appreciable improvement in the quality of the contributions to the Forum. However, I have also observed that a number of Senior Members are completely ignoring these minimum requirements, and also that a very small number of formerly active regular members have quit posting altogether.
Personally, I believe that the tradeoff in the loss of a small handful of member's reports is greatly offset by the improved readability of the current reporting, but now that I have activated the Forums survey function, I though I'd bring the subject up for debate again and perhaps benefit from a more statistical analysis of the membership's opinions on the subject.
Thanks,
Jackson[/blue]
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Good formatting, punctuation, etc. leads to higher caliber reports and forum content. Chat-like formatting will lead to chat-like content, personal attacks and other less-useful topics.
My belief is this: if you have time to contribute useful information or ask a question not previously addressed in the forums, then you have the time to make it readable.
Also, I personally am not nearly as likely to respond to a post that is formatted or written poorly, even if I'm nearly an expert when it comes to answering their question.
Jackson, I'd like to say I truly appreicate the time you take to review and correct posts which do not follow the guidelines.
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There is enough to do in this world without having to struggle through a semi-comprehensible report. That said I'm not a great typist and am subject to typos; spell check was invented with me in mind, and a spell checker would be helpful to me. I think we also need to cut some slack where English is not the poster's first language; I would hate to lose the information in the non U.S postings.
[blue]Hi Senior Citizen,
I agree with your point about the need to relax the guidelines where English is the poster's second language, and that's why I have incorporated this concept into the Posting Guidelines from the beginning. Of course, I also recognize that all Latin based languages share the same fundamental concepts of capitalization and punctuation.
Thanks,
Jackson[/blue]
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I like the guidelines. I also think it helps keep kids off this site, which could be some of the regular members who aren't posting. I also know my reports have not been perfect, and I have never had a problem posting here before. So I know the rules are reasonable and some mistakes can be over looked. Plus a lot of people don't go to chat rooms, so they have no clue what someone using all the chat slang is talking about. I can see making some mistakes, as a lot of us are posting late at night or early in the mornings, maybe after a long night at the bars looking for some action, mongering, or ( we hope ) just left the hotel room.
Anyway, Thanks for running an above par site!
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I very much support the guidelines. I would hope that in the future, those senior members who were grandfathered in, but do not subscribe to the guidelines, be demoted to regular membership until their report are up to par.
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I was a bit surprised when I started reading this board about the emphasis on proprer grammer. I'm one of those that used to get A's on creativity and D's on grammer and general behavior. I tend to want to write down a more rambling stream of thoughts. While I am 'cool' with organizing my writing into a more proper style, I do think it might put off some of the English as a 2nd (or 3rd or 6th) language posters. I could see how some of them might know enough English to post some good info, but might not post because of the grammer situation. I do want to say that I am not complaing and enjoy this board very much. Thanks.
[blue]Again, just to reiderate the current policy. I do not "punish" anybody for not adhering to the mininum requirements, and I do not simply delete the substandard reports. What I do is personally edit them to meet the Posting Guidelines. Therefor, I do not believe that someone for whom English is a 2nd language should feel intimitated. In fact, quite the opposite, because they know that I'm going to clean up their report before anybody sees it.
Of course, the basic rules of capitalization and puncutation are essentially the same across all Latin languages, so asking posters whose native language is not English to adhere to the minimum Posting Guidelines is not really asking a lot.
When I'm confronted with a situation where it's obvious that I'm editing a report submitted by someone who is not writing in their native language (and believe me I can tell), I generally do not add the "Editor's Note" at the bottom of the report.
I want to be clear here: I believe that the reports submitted by nationals living in their own countries are a valuable asset and represent this Forum's primary advantage over the pay sites. Thus I would never do anythng to discourage their participation.
Thanks,
Jackson[/blue]
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I think Jackson recognizes that nobody's language and grammar are PERFECT. However, when reading internet bulletin boards, what does grate on my nerves is the "chat room" or "SMS" style of posting, without any capitalization, with run-on sentences, and without punctuation. Write at least like the style you read in USA Today - you don't have to try to win any awards from the William Faulkner Foundation for high-falutin' language.
-Uncle Otto
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FWIW, I think some basic rules, and what Jackson posted are BASIC rules, is great and makes a huge difference. Without the rules, WSG faces the problem of 'shoot from the hip' posters who throw in poorly written, hard to understand comments that would detract from the board.
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I want to add one more thing. I think Jackson does more then any other site provider! Most other sites would just delete anything that did not meet their rules. I personally don't see how he finds time to do it, but I'm glad he does.
I've always been nervous to post things on sites like this, I have been nervous to post on this one to, but after reading everything on this site from the hate mail to the letters to the editor, I feel a lot safer here. I even feel safe enough to start posting some people I know personally ( friends ) who provide services. I just have to make sure I follow the rules on that. I don't want people to think I'm advertising for a buisness.
Thanks for everyones time,
Toxic
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I have no problem with the guidelines. I do not think it is too much to ask. An adult male who has reached a position in society that allows him to travel and monger internationally should be able to write in complete sentences, and express his ideas clearly.
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Keep the present guidelines, they tend to improve the signal to noise ratio. The allowances made for Nth language posters is both correct and well applied IMHO.
There is also the "give a damn" factor involved. The guidelines are no effort for a reasonable person, and I for one am not interested in sharing contacts / assistance with people who are not reasonable.
Cheers,
Sporadic
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Don't change the guidelines! The rules are reasonable and help to keep order in the WSG.
Also, I appreciate all of Jackson's hardwork, the forum and its contributing members.
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Without some minimal rules, we would have difficulty carrying on our conversations here. No one is expected to be a Pulitzer prize winning English major when they post here. But there should be some expectation of familiarity with grammar and punctuation.
Additionally, many people seem to forget that there isn't a RIGHT to a site like this. It is a privilege. If we can not follow the minimal guidelines that have been established, then we can find another site to frequent.
Just my two cents.
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I think it's important for us to be able to read through posts without having to do our own translating. Basics like simple punctuation are universal in amost any language so it shouldn't matter if you have trouble with the English Language, just observe the liberal punctuation rules and we'll all get the most out of every post.
Be Safe and BE NICE
Country John
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I notice compared to the archives there are majority of posts asking for all take and no give. There used to be alot more hard information coming from posts rather than what we have now:
Which is "where are the best girl friendly hotels" and "where do you find all the hotties for bbbj's".
Now that private messaging is enable (a good thing), posters (senoir members) have to use the boards to send messages requesting someone to check their pm's. I notice that some people get by with mild flamming, unpoliced. I notice some posters can get by with posting unintelligible compositions like they were written under the influence.
Often I am frustrated that as a regular member, my info is often outdated or off topic by the time it appears on the board, if in fact it appears at all.
Otter
[blue]Hi Otter,
I appreciate your comments, but I'd like to make a few observations:
1. It's your responsibility as a Forum Member to use the "Report this post to a Moderator" function to report any flaming and/or "unintelligible compositions" in the Forum.
2. New reports by Regular Members are reviewed and apprived every 24 hours. Is this really creating a situation where your reports are "outdated or off topic by the time it appears on the board"?
Of course, as an alternative, I could just quit moderating the Forum, but then it would only take about 30 days for the place to be overrun with spammers, thus reducing it to a complete wasteland. Would you prefer this?
Thanks,
Jackson[/blue]