HOW-TO : Ask a pertinent question and run a fair discussion

Dear all,

You may be in a bad mood, in the wrong period of the month, frustrated because you've just once more be outruned with the latest shaodu cub taming contest, genetically lazy, or really tired of your hard working day at the Wall Street Stock Echange.... but this does not ALWAYS excuse the posting of another nth post about a very well and already documented subject.... It is quite easy to check before you ask, and the reward being to keep other people in a good mood worth it.

Also remember that the "protection" given by anonymity does not allow you to act as a vulgar bad-mannered kid. Acting superior and rude may give you some impression of power over people, but mainly it gives you a pathetic reputation and it may also brings you somme painfull spanks if you happen to meet the people in real life.




Then, here are a few rules that one may always follow before even thinking about opening a new post:

- the SEARCH option is your friend. Learn about it, use it, and NEVER ask a question before you've done it first. ONLY if you do not find you answer there could you consider looking at the other rules or/and posting your question
- Did you try to look at the guides/FAQ clearly sticked on the top of ALL forums threads stacks? You'll nearly always find your answer there... there is even one called "Beginner FAQ - Please read before posting!". No question whose answer could be found there should ever be posted!
- Can't remember if I told you about how to SEARCH...
- Sometimes, words may vary from one to another leading to search failure... try different spelling, or thing about nicknames. Some famous examples are the NIX = phoenix/ph(oe)nix/phenix, and HERC = Hercule etc...
- Do you remember the SEARCH option?
- Don't know what HH, TT, WTF, OMG, LMAO*, .... mean? Do u really think you are the first wondering about that? There are a lot of guides about them.... and some are sticked so that they are easy to find (eg try "Commonly used abbreviations"). Did you also try to guess?
- SEARCH... does that remind you of something?
- Make your subject clear. Avoid the common "a few question(s)". People should know before opening the post if they may be able to answer or not.
- Search
- Is your question really linked with the forum you are going to post in? If not, please try to find a more appropriate one, to avoid extra work for the Mods!
- Search could be translated as "rechercher" in french.
- If you plan starting your post with "I am sorry if it has already been asked before but..." then surely it had. And if so, it will irritate people... look at first and second rules
- There is an option called "SEARCH"
- If this makes your post clearer, don't hesitate to use text formating : bold, italic, colors, size, etc.... But this is not a fashion contest : do it to help people get your point, not to make their eyes bleed..
- Someone people sometimes perform a search before posting.
- There are plenty of databases or database-like websites that gather nearly all the informations you may be looking for (here again, info can be found in the "Beginner FAQ" under the "MISCELLANEOUS" part)
- Do I sound like I insist on searching? : on purpose! 80% of the posts would have not been posted if a real search had been previously performed. In order to prove it, I propose you try to search for "FB19"... this is meaningful.
- ...And this would surely have been 90% if FAQ/guides had been read first.




And the ones about being fair :

- There is a common rule that says that a discussion is over (ie definitely fruitless) as soon as someone has named someone/something else "facist" (or any synonym). Indeed, this should never be used... there are a few other similar words/sentences that should FOREVER be banished in order to keep discussing instead of fighting. I am sure I don't need to give you a list of them.
- Level is not the same as IQ. Don't mix things up.... it may be very boring for some less experienced player facing some other player who acts like he is a kind of Genius King or something similar.
- Not everyone can talk a fluent and perfect English (especially me as a native French talking being)... even some native-English talking people I know don't. Not only pointing out that flaw will not strengthen your argumentation, but also this will irritate people trying to argue with you. Definitely something that you should be aware of and thus avoid. However, if you mean to help someone improve his language abilities, there are plenty of polite ways to do it without breaking the discussion.
- But also, If you belong to the previous category, try to understand that people may not understand you, and don't get rude about that : try to say it a different way, or ask a friend/relative to help. And if you eventually can't manage to make it clear, try to say it in your language and ask if someone could translate it for you.
- If you are VERY angry or irritated about something and wanna talk about this..... don't. Wait until you get calmer. No fair nor intelligent discussion can be built on emotional basis.
- If you feel like the real world doesn't want you or doesn't like you, don't take your revenge on anonymous players as soon as you can.... we are sorry for you but this will not help you get better. Instead, the numeric world will also start hating you.
- If someone has not said something, then he has not. Do not answer to what you think is only suggested unless you are perfectly sure it was... languages mistakes and non-native english could be quite confusing.
- If you happen to ask something, a quick and easy "thank you" after you've been answered makes a great difference between a human being and something else.
- "WTF, tak it ez every1 . LMAO. ))))))) LoL U suk" is not proper english, even for a non native-talking person. Really, avoid it if you don't want people to get angry about you for no apparent reason....
- There is a forum called "Rules of Conduct"... did you read it?
- Eventually, remember the player you are arguing with may be 30 years older or younger than you.... Being aware of this may seriously improve the quality of many discussions.

These many rules could also apply in game of course.

Yours faithfully,

Dys

PS : I told you English was not my native language. So feel free to point out (fairly) the many mistakes I surely did. I will correct them asap.
PS' : I am surely not exhaustive about rules that you should follow to improve forum overall quality. I'll add the ones you'll suggest (unless they are REALLY stupid indeed)
PS ''' : I would gladly provide a French version of this If you want one. For other languages, you'll have to ask your friends with good english abilites.
PS'''' : I have followed my own rules and search for such a topic.... if I happened to fail : feel free to throw me everything you can find (including money of course!)


* : Holly Hall, Twilight Temple, What the F***!, Oh My God!, Laughing My A** Off