Forum Guidelines

FYI … here are Talks current forum guidelines

https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/guidelines

This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion

Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.

These are not hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgment of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Please spend some time browsing the topics here before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people . Please avoid:

  • Name-calling.
  • Ad hominem attacks.
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.
  • Knee-jerk contradiction.

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Your Participation Counts

The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.

Discourse provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: favorites, bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, and so forth. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.

Let’s try to leave our park better than we found it.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it . If at least 3 flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.

In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts in any way; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

  • Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
  • Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
  • Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
  • Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.

This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:

  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
  • Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
  • Don’t post no-content replies.
  • Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream.
  • Don’t sign your posts — every post has your profile information attached to it.

Rather than posting “+1” or “Agreed”, use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a New Topic.

Post Only Your Own Stuff

You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

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This needs to be in a place visible by the general public.

:sigh:

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There are very few general public people on Talk. I’ve only seen a handful in my time here.

REALLY???

Here for starters…

Yes , they are an active member that just hasn’t been green doted yet

But he cannot currently read your post…

It’s okay, they will get green doted and they can still read the guidelines as it is introduced to them when they sign up on talk. Many just have forgotten that it was. We are working on ways to automate the green dots.

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It is, as linked in the first post:
https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/guidelines
Looks like this to someone not signed in (or using Chrome Incognito to so simulate, in this case):

and although hard to read, probably, here’s most of the page which you can see is as posted:

All accessible via the “hamburger” menu…

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And how many are familiar with the Big Mac or Whopper?

Anyone who’s used any web-based UI, especially on “a mobile device”, in the last decade or so will be familiar with using said menu to obtain “more choices”. It’s relatively ubiquitous.

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You might do some general polling, and find out just how many Makerspacians that statement leaves out. Me, for instance. Capt is still only uses his phone to make calls.

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Except…you’re…using…this…forum…so…clearly…that…statement…does…NOT…leave…you…out… :confused:

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I’ll confess. This is the first time I’ve seen the term “hamburger menu.” Ever. But then I’ve led a sheltered life surrounded by educational jargon instead of computer geek jargon.

You would be my hero … automating the removal is as important or more so than automating the addition.

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You said 10 years, and on a mobile device. I’ve only had a mobile device slightly over a year, and I rarely use it on web pages. Forums on computers in general – sure.

I will refrain from giving you too much of the “back in my day” stories. Just – things you take for granted don’t necessarily apply to older folks. Also, doing taxes has taught me that even younger people can be differently abled when it comes to computer usage. I’m still amazed that folks pay us $50 ($59 this year) to do a 1040EZ, when you can do it yourself online for free.

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