Forum rules

1. Administration
A forum such as this is organic and requires regular maintenance. While responding to member requests and acting accordingly, administrators and moderators also have the right to carry out changes to the forum without having to justify these actions or inform members of their reasons

Rules are subject to change, depending on how the forum is used, and notice will be given when this happens. All decisions of administrators and moderators are final


2. Message content 
Posts must be related to the relevant StalkerSoup topic, and off-topic messages will be deleted. Please be respectful, and avoid personal politics and religion. Posts must also respect copyright and intellectual property, and not include advertising

Swearing is forbidden - if you need to let off steam, use an appropriate filter, such as asterisks (****)

Insulting other members is absolutely forbidden, even in a personal message (PM). Members should report any such offensive and reprehensible behavior, including spamming, to a moderator


3. Creating Topics  
Before creating a new topic, please check if there is already a topic under the same or similar name. If you create a topic that mimics an existing one, the new topic will be locked or deleted. This is to avoid bloat and make searching easier for everyone

When creating a new topic, bear in mind that the forum search engine only looks within topic titles, so please keep them relevant


4. Posts  
We want this forum to serve posterity, so any post is subject to editing or deletion by the moderators, if considered unhelpful or obsolete in its current form. Posts that do not contribute anything will be deleted, as will duplications

A member should not post two or more consecutive messages in the same topic area within a 24 hour period. To alter an existing message, use the 'Edit' button

When posting, please avoid 'calling out' a specific member to respond. Not only does this put unwelcome pressure on that member, whether they respond or not, but it blocks others from responding

For privacy, do not use a member's real name. This is okay if they allow it in PMs and emails, but in public please use their handles (forum names)


5. Clarity and clutter  
Please keep the aspect ratio of your handle image to a minimum - ideally no taller than its width - to keep columns shorter

If you're posting a long text, please paragraph it into easily readable chunks. Also, consider putting the bulk of it within spoiler tags, and changing the spoiler title to 'More', like this (click on the line below to expand)

More:

When replying, only use the entirety of a previous post if it's entirely relevant. Either edit it down to the relevant portion, or use spoiler tags around the whole of a 'Previous post',  'Above post',  or 'Original post'


6. Private discussions  
Only the topic heading being discussed is allowed in connection threads. Off-topic discussions should be made privately via PM, or an independent chat service like Facebook Messenger, Skype, MSN, etc


7. Piracy
Sharing warez links is prohibited. If you want to discuss anything to do with piracy, do it privately and not in the main forum


8. Photos  
Please avoid uploading pictures to the forum. Instead, use a personal or public hosting service such as [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] or [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and post links to them, to avoid overburdening the forum's hosting service

For images larger than 640 pixels use thumbnail links, or 'spoiler' tags to keep your entry short. The Spoiler button is here, as shown below

Alternatively, upload it somewhere else as a text file or document, and post a link


9. Gratitude and disapproval
If you're grateful for what someone has posted, you can express this by upvoting them, using the + sign on the top right of their post. This indicates to others that they're a respected source of information

If you're not happy with a member's post, find it misleading, insulting, or unhelpful, you can downvote it using the - sign to indicate your disapproval, as a caution to them and others

Both actions will take place anonymously, and cannot be undone

VOTE RIGGING - deliberately trawling the forum to repeatedly bump a member's reputation up or down - IS PROHIBITED, and will be considered an abuse of the forum. Please keep voting current and balanced

CREATING MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS - in order to support a member's opinions or voting rights - IS BANNED, and will result in all such accounts being deleted


10. New members
Would all new members please introduce themselves with a opening message in the topic [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
But don't just reply to someone else - start your own personalized area by clicking the New Topic button