Our FamilyForum will operate in a manner similar to other boards of this type so if you have been to others you should be able to easily find your way around, but for those of you that are just getting started here are some tips.
One point to keep in mind as you read through the tips below is that even though these observations and opinions are based on several years of experience that I have gained by going to boards like this one of ours, they are still just my humble opinions, so it's OK if you use these tips as a pattern to follow as you learn to post but in the end you must set your own style of posting.
Posting Etiquette1/ Be careful of what you say (type) in a post:
Is it easy to be misunderstood in this style of talking to someone? Yes.
Think of it this way, if you and I are standing together, looking at each other as we talk it is easy to figure out the mood of the person speaking because we can see their face and body and pick up clues about the true meaning of what is being said.
If we are on the telephone with each other it's not as good as face to face, but we still have the voice and can get clues from that.
But here in the forum we only have the words that show on the monitor and sometimes that's not enough to get the true meaning.
So, how to solve the issue??? One really good way is to use smiley's and other typed indicators of how we feel about what we are saying, you can find a whole row of smiley's (
) above the text box where you compose your post or reply and there are dozens of other indicators like lol, rofl and the list goes on and on.
2/ Replying to some else's post:
If someone makes a post is it OK for you to post a reply even if their post is not aimed directly to you?
The answer is almost always... Yes!
When we start a Topic (post) here on the board it's as if we were all in one big room together, so if I say something everyone in the room will be able to hear (see) me say it and each person seeing my/your post is entitled to make a comment if they wish to do so. This is true even if they see the post some time later and post a reply days, or even weeks after to original date the post was started.
3/ What if you want to say something to another member but don't want anyone else to comment on what you say?
For a private conversation between two members the board has a PM (Private Message) feature that you can use, or you could send them an email of course.
The point is if you make your comments public then other folks may enter into the conversation and that's OK because you made it public.
4/ Saying bad or mean things to other members or talking bad about someone whether they are members or not:
That's never a good idea, no matter what kind of forum you are on!
For us here on this family forum it would not work out good at all because we are all related to each other in some way and almost all of us know each other in real life, not just here on the board.
Please don't misunderstand, I think that it is perfectly OK have a little fun with each other by teasing or picking on each other a little in a good natured way, but I always try to be careful not to hurt the other persons feelings and back off if there is any doubt in my mind about how they are taking it.
Note:
More tips will be added as time goes by, if you have any questions please feel free to post them in the General Category, or you can send me a PM if you like.
