MajorNil

After being here for a while, you kinda learn some stuff you shouldn't do, even though the rules does not say anything against it. And I was thinking that some new people might find use of these. If i forget something, and i probably will, make a comment!

1. Avoid gravedigging!

Gravedigging generally means commenting on a really old thread. For example, if there have been two months since last reply, and suddently you say something there. Exceptions is if you are actually adding something useful. For example, I have a going thread that i believe is stickied now with a list of trackers where you need to tell staff about your seedboxes. If no one replied for 6 months, and then you comment saying: You need to tell staff about your seedboxes on TL. (example). This is a good exception, as you are really adding something useful.

2. Useless posts

There is a fine line between useful posts, useless posts and spam. It is often hard to categorize posts, but if you are saying: "Thanks!" this is obviously spam, and you are breaking the rules. An example of a useless post would be posting on a tutorial: "Thanks for the guide, I will try this soon!". Avoid these. It is not worth the post count, as people will not think highly of you anyways

3. Talking about something you don't know about

There is countless examples of this, so I don't think I need one here. But think of this: There are thousands of members browsing this forum, a big majority very knowledgeable about computer stuff. So unless you really know what you are talking about, someone is going to give a lot better answer soon, and you will be breaking unspoken rule #2.

4. Bumping posts without purpose

There are some exceptions to the rules above, and one of them are in Bittorrent news and Announcements. For example, if a tracker is going offline, you will see many users posting about how much they liked the tracker, and hope everything well for the staff and so on. That is fine by my standards. But if the thread is 5 days old, and have 57 replies, it might not be necessary anymore. What if there is another thread in BitTorrent News saying: "HDBits.com opens invites for 5 hours!" Then everyone would find that alot more interesting to see that thread on /forum.php

5. Asking for everything

Even though most members gladly give away stuff for free here, don't use this to your advantage and ask for a lot of stuff you dont really need. I would say a iGiver/receiver ratio of minimum 1/2 is a healthy one.


6. Collecting trackers

This is strongly disliked in this community. Find some trackers you want and actually need, and go hunt for invites. A rule of thumb is that you only need one tracker for each category, but don't worry about for example asking for SCC if you already have IPT and Demonoid, because everyone knows that there is a difference between those.

7. Please? Thank you.

The fact that we are online, does not change normal manners. If someone helped you out, or gave you something, say thank you. And if you are asking for something, say please, or at least ask in a nice way. Do not pretend that it is everyone's duty and purpose of life to answer you. 'Cus it isn't.

8. Be a part of the community

There are many member who only posts in area51, and never vists IRC. Those are the kind of guys I don't give invites to. I'm not saying that everyone should hang out in IRC at all times, but at least bump into IRC once a month or something. Maybe even just one time if you didn't like it. But member's who's just here to take-take-take-take and take even more, and don't really care about anyone but themselves, are not very liked here. Of and you are kind of breaking unspoken rule #5 ;)

Go ahead and tell me what you think, and what i forgot.