Things that should be AVOIDED on Forum

The following is a helpful list of things that should be avoided when using a discussion forum such as ShiaChat.com. Please read it carefully and try to follow these guidelines.

Things that should be AVOIDED on the discussion forum:


Posting the wrong subject in the wrong forum
There is nothing worse than having a topic so out of place that people become confused when they see it! It's not only annoying for members who are on the forum seeking a certain subject and seeing another, but also for the moderators who have to go through the troubles of moving them. Sometimes we even delete them to send a message across.

Cross posting
Post your topic to one forum only. If it needs to be moved, alert a moderator. Duplicates will be removed.

Quoting the post above you
You DON'T have to click on the "Quote" button if you're replying to a post immediately above yours. It's a "given" when you reply. You may however quote a single sentence from the post immediately above yours, but PLEASE, not the entire post.

Posting one-word/one-line replies
If you have nothing important to post, please don't post anything. Leave it to others who may have something beneficial to say. Nothing is worse than a silly topic with silly one-word replies. Members from the same community, posting in the 'local community forum', should confine their posts to one thread.

Two people replying back and fourth to each other, changing the topic
Please note this is a discussion forum not a chat room.Hijacking a thread and turning it into an endless back and forth off-topic chat is not only rude, but quiet disruptive. If you wish to start a conversation with someone, please PM or email them instead.

Spamming
Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that contribute nothing to a forum, be it off topic or on topic. Examples include: empty bodies, bodies with words that have no relation to the current thread or discussion and those posts that state they are spam, either to annoy, advertise or increase a member's post count. Resurrecting old forum posts is also not appreciated unless it serves a worthy cause to the forum. This determination is made by the forum Moderator or Administrator and is not up for discussion. While we do not impose a post limit, members who have an inordinate number of post per day will be warned and asked to delete their posts. Their post count may be reduced as well. Further instances may result in a short ban.

Private Information/E-Mail addresses etc.
Do not disclose any one's private information in the forum, including your own. This includes e-mail addresses, IP addresses, house address, and any other individual information. Thousands of people visit these forums daily, it's not worth the spam, or scams, that are possible. If you must share your email address etc., please do it with a private message. Such information will be removed by the moderating staff in public posts whenever possible.

Starting a topic that was discussed before
If a topic has been discussed before and led to a 50+ post thread, please look it up and find your answer rather than opening a new thread. It's very annoying that people have to repeat themselves when it comes to such matters. There is no reason to start topics that have been exhausted.

Posting in CAPS
Posting in CAPS is not only considered as shouting and rude, it's also very hard to read and makes the poster seem very immature. Please refrain and use CAPS LOCK wisely.

Posting large or/and colored fonts excessively, too many smilies and explanation or question marks in post
Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned and subsequently banned.

Hijacking threads!
There is nothing worse to a poster than seeing his thread hijacked by a couple of people, completely changing the topic before he/she can get his/her answer. Please AVOID doing this. Simply start another thread if it's a different topic.

Posting the same topic under different forums
Some people post their thread in many different forums to try to get as much views as possible. This is a moderator's nightmare. MULTIPLE THREADS WILL BE DELETED SO DON'T DO IT.

Using long nicks, titles, signatures or a bad choice combination of the three
This is pretty self explanatory. Anything too big or flashy takes the focus off of the thread. Please avoid doing that. Signatures are limited to a maximum of 500 characters/300 x 700 pixels of text and pictures. Signatures found to exceed this limit will be edited without notice.
We ask everyone here to obey these guidelines and refrain from doing any of the above. This will insure better standards for posting on this site and it's a courtesy to the readers and the administrators/moderators.