Lukannon 1216172326|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I don't really like to do this, but as basic as they may seem, every forum needs some basic rules.
1. Be respectful. Although flame wars are sometimes amusing, this is a forum for intelligent discussion; if you have a personal beef with someone, take it outside.
- As an addendum to that, when discussing an article, be respectful to the people who wrote it. Especially since at the moment, it's likely to be me or Polydeuces.
2. Don't make redundant threads. Always check and see if a thread on the same topic has been made, or rather, do it whenever possible. At the moment, there's literally nothing stopping you from doing so, so there are no excuses as of this point in time.
3. Keep things on-topic. I don't mind a little side conversation, even if your post has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but if I see a discussion degenerate into a conversation for the lulz, I will immediately begin punitive measures. Or, at the very least, clean the topic.
If Polydeuces would like to add to these, he's welcome to, but I think that these three rules are enough. I'm sure I'll learn better through painful experience if this ever gets going, but at the moment, you can fire away.
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Also, just a couple things, which remain constant throughout the whole forum:
Please, please use proper grammatical form when typing a post. Although I won't persecute you for things like entire paragraphs written in AIMspeak, it really is annoying, especially when intelligent discussion is going on. Proper form may seem like a pain to you if you're not used to it, but it makes things much easier on the rest of us.
If you ever get into a discussion, never, never, NEVER use the word 'opinion' as a shield. "It's just my opinion, so it can't be wrong" is not a valid argument. Ever. Yes, an opinion can be wrong; yes, this means that people will call you out on faggotry; yes, this means that when this happens, you will not be able to hide behind 'opinion.' Calling something an "opinion" is not an infallible shield; if you didn't know that before, know it now. If you're wrong, man up and admit it.
