New Forum Rules
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:10 pm
I'm instigating two new rules:
1.) Posts to Classifieds are only allowed by people who have already posted 5 posts to the other forums.
(5 because the first 5 already automatically go in the moderation queue)
2.) A ban on "single link posts". These are posts which contain just a web link and no descriptive text. This has been going on for a while. As well as the link self-promotion people, we also get established members doing this for things like newspaper articles. In the latter case, the problem is that it is impossible to tell what the newspaper article is about without clicking on the link. Also, over time, links tend to break - making the entire post meaningless.
Instead, you should post the pertinent details, and then a credit or "for further information" and the link.
Ask yourself: Would this post stand on its own if the web link was broken or removed?
For example, "Dawlish has washed out again. There are some impressive photos on the BBC at..." would be the bare minimum acceptable.
Cutting & pasting some of the article text might be acceptable but MUST be properly attributed, and do not copy the entire article. (journalists are brought up to write articles where the first paragraph or so serves as a useful summary...)
1.) Posts to Classifieds are only allowed by people who have already posted 5 posts to the other forums.
(5 because the first 5 already automatically go in the moderation queue)
2.) A ban on "single link posts". These are posts which contain just a web link and no descriptive text. This has been going on for a while. As well as the link self-promotion people, we also get established members doing this for things like newspaper articles. In the latter case, the problem is that it is impossible to tell what the newspaper article is about without clicking on the link. Also, over time, links tend to break - making the entire post meaningless.
Instead, you should post the pertinent details, and then a credit or "for further information" and the link.
Ask yourself: Would this post stand on its own if the web link was broken or removed?
For example, "Dawlish has washed out again. There are some impressive photos on the BBC at..." would be the bare minimum acceptable.
Cutting & pasting some of the article text might be acceptable but MUST be properly attributed, and do not copy the entire article. (journalists are brought up to write articles where the first paragraph or so serves as a useful summary...)