Hello everyone! I don't speak to you all as frequently as I would like, but I am noticing some glaring things that I'd like to draw attention to. By no means is anyone necessarily in the wrong / breaking the rules / anything of the such when they do things listed in this thread, but, it is annoying and you should stop (because it's annoying).
Tagging
One of the greatest things about our forum is that it allows us to have this nifty tagging feature. What does it do? It sends a notification when you tag someone in a thread. Similar to how Twitter works in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, this feature is misused tremendously and personally irritates me the most. This is when you use the @ symbol and type someone's name. Let's talk about when to tag and when not to tag:
When to tag:
- You and someone else collaborated on something cool -- you want people to know who did it and allow people to see their profile.
- You're giving someone a considerable mention for something. For example: "@MistPhizzle did a great job on this, thanks!"
When not to tag:
- When you open a new thread and you want people to see it. Believe it or not, there is a place to check for new posts and new posts automatically show in bold. You don't have to point them out to anyone. If you post a suggestion and then go on to tag every Concept Designer it is not only irritating (because of the email they get every time they are tagged), but it's also repetitive. Concept Designers are already required to go through suggestions on a daily basis. Someone will see your thread -- you don't have to tag them.
Note: The same is true for reporting someone breaking the rules. You don't have to tag Moderators -- just hit the nifty report button. The report sends us a notification and in it is the post reported, the message left by the one that reported it, and appropriate actions to take (while also allowing us to respond without derailing a thread). Use the report button
I don't like getting emails that I don't have to read.
Signatures
- Your signature should not use up half of a page. It should not contain many gifs and should honestly be kept limited naturally. If this gets too much further out of hand I will end up putting restrictions on signatures -- but I trust you guys to handle it. Long signatures are not funny (at least I am yet to see one that is). Keep them brief, nobody looks at them anyway. (If you have to use the spoiler feature -- your signature is too long)
Image Replies to Threads
- Posting memes to respond to a thread is just bad. It's annoying and immature. Use words (real words, using real english) -- people will take you seriously.
Font Sizes / Colors
- I never quite understood why people deviate from default fonts / colors for an ENTIRE thread. I am 10x more likely to ignore your thread if you use any colors and increase the text size because it makes it harder to read. The same applies for the shoutbox. You'd be amazed how much cooler an organized and neat thread looks as opposed to one that really looks like a kindergarten art project.
The same can be said for proper punctuation, proper grammar, and using font styles (bold, italics, etc)
Status Updates
People can actually see these -- don't look stupid.
Subtweets
So someone says something you disagree with? The WORST thing to do is to subtweet them. This is, mentioning them without actually mentioning them. I most often see this in status updates. (i.e., complaining about a staff member without mentioning them by name). This is actually really childish and nobody pays attention to subtweets.
Thread Hijacking
I'm pretty sure this is one of the worst things you can do. If someone has a nice thread about how to change watermanipulation for the better, this isn't the time to talk about how Firebending needs to be changed as well. Once threads are thrown off track they are very difficult to get back on track. Be nice! Make your own threads if you want discussion on something that isn't being discussed. (The New Post button works in most cases)
That's all for now -- have a nice day! (Someone had to say these things)
Tagging
One of the greatest things about our forum is that it allows us to have this nifty tagging feature. What does it do? It sends a notification when you tag someone in a thread. Similar to how Twitter works in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, this feature is misused tremendously and personally irritates me the most. This is when you use the @ symbol and type someone's name. Let's talk about when to tag and when not to tag:
When to tag:
- You and someone else collaborated on something cool -- you want people to know who did it and allow people to see their profile.
- You're giving someone a considerable mention for something. For example: "@MistPhizzle did a great job on this, thanks!"
When not to tag:
- When you open a new thread and you want people to see it. Believe it or not, there is a place to check for new posts and new posts automatically show in bold. You don't have to point them out to anyone. If you post a suggestion and then go on to tag every Concept Designer it is not only irritating (because of the email they get every time they are tagged), but it's also repetitive. Concept Designers are already required to go through suggestions on a daily basis. Someone will see your thread -- you don't have to tag them.
Note: The same is true for reporting someone breaking the rules. You don't have to tag Moderators -- just hit the nifty report button. The report sends us a notification and in it is the post reported, the message left by the one that reported it, and appropriate actions to take (while also allowing us to respond without derailing a thread). Use the report button
I don't like getting emails that I don't have to read.
Signatures
- Your signature should not use up half of a page. It should not contain many gifs and should honestly be kept limited naturally. If this gets too much further out of hand I will end up putting restrictions on signatures -- but I trust you guys to handle it. Long signatures are not funny (at least I am yet to see one that is). Keep them brief, nobody looks at them anyway. (If you have to use the spoiler feature -- your signature is too long)
Image Replies to Threads
- Posting memes to respond to a thread is just bad. It's annoying and immature. Use words (real words, using real english) -- people will take you seriously.
Font Sizes / Colors
- I never quite understood why people deviate from default fonts / colors for an ENTIRE thread. I am 10x more likely to ignore your thread if you use any colors and increase the text size because it makes it harder to read. The same applies for the shoutbox. You'd be amazed how much cooler an organized and neat thread looks as opposed to one that really looks like a kindergarten art project.
The same can be said for proper punctuation, proper grammar, and using font styles (bold, italics, etc)
Status Updates
People can actually see these -- don't look stupid.
Subtweets
So someone says something you disagree with? The WORST thing to do is to subtweet them. This is, mentioning them without actually mentioning them. I most often see this in status updates. (i.e., complaining about a staff member without mentioning them by name). This is actually really childish and nobody pays attention to subtweets.
Thread Hijacking
I'm pretty sure this is one of the worst things you can do. If someone has a nice thread about how to change watermanipulation for the better, this isn't the time to talk about how Firebending needs to be changed as well. Once threads are thrown off track they are very difficult to get back on track. Be nice! Make your own threads if you want discussion on something that isn't being discussed. (The New Post button works in most cases)
That's all for now -- have a nice day! (Someone had to say these things)
