CPseudonym
Moderator Emeritus
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As we race toward nearly a million posts and 25,000 members I thought it a good time to have a thread like this. Many of our newer members have communicated with me through the Private Message system that this is their first journey into the world of internet forums. It can be both exciting and daunting.
A few tips to help those with little forum navigation experience can perhaps flatten out the learning curve a bit.
TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS ONLINE SHOUTING! It's also generally poor online manners. Please be mindful of the caps lock button.
Excessive use of large or small fonts or colors other than the default black also make posts very difficult to read. Using them to highlight text to help making a point is okay but typing in all orange or magenta letters guarantees many will not bother reading it. Also keep in mind that anyone reading this paragraph through the App on a mobile device will not see a color or font change at all as the app does not support them and shows all that cutesy color and font as size 2 black, the forum default.
This is an international community and humor or sarcasm does not always translate well. We seldom have problems in this area but it is something to keep in mind. Try using a "Smile" or two if in doubt
Sometimes less is more. Excessively long posts with lots of non related questions are difficult to read, answer and ultimately lead to fragmented threads. Along these same lines would be quoting entire posts when only referring to one line of text. Cut and paste or snipping the quoted text down to size makes posts much more readable for others.
We are in general a fairly laid back group of folks who love talking about boats and boating who are very approachable. The real experts will chime in soon and offer better advice than I but it's a decent starting point.
It may seem overwhelming at first but soon it becomes second nature. Welcome and remember, boating is supposed to be fun, so by all means have fun here too.
Forums 101 - Set Up Your Account - Help, Tips, Etc and
Forum Community Rules (also linked on bottom banner)
As we race toward nearly a million posts and 25,000 members I thought it a good time to have a thread like this. Many of our newer members have communicated with me through the Private Message system that this is their first journey into the world of internet forums. It can be both exciting and daunting.
A few tips to help those with little forum navigation experience can perhaps flatten out the learning curve a bit.
TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS ONLINE SHOUTING! It's also generally poor online manners. Please be mindful of the caps lock button.
Excessive use of large or small fonts or colors other than the default black also make posts very difficult to read. Using them to highlight text to help making a point is okay but typing in all orange or magenta letters guarantees many will not bother reading it. Also keep in mind that anyone reading this paragraph through the App on a mobile device will not see a color or font change at all as the app does not support them and shows all that cutesy color and font as size 2 black, the forum default.
This is an international community and humor or sarcasm does not always translate well. We seldom have problems in this area but it is something to keep in mind. Try using a "Smile" or two if in doubt
Sometimes less is more. Excessively long posts with lots of non related questions are difficult to read, answer and ultimately lead to fragmented threads. Along these same lines would be quoting entire posts when only referring to one line of text. Cut and paste or snipping the quoted text down to size makes posts much more readable for others.
We are in general a fairly laid back group of folks who love talking about boats and boating who are very approachable. The real experts will chime in soon and offer better advice than I but it's a decent starting point.
It may seem overwhelming at first but soon it becomes second nature. Welcome and remember, boating is supposed to be fun, so by all means have fun here too.
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