this is a post made up of several of the stickies that were in this section. all of these should be read if you are going to post in this section. think of this as a bulletin board with all the relevant information you need right here in front of you. sections from previous stickies are posted below and broken up with a divider.
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1. Personal vendettas will not be tolerated. This forum is not to be used to "retaliate" against someone because of personal issues. If it becomes apparent that a member is posting here for that reason, administrative action will be taken.
2. Make one topic per thread reported. Do not make a single topic and in it report multiple threads. A single topic per thread allows the staff to deal with & complete what needs to be done & immediately lock the topic. Multiple threads in a topic could take time to resolve, & could result in doubling the staff's work because of the confusion it could cause in determining if all reported threads have been taken care of.
3. Always put a link.
4. If a particular member is concerned, name that member.
5. Do not report matters just to be petty.
6. Posts in this forum do not count towards your post count.
7. If an issue has been reported once, there is no need to report it again.
8. You are just "reporting" issues in this forum. Moderators & administrators will determine what action needs to be taken. This may not always be how you thought things should be resolved, but the staff of AS-R has the best interest of Airsoft Retreat & its members as a priority, and all decisions will be based with that in mind.
9. If a specific post/reply in a thread is the issue, refer to the number of the post/reply. For example; "Reply# 15 by RLB."
10. Issues of moderating the forums are not open for discussions. If an issue needs moderating, report it only, and if it has been reported, don't add your comments on how you think it should be handled. The moderators & administrators on this forum have enough experience to know what to do without your comments & if they need help they will discuss the issue amongst themselves.
11. If you have questions on why a topic was deleted, post here, but review the rules to consider possible violations. Try being as specific as possible to avoid problems. If you have absolutely no idea, try asking staff members or posting questions in the Forum Feedback NICELY.
12. Before reporting "Useless posting" or "Post whoring", note that this must be a PATTERN in order to be classified as a valid concern. A single useless post may be deleted, but will not warrant disciplinary action.
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This has been discussed before, but after a certain thread tonight I had to delete tonight it needs to be made clear. The thread in question was posted in the wrong section. He was asking about an MP5 in snipers perch. I go into the thread to find 13 responses to the thread. 1 response related to the OP's question. The other 12 were informing the OP that he was breaking the rules. You know who you are.
If a person is breaking the rules, the proper response is to report the post in this section.
Do not respond to the thread simply to inform him that he is breaking the rules. More over do not start discussing what punishments he may face. The staff will tell him what he did wrong and his punishment, it is not your call nor is it your place to tell him. We all appreciate your efforts in reporting posts, but please keep it to just that. If a person is wasting forum space by making a pointless post, do not waste more space telling him he is wasting space. The above example, was just plain excessive. If that happens again, we will issue strikes to every person who posted in that thread without actually responding to the question. If you REALLY want to do the OP a favor and try to warn him before he gets caught, send him a PM.
Thank you for your cooperation.
XavierMace
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WARNING: NEXT TIME ANYONE WANTS TO ACCUSE SOMEONE OF BEING A 'POST WHORE' THEY HAD BETTER HAVE DONE THEIR HOMEWORK OR ELSE THEY MAY FIND THEMSELVES ON THE RECEIVING END OF ADMINISTRATIVE DISCIPLINE.
A 'post whore' is someone who is consistently making useless posts. Before you accuse someone of being a 'post whore' you had better check their profile & review all their posts. If there is not a pattern of useless posts you better not make a report here or you may be the one who ends up in trouble.
Also. don't bother to report trivial 'useless posts' unless it can be proven that the member has a habit of making useless posts. If it is something that is not a major concern it does not need to be brought to our attention. Don't waste the mods & admins time with small stuff.
- RLB
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not searching is not against the rules. don't post threads here for the sole purpose of telling me (or the other staff members) that another member did not search. this is not our problem. if someone's thread has a vague topic title or is otherwise in violation of the rules--report the thread as such.
and do not bother telling a member you've reported their thread or that they should search. if you have nothing constructive to post: DO NOT POST.
-atilla
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Before you post a new topic, do you need to search? It is HIGHLY recommended.
As an adminstrator I have viewed a lot of threads and topics from a lot of forum members and the ones who have obviously used the search function become knowledgeable respected members a lot quicker than those who don't. Searching is self education, and enables members to ask more defined and direct questions therefore allowing other members to give quick concise answers.
Searching gives a member more knowledge before making a new topic which is important for them when they evaluate the comments they receive from their post. How is someone supposed to validate answers and comments if they have absolutely no prior knowledge? Searching gives an individual that prior knowledge. It gives them the basis of a foundation to understand the responses they will receive, and enables them to determine if there are more viable questions which the thread has revealed.
Searching IS the logical first step everyone should take BEFORE making a new topic. Too often similar & duplicate topics are started days within each other because someone did not search. What everyone needs to figure out sooner or later is that searching does work, searching will educate you, searching should be done frequently.
Do not be ashamed if you don't know what I am talking about. In the upper green menu bar there is the word "SEARCH". This is the 'doorway' to the search function.
This link will take you to the old AS-R forums where there is a lot more info available to search:
http://www.airsoftretreat.com/oldforumsLike anything else, it takes experimentation and practice to utilize this helpful tool to its fullest potential. That means just because you have done a "search" one time on your issue at hand, and have not received satisfactory results, maybe you need to work on the 'search parameters' to obtain the necessary information.
To many, it seems that doing a search is more time consuming than it's worth, when they can just post a topic & wait for the replies. Now, I feel that I have worked with the search parameters on this site to where I am fairly effecient & effective when I do a search, so I think I know the potentials of what info can be gained by searching. Most topics & subjects brought up here on AS-R is in some way shape or form is a repeat of some previous thread(s), in other words, info exists here on AS-R. If individuals took 5 minutes of their own time and searched, they would have enough information to be able to have either answered their question, or defined their question concisely to where they would need only a few well informed answers to achieve their goals.
When I have an airsoft issue/question that needs to be resolved, because I have searched, I get few responses back to my topic because I have narrowed down what exactly it is I need to know. And the responses I get (not counting the ones that members decide is an opportunity to yank on the chain of a moderator) are well defined responses which answer my question directly.
AS-R has a wealth of information in its database accesible through the search function. When you have taken advantage of this wealth of information, and post a topic based on knowledge you have gained from searching, you have taken steps to becoming an informed member.
Now I have to say that I do not discourage polite & helpful remarks of members replying that someone should do a search. But before that becomes an often used cliche, if someone does remark "You need to search ..." it should be in the context of "You need to search ... because this is a topic/question that has been asked many times before and there is a lot of info on it that already exists." Responding with a reply of "Search" or "Search you *#@$% noob" because it is a knee jerk reaction and you really do not want to be helpful is not tolerable.
The reality is that often times it is the new member who fails to search. I am not making that statement to flame anyone, it is simply the reality. New members come on this site and do not realize what were the topics, posts & threads that have occured in the past, and often pose an often asked question because they did not know any better, and they do not know a search function exists. Older members need to take this into consideration and offer polite help and advice.
This post is just for information purposes and to hopefully keep clear what will keep AS-R running smoothly, help to foster a beneficial relationship between new and old members, and prevent animosity. I will keep this open to replies that are for clarification sake only. Do not reply if you are in agreement or disagreement because this is the way it is.
- RLB
