Posting Guidelines

[EvilSeph]

LAN.st Posting Guidelines
Last updated: 25th of June, 2007

We're all very busy people and all want answers to our questions right NOW.

Now, we cannot guarantee that you'll get your answer right away but, if you follow these guidelines below you should get a reply within a reasonable amount of time.

1. Search First!
Remember, this is point number ONE. And it is so, for a good reason. By posting something that has already been posted before, you're not only wasting your time typing out that wonderful post - you're wasting the community's time, since your question has already been answered or someone has already posted the amazing news you just found.

You may NOT make a post that only contains something along the lines of: "Search first before posting!" as everyone knows this - since they have to read these guidelines prior to posting anyway (remember, ignorance is not a valid defense). If you have the urge to make such a post, don't. Frequently doing so can result in a ban.

Instead, provide them with the answer, welcome them to the community and point out that they could have saved time by searching before posting.

What's that? You're not aware of how to search or where to search? That's fine, you can find it here (click here to go to the search system on these forums).

2. Be specific!
If everyone was unclear with regards to what they want or what they need help with, the search system would be pathetically useless. As such, please be specific when making a post. Follow these guidelines on how to make a proper post.

Your topic needs a descriptive and related title.
If people know of the problem prior to opening up a page to read your post, they'll be more motivated to help you - as you're taking the effort to post a decent topic.

Some examples of terrible topic titles are: "Please help!", "I have a problem" and "how do I do this?"
See how you have no clue what the problem is, just by reading those titles? Well, we don't know about you, but we don't really feel motivated to open up a topic that doesn't let us know what might be inside just by looking at the title. Especially if we are busy. People tend to look for problems they can solve and so look at the topic title for an indication of whether or not they can solve that problem, if they can't they might take a peak or they might just skip the topic (because we all know how it feels when you realise you actually don't know something).

Be as detailed as possible.
If for example you are asking for help with regards to a PSP, include the following: firmware version, motherboard, firmware settings, etc.

Don't use annoying fonts and colours that are hard to read. Infact, just use the forum default.
There is nothing more annoying than having to decipher a post just so you can help someone. Don't do it. Stick with the default forum font and colours.

3. Post in the correct section!
We suggest you take some time to look around our forums, before posting. Each major topic has their own specific section and each forum has a description accompanying them, describing what topics that forum covers.

4. Say Thanks!
At the end of a day, the best way to make anyone happy is to say thanks. It may seem like a small thing to you, but when you're on the end of the table that's helping someone else, a small thanks for your trouble goes a very long way. One way of thanking someone, along with just posting a small "Thanks!" (accompanied by an update on whether or not the proposed solution works).

5. Do NOT double post.
Double posting is defined as posting one post after another, in order to "bump" your topic back to the top of the topic listing. This is not permitted on LAN.st and doing so is deemed spamming. Of course, we accept that people will occasionally make this mistake but if our staff has to constantly deal with your double posting, it will become problematic for not only us - but for you too.