This topic is for information and serve as a reference for forum etiquette
I've been an avid fan of the forum for a number of years and over the years the quality of the forum has lowered. This is expected as the number of users rise in any type of platform that allows freedom of speech. However I think that its a good idea to try and tackle the number of issues that bitcointalk is faced with and provide an educational thread to format posts and follow the general consensus of etiquette on the forum. In hope that it improves the quality of the forum as well as an attempt to allow for efficient moderation. Any individual who can test out in with thoughts will be valued.
Take a look at the guidelinesPlease familiarize yourself with the
guidelines that have been posted by moderator "mprep" before posting on the forum. Most of the issues that we face on the forum are from people who don't understand the rules and unknowingly break them.
General Avoid flamewars We are part of a forum which has its own political eco system and is full of drama but before arguing and throwing insults out at people try and keep that to private messages. Flamewars and insult exchanges never work out for either party and generally make both parties look like a bit of an idiot for a lack of a better word. I understand that we are in a community where tempers can frail but try and keep that stuff private. Even if you're the one getting publicly insulted its always best to settle things privately whenever possible.
Avoid excessive caps and colors Using excessive amounts of caps doesn't get your point across anymore clearly. If you need to empathize something use it
SPARSELY for a greater impact. The same goes for color in posts. Colored posts are almost always hard to read. Generally if someone has multi colors or colors other than the default it will be ignored/skipped and considered spam. Colors can be used and can be effective in certain ways but again make sure most of your content isn't in color to avoid your content from being dismissed by the majority of readers.
Avoid distracting signaturesThere's nothing more irritating than having a signature which grabs your attention with multicolored text and designs which hog up the space on the forum. Its nice to have nice signatures and is a feature that you'll unlock as you rank up but try to be considerate when creating one. I would also recommend considering what content you place in the signature and keeping it relevant to the forum.
Avoid "backseat" moddingNothings more irritating than bumping a topic which is contrary to the guidelines or is in wrong sub forum. I comprehend that you're trying to help the forum but you can however private message the person guilty or report the post to a moderator using the "report to moderator" button underneath the post. Back seat modding just bloats the topic and bumps it unnecessarily.
Avoid necroing a thread unnecessarily
Bumping old topics without providing anything important to the discussion is annoying. Its almost always better to create a new topic when the discussion of the old topic has died out for a long period of time and some of the information is no longer relevant.
Use caution when using images There's not nothing more annoying than a image taking up the screen when it has little value. Sometimes images can be used to further your point and add a bit of humor which is fine. However try and keep the image to word ratio low.
Don't ask for meritsAsking for merits is frowned upon and could result in negative trust. Even if you think that your post is deserving of merit it is still frowned upon to ask for it. Besides asking for it reduces the chance of anyone giving you merit because of this exact reason.
Creating A Thread
Use tags in your title Using tags before your title is a good way of letting people know what your content is about and is a good way for people to filter what they want to read without clicking on the thread. Format titles by specifying the type of content within closed square brackets. I'll include in the example how you should tag a thread about how to buy Bitcoin. There are probably unlimited amounts of tags that could be applied but generally I would probably stick to these to avoid over complicating things:
[GUIDE] [REQUEST] [PROPOSAL] [DATA] [CHART] [DISCUSSION]
Example: [GUIDE] How to buy Bitcoin
Using Capitals In Your Title
Don't use a capital for every new word in the title. Only use capitals where it is an appropriate use in your grammar. The only exception to this is using capitals within the tag. This isn't a massive issue and comes down to preference but I'm quite particular about things and "Bitcoin hits a million dollars" is far more appealing to the eye than "Bitcoin Hits A Million Dollars".
Include contents table for better navigation of the threadIncluding a table of contents which jumps to that certain point in the thread is a good way to help user navigation. Just like SEO work on a website streamlining the user interface and navigation will greatly improve the quality of the thread. People can then skip content that they have no interest in reading as well as leave a thread at any point and easily come back and find where they were.
Use titles to break up contentIf you have a particularly long post then breaking up the content with headers is a great way to allow those that are reading to navigate the content. Using this in conjunction with contents is good practice when posting your thread.
Provide context and a conclusionIn university you are taught to always provide context and a conclusion. This is also very good practice for posting on forums. You will have probably seen people who provide a TLDR part of their response on sites like Reddit. This stands for "Too long didn't read" and is a summary and conclusion of the content. Providing a summary and conclusion will greatly improve the time spent on a thread and sometimes proves a good way of people checking whether they'll enjoy the whole thread. Not all threads require a conclusion but if you are expressing a viewpoint of yours its always best to include one.
Proof read your threadReread your thread before posting and make sure to make use of the preview feature of the forum. This will give you a good idea on how the thread will be displayed to people in markup. If preview isn't working make sure that you have javascript enabled this is especially relevant if you're using Tor Browser to post. I suggest reading through your thread multiple times checking for spelling errors and formatting issues. I personally check my content multiple times as I'm writing it. No matter how much you read the thread you'll still probably have issues but members of the forum will appreciate the time taken to make the thread easy to read.
Use the search functionAvoid posting duplicate content by using either google or the built in search on the forum. Sometimes threads are created unnecessarily when the answer and discussion of related topics are still ongoing.
Replying to a topic Make sure your reply is relevant to the original topic A lot of people fall into the trap of posting off topic replies in a thread because they're not replying to the original topic but the responses instead. Generally a good rule of thumb is to at least contribute to the points made in the original topic to keep things relevant. A great example of this is when the trust system is questioned and then one user posts about x member abusing the system and it quickly spirals out of control and the original topic points are lost. It makes for messy reading and we never accomplish anything due to the topic getting out of hand.
Respect peoples viewpoints and opinions I would think that this would go without saying but apparently not. We are in a space that encourages those with diverse opinions and viewpoints on matters that aren't always popular opinion. Remember that everyone has a right to an opinion and has the right to express it on Bitcointalk as long as its relevant to the sub forum and of decent quality. You can disagree with someone but don't discredit their viewpoints immediately. Generally when I get into debates I try and put myself in their shoes before articulating my response. This can sometimes be hard when the person is making some outlandish claims though it is an important step in adding to the discussion.
Avoid double posting Avoid posting multiple replies one after another. Always use the edit function where you can without hindering those that are reading the content.
Don't hijack the thread
If you're posting in a thread then the original poster should be considered the primary participant and their original post defines the direction of the thread. Don't go into the thread and turn the discussion to suit your goals. If the topic is to change direction then that is up to the creator of the original topic.
Bring something new to the discussion Read the original topic and all of its replies before making a reply yourself. If your reply has been posted already then regurgitating the information just adds to the bloat of the thread and isn't needed. Always make sure that you are adding something to the discussion before posting your reply.
Correct usage of quotingOnly quote the relevant part of the post from someone and not the whole post. However avoid editing the persons original words to make it come across different than it is. Some people like to bold the important parts but I would recommend deleting all the irrelevant parts while still respecting the persons original words.
An example of correct usage of quoting:
This is the original text that we want to reply too by clicking the "quote" button at the top right of the post we will be brought to the quote editing screen.
Identify the important part of the text. In our example the highlighted text is the part of the post that we want to specifically reply too.
Remove any spaces to correctly format the post and remove any of the post that is not relevant to your response.
Formatting tools Using Bold Bold markup should only be used to emphasis important parts of your content and for defining headers. Don't bold your whole post and don't use it excessively without a good reason.
Using horizontal rule Horizontal rule is a good tool to define content and break up content without sub headers. Take this thread as an example of how it should be used.
Creating a table of contents First of all use the iurl tags to allow the link to be clickable. Generally for titles I'll include a bold tag to make it appear more prominent in the table of contents. It's also a good idea to create a non linked title to let readers know that this is a table of contents. iurl tags should be something like this:
[iurl=#title1] [b]Title example 1[/iurl][/b]
Which will create something like this:
Next we want to create a anchor so that when we click one on one of the links in the table of contents it brings us to a point we specify in the thread. This is done using the anchor tags:
[anchor=title] Title example 1 [/anchor]
In this case we wrap it around the title we want it to go too.
Then I normally format the post with a few center tags and the final result should look something like this:
As you can see I've created a subtitle for subheadings which aren't the main header. This is created exactly the same way but without including bold tags.
[/center]
