Search Forum Home   Announcements  General Announcements   Important: Mess...  Important: Message Board Guidelines and Procedures    5/11/2007 4:11:33 PM host 46 posts Important: Message Board Guidelines and Procedures Message Board Guidelines and Procedures: Rules & Proper Use Welcome to our user-to-user message boards. They are provided for you to share tips with your fellow simulation users, discuss your favorite scenarios, and generally get the most enjoyment out of the Incident Commander simulation software. Because these are rules, right up front we want to let you know that we strongly discourage "slam" postings to our boards. By slam postings, we mean posts that make declarative, subjective statements such as, "This product is horrible. No one should use it." Such posts will be removed from our site, as will any posting that refers to your fellow board users, our moderators, our developers, or even our competitors in a derogatory manner. Please keep in mind that these forums are open to the public and you should not post sensitive information regarding names, policies or tactics that could jeopardize future events. We also discourage discussions about the board itself and about DOJ, NIJ, or BreakAway in general. The forums are here to discuss the simulation in a productive manner with other users. If you have a comment about our Web site or the simulation that requires direct interaction with an official employee, it is best to read the contact page on the Incident Commander Web site. Board Use Rules Please remember, our message board moderators are the resident experts on these boards. Often you will see they are answering or commenting on messages posted to our boards in an attempt to help out a fellow member. They watch the posts on the boards carefully and when it is needed, they post messages to keep the board "on-track." and functioning smoothly. Basically, the moderators' sole purpose is to help keep our message boards a friendly, functional community. Please refrain from the use of vulgar language, harassment of other users, racial or ethnic slurs, sexism, or slander. Please remember that the forums are an extension of your work environment. We are committed to maintaining a threat-free environment for everyone. Images that are not appropriate for the workplace are not to be posted. Do not use inappropriate images on our forums - ones endorsing pornography, software piracy; or those that "slam" any individual or company. Please do not publicly re-post private email without the express written permission of the e-mail's original sender (e-mail is protected by copyright). Do not publicly re-post private discussions with others that were held over messaging clients without permission from all the other owners (participants) of the messages. Please refrain from having personal discussions with other board members on the forums; there are e-mail and Internet messaging programs for that purpose. Do not attempt to impersonate other forum members or forum moderators/administrators. Such an attempt will not be successful and it is an offense that will get you banned from the forums - no ifs, ands, or buts about it - this is non-negotiable. Out of courtesy to other forum users and our moderators we expect you to use only one username on our forums. Please do not post email addresses, standard addresses, ICQ and other messaging client numbers, or phone numbers which are not your own, again this activity will get you banned from our forums. If you do not like these rules, please do not post. If you break these rules, we reserve the right to revoke your posting privileges. Remember, posting here is a privilege and not a right. If you wish to discuss any of these rules it should be done via e-mail, and not on the forums themselves. Fine Print DOJ, NIJ, and BreakAway take no responsibility for the content, attachments, links to, or use of the content of the messages posted on this board, nor do we endorse the opinions of the authors. While we take no responsibility for the content of the messages posted on this board, our moderators will review messages posted here to make certain that they meet our guidelines as stated in this document. We reserve the right to delete any message posted on any message board on the Incident Commander Web site, for any reason, at our sole discretion or the discretion of our appointed moderators. Message boards are a dynamic entity. Therefore, these rules may change at any time, with no notice posted anywhere except this page. Please check these rules before posting any future messages to our boards. Thank you for your attention and cooperation. Etiquette The following rules of etiquette are designed to keep the forums on the same track. Nothing could be worse than logging onto a forum for the first time only to get immediately flamed for not following the rules of etiquette that you didn't even know existed! Getting Started Clearly, if you have a question please contact us. The sooner you post your question, the sooner you'll have an answer! If you're considering joining any of our online communities, we recommend that you read a week's worth of board messages. See how questions are typically asked and answered before you start posting your own replies. This way you'll gain a sense of that particular board's conversational style. Flaming and Slamming Flaming and Slamming will not be tolerated. "Flaming" is insulting another user's post, opinions, subject, grammar, or an attempt to pick an online fight. "Slamming" is making offensive, condescending, or insulting comments about a user, product, or company (ours or anyone else's) in order to pick an online fight. Please note that there is a large difference between expressing an opinion and flaming. A differing opinion would say, "I disagree with you, Dave, since I've been in a hostage situation and communication was crucial". Whereas a flame would say, "You're absolutely wrong Dave. Obviously you've never been in a hostage situation. Furthermore, you cannot spell worth a hill of beans." In addition, there is a massive gap between expressing concern about a simulation or company and slamming it. A properly expressed concern would say, "I dislike the fact that the school hostage scenario uses an enclosed hallway school as our town has an open air hallway school and that would give us a more custom feel." While a slam would go something like, "School hostage scenario sucks! The designers are stupid for using an enclosed hallway school." Flaming and slamming is petty and childish. If you have a burning urge to pick a fight, buy a copy of a fighting game and duke it out online. Off-topic Posts Each of our boards has a particular topic. Please post only messages that relate to that topic. If you are posting a reply to another user's message and your reply will take the thread off-topic please email it to the previous poster instead of posting it publicly, or edit it to keep the thread on-topic after your post. Repeat Posts We ask everyone not to post multiple copies of a message. If your question goes unanswered, it probably means either no one knows the answer or no one has an interest in the subject. Messages remain visible for quite some time to allow users who visit later to see the message and answer it. If your message scrolls onto a subsequent page before being answered, then you can "bump" it to the top by "replying" to it with the word "bump". This will bring that message's "thread" to the top of the first page. As a general rule of thumb, multiple-posted messages actually seem to stand less of a chance of being answered than the single-posted ones. If you place a post and realize that you forgot something or want to add another point, don't fret! Ezboard permits you the ability to edit your post at anytime. Simply click on the "edit" text next to your post. Quoting Previous Posts If you are replying to the last post in a long thread, it is perfectly understandable and acceptable to simply answer it. However, if you are replying to a post further back in the thread, you may want to include a quote from, or a short recap of, the post to which you are replying. This will help users who are reading the thread sequentially to figure out which post you are answering. To see how "quotes" can be done, refer to the Ezboard's "EzCodes". Emoticons Unlike a face-to-face conversation or a telephone call, words "spoken" on the Internet have no inflection. There is no easy way to tell just by looking at a typed sentence whether it was written in anger or jest. Therefore, we encourage you to let your readers know what sort of expression you are "wearing" when you say certain things. In most Internet forums, this is accomplished by using "emoticons" - text-based faces which express a smile :-) or a frown :-( or a playful taunt :-P. On the Ezboard Forums, emoticons are automatically expressed with actual icons for certain character combinations. Please consult the Emoticon list (located at the bottom of any new post) for availability and use. Feel free to use any of the assorted emoticons within your post. Capital Letters On the Internet, anything that you type in ALL-CAPITAL letters is considered to be "spoken loudly" or shouted. While this is an appropriate way to emphasize a word or two (such as "I absolutely LOVE this forum!"), an entire message posted in all-caps is considered to be shouting and in bad taste. All-caps messages are also more difficult to read, and should also be avoided simply for reasons of comprehension. Accuracy When responding to a question, unless you're sure of your answer, it's best not to post a definite answer. Instead try something to the effect, "I think…". That way the original poster understands that this is your speculation rather than hard 'fact' to his question and won't be angry if it turns out to be wrong. Respect Above all else, respect others and treat them as you yourself would like to be treated. Posting a thank-you to someone who has helped, or tried to help you, is a great way to encourage that person to continue helping. At the same time there is no need for being condescending or hurtful to others. So, please enjoy our message boards. They are designed for you to meet others interested in getting the most out of the Incident Commander simulation. Enjoy!  Page 1 of 1   Announcements  General Announcements   Important: Mess... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest