Basic Guide to Forum Posting

Rules?  Let’s face it.  Who reads about it?  Most of the time we, the users, just want the registration process to go as quickly as possible and be done with it.  We can’t wait to post our first post in the forum.  Sounds familiar?  Right!

Come to think of it, users can’t be totally blamed.  Who would want to read line after line of boring text telling you what you can and what you can’t do?  And even before users get to create an account, there is that wall of text on an entire page that is the Terms and Agreement that is expected to be read thoroughly.  Did you really read it?

So to make it short and simple, and have us going our way, here is a list of how to go about before you put up your post.

1. Will my post contribute to the forum?

Most of the time, forums were created to be a place to get information.  The difference between the forum and that of a dictionary, is that the information are not just laid out there from A to Z.  Someone posts something, and another one answers it.  A third one gives his point of view, while another disagrees with it.  And so on.

So if you are giving an opinion, give a good reason to back it up.  If it’s a question you are posting, provide enough information that could help others to answer your question.  And if you’re just gonna say something, because it’s a free world after all, say it with respect to the other users of the forum.

2. Has it been posted already?

Almost all forums come with a simple, or advanced, feature to search something or anything that has already been posted in it.  Use this feature to your advantage.  It is fast and easy.  You might get a quicker result from it, instead of waiting for minutes or even hours for someone to answer your question that has already been discussed in a previous thread.

If the same question has been asked already, it is good to post in the same thread that has been started previously if you need further clarifications.  But this is not always the case.  Some forums discourage this.  If this is the case, post a new thread by all means.  But be sure to include a link of a similar thread in your post to show people that you did your homework.  Forum people like this.

3. Is it the right forum?

Last of all, read the description of the forum first before you go about posting in it.  Decide from there if it is the right forum that best suits your question.  You can’t be posting in a forum about Google when you know that your question is about Yahoo, right?

Well that’s that.  Just 3 easy steps for you to remember when you post your next thread in a forum.  Follow these and you can’t go wrong even if you are new to that forum.  Rules after all are important to keep things clean and fun.