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The Good Conduct Guide.


sal_vager

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Good Conduct Guide

Rather than more rules, these are intended to be a code of etiquette for the forum members.

Be civil

This is a no-brainer, be civil and polite, and don't be offended if your words are taken the wrong way, it's often hard to convey our thoughts and feelings with text alone, especially for those of us who are poor with spelling and grammar or those to whom English is not their first language.

Never resort to personal attacks, If you have an issue with another member deal with it in private, but remember, you may have simply misunderstood each other.

Stay on topic

Some threads are very popular and are visited by many members, and people like info relevant to the topic at hand, so please pay attention to the topic of your messages and check that it still relates to the spirit of the thread to which you are posting.

Off-topic discussion can derail a thread, so consider beginning a new thread instead if you feel your ideas need to be heard.

Be kind to newcomers

Newcomers may be annoying. They ask the wrong questions, including ones that seem obvious (or whose answers seem easy to find). But lots of valued contributors started out this way, and treating newcomers kindly makes them more likely to turn into the valuable community members we all know and love (and cut some slack when they mess up).

So while you don't have to humour them or suffer them gladly, and it's fine to point out when they make mistakes, point newcomers in the right direction in addition to turning them away from the wrong ones, and be kind to them in the process of correcting their transgressions.

Read the Rules

The rules are in place to make the KSP forums a good place for everyone, so it's worth your time to get acquainted with them.

Report major issues

Every post has a "Report Post" button, and this is for when you see a post that breaks the forum rules such as attacking another member, spam advertising or discrimination.

Minor issues like threads in the wrong forum can be brought up within the thread itself.

Stuck? Search for answers

Many topics have been brought up on the KSP forums already, so if you have a question or request, it's good conduct to look for it first using the Search feature found in the top right-hand corner, the Search feature works in a few different ways:

1' You can search the entire site by using the Search Box in the menu bar.

2' You can select Advanced Search to see more options and filters, allowing you to refine your search.

3' You can navigate to a board of choice, where you can use the Search Forum drop-down button to search only threads in that board.

Let old controversies die

We all know it's tempting to revisit controversial topics we disagree with, but it's rarely productive to do so, since it almost always results in the same heated, lengthy, and time/energy draining discussions leading to the same conclusion that was reached in the last round, or to Moderator action to prevent further argument.

Therefore, for issues already raised, discussed, and decided upon, open the discussion only if you have significant new information that would breathe fresh air into old ideas.

Reviving old threads, ie Necro-posting

Old threads that have run their course will sink into the bowels of the forums, and are best left to rest in peace.

As with old controversies, unless you have something to say that is relevant and would breath new life into an old thread you should just leave it alone, especially for any thread where it has been more than one month since the last activity.

For really old threads, more than three months since the last post for example, there is never any need to revive them, if you have something to say post a new thread and link to the old one instead.

No advocacy

All these forum boards, with the exception of the Space Lounge, are for the discussion of the Kerbal Space Program. As such, comments about which operating system is better, or whether man went to the moon, or whether vegetables are good for you or not, are simply not relevant.

Some topics are not suitable even for Off-Topic though, and you should ask yourself, are you bringing something of value to the other members?

Ignore spammers

We all know that spam is a blight upon the face of the net. Nobody likes it. However, it is hard to avoid. Despite our best efforts, you will occasionally see spam on the KSP forums.

Double posting identical content, "+1" "This" and posts that seem to be nothing but random gibberish are spam, as is quoting large images without adding meaningfully to the discussion.

If you see spam, rather than try to deal with it yourself, notify the Moderation team who can remove spam quickly.

Verbose or concise?

Some members seem to have a novel inside them just trying to get out with every post, while others try to convey as much information as possible with a minimum of keypresses.

Try to strike a balance with your posts, so that they are not so short they add little to the conversation and might be considered meaningless, but also not so long that we are faced with the dreaded "Wall of text", as you will often find your point is ignored by the TL-DR crowd.

Clean up your attachments

Large BMP's, uncompressed text files and big animated signatures put a strain on any forum, and the KSP forums are no different.

So get in the habit of linking images and other content from 3rd party hosting sites instead, and if you feel you have to upload a large file, reduce its quality or compress it beforehand.

The same goes for signatures, keep them as lightweight as possible as large animated signatures can be annoying as well.

Keep the forums tidy

We know you want to show off your latest flight to the Mun, but if your post is a long stream of pictures it becomes hard to see what others think of your achievement, their posts being a long scroll down below yours.

So to keep the threads looking presentable and to allow others to see more on a page than just one or two posts, it is recommended that you only post one or two pics on the forums and link to a gallery of the rest.

Post Squatting

Squatting or reserving the posts after your own not only makes the forums untidy, it is an annoying practice as other members find their posts further down the page or even on the next one while the reserved posts often go unused.

Trim your follow-ups

It's good etiquette to not quote the entire content of the message to which you are replying. Include only as much as is necessary for context. Remember that if someone wants to read the original message, they can; it is easily accessible. A good rule of thumb is, don't include more quoted text than new text.

There is always a need for some trimming - either a salutation, a signature, some blank lines or whatever. If you are doing no trimming whatsoever of the quoted text, then you aren't trimming enough.

A place for everything

The KSP forums are broken up into categories, so make sure you post in the category relevant to your content.

Bug reports and suggestions live in the Development board, while help getting KSP to work belongs in Support, similarly if it is about anything and everything in the Kerbal universe, General Discussion is the board for you, while content not related to KSP in any way will have a place in Off-Topic.

So look at what you intend to bring to the community, and ask yourself "Where does this most belong?"

Identify your subject matter

People are far more likely to read your thread if they can see straight away that the topic would interest them, so ensure that your topic title is clear and accurate.

Topic titles such as "Help!" or "What?" will often be ignored.

In the same way that a poor title can harm your thread, if your initial post within that thread also lacks enough information, your thread will wither and die.

Just as you should ask yourself where your thread belongs, also ask yourself "Will my thread contribute to the community?"

Test threads and posts

You may be tempted to make a test topic or post, be assured the forums do work (most of the time) as can be attested by the hundreds who post every day :)

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