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 Post subject: Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional)
PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:39 pm 
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[Edit] These Rules and Guidelines amended and edited 2024/09/17[/Edit] - nexter


Introduction

The Winstep Board probably is and always has been the most liberal and tolerant anywhere, and so far there has always been a great reluctance by its owner and administrator Jorge Coelho - who also is the sole programmer and owner of Winstep Software Technologies - to impose any hard and fast rules for the board in the form of what are generally customary forum or board rules, or in any other form. The dominant spirit of this board has always been one of "laissez faire" and long may it continue.

However, the absence of any rules or guidelines can be confusing to both existing and especially new users and further can make it quite messy and difficult for forum staff to keep the board running smoothly. This has become increasingly hard in more recent years. In view of this it only seems to make eminent good sense, nay to be essential, to have at least some basic rules for this board. Hence this temporary basic, limited set of simple rules and guidelines has been created to serve until the owner/admin can make a final decision whether to have a proper set of Board Rules or not.

If everybody observes these simple rules, we all should get along just fine and it will be much easier to keep this board running smoothly and make it a pleasure to use and to come to a peaceful and friendly place for everybody.



Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional)


I. Board Rules


Forum Staff, i.e., Moderators and Administrators, are unpaid volunteers not affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies - owner Administrator excepted - who generously donate their limited spare time to keep the forums running smoothly and, when and where they can, help with queries and offer advice. Any decision made by an administrator or moderator is final and must be respected. It cannot be challenged, queried, or discussed in any way.

If you wish to discuss an issue with staff, contact him directly through a PM (Private Message) only. Do not argue with staff in any of the forums, nor in a PM - engage in a courteous/polite discussion only. Arguing with staff in any way, shape, or form can result in suspension or banning.


Abuse, abusive or offensive posting and language will not be tolerated and any such posts will be deleted without warning and can result in the user being banned. Abusive PMs, whether in tone or language, can also cause the offender to be banned. Likewise, abusive, offensive or obscene user names and signatures are banned and also can result in banning of the offender. Furthermore, nonsense and other frivolous or otherwise meaningless posts will also be deleted without warning and will be treated as spam and usually result in a ban, or in the offender facing other sanctions.

Posts written with the help of or entirely by ML/LLM - aka so-called 'AI' - like ChatGPT without this being clearly acknowledged and justified by the poster will be treated as spam and face immediate deletion and ban of the offending user. Further, the use of such LLM aids is most strongly discouraged anyway.

Users with one warning may face an immediate ban at their next transgression.

Posts or Personal Messages (PMs) that attack other users or staff are considered abuse and usually will result in an immediate ban. So-called "flame" posts generally fall into that category, too.

Trolling also will generally be dealt with in the same way.


Spam, Other Forms of Advertisements, and Political and Religious Promotion or Advocacy, including identity politics, are banned. Spam posts will generally be deleted as soon as they are discovered and the poster will be banned. Spam in user profiles and/or signatures can also result in a ban or at the very least will have the spam removed by an administrator. Other forms of advertising and any form of political and religious promotion or advocacy will also result in a ban, usually without warning.

Users may however include their own personal website in their profile and/or signature. If this is any kind of commercial website, the user must be the actual owner of the business and of the site, and this must be made clear with a comment. In the absence of this, websites included in profiles and/or signatures will be dealt with as spam and result in the user being banned.

While political and religious discussion in the 'Off Topic' forum is not banned as such, it is best avoided altogether as these tend to be extremely divisive subjects and arguments can easily get out of hand. At the very least, always strive to keep things civil.


Any Kind of Malicious Activity, including the posting of maliciously misleading information and the like will also be met with the most severe sanctions.


Please Note - Inactive Accounts

Accounts where a member has only registered but never afterwards logged in to the board may be deleted after a time at the staff's discretion. Accounts that have been inactive, i.e., where a member has not posted or logged in, for more than one year may also be deleted. However, in the case of previously active users, staff may use their discretion and extend this period and/or try to notify the member by PM of the intention to delete their account.


Bearing in Mind all of the above, freedom of speech and expression shall prevail on this board. So-called "Political Correctness" is entirely contrary to this freedom and is a Stalinist totalitarian concept at that (and this author finds the very idea of this concept offensive, indeed!) and so we shall steer clear of it and leave users to express themselves freely. But do remember that with freedom comes responsibility, one is not possible without the other, and hence the above rules and the guidelines that follow. Also, users are reminded to be tolerant of others' rights of freedom of speech even if they disagree or might be offended - with the right of freedom of speech also comes the right to be offended.


N.B.: Definitions of some of the terms used here, such as abuse, abusive, offensive, and others are as defined in common British English usage and in the Oxford English Dictionary.




II. Board Guidelines and Hints & Tips


Any Questions? Please do a search of the forum for the subject of your query before posting - it may well have been answered already. You may also want to consider doing a global search of the board by using a search engine such as DuckDuckGo or your own favourite search engine by entering site:forums.winstep.net/phpBB2/index.php/ followed by the subject of your query.

New users further must familiarise themselves with the forums and check that recent posts do not address the same issue already. Reporting the same issue as one that has already been reported, without relevant new facts or information, in other words mere "me too" posts, generally will be deleted and can result in a warning.

If your question is a new one, please post it as a new topic. Do not post it in an existing thread, where it is unlikely to be answered.

Please use a title that clearly indicates the nature of your query - a well defined title makes it more likely that your query will not only be seen more widely but also be answered.

When posting a question, please be patient for an answer. Staff may not be immediately available or indeed able to answer your query, and it may also take time for another user to see your query and help. Bear in mind that at present there are only two active moderators and one administrator/programmer.


If you have two or more queries that are not related you should post these as separate topics.


The devil is in the detail! Please, with any and all questions relating to Winstep applications, include as much detail as possible about the problem you are experiencing, and always clearly state which programme - Winstep Xtreme, NeXus Ultimate, or free Nexus - and what version you use and to which exact component of the software your query relates (e.g., dock, taskbar, shelf, drawer, grid stacks, xyz module, etc.), always using the correct names/terminology, as well as which Windows version - and whether 64 or 32 bit - you use. This will often make it much easier and quicker to find a solution to a problem. If any third party programme or programmes is/are relevant to your query, give their exact name and version.


A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - an image often helps in solving an issue. In the case of large images, please use the [rimg] tag instead of the [img] one as this will create a thumbnail that when clicked will display the full size image. This allows the page to load more quickly and gives users the choice whether or not to view the full size image.


Please use the default font size and colours. Use of bold and italic can help emphasise or convey meaning in a post but use them sparingly and with good cause.

Do not use coloured text, it can be more difficult to read.

Do not use all capital letters in titles or posts or even parts of posts, this is usually considered as shouting and uncouth or even rude.

Write in plain language and avoid using jargon or slang.

Avoid using excessive punctuation, e.g. multiple “!!!”, it usually looks ugly and is unnecessary.


Please do not post in topics where the last reply is more than six months old. If an old topic contains something that you consider relevant to your post, link to that old topic in a new post instead. Reviving topics older than six months is generally considered poor form and makes forums messy. Furthermore, your post may be split off from the old topic and moved to its own topic by staff.


Please think carefully about in which forum to post. Anything related to Winstep applications should be posted in the "General Discussion" forum, anything off topic in the "Off Topic" forum. The "Translations" forum is concerned with translating Winstep software. The "Articles" forum mainly features articles, tutorials and the like and is mostly posted to by staff and experienced users.

The "Beta Software Discussion" forum has been defunct for several years as betas are currently dealt with in the "General Discussion" forum. Applications by registered Winstep application users to join the "Registered Winstep Users" user group and thus the beta forum are no longer entertained.


Do not cross-post, i.e., create identical topics across several forums. Desist! This not only creates extra work for staff but also can result in separating potential answers or solutions.

Also, do not under any circumstances make identical or near identical posts in separate threads. Duplicate posts will be deleted and will result in a warning or even a ban.


Bumping posts is generally discouraged. However, if your query has received no answer within a reasonable time and you feel the need to do so, you can bump your topic by clicking on the "Bump Topic" link which will appear 48 hours after the last post alongside the "Board index", "Subscribe Topic", and "Bookmark Topic" links near the top of the page.


Please indicate if your query has been solved by editing the title of your first post by appending "- SOLVED" to it.


Please report bad posts such as spam or other inappropriate posts by clicking the small shield-like icon above the 'Quote' link at the bottom of the post and selecting the reason for the report from the list at the top of the new screen. Forum staff can and will miss some inappropriate posts sometimes as it is impossible to check every single post, especially at busy times.
Please also report any inappropriate PMs you receive to a member of staff and forward the message to them.


Do not post bare links - these could be seen as spam and will likely be deleted by staff or could even be treated as spam.


Private Messages (PMs) - please do not use these for support questions to other forum members or staff without prior consent. Those who help out do so in their spare time and should be free to choose which topics they answer.


Everybody has been a newbie at something at some time, somewhere - never assume that all other users will know as much as you, so always consider that another user might be a newbie unless you know otherwise with certainty. Some users can be harder to help than others but please remain civil and courteous. Always provide clear and detailed instructions and avoid slang, technical jargon, and procedures that you take for granted.


Good manners and courtesy cost nothing, please try to observe these at all times, or at least whenever possible - yes, it can be hard sometimes. Very! ;-)

So let us all play nicely now, alright? :D




© nexter



[Edit] These Rules and Guidelines amended and edited 2024/09/17[/Edit] - nexter

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nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


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 Post subject: Re: Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional
PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:04 pm 
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Above 'Board Rules and Guidelines....' edited and revised 2023/04/02.

It is hoped that this makes everything clearer and easier to understand.

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nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


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 Post subject: Re: Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional
PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:33 pm 
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nexter wrote:
Above 'Board Rules and Guidelines....' edited and revised 2023/04/02.

It is hoped that this makes everything clearer and easier to understand.

Minor revisions/clarifications 2023/04/09

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nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


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 Post subject: Re: Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:41 pm 
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Board Rules and Guidelines have undergone some small revision. Revised version posted 2023/09/05.

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nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


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 Post subject: Re: Board Rules and Guidelines and Hints & Tips (Provisional
PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2024 4:11 am 
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Please note that the Board Rules & Guidelines have undergone amendments and revision on 2024/09/17, especially also to take into account ML/LLM (so-called 'AI') such as ChatGPT. Therefore, users should make the small effort of re-reading the Rules.... which is in their own best interest as violating them can result in disciplinary action including banning.

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nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


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