UltimateDisney.Com Posting Guidelines
Welcome to the UltimateDisney.com Forum. This forum was created so that people can discuss news and issues raised on UltimateDisney.com plus other Disney-related topics. In addition, there is a lively and varied Off-Topic section for people to discuss unrelated matters.
As the membership to the forum continues to grow, it is important that everyone has a clear understanding of the etiquette expected when submitting posts. To this end, and as requested by a number of members, the UD moderators have drawn up a series of guidelines for members to follow.
<b>Please take the time to read and remember these guidelines.</b>
These are very basic and far from stringent, but they aren’t expected to be innately known and followed by a newbie from day one; hence the prominent display. We have no intention of policing these guidelines with a
zero tolerance mindset, unlike some other Internet forums. We are all well aware that something that makes this forum so inviting is its fun, friendly, and free atmosphere. The guidelines are not intended to stop anybody from posting or to make members think that their opinions are unimportant. We want to keep the forum's friendly atmosphere and we hope that if everybody remembers the following guidelines before they post, the forum will continue to thrive and – basically – run and moderate itself. We will step in though if we feel the guidelines are repeatedly being ignored.
In addition, all of the moderators will take action on any
personal insults posted. We feel personal attacks and insults on fellow members create an unpleasant atmosphere for all, and are definitely not welcome on the forum.
Discussion of these guidelines is
wide open. All members are also free to suggest new ones if they would like and any contributions from members young and old, new or seasoned, are most welcome! Cooperation is the key, after all - if we work together, we can make this forum run smoothly and assure it a healthy, long life! No comment will be ignored!
Without further ado, here are the
UltimateDisney.com Forum Guidelines detailing all the do’s and don’ts that we follow here at UD.
Before You Post
Put Thought Into Your Posts
When posting a reply, you might ask yourself, "Is this post contributing to discussion or are you posting just because there's a thread you haven't posted in yet?" When starting a new discussion thread, you might wonder, "Am I making a sincere effort to spark discussion?" When starting a question thread, you'll want to remember to be clear in what you're asking for and to use a "?" in your thread title.
Do Not Start New Threads About Slipcovers
UD's reviews always mention if a DVD initially came with a cardboard slipcover, and so does
Jake Lipson's thread...so there is positively no reason that new threads asking about titles should be started. You are entirely welcome to discuss those cardboard packaging treats that sometimes open like a book and sometimes don't. But leave discussion for Jake's thread or a topic already discussing the relevant DVD.
Search before Starting a New Thread
----Learn to fully utilize the
Search function - located at the top right of every forum page! This is the most useful when you want to discuss a particular subject; before starting a new thread of your own, enter a few keywords into the search to see if something similar has been discussed. This prevents creating superfluous threads, and will also give newer members a chance to read the replies of others who have already posted their thoughts. Selecting the third option under Search Previous (labelled "Search topic title only") will usually (but not always) yield the most relevant results. Remember that most of the animated classics already have great threads devoted solely discussing them. Search for them if you're interested! Aside from that most significant function, you can also utilize the search to, for example, find old posts of a specific member - whether it’s simply for your own reference, or to use as damning evidence against them!
You can also search through all of UltimateDisney.com by using the
Site Search page. Google has indexed thousands of pages from the site including some key forum topics. Most questions about a particular Region 1 Disney DVD can be answered by reading UD's review, and there are plenty of other informative pages accessible through the
www.UltimateDisney.com front page that should be read and can probably answer questions you didn't know you didn't know....
Continue Discussion in an Older Thread...As Long as You Have Something Important to Add
----If you find an older thread in which you would like to post your own thoughts, please make it worth the trouble! Posting in an old thread brings it back up to the first page of the board again - this is called "bumping." Bumping old threads isn’t prohibited, but only under the conditions that you’re bringing up an old topic again to contribute a substantial reply to it! This makes it "worth it" for other members to read the new post (to a topic that they, very well, may still remember!), and a substantial post also carries the benefit of stimulating conversation about that topic once again! That can't be a bad thing, can it?
Choose an Appropriate Forum for Your Topic
----There are five separate forums here, each with a specific focus. Read the description underneath each forum and take a moment to decide which one seems most appropriate for the topic you're about to post. We realize that some topics might not clearly fall in one or the other, and that's where we can step in to help. Everyone doing their best to put a new thread in the right place will go a long way to help.
Advertising Your Site?
----Don't bother posting to tell us about your website, whether or not it is related to Disney, without first getting clearance via e-mail from the site administrator, which will likely only be given in extreme circumstances. Unsolicited advertising, spamming, and recruiting members to assist you with your website are all not permitted here, and will be deleted. If you have registered only to advertise your website, then your account will likely be banned. If you would like to advertise your site, you may purchase space above or below the forums at a reasonable cost through Google and/or AdBrite. Regular members are permitted to include a link to their own website in their profile (which also appears beneath their posts) - this is acceptable and should be sufficient if any reader wants to visit it.
Making Your Post
Use Clear and Accurate Thread Titles
If asking a question, use a question mark in the title. Don't use an ellipsis as a suspense device. If discussing a specific topic, make sure the title is clear. If you're not a specific topic, there's probably an existing thread already discussing that topic. Don't forget to do a search first. Acronyms that are widely used are okay for posts, but as long as you have space for the proper name of something, that's probably the best route to take. You might know what "TLM" is, but someone else might not and might not care about a topic on <i>The Little Mermaid</i>. Save them the trouble of clicking the thread. Thread titles are supposed to accurately represent what the thread is about, not trick people into clicking.
Bad Thread Title: Guess what's comin' to DVD...
Good Thread Title: "The '90s Mickey Mouse Club is coming to DVD!
Bad Thread Title: Boy Meets World Season 4 (when no news is being posted)
Good Thread Title: Boy Meets World Season 4 Release Date?
Bad Thread Title: mickey mouse
Good Thread Title: Mickey Mouse's Most Memorable Role?
Don't Go Overboard with Quoting
----Posting "quote blocks" is discouraged. If a certain member types up a long and substantial essay about the significance of donuts in our modern society, you’re most welcome to add your own opinion about it. What we
don’t want you to do is hit the QUOTE button and add just a single sentence of your own thoughts. This results in a
huge re-post of the donut essay and just a scrap of the replier’s own words. For example:
_____________________
StitchLuvR wrote:
I do, in fact, believe that donuts are an important icon in our modern Western society. What could the donut’s circular form mean other than to represent our fruitless eternal struggles in the work and home, always in the pursuit of a form of happiness that will never come? Its central hole is even more telling - representing the innate hollowness that is within all of us, as we subconsciously realize the utter meaningless existence that we truly live… blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah filler filler blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and some more filler.
Dude, I SO know what you mean!
_______________________
...a similar event happens when the quote function is used back and forth between several replies, resulting in a long, chronicled "chat log" of sorts.
_______________________
tillykat wrote:
randomcode315 wrote:
chestercat wrote:
taleasoldastime wrote:
PixyBabe wrote:
lattah926 wrote:
Hey, how’s it going? Does anyone know where I can find such-and-such slipcover?
Hi! I‘m fine, but I have no idea about the cover thingies lol
I think you can find something about those on a thread below - this has been brought up before I think!
I agree, it‘s been discussed before - you‘ll get in trouble with the admin omg!
When are they going to release PE Mermaid?!?!
Hi Lattah - you can find some information about that slipcover at
this thread!!
Thanks a lot, tillykat!
______________________
There are 2 ways that we would encourage you to use in place of quote blocks. If you use the quote function, you can edit down the essay to specific sentences that you would like to address. In the "chat log" situation, it’d be preferable that you edit the quote down to the last replier only - and not the many others that came previously. The second method is infinitely simpler, and similar to a chat room method of addressing an individual. Simply put the username of the person you’d like to address next to an "arrow mark" or comma. For example, if you were "tillycat" -
lattah926> You can find some information about that slipcover at
this thread!!
Quoting Is Easy!
Ok, so you've got the guidelines for appropriate quoting down pat, but you just need to know <i>how</i> to do it? Don't worry! All you have to do is hit the "Quote" button that appears beside the post that you want to quote. As soon as you do this, your reply screen will open and all the code you need to type for quoting will already appear. Remember to delete the excess text, if you're only replying to a part of a previous post. Then just type your reply below it. All the work has been done for you and you won't have to type a bit of code!
Make an Effort to Use Proper Grammar and Spelling
There's little that can undermine an argument as much as using terribly wrong spelling and grammar. We understand that English is not everyone's first language, but whether it is or isn't, please make a sincere effort to use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Write coherent sentences, not fragments or run-ons. Don't go wild with exclamation points or question marks.
Here is a free site to check spelling:
http://www.spellcheck.net/
You can also download this add-on for Internet Explorer, but it is not explicitly endorsed:
http://www.iespell.com/
Do Not Attack Other Forum Members
You are entirely welcome to disagree with another forum member, but you must remain respectful of them. If you disagree, attack their argument in a civil manner. Do not attack them, that does not help you get your point across more convincingly and it makes for an unfriendly discussion area. It's not permitted here.
Inappropriate Content
Posts containing explicit content, prurient images, or other material inappropriate for the forum will not be allowed. Links to other websites hosting similar material are also not allowed. Use your best judgment in posting.
Registration & Enhanced Forum Features
Be Reasonable with Your Signature
----Please try to use some good judgment when posting with your signature. Both text "sigs" and banners of reasonable size are allowed; repeated posting with them (especially in the same thread) is discouraged, however. Among other things, it saps the bandwidth and can make reading cumbersome for other users - especially those with slower connections. We require that signature images must be hosted off-site and can be no larger than 500 pixels in width and 100 pixels in height. If your signature is just text, keep it to five lines or less. If you're having trouble we can help.
Save PMs for Infrequent Communication
Figuring out what to vote off for your Survivor alliance? Use e-mail. Private messages are a nice little convenience but they should not be used on a regular basis to communicate with your forum member. E-mail does everything a PM can except use UD's bandwidth.
Avatars
An avatar is an image that appears below your username beside your posts. In order to display an avatar, you must have at least 50 posts outside of the Polls & Games forum. As said earlier, posting excessively just to get an avatar isn't allowed and won't help you get one. The maximum size for an avatar is 100 pixels x 100 pixels and a file size of no more than 20kb.
One Account Per Person
Those opening multiple accounts will be asked to proceed with just one. If they do not agree, then all accounts by them will be banned.
Support This Site
This Site Needs your Help to Continue
Clearly, all that UltimateDisney.com offers (and yes, there is much more than a forum) requires a lot of time and money. That's why we ask of you, and even beg you, to click ads that interest you and use
our affiliate links to support this site. Clicking ads that genuinely interest you requires little effort and gives a few cents back to this site that you clearly enjoy enough to visit.
Joining the Disney Movie Club? Use
our link(the Bambi banner below), not to be confused with Google and AdBrite ads that promote the same thing (but credit others).
Buying a Disney DVD through Amazon.com? If you use the link from UD's review, shop, or listings page, a portion of the sale goes to this site at no extra cost to you.
Your support is wholeheartedly appreciated. Without it, this site cannot exist or can only exist with excessive and/or intrusive advertisements - the type that most sites on the Internet today plague you with. We'd love to keep the site as user-friendly as it is now, but that cannot happen without your help.
And if you're feeling particularly generous at any time, you can always
make a contribution through Amazon.com's Honor System. It's safe, secure, and refundable for 30 days if you change your mind.
Thanks again for taking the time to read these regulations and remember them when participating in this online community.
- The UltimateDisney.com Moderators
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