The Lobby Posting Guidelines

There will be no comprehensive list of rules here documenting what you can and cannot do explicitly, merely hints to give you an idea of what we expect. From thereon we leave it up to your own judgement and common sense as to what belongs here and what constitutes a good contribution. The underlying ethos of the forum we're attempting to cultivate is one of mutual respect for each other as well as the promotion of interesting conversation in a mature, yet casual, environment. We ask posters to always keep this fundamental aim in mind whenever posting in this board.

Creating Threads

New threads are the lifeblood of a forum and we actively encourage you to create them! No forum's community can be sustained without new material and we must all play our part in providing it. Don't be shy in hitting that "create new topic" button! Some hints on starting a decent thread:

• Make a decent opening post. It doesn't have to be an essay, but at least outline the topic and provide your own point of view on it as well in order to initially spark off the conversation.

• Don't select a ridiculously silly or immature subject. This is a discussion forum to discuss stuff that matters, not lame childish garbage. Threads don't have to be serious and heavy all the time, keeping in mind this is a casual social board, but at least ensure your topic is worthwhile.

• Try to make threads that are at least one, if not more, of the following: humorous, entertaining, intelligent, thought-provoking, interesting and/or charming.

• Try to use the thread tags feature to make threads easier to filter through and locate from other areas of the site.

• If sharing a news article, provide a link to the source and try to summarize it in your own words or quote a small snippet rather than copy/pasting the entire thing. Firstly this makes the post easier to read and secondly it avoids potential copyright issues which could arise if you directly duplicate whole articles in your post.

Topics To Avoid

There's a few things we'd rather not have here. This isn't a definitive list but to give you an idea:

• Topics of a crude, distasteful or sexually explicit nature. This isn't what we mean by "mature environment" and these topics don't belong on the site period. Again, there's plenty of other places online which cater for this stuff. Go get your jollies elsewhere.

• Forum game threads. They hold no real discussion value and are more appropriate in Loungin', subject to the approval of the moderators there.

• Random comparison threads (Pepsi vs Coke). Again, they hold no discussion value and are more appropriate elsewhere.

• "How Old Are You", "What Is Your Gender?", "Which Country Are You From?" topics. No discussion value... *yawn* you get the ongoing theme here. Basically, make a topic where there's actually something to discuss.

Topics We Want

We see this forum as more outward-facing than other boards meaning the subject matter, while not exclusively so, would tend to deal with more real-world and real-life situations. Along those lines, decent discussions could include:

• Topics regarding topical issues and current events.

• Discussion of breaking news stories or events as they're unfolding.

• Sharing interesting news articles with the community that you've found whilst giving yours and soliciting others' opinions.

• Threads asking advice on personal situations or issues from fellow members.

• Topics discussing events in your life or rants about something that's happened to you. We love the occasional rant or whinge so go ahead and let off some stream!

• Basically any thread that's interesting and is worthwhile discussing. The scope of this forum is really broad which gives you lots of room to post about a wide range of cool stuff.

Replying To Threads

Most of us will be replying to threads mainly. Here's some hints to make decent contributions to topics:

• Avoid making personal attacks on other posters. Even if you disagree with someone strongly on an issue, respect their opinion and attack the point they're making rather than them personally. There's nothing wrong with debating with someone, in fact that's what often makes discussions interesting, just keep it civil and respectful. We sometimes lose sight of the fact online that each username represents a person behind a keyboard with thoughts and feelings just like us.

• Avoid posting memes/image replies. Largely, they're childish, unoriginal and boring; particularly when most have seen them 1,000 times before already. Go chill out at other places which embrace them if that's your schtick, cuz they'll just be reported and deleted here.

• Try to gravitate away from making short posts. Again, there's no need to write an essay to post here but keep in mind this is a discussion forum and not a chat room so what you're posting should contribute to the thread in some way. The occasional short response is sometimes appropriate, but don't make a habit out of routinely doing it.

• Jokes are funny, in moderation. Keep in mind you're not on Live at the Apollo though and shouldn't be competing all the time for the biggest laugh. At least try to mix jokes in with other positive contributions to a topic. A thread full of wannabe comedians just derails a topic and makes for a boring, and often predictable, read.

Maintaining Community Standards

We want this community to succeed. Hopefully you do as well. This is your community. This forum exists for you. Treat it as such and take an active role in ensuring the environment here is a positive one. This is easy to do; even just being a regular, interesting and positive poster yourself assists in setting the tone and atmosphere of this board and provides a clear example for others to follow.

If you see someone disrespecting your community by behaving in ways contrary to our ethos, take action. Don't just tut and sit idly by while whining that the forum is going downhill: use the tools you have as members like the report feature, which seems greatly underused in recent times, to both demonstrate to the offender that their behavior is unacceptable to the majority as well as to help us in dealing with it. Even if you're unsure about something, flag it for moderation anyway so we can take a look. You're not going to get into trouble for flagging something that we later deem okay, so don't stress about reporting stuff that you think is even a little bit questionable.

As moderators, we cannot enforce an environment upon you with an iron fist. It has been tried; it doesn't work. The desire and drive to maintain the ethos of this board must be present from all of those who participate in it at every level. The reason for this desire should be to preserve the sanctuary we have set up here away from the community's more juvenile elements.

This board is your haven for decent, laid-back conversation about stuff that matters. This is a sacred place and one we must preserve, as such environments seem to be increasingly difficult to find online these days. This project's failure would also be an admission that the social side of Neoseeker really does not get better than Loungin' and the environment there is the best we can ever hope to achieve on the site with our current community.

Don't let this opportunity pass us by, guys. This forum could well play a significant role in defining the type of member Neoseeker attracts heading into the future by being an immensely positive and marketable area of the site. You're the generation who have a chance to lead this new era. Let's not let this rare opportunity of a clean slate which has been afforded to us go to waste.

Forum Comments and Suggestions

If you have any comments about the guidelines here or if you have ideas, suggestions or concerns about the forum in general, why not go ahead and send a NeoPM to the moderators here? Even if you just want a chat about nothing particularly specific, go ahead and message us. We're members here first and foremost too and wanna get to know new people as well. In fact, if you're reading this right now and you've never spoken to me ever before anywhere I insist you PM me immediately just to say hi! I'm lonely and stuff!

It's not even a problem if you create a new topic in this board too with your comments or suggestions if you have something specific you want to mention. This could be a good idea if you feel whatever you want to talk about would benefit from being discussed by the community at large. You may prefer to create it in the ReQuests, Feedback and Suggestions forum as a feedback topic if you wish.

Thanks for reading and adhering to our guidelines.

Take care.