Dear all,

I would like to announce that we* have recently made a complete overhaul to the Forum Rules . The moderators (i.e. myself and the SuSanA secretariat ), will apply these rules more strictly in the future. We are also going to include a link to the rules in the very first e-mail that a new member gets from the secretariat upon registration.

This came about as one activity after we had that discussion on how to raise the quality of the forum posts (forum.susana.org/forum/categories/148-yo...quality-of-the-forum).

Please do take a look at the new rules page here (the page also includes the background to the rules, i.e. a common understanding of how this discussion forum works):
forum.susana.org/forum/rules

We have provided a short version and a long version of the rules on that page.

If there is anything on the rules page that you think should be modified or discussed further, please let us know by replying to this post (or by using the contact button to the left).

For your information: the rule that is most often violated by people (novices as well as frequent users) is Rule Number 3:

Rule 3:
Please refrain from making “one liner” or short “half sentence” posts, such as providing only a URL link to a website or paper but without saying why you recommend this particular website or paper. Such posts will be deleted by the moderators and their authors will be contacted.

Also Rules 4 and 5 are often not adhered to:

Rule 4:
Please refrain from making a post just containing the words “Thank you”. Instead, click on the “I like this post” button below the other person’s post (visible after logging in). Or, even better: If you want to thank someone for their post, explain why their post deserves thanks in one or two sentences. A third alternative is to thank someone personally by using the contact button to the left of the person’s post.

Rule 5:
Please add some basic information (such as location, employer, website) to your personal forum profile, which is useful for the following reasons: establishing rapport, finding out about new members, identifying possibilities for links with other members. When community members know more about each other, it helps them communicate and collaborate more effectively. Some introductory sentences about yourself at the beginning of your first post are also highly recommended. Should you wish to remain anonymous, we would respect that right to anonymity, although we do not encourage it.

A suggestion has been made that the link to the rules page should be more prominent. At the moment you find it in the top menu bar (grey text on black at the very top) under "Forum tools" - see red circle in screenshot below. Is that too hidden? How else or where else could it be displayed?

Edited on 28 June, 2017: Screen shot of the drop-down menu for Forum Rules after the forum upgrade. The rules can now be found under Basics on top of the forum page, circled in red at the top right hand corner of the image



Regards,
Elisabeth

* "We" means here the Forum Committee (consisting of SuSanA secretariat, moderators, spam swatters and featured users).