Learn to read…
If you’re new to using a forum, then you may find it all a bit confusing at first. That’s understandable; everyone has to start somewhere, and you’ll want to learn how things work – at least well enough so that you can join in. There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about finding out how to do things.
The right way
Read the forum’s FAQ and familiarise yourself with them – they should have most of the information you need, if not all of it. Most bulletin boards come ready-equipped with an FAQ from the software developers; in addition, many Site Administrators provide their own. You may find that there are other helpful resources on your chosen forum too, such as fault report facilities, feedback/contact form, helpful hints and tips. Make use of them.
The wrong way
The wrong way is to bombard the Site Admins or Moderators with questions that are already answered in the forum’s FAQ or other documentation. Forum administrators are usually busy people who are often giving their time for nothing, and the FAQ are there to save them from having to reply to the same question over and over again (hence the name). There are few things more annoying to them than someone sending them a private message or email asking a question that’s answered in the FAQ.
You should only ask the Site Admins or Mods for help if you have genuinely done everything you can to try to solve your problem using the resources already available on the forum (FAQ, fault reports, site status bulletins). Even then, you should consider whether any apparent fault in the working of the board is a temporary blip. It may be worth waiting five or ten minutes before trying again; the fault may have been fixed in the meantime.
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March 27th, 2007 at 14:18 UTC
Here’s another breach of forum Netiquette I came across today. It’s quite easy to get up people’s noses by asking questions, to which they reply, and then you never give any feedback. If someone tries to help you, a quick "thank you" is expected at least and possibly further discussion about whether or not their advice proved to be helpful.
This isn’t a particular pet hate of mine (there are worse twits around than those who don’t give feedback) but it obviously irritates some people as several commented on this today on a (business-related) forum which I enjoy visiting.