Okay the rules and requests above are ready up for a rewrite. The board had existed a little over 6 months now and it has grown bigger than I thought it would, so edits and additions are due. But first we want to add some new rules and requests, so you can get familiar with them.

Quoting:
There has been a very enthousiastic use of this feature on the board, but that has unfortunately not improved the readability. Therefore we set up some genenal guidelines for quoting.
The main rule is: Try not to quote too much. Only quote when it is really necessary.

The quote feature is there to use when you reply to a post that is further back in the thread, so that people know what you are replying to.
You should not quote:

• The post preceding yours. Even if someone else happens to be posting at the same time and their post gets in between, it will probably still be clear who you are replying to.
• If the post you are quoting already has another quote in it, remove that quote first,
• If the post is long or has several different subjects in it, only quote the line(s) in the post you are replying to and remove the rest.
• If the post has pictures in it, remove the pictures. If your reply concerns a particular picture, only quote that picture if is no longer on the same page, or if several other pictures have been posted in between already, so people will not know what picture you are talking about unless you quote it.

Removing pictures from a quote is particularly important, because if you quote a picture you are basically hotlinking to someone else's Photobucket or other account. And that account may have a download quota, that you are adding to. It would be best to upload that picture to your own account first, but that would be a bit too much work. So it is allowed to quote a picture, but only when it is really necessary.

Don't stop using it all together, because sometimes, it actually improves the readability if you do quote. But you don't have to know these rules by heart. Just try to remember to use this feature sparingly and use your common sense about when to use it or not.

Short posts:
Posts like 'I agree!' or 'thank you' for a link or a picture, that are considered 'spamming' on some boards, are okay in here. However, if two or more people have already thanked someone for posting something, that is usually enough. It can be a bit tedious to have to go through a whole page of 'thank you's' that don't really add anything to the subject, However, if there is something you find extraordinary and you are very enthusiastic about it or you mean to comment on it as well, that's okay. We don't want take away anyone's enthusiasm. For this one again: use common sense.

Double posting:
Another feature that can be frowned upon on other boards, but we don't mind it so much. Do try to keep it at a maximum of two posts in a row though, unless there is a long period of time in between. If you want to add more, you can always edit your last post.
It seems like some people think it is best to add a new post for each subject, but the opposite is true. If you wish to reply to more posts at the same time, just combine your replies in one post by combining quotes or by starting with the name of the person you are replying to.

Going Off Topic:

• I still think part of the fun on a board is being able to go off topic every once in a while. We do have a lot more serious threads on the board now, with actual news and stuff in it. So it is still okay to go OT every now and then, but it depends on where you are.
  If you are in the Film/TV/Stage forum or the more serious threads of the James General threads, try to keep it to a minimum, if a thread is less serious or has a wider subject a little OT is not so bad. If the thread is there just for fun or general chatting, go OT all you want. A little OT in the pictures forum is okay as well, as long as you do post a picture every now and then.
• It also depends what you are talking about. If you start talking about the film Atonement in the picture thread for Starter for Ten, and it is more than just a few remarks, take the conversation over to the Atonement film thread. So if you OT babble is about a subject that already has its own thread, take it over there instead.
• If an OT subject is really interesting but does not have it's own thread yet, simply make a new thread for it and copy the conversation there. If you are not sure how to do that, ask one of the admins or mods.

Moderating and editing posts:
On this board we go into others peoples posts and edit them when we think it necessary. However, we will never edit someone's actual words.
We will edit to:

• add spoiler tags,
• fix broken links,
• fix broken quote fields and
• fix broken images,
• resize images if they are deformed,
• change image tags into URL's in case of hotlinking
• remove partial or complete quotes if they are too long and contain images

We do that to improve the readability of the board. As I said we will never go into someone's post and change their actual words.
You can always seen underneath your post who edited it and we try to always add a little red line that explains what we changed and why.

If you do not understand why we edited your post, of you think we changed something that was important to you, do not just change it back. Just send a PM to the mod or admin that did the editing and ask them why they edited it, or explain why you would like it different. We will then try find a solution together.