Stagecoach Festival Forum FAQ

What is message board etiquette?

Message board etiquette is appropriate behavior for THIS particular forum as defined here. This section may evolve and grow over time so feel free to check it often for updates and changes. This forum serves 2 purposes. 1. To get information about the Stagecoach festival 2. Country Music fans gathering to discuss just about anything. YOU MUST READ THROUGH THIS TO GET A GENERAL IDEA OF WHAT IS OK AND WHERE TO POST ON THIS BOARD.

HIJACKING a thread

We encourage members to talk/chat/post however sometimes topics get over run with off topic commentary or back and forth chit chat banter making it difficult for people to weed through the actual information regarding the topic at hand. This is also known as "HIJACKING" a thread and can become a big NO NO fast. Off topic reply's may be deleted. Do not take this personally and try to notice if it is happening to your posts a lot. If someone is asking a legit question about something festival related, please keep the reply's related to that question. It is ok to share your experience with the question but please also allow for the moderator to reply if necessary. Please re frame from quoting and commenting on other people's reply's unless directly related to the topic. You can PM (PRIVATE MESSAGE) the person who's comment you would like to discuss. If you notice particular poster(s) consistently hijacking threads report them.

Avoid Duplicate Posts

One of the common problems with etiquette is the duplication of posts. One person will post a question or raise an issue and a new user will pose the same topic on another thread three days later. Not only is this a waste of your time, but it can also irritate veteran members of the forum who are tired of seeing the same issues raised over and over again. Please spend some time reviewing existing topics and use the search function.

ALL CAPS is considered yelling

One of the pitfalls of Internet communication is that people can't read your tone of voice or intention beyond what you say on the forum or message board. When you type in all CAPS, readers interpret your tone as yelling because that is common for people who fail to use sentence case. So put in the extra effort to create sentences in sentence case or, if you don't have the time or inclination, write in all lowercase letters instead. This is still annoying but it won't make people as angry as all CAPS. It's ok to MAKE SOME WORDS all caps if you really need to express that boldly. Use WISELY.

Ask Before You Attack

In many cases, a seemingly offensive post is not meant the way it sounds due to the lapses in communication on the Internet. Before you dig in with both claws to provide a snappy and nasty comeback, consider asking the original poster to clarify what he or she meant. If it turns out that you were correct in your original interpretation, you can feel free to speak your mind; however, if you weren't correct, people will respect you for having an open mind.

Don't Quote the WHOLE thing

There's nothing more annoying in a forum or message board than people who copy all previous posts into their own on every message. If you have a specific passage on which you want to comment, feel free to copy that part, not the ENTIRE post. Internet etiquette dictates that you make reading as easy on everyone else as possible. If they have to scroll through twenty posts of people quoting long posts it will clutter up the thread. The rule of thumb for this form of etiquette is to never quote more text than you intend to comment on specifically.

Take Personal Issues Off the Forums/ignore function

Internet forums and message boards are for public discussions which bear relevance to more than a few people. If you have a personal issue with someone else, take it off the forums. This board has a private message function, use it. You can also use the ignore function if a particular user annoys you constantly. Their posts will be hidden and you will save yourself some grief while also not getting into arguments all the time.

Avoid Trolling

A troll is someone who posts topics or mostly negative comments on message boards with the sole purpose of instigating argument or debate (whether they realize it or not). It is definitely an etiquette no-no and will earn you the disrespect of everyone on the forum. It is usually easy to identify a troll after they've been on the boards a few weeks, and you could easily wind up with a suspended account. Posting a nasty or negative reply as most of your posts to all or a specific person will also not work here. It's ok if you disagree or have something bad to say but if it is almost every post it gets old fast.

Don't Flame the Staff

Many message boards and forums are run by a company but have a REAL person behind it. Flaming the staff on their message board is akin to going to someone's house just to insult them; it isn't proper etiquette, and is just plain rude, especially when they spend more time than you know helping people, giving correct info publicly or privately and being forced to actually moderate some of YOUR posts. If you have a legitimate complaint, post it with courtesy and decorum or better yet, try a private message. Many times things can be made much more clear privately. If necessary, wait until you've calmed down to post a message about it in the forums.

Post Under the Proper Categories

It is never enjoyable to find a post about the rock n roll shin dig in some other city under a forum category called Stagecoach Camping. Keep your threads consistent with the topics that govern them and ask if you aren't sure where to post a particular subject. The moderators don't want to spend all their time rearranging threads or having you feel insulted if your thread is moved or edited. You might not even notice but threads are moved all the time into the more proper category.

MORE COULD BE ADDED

Check here occasionally to see what has been added.

That is part of life. However if they post racial slurs, sexual xxx rated comments or pics or slurs or that type, please use the report post function and it will be reviewed. A random post that is not directed at anything/anyone in particular may be ignored unless it becomes spam at which time it will be dealt with seriously. Simply reporting a post you don't like which has content that is not clearly offensive by reading it may be left alone. Some posts may be edited or deleted. There may not be a reason given. Continuing to clutter the board discussing that fact may result in losing posting privileges.

We reserve the right to edit/delete any post. You agreed to this when you signed up. The discussion ends here.