A recent Cemetech topic got me thinking about Omnimaga's specific netiquette, so I'm making a topic about how we like people to behave here (Mods feel free to edit and add stuff to this topic (please make sure you include who edited this in your edit), and users please suggest edits for me). Also, to make this more relate-able to the new members who might feel like they have broken or possibly will accidentally break these rules, I'm going to include weather or not I broke a rule in the past, so they can see how one can be a respectable member, even with mistakes in the past.


0) Official Rules

1) General Behavior

• The very first rule of Omnimaga is to not be a troll or a mean person, even in jest ((DJ) not all trolling is disallowed, since some of it is not offensive, but if it's done just to make users angry it's not allowed. Non-offensive trolling (such as rickrolls) should be kept to a minimum to reduce spam.) (Guilty. I've trolled before and have gotten several -1s as well as some calls for me to change).
• Jokes are allowed, but only to an extent. Acceptable jokes include: peanuts, over 9000, lobster, etc. Small things that have no effect on the actual topic. Unacceptable jokes include: necroposting for the sake of necroposting (guilty), quote pyramiding for the sake of quote pyramiding (guilty), etc.
• Avoid derailing a topic. It makes things confusing for all of us (guilty).
• No spam in "Humor and Jokes." (guilty)
• (DJ) [...]we want our members to try to spell and punctuate properly. Of course, since we have a lot of foreign members, we can't ask the moon about grammar, but the more understandable your post is (including by Google Translate), the more likely it is to be paid attention to.
• (DJ) Of course, searching before posting and ensuring you describe your problem clearly is highly recommended. You must also ask every help or pixel art request in their appropriate sub-forum to not get ignored.
• (DJ) When showcasing your project, ensure you have gameplay screenshots or clear description of what your game is so that it gets more attention.
• (Hayleia) Don't lock your topic as soon as you get an answer that solved your problem. Some people might have the same problem but problems with the solution too.
• (DJ) When negatively criticizing somebody or his work, if you abuse smileys, colors, spelling mistakes and weird formating, people will not take you seriously.
• (DJ) People on Omni tend to pay less attention to you and your projects if you are rude.
• (DJ) It's generally recommended to keep a certain level of quality when posting programs. Although Omni members generally don't bash people's work, don't expect replies for a quad solver.
• (DJ) People here absolutely despise the concept of charging money for a calculator game. Exceptions: Donations, merch, OST and unlockable extras such as bonus dungeons.
• (DJ) People hate it a lot when someone asks help doing illegal (law or school-wise) stuff.

[/list]2) IRC

• Respect the other users in IRC.
• No abuse of "THE GAME"s or rickrolls in #omnimaga (you can do so, but only occasionally)
• If you really feel like that kind of spam, there's #omnimaga-spam
• Spelling and grammar are a bit more lax, but please attempt to use proper grammar and spelling (exception: signing on and off)

3) Issues/Complaints/Requests

• Since a bit before the site upgrade, there have been a few forms added for issues/complaints/requests, use them. They are http://ourl.ca/issue and http://ourl.ca/request
• Please use the aforementioned links instead of PMing the mods, DJ, or Juju. It annoys them.
• Don't create issue/complaint/request topics either. The mods won't always see them.

4) Other

• Don't pester members about viewing your projects in #omnimaga or in PMs. You can point it out to them once on IRC if you want them to see your project, but not immediately after Omnom announces your post.
• Be nice.
• Ask questions.
• Give answers.
• Have fun.

And one last thing: Don't be discouraged by members trying to correct your behavior or something that you said. They're trying to help you not make those mistakes in the future, as well has helping you become a better member. Maybe you'll end up doing the same thing later.

Adding right now, thanks!

Edit: added DJ's rules of the road as well as some more of my own.

Actually there is no official sig policy yet, but basically there are scrollbars for a reason now. Avatar and sig images must be as small as possible (even 150 KB is borderline) and sigs are around 150 px max in height and must not have spoilers that circumvent height rules.


I don't think the current official rules will remain as they are, though. IIRC, the staff wanted to rewrite them, but the idea of keeping Omnimaga free of hostility while discouraging useless posts is pretty much the same.


Sometimes, a member might be doing stuff you don't like, but is not necessarily breaking Omnimaga's rules. If you really have a problem with such user and just can't get along with it, it might be time to consider using the new forum ignore feature.

Also, I am not admin anymore since 2011 and Juju isn't since 2012 (although he now has some limited moderator privileges). The admins are listed at http://www.omnimaga.org/team . I generally block/ignore people that repeatedly PM me requesting admin intervention, although that generally isn't permanent.


EDIT: By the way, shouldn't this topic be called "Omnimaga Road of the Rules" instead of "Omnimaga Rules of the Road"?

Now that you're posting here Hayleia, I must also point out another Omnimaga netiquette  thing: The TI-84 doesn't exist. I guess this can apply to other forums too, but French people from France get a free pass, since Texas Instruments is doing everything there to confuse model numbers.

I was refering to how it's generally frowned upon here (especially by you ) to misname calculator names in order to prevent confusion. However, of course, for people calling them out, the rule about being nice applies I guess, since a few months ago IIRC, some reprimands were a tad overdone IIRC (sometimes for newbies we have to watch out to make sure they don't feel unwelcome)

Is it just me, or did the sig scroll bars get broken in the move to SMF2? Some sigs that had bars before don't now, but it could just be a larger height limit.

Don't lock your topic as soon as you get an answer that solved your problem. Some people might have the same problem but problems with the solution too.

Bump for more tips and tricks for a good experience at Omni :

-When negatively criticizing somebody or his work, if you abuse smileys, colors, spelling mistakes and weird formating, people will not take you seriously.
-People on Omni tend to pay less attention to you and your projects if you are rude.
-It's generally recommended to keep a certain level of quality when posting programs. Although Omni members generally don't bash people's work, don't expect replies for a quad solver.
-People here absolutely despise the concept of charging money for a calculator game. Exceptions: Donations, merch, OST and unlockable extras such as bonus dungeons.
-People hate it a lot when someone asks help doing illegal (law or school-wise) stuff.

Don't lock your topic as soon as you get an answer that solved your problem. Some people might have the same problem but problems with the solution too.

There is also the possibility that the solution being posted is dangerous for the person's calc or not completely reliable, even though it worked for the person asking for help.