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TNTFORUM Tips For Newbie's There has been a lot of misunderstandings regarding the use and etiquette of the TNTFORUM. This is a simple guide for what to do and what to expect. The purpose of the TNT forum is to trade information and opinions of all kinds. The forum members are generally an easygoing group with no real information trading/sharing rules other than the forum Top 10 Rules. (http://tntforum.com/top10rulez.htm) To become an active participant and gain respect, watch the forums for requests from others and help them if you can. If it looks like you are being helpful to others then the senior members are more likely to be helpful to you. Generally everything is free. There is no official file server. Any Internet connected file servers that may exist are run by individual members with variable availability and content. Many VIPs will only grant access to their private servers if you get VIP membership. No one makes any profit off of the fees, it just helps to cover the costs of the forum server and Internet connection. Being a VIP just proves that you are willing to help the forum. Most VIPs donate several times a year if they can afford it. You will also get access to the VIP forums. They have substantially more traffic since the VIPs are logged in the most often. You can also watch this little clip. It is meant to be funny but it is very true. Posting Etiquette General tips: 1. Post threads with useful topic/subject lines. Members are on many forums and don't have time to click posts of "I need this..." just to see what someone wants. Many members ignore these types of posts. A post subject like "REQ: 3dfx Banshee driver for Win XP" is much more informative. The forum software only records post reads if someone clicks on a post so if you have an informative subject line the read count will be low - that's normal. 2. When you make a request, be sure to specify the OS you are using unless it's obvious. Members run just about anything from Windows 1.01-Longhorn, BeOs, OS/2, Unix, Linux, Mac OS9, etc. 3. Don't post direct links to anything except web pages. If you want to post a file location post it as "Look for the file bigfile.zip which you should find in this directory: http://www.myserver.com/pub/". Don't use masked links like "h**p://www.secretserver.com/file.zip" because it is a hidden direct link (rules violation), annoys the MODs, and makes it hard for members to click even when its not a rule violating link. If you need to give an exact link to a non-web page file, ask that members send you an email or Private Message (PM button) to request it. The MODs don't have control over these so it doesn't matter what you use them for. 4. Don't post a server link that requires a user account or password other than "anonymous/guest". Links that require special passwords are considered private servers by the MODs and are against the rules. This keeps us from annoying other groups. 5. If you get access to someone's private server, don't hog it. Watch the connection attempts and limit them to 1 per 120 seconds (ask the operator). Don't use multi-threaded (segmented) downloads since they usually result in more server connections that block other people from getting in. Don't download the entire server. Many servers are connected through ISPs with download/upload limits. Most server owners pay for them out of their own pocket. Usually there are no ratios or compensation requirements unless you are on dialup and need someone to burn a CD and mail it to you. 6. Don't request offensive hacking utils, flooders, email harvesters/spam tools, virus development tools, or hacking utils. Many members have been targeted by these and are very hostile to anyone who is looking for them. Defensive tools are welcome however. 7. Don't post everything in the General Discussion or Open Topic forums. Only use them for topics that don't fit in the other forums. Certain MODs volunteer for specific forums to split the work load and lazy posters make a mess in the general forums. 8. Don't expect an immediate response to a request. Membership is world-wide and some members may be at work or sleeping. Also, some members only check in once per week so those that can help may not see your request for a few days. Members are on many forums and IRC channels so the chances of someone having the info you need is very good but not guaranteed. 9. Don't ask for information that you can easily find yourself. Search with Yahoo!, Google, Astalavista, and the TNTFORUM's built-in search engine first. The senior members get annoyed by requests for information that can be found in 10 seconds via a simple search. 10. If you make a bad post and want it deleted, you can edit it and change the topic to *DELETE* and a forum mod will delete it for you. There is a time limit for post editing so if you wait too long after creating the post, editing will be disabled. In that case, send a PM to a mod asking them to delete or change it. You can find the list of MODz on the main forum page underneath the entry for the forum your post is in. Look for "Forum Led by:" and a link. Then look at the bottom of the page in the "Board Statistics" section and see which MODz are logged in. Make sure you send them the link to the post so they don't have to go searching for it. 11. Check the last post date before replying to a thread. The forum archive goes back several years. While replying to recent existing threads is desired, it shouldn't be an exercise in archaeology. 12. Having world-wide membership occasionally causes cultural and language clashes. There are special forums for political debates so keep the politics there. While the common forum language is English, it is not the native language of many members and writing skills vary. Don't be overly critical of someone's hard to read post. There are general forums for several languages available. If you want a forum created for your specific language and are willing to be a Mod, then ask Bootre. 13. Don't post the same request in multiple forums (i.e. spamming). Use the forum that is the most suitable for the question. If you don't get a response then maybe no one has the answer. The main forum page shows which forums have new posts so yours is not likely to be overlooked regardless of the forum it's posted in. 14. Since the MODs can't monitor your Email or PMs, they can't help you with unwanted communications from other members. However, the forum software does give you control over these. From the top of any page, go to "My Controls". Follow the "PM Buddies/Block List" to block incoming PMs by username. Follow the "Email Settings" link and check the "Hide my email address..." option to disable the forum's public Email page for your account.
Thanks, TNT Staff |
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I would also like to mention that links to your Personal Web Page are welcome in your signature but advertising your own forum or trying to get members from here to register with you is also not welcome. I will however put a link to your forum on the main entry page.
[http://tntforum.com]
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