"What are the policies for posting messages on this site?"

Glad you asked. Actually they are fairly straightforward and mostly common sense. Here are a few common practices we discourage:

1) Quoting the previous message in a thread...
We have found over the years that it is easier to read a message topic thread if there aren't a lot of "quoted" messages that appear directly above the response. In other words, if you know you are responding to a message and that it is going to appear right below it, don't quote it. This tends to make it harder to read through the "story" the message thread is presenting. Instead, just make your point as in "I agree with your point" or "good point but have you considered...".

2) Double-triple-quadruple posting in a row...
It is not uncommon for a person (including me) to make a statement in a thread only to find that two minutes after I have posted it I want to add to it. If no one has posted since your epiphany it is more proper to go back and modify your first message than to create two or three more messages with your follow-on thoughts or discoveries. Simply go back to your original posting and use the Modify button to edit your original message. If you want to identify your additional findings or thoughts, consider using the "Change Color" format (select the text, select the color under the Change Color drop down menu, I use yellow) to point out you have added some information. Put in some text like "Edit:" or "Update:" to separate your new findings from the original message. Again, all of this makes it much easier for fellow members to read through the thread.

3) Quote an entire post to respond to only one aspect of it...
Some people (like me) tend to write long postings. If you need to respond to a previous post, consider using the Quote feature but trim down the text in the quote to that part you are talking to. In most instances, this is one or two sentences at the most. You quickly make your point and no one can misunderstand what you are responding to. Easy!

4) Repeat the display of a picture/video in a quote...
If it has already been shown or displayed (ie, YouTube video), including a second occurrence of the same graphic element is distracting. Trim it out or just make reference to the video/graphic image in your response.

The bottom line is to make the overall topic thread easy to read from top to bottom. This is especially important for show ideas where Beyond Production researchers don't have a lot of time to review ideas. If you can think of other common sense posting rules, consider sending them to me and, if appropriate, I'll add them to this FAQ.

Regards,

Mycroft
MBFC Moderator