Please keep the following rules in mind when posting:
In general, avoid politics and philosophy (except energy). Stay positive. This is about how to ACCOMPLISH future energy. NO FLAMING, PERSONAL ATTACKS, PROFANITY, DISCOURTEOUS OR GROSS OR DISGUSTING MESSAGES, NAME CALLING, ADULT ORIENTED MATERIAL, OR SPAM. Persons violating the rules will be warned or banned immediately at the moderator’s discretion. Breaking the ‘laws’ of physics IS allowed, IF you can prove your case. Messages and links must be readable in English.
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Here are some other things to keep in mind.
I would like to address the topic of disruptive conduct in general. I have devised some suggestions to facilitate constructive usage of the board. If everyone will try to follow these guidelines, everything will go smoother. Those people being disruptive will generally be warned once or twice then booted off the board. For severe violations, they may be booted immediately at the moderator’s discretion. I realize controversies arise, but we should strive to remain civil. These are in no particular order.
01) If possible, run your message through a spell checker. Now, I’ll admit that I’m not a great speller. The computer usually flags me on several items. And, the English language is totally insane. Teaching my kid phonics was a nightmare. There are about 34 basic rules and about 29 basic exceptions. And there are usually at least 4 different ways to make any given sound, etc. etc. And, a spell checker is not always available. So I understand when there are misspelled words and try not to pay too much credence to it. However, for better or worse, people tend to look negatively on such things. Why look bad if you can avoid it? Important note: I have found that my Toshiba laptop computer will occasionally omit characters that I know I typed. I don’t believe the computer is faulty, but am highly suspicious that the virus scanner is occasionally taking bursts of processor usage and making the keyboard buffer skip keystrokes. On an older Pentium 1 machine, I have documented that the virus scanner uses so much processor time, that you can hardly move the mouse around. I have noticed a similar occurrence (missing keystrokes) on a friend’s computer which was (I believe) a Gateway. So, you may have typed something correctly and still misspelled it. (I would not boot someone from the board for spelling.)
02) Try not to shout, LIKE THIS, unless you want to put emphasis on a short item. Shouting all the time makes messages harder to read. (I would not boot someone for shouting.)
03) Be constructive. Try to add to the discussion at hand. Try to elaborate or enlighten someone in some way. Educate someone else about something you know and they don’t, if feasible.
04) Be friendly, even if you disagree. (I know, this is sometimes hard to do.) Do NOT act hateful, spiteful, excessively derogatory, libelous, slanderous, abrasive, abusive, demeaning, disruptive, etc. You get the idea. Note also that there can be legal implications for expressing libelous or slanderous statements in public.
05) Be positive. We’re trying to determine how we CAN implement new energy ideas, not how we cannot. (I would not boot someone for being negative, as long as it’s not abusive or disruptive. Continual negativity and badgering people can become disruptive.)
06) Do NOT use profanity, vulgarity, foul language, or sexually oriented language.
07) State the truth, to the best of your ability, based on your best knowledge. Now, anybody’s opinion, including mine, can be wrong. However, you should make every effort to be factual and accurate based on the knowledge you have at the time. If you goof up and make an erroneous statement in public, issue a retraction and explain the error. Do not lie or misrepresent any data, experiment, or person.
08) Don’t overload the blog with non-constructive messages.
09) Be aware that your message may look different to different people. If you get messages on email with HTML capability, they can have most of the attributes of web pages, including pictures and links. For those people without HTML email or which have HTML turned off , all “non text” items will be stripped off. You apparently lose pictures which were embedded into the message as well as all special formatting like bold, italics, underline, centering, etc. as well as any hyperlinks.
It’s all about being constructive, rather than destructive. I would appreciate it if the users of the C3 Energy Blog will keep these things in mind.
Sincerely,
Ron Frazier
moderator