FAQ - Read before you post

[guido2004]

Frequently Asked Questions

• Dude! Where's my avatar?
• Signatures
• "Fluff" posting - what is it and how do we deal with it?

• I can't post in X forum...
• I posted in the wrong forum. Can I move my thread to another forum?
• The issue is resolved. Can I close my thread?
• My post count is not working!
• Attachments don't show?
• I chose this username when I signed up but I don't like it no more. How do I change it?
• Link doesn't open in new window...(why?)
• What are these 'Ranks'? SitePoint Zealot etc...
• What is this Mentor, Advisor thing?

[guido2004]

Dude! Where's my avatar?

To select an avatar go to My SitePoint > Avatar - from here you can select an avatar of your choice.

You will get the option for custom avatars once you reach 25 posts (see the forum FAQS as well). If you have reached your 25 posts mark and still cannot upload your own avatar, this maybe because your privileges have not been updated by vBulletin. Wait 24 hours and try again, if you are still experiencing this problem get in touch with the forum administrator(s) (HAWK).

[guido2004]

Signatures

To edit your signature go to My SitePoint > Signature. Images and HTML are not permitted - the rest of the regulations for signatures can be found here in the official Signature Guidelines.

What's the deal with signatures here? I can't get mine to work.

Until your account is 90 days old you will not be able to use a signature.
After your account has reached 90 days of age, your signature will be unlocked and you can start using it on your posts.

Why?

We all notice those fluffy, pointless junk posts littering the forums from people who sign up just to spread backlinks. Lots of those people are not even here to participate -- they just post junk in the hope that either a search engine or actual users will come along and hit up their sites.

OMG, that's not fair. I'm not here to get backlinks.

Those of you who are here to be part of our community for the right reasons will hopefully understand. It's a shame that junk posters have spoiled it for the rest of us. I'm sorry.
Those of you who are here to spread junk and backlinks -- well, we're not here to be a free advertising space for you. If you want to advertise, use our Marketplace to ask for a link exchange.

Isn't there another way you can deal with the problem?

Yes. Our signatures are already no-follow, and yet people still rock up with their dodgy keyword stuffing signatures. What's more, we still appear on those shonky 'Top 500 Dofollow Forums!!" lists promoted widely by the shadier side of the SEO industry.
Clearly, merely making links no-follow isn't enough to deter these sorts of posters. This is another method we can use. Hopefully it will help.

[guido2004]

"Fluff" posting - what is it and how do we deal with it?

Our forums have been experiencing increased levels of members joining the community with the sole intent of building back links and promotion of their signature links. These signature spammers do nothing but clutter our forums with loads of low-quality unwanted posts and is something we want to see the end of.

It is important to note that signature links at SitePoint are no-follow. You will not get a back-link by posting here.

So what is a fluff post?

A fluff post is a post that doesn’t add any value to the thread. Stuff like ‘nice post’, ‘that’s cool’, ‘that’s helpful’, 'thanks for sharing'.

Our aim is to try to maintain a certain level of quality in discussions here. Please strive to ensure each post you make is:
Meaningful -- say something of substance
Relevant -- on topic and helpful, not generic advice
New -- something that hasn't already been said in the thread

Repeatedly making posts which are not meaningful and relevant, only making posts which are short generic advice, or primarily repeating what's already been said will result in a warning. This warning is just a friendly reminder of these guidelines and will provide a link to our FAQs so that you can read up on the posting rules.

If the behavior continues, an infraction will be issued. An infraction for fluff posting carries 4 penalty points. Once a user accumulates 8 penalty points the result is a loss of posting privileges (in other words - do it again and you're banned!).

How can you help?

We are building a number of internal processes to assist in identifying these signature spammers, but you, members of the community, are best positioned to help us eliminate this frustrating behavior. I ask that if you do see something that feels like signature spamming, please point it out to a forum staff member (you can report a post using the orange flag to the left of each post).

We are hopeful that this will eliminate the problem once and for all without needing to resort to anything drastic and the forums are better for it.

[guido2004]

I can't post in X forum...

If you cannot post in certain forums, this means you do not yet have the post count that allows you to (this is usually 25). However if you do have 25 or more posts, like stated above above, it may take a while for your permissions to be updated.
For the review forums there is a ratio of 3:1. You can ask for a review only after you've made at least 3 substantial (i.e. more than just "nice", "I like it", "good job", etc) reviews of content others submitted.

[guido2004]

I posted in the wrong forum. Can I move my thread to another forum?

No, you cannot move threads yourself. If you found you posted in the wrong forum use the orange flag next to your post to report it to a moderator in order to ask them to move the thread for you. Please specify to which forum the thread should be moved.

[guido2004]

The issue is resolved. Can I close my thread?

No, at SitePoint only moderators have the ability to close threads. Resolved threads remain open in case you have follow up questions at a later stage -- if that later stage is more than a month later please consider starting a new thread and refer to the old thread instead of adding to the old thread.

[guido2004]

My post count is not working!

If you are posting but you are finding that your post count is not increasing, this could be that you are posting in the General Discussions forum. Posts in this forum do not contribute towards your post count.

[guido2004]

Attachments don't show?

Once you have posted with an attachment, it first needs to be approved by a moderator (this is to filter through unwanted content). Although your attachment won't appear instantly, we aim to approve it as soon as possible. If your attachment has not been approved for a few hours, feel free to report your post using the orange flag to bring it to a moderator's attention.

[guido2004]

I chose this username when I signed up but I don't like it no more. How do I change it?

You can't change your username yourself. However, you can PM our forum administrator(s) (HAWK) to ask for a username change. This is only allowed once for the whole lifetime of your account, so choose carefully!

[guido2004]

Link doesn't open in new window...(why?)

This is due to Accessibility - If you wish your links to open in a new window, there are two ways...

1. Tabbed browsing, surely you are using tabbed browsing by now? Just ctrl+click (command+click on Macs) the link, and it will appear in a new window.
2. No tabbed browsing, and the above link doesn't work? You can always right click links and select open in new window.

[guido2004]

What are these 'Ranks'? SitePoint Zealot etc...

Ranks are a way of categorizing members via their post count. Here are the ranks as they stand at the moment...

Rank Title            Posts    Pips

SitePoint Member      0        None 
SitePoint Enthusiast  25       1 Blue Pip 
SitePoint Zealot      100      2 Blue Pips
SitePoint Addict      200      3 Blue Pips 
SitePoint Evangelist  400      4 Blue Pips
SitePoint Guru        600      5 Orange Pips
SitePoint Wizard      1000     6 Orange Pips
SitePoint Wizard      10000    7 Orange Pips

Cumulative Bonuses

25 posts - Custom Avatar
200 posts - Custom Title

[guido2004]

What is this Mentor, Advisor thing?



The Team Leaders and Advisors are the moderators. They're the ones who have the ability to move/remove threads, ban members etc.

Mentors are the eyes and ears of the community. They don't have any moderator privileges, but they are essential to the smooth running of the forums - the mods rely on them to bring certain situations to their attention - Mentors are chosen from the community members by existing staff, they are selected based on the qualities they show on the forums. It is not possible to apply for a Mentor position - it's an invite-only thing.

In addition to this, all of us work together behind the scenes to find ways to improve the community and make it an all round better place for our members. We work in teams relating to each area of the community, hence the Team Leaders.

The teams... Content, Design, Programming, Hosting, Grow and Manage and Community - A list of the forum leaders can be found here.