With the new redesign of the forum layout, our shoutbox now appears in the sidebar of most of our forum pages. This means that people arriving here via search engines, upon finding the answer to their questions in a thread, will also be viewing the shoutbox commentary. I feel this provides us with a big opportunity to encourage people to become members and visit our site regularly.
Since the shoutbox is being showcased, I feel it is necessary to talk about the image we're presenting to guests. Those of you who spend your days in the shoutbox with me are familiar with my general rules in the shoutbox: no personal attacks, no links or posts of a pornographic nature, no spamming. I think these basic rules of citizenship have served us very well and have provided a great foundation for the strong membership base we have here.
So I will put this out there for all of you to ponder. I am looking for suggestions, comments and general philosophy about the shoutbox. I am considering writing some sort of official rules document, much as I am loathe to have some bulleted list of how to behave. I have been strongly against having some litany of followed commandments anywhere on this site, but I do also know that I don't want visitors to be driven away.
So, tell me what you think. Keep it constructive. Expect me to play Devil's Advocate for everything mentioned. Tell me about this community. Tell me what I can and should expect. Tell me what I need to write down explicitly.
I look forward to your comments.
Since the shoutbox is being showcased, I feel it is necessary to talk about the image we're presenting to guests. Those of you who spend your days in the shoutbox with me are familiar with my general rules in the shoutbox: no personal attacks, no links or posts of a pornographic nature, no spamming. I think these basic rules of citizenship have served us very well and have provided a great foundation for the strong membership base we have here.
So I will put this out there for all of you to ponder. I am looking for suggestions, comments and general philosophy about the shoutbox. I am considering writing some sort of official rules document, much as I am loathe to have some bulleted list of how to behave. I have been strongly against having some litany of followed commandments anywhere on this site, but I do also know that I don't want visitors to be driven away.
So, tell me what you think. Keep it constructive. Expect me to play Devil's Advocate for everything mentioned. Tell me about this community. Tell me what I can and should expect. Tell me what I need to write down explicitly.
I look forward to your comments.