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FAQ: Annoyed With A Forum?


alanbradley
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Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Alan's "Brief Guide to Being Annoyed with a Forum"...

Introduction

Maybe there are new members to your forum-of-choice, maybe old members have left or maybe you just feel you've grown out of a place you were previously happy. This guide is meant to help you to come to terms with these issues and decide what to do without causing undue anger or offence to those around you.

1. Don't Let Yourself Get Wound Up

Try to avoid sections of the forum and forum users who may antagonise you. If that's a certain sub-forum (possibly labelled General, Off-Topic, The Restroom or similar) then maybe its best not to visit it if you can help it. Remember, what you can't see won't infuriate.

Perhaps its a certain user(s). If that's the case then a brief jab of the "Ignore User" button will suddenly stop their irritating little post from being flagged to your attention.

2. Tact and Diplomacy

If you do find yourself in a disagreement, know when to let it drop.

Sit at your screen and think "I know I'm right". This works well on both counts as if they're right thay'll have to come back and admit their mistake at some point (knowing you were correct) and if you were wrong... Well, you're not going to look nearly as big a prat as you would have if you'd argued for a further 2 pages, are you?

The moral high ground is a comfortable place to sit.

3. The Past

There is no point harking back to "The Old Days". In much the same way as the dead cannot, except under very special and disputed circumstances, be made to walk then it its impossible to somehow wind a forum back to The Glory Days where the posts were brighter, the conversation more sparkling and the banter wittier. Members leave, members join.

Forum members should strive for new Glory Days. A forum is what it is now, not what it was 18 months ago.

4. Time Out

If it gets really bad, take some time out. Spend some time posting on other forums. Maybe even speak to people or read a book when you would have been surfing. After a couple of weeks you'll have forgotten what all the trouble was about and you'll have so many posts to catch up on that you won't want to waste time squabbling.

Weaning yourself back in slowly is a good thing too. Too many posts and The Anger may return.

5. Grand Goodbyes

If it has all become to much and you've decided that the forum is - for whatever reason - no longer for you then you should probably leave.

Grand Goodbyes are not a good way to go. They cry "Attention !Removed!" and make even the most respected former-member look like a petulant child. More to the point they make a return so much more difficult should, at some point in the future, opinions be sought or required.

Better to slip away quietly and have people ask, "where's that old rogue gone?" than say, "Thank **** that ****'s left".

6. Its only the Internet

Remember, above all else, that you're only posting on the internet.

Nobody can hear you scream. It can be impossible, despite the most careful use of smilies, to relay your emotions or emotional state accurately. Take this into account and treat people as you yourself would like to be treated - surely then you can't go wrong.

Good luck and happy posting,

Alan

edited for grammatical typo...

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