Smokey the NSer
31-08-2005, 19:20
Hello, kids. Today I’m here to share with you a guide I’ve written. It combines information from the updated version of On The Prevention of Forum Fires (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8457463&postcount=9) and On Putting Out Forum Fires (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=427708) and in addition tells you what a forum fire is. I hope that this more centralized guide will be useful to you.
On Forum Fires
The following is a description of forum fires and an explanation of why they are harmful.
1. A forum fire is what happens when forum posters start flaming each other. Generally forum fires start when: a poster flames another poster and that other poster responds in kind; a poster flamebaits another poster; a poster engages in trolling. These acts may not start a forum fire in all cases, but they are very likely to do so. For definitions of words like flaming, flamebait, and trolling, see the One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023).
2. Forum fires are harmful because they create an atmosphere of hostility and encourage verbal abuse. One of the problems with these things is that they create a much less enjoyable forum experience for the serious debaters, those more interested in socializing and sharing, and even the lurkers out there. Everyone suffers from forum fires, including those directly engaged in the forum fire, who generally experience very negative emotions and will not feel very good about it. Forum fires decrease the quality of our experience here, and are generally destructive for the community rather than being constructive.
On The Prevention of Forum Fires
The following are tips for helping to prevent forum fires from occurring.
1. Be Understanding.
Sometimes people are joking or have not stated their position clearly. Take this into account when you feel like slamming someone for their posts. Carefully consider whether their current behavior is consistent with their past behavior, because an inconsistency may mean that they are joking or being unclear. Instead of jumping on them, ask them to clarify their position or ask them if they were joking.
2. Be Cool
Whenever you feel like doing physical harm to another poster, it would be advisable to move away from your computer and do something else for a while so that you can come back and approach the situation more rationally. You can hit a punching bag, have a snack, do a small chore, or any number of other things.
3. Use Smilies
The appropriate use of smilies is a very helpful tool in communicating your emotional state so that other posters do not take joke posts (or serious posts for that matter) as you being snarky.
These smilies are probably not good to use in joke posts, or posts of any kind for that matter, because many posters find them very annoying:
:mp5: :sniper: :gundge:
These three can be helpful smilies, but you should be very careful about how you use them:
:headbang: :rolleyes: :mad:
4. Avoid Trolls
To save the forum from trouble and to save yourself from irritation, try your best to avoid posting a response to a troll. It is almost always in your best interest to leave them alone and stay out of their way.
On Putting Out Forum Fires
The following are tips for helping deal with forum fires once they have started.
1. Humour is often a good way to get people to relax and take a step back from a heated debate. You can interject a joke (it should be on-topic or related to a post in the thread) into the discussion to help lighten the atmosphere. Even if your joke isn't funny, the people throwing flames around may start laughing at how goofy you are instead of flaming each other, which is what we want. Just remember to make it clear that you're joking, as I mentioned in On the Prevention of Forum Fires.
2. Sometimes people will stop flaming if you just ask them to. You can remind them that flaming is likely to get them an official warning, something that they probably won't want because they don't want to be one step closer to deletion. Expressing genuine concerns for their safety on the forum is generally more effective than threating them with "I'll have to report you to the Mods for this if you don't stop," but sometimes that threat can work as well. You need to exercise caution when using these methods, and remember that being patronising or condescending in using them almost always causes the situation to backfire.
3. If there's a forum fire and you think it needs a fire truck rather than a simple bucket of water (those forum fires can get out of control quickly), report it to the Moderation forum and let the professionals (Mods) deal with it. They have better tools to do so. Remember that using the first two methods can save the Mods some work and lead to a much cooler forum, but don't be afraid to report flaming.
And as always...
http://img209.exs.cx/img209/2807/pd834lg5kv.jpg
Remember kids, only you can prevent forum fires.
On Forum Fires
The following is a description of forum fires and an explanation of why they are harmful.
1. A forum fire is what happens when forum posters start flaming each other. Generally forum fires start when: a poster flames another poster and that other poster responds in kind; a poster flamebaits another poster; a poster engages in trolling. These acts may not start a forum fire in all cases, but they are very likely to do so. For definitions of words like flaming, flamebait, and trolling, see the One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023).
2. Forum fires are harmful because they create an atmosphere of hostility and encourage verbal abuse. One of the problems with these things is that they create a much less enjoyable forum experience for the serious debaters, those more interested in socializing and sharing, and even the lurkers out there. Everyone suffers from forum fires, including those directly engaged in the forum fire, who generally experience very negative emotions and will not feel very good about it. Forum fires decrease the quality of our experience here, and are generally destructive for the community rather than being constructive.
On The Prevention of Forum Fires
The following are tips for helping to prevent forum fires from occurring.
1. Be Understanding.
Sometimes people are joking or have not stated their position clearly. Take this into account when you feel like slamming someone for their posts. Carefully consider whether their current behavior is consistent with their past behavior, because an inconsistency may mean that they are joking or being unclear. Instead of jumping on them, ask them to clarify their position or ask them if they were joking.
2. Be Cool
Whenever you feel like doing physical harm to another poster, it would be advisable to move away from your computer and do something else for a while so that you can come back and approach the situation more rationally. You can hit a punching bag, have a snack, do a small chore, or any number of other things.
3. Use Smilies
The appropriate use of smilies is a very helpful tool in communicating your emotional state so that other posters do not take joke posts (or serious posts for that matter) as you being snarky.
These smilies are probably not good to use in joke posts, or posts of any kind for that matter, because many posters find them very annoying:
:mp5: :sniper: :gundge:
These three can be helpful smilies, but you should be very careful about how you use them:
:headbang: :rolleyes: :mad:
4. Avoid Trolls
To save the forum from trouble and to save yourself from irritation, try your best to avoid posting a response to a troll. It is almost always in your best interest to leave them alone and stay out of their way.
On Putting Out Forum Fires
The following are tips for helping deal with forum fires once they have started.
1. Humour is often a good way to get people to relax and take a step back from a heated debate. You can interject a joke (it should be on-topic or related to a post in the thread) into the discussion to help lighten the atmosphere. Even if your joke isn't funny, the people throwing flames around may start laughing at how goofy you are instead of flaming each other, which is what we want. Just remember to make it clear that you're joking, as I mentioned in On the Prevention of Forum Fires.
2. Sometimes people will stop flaming if you just ask them to. You can remind them that flaming is likely to get them an official warning, something that they probably won't want because they don't want to be one step closer to deletion. Expressing genuine concerns for their safety on the forum is generally more effective than threating them with "I'll have to report you to the Mods for this if you don't stop," but sometimes that threat can work as well. You need to exercise caution when using these methods, and remember that being patronising or condescending in using them almost always causes the situation to backfire.
3. If there's a forum fire and you think it needs a fire truck rather than a simple bucket of water (those forum fires can get out of control quickly), report it to the Moderation forum and let the professionals (Mods) deal with it. They have better tools to do so. Remember that using the first two methods can save the Mods some work and lead to a much cooler forum, but don't be afraid to report flaming.
And as always...
http://img209.exs.cx/img209/2807/pd834lg5kv.jpg
Remember kids, only you can prevent forum fires.