SmashWiki:Forum Rules

The forums on SmashWiki are a place where users can kick back and discuss things. Some forums exist for discussion of the site content, some for discussion of Super Smash Bros. gameplay, and others are just for general discussion. We want these to be a place where users can come together and enjoy themselves, but we still have a few rules that everyone should know about.

This is our house
You are our guests here. Generally, we stay out of the way and let our users handle things, but it is important to remember that this is not your own personal corner of the internet. We have no obligation to respect your notions of free speech. We try, of course and you are always free to give us suggestions. But we do have policies and guidelines that we expect users to follow. You are responsible for reading these and heeding any warnings you are given. If you continue to act out of line, we will ban you. If we really don't like you, we'll IP ban you and delete every post you've made. We can and will make it as if you had never been here. You have been warned.

Practice good forum etiquette
We're not a monastery or a puritan state. The occasional foul language and off-color joke is acceptable if the context is there. But don't take this too far. You are not Mark Whalberg in The Departed. If you are the kind of person who needs to flame and swear in every single post, you are the kind of person who shouldn’t be posting here. Generic trolling and flaming is a no-no. If you really feel someone needs to be flamed, at least be creative about it and make damn sure the flame was warranted in the first place. Threaten to kill someone (it’s happened more times that you think) and we ban you. Make tasteless jokes about someone’s race, gender, or sexual orientation and we ban you. Everyone likes a good joke and we all want to have fun here, but don’t do it at the expense of others. Also, posting in ALL CAPS except where is it justified is not appreciated. Ditto for using exclamation points!

Think before you post
Please, think through what you are going to say before you chime in. Make sure you have read what’s been happening in the thread before you post. Do not just read the title and give a one-line response to it without addressing anything that has been said in the forum. Your posts are expected to have actual content to them. Just saying that you think character X should be top tier is worthless to the thread. Give arguments why you are arguing what you are. Comments that ignore the thread’s history and contain nothing more than a single line of opinion are one of the best ways to derail threads. They also get you on the mods bad list in a hurry.

Respect your account
If you’re going to be posting a lot here, we ask that you make an account. Really, it’s better for everyone if you have an actual name and not just your IP address. Whatever your account, you are expected to sign your posts with ~. This makes it clear to everyone who is saying what. When you make an account, use common sense with your username and be honest about yourself in your user page. We’re not telling you to tell the whole truth about yourself; leave out any details that you don’t feel comfortable posting. But lying about who you are, where you are from, etc. isn’t a good idea. Some people think it’s cool or different to have a user name like LaZeDick and say they’re from Afghanistan when the really live in Florida. These people are not cool, and they are different in the worst way possible. These are the kind of people who don’t last long on this site anyway.

If you really must change your username, know that there is no way to combine your posts from your old account. Let people know what you are doing, and link to your new username on your old user page. But whatever you do, do not attempt to have two accounts at once without a good reason (none of which involve forum posts). If you get caught using two different accounts without permission, we ban both of them. Depending on what you did, we might not ever unban either of them and IP ban you for good measure. Use one account and respect it. It’s like the Earth; we only get one.

Do not spam or advertise
Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site. Do not spam this site.

Spam, and we ban. Period. It’s not worth it, because we can and will revert it and delete the post history if we must. This includes going to every users’ talk page and asking them to weigh in on a forum. There is nothing wrong with asking a specific user to give their opinion on something, but when you take it to the point of messaging literally every active user (it’s been tried) we take it to the point of banning you. For life if the forum sucked in the first place.

Also, don’t advertise stupid shit. If you want to have a link to your website on your user page, that’s great. And if you want to link to site or product relevant to a thread, that’s great too. But when you start making threads about your twitter account and how everyone should read it, we start to get frustrated. Advertise a contract-killer (it’s been done), and we ban you. Advertise cheap Viagra (more common than it should be), and we ban you. Generally, if you are going to promote another site or product, make sure it is relevant to the thread, or give a very good reason in the OP as to why you are promoting it. You making the site or selling the product is not a very good reason.

Put content and effort into your posts
If you’re going to post, make it count. Short posts that offer nothing besides supporting what’s already been said help no one. Give reasons why you support what you are saying. If you think a character should be higher on the tier list, don’t just say that. Talk about how their metagame has evolved since the last tier list. Give links to tournament videos that show this level of play and explain how the player is changing how the character is played. We’re not asking you to write a term paper for every post you make. All we’re asking is that when you post, you give good reasons for saying what you do. The more you put into the post, the more everyone will get out of it.

This is especially true for opening posts (OPs). The first post in a thread sets the tone for everything. If the first post in a thread is a one-line question, there is little chance of the thread taking off. If, on the other hand, the OP is a well thought out explanation of a situation and a reason as to why that situation is meaningful, then it is very likely to generate a meaningful discussion. In general, OPs are held to higher standard than other posts because if the OP is terrible, the thread is probably going to be terrible. If the OP encourages trolling, then there is probably going to be trolling. If the OP is very well written and discusses an interesting issue, the thread is most likely going to be interesting.

Forums are not chat rooms or blogs
While we want people to be able to talk freely in the forums, it should be made clear that these are not general chat rooms or blogs. Forums should have a clear purpose; a question to be answered. Do not make a forum to tell people what you did last night or what you are planning to do this weekend. Do not make forums just asking people to chat about whatever they feel like. When you make a forum, it should have a clear question that anyone in the community should have some chance of answering. If you want to ask about an upcoming Smash tourney, that’s great, but don’t turn the forum into a blog about your training for the tourney.

Contribute to the site
Everyone can contribute to SmashWiki. Some people do it by editing the mainspace, others by providing answers when people need them. Some just make everyone laugh when we need to blow off steam. Whatever you do, find a way to help the community. We want this to be a site that matters to the Smash community, and we can only do that if people contribute to it.