Please Read Me (READ THIS THREAD BEFORE POSTING ANYTHING)

[admin]

Purpose:
This forum is here to provide a free exchange of gardening ideas and information for people in the North Texas (mainly DFW metroplex) area.

This is a community board, and I hope to keep it commercial-free.  By that I mean no advertisements, and also no money or influence of money.  Participation is important, if you learn something useful or helpful, passing it along and sharing your knowledge is what makes communities like this work.  If you have been helped by others, you owe it to them to 'pay it back'. (is it better to 'pay it forward'?)  

SEARCH FIRST:
There is a good chance the very topic you are wondering about has already been discussed.  It is counter-productive to create a duplicate thread by asking a question that has already been discussed.  (It is also narcissistic)  It is better to search first, and add to the discussions already in existence if the topic is the same.

One Topic Per Thread:
Try to limit each thread to one topic.  Stay on topic; start a new thread if the topic changes.  Keep in mind these topics will be searched by countless others in the future.

Conduct:
Members engaging in hateful behavior or spam will be banned from using the forum.  Be Nice!  

New Members:
New members are restricted to posting/replying in a few of the general forums at first.  After you have created a few posts or replies that indicate you are going to play nice, all the other forums will be opened up for your use.  If you have signed up and haven't introduced yourself within in a week, your account will likely be deleted.  (this is because of the high number of spam/bot accounts set up)

[Brian Gallimore]

Request to Use Your Real Name
It is common for people to use a pseudonym (false name) when participating in forums online.  I can see the attraction to doing this, especially if you are involved in an activity that centers around alternate egos.  (gaming and what not)  This forum is not about that kind of thing.  It is about real people, living in real places, doing real things.  Using real names is more personal, and that is a good thing.  (one example:  people aren't as likely to fly off and spew hate at a real person)

The best way to do this is to go to the main menu bar, click on 'profile' then under Modify Profile, click on 'Account Related Settings', then type in your name in the 'name' area.

If you ask a question and don't receive a positive response, it might be because the people reading your post don't feel inclined to help.... and maybe making the question come from a real person will help.

The most common reason I've seen for not using your real name is something like 'I don't want some lunitic to hunt me down and kill me because they know who I am'.  (I might be exaggerating a little) My response is to use your head and think about this.  We live in a world full of risk.  What is the actual risk of that happening?  Almost zero; you might be letting irrational fear control your actions.  What is the benefit of being real?  Is it worth the 'risk'?  I hope you agree it is.

[Brian Gallimore]

Multiple posts about same subject
This is basically spam.  Please don't do it.  It looks even worse if you are trying to promote something.  If there is a topic you want to discuss and can't figure out where it fits, just post and see what happens -- me or another admin might move the post if we think it needs moved.  (or you can ask in advance if you want to be really cautious)  Please don't post the same thing all over the place, it just makes a mess to clean up!  (and if you have suggestions for improving the structure of the boards, feel free to suggest improvements in the tech support board)