Board rules

These rules are disclosed to clarify the various responsibilities of all community members here on Pale Moon forum. They shall be adhered to by everyone to ensure that our board runs smoothly and provides a fun and productive experience for all of our community members and visitors.

  1. Post contents

    1. One of the most important things: Do not make posts that have the sole purpose of stirring things up. It's fine if you disagree with a post or topic, but if you can't make any sort of constructive comment, then please don't reply. This includes finding other topics with a similar subject and posting your opinion there without adding anything to the discussion otherwise. #
    2. If all you have to say is "I agree" or "me too!", think and consider if it's relevant to the discussion that you voice your support before you make a reply/comment. #
    3. If a topic is discussed that is "out of your league" in subject matter or depth, then think and consider if it's relevant to the discussion that you contribute to it before you make a reply/comment. This will help keep topics on-track and the discussion in them focused which benefits everybody. #
    4. Don't start or fuel flame wars. #
    5. This shouldn't have to be a rule, since it's common sense and common netiquette, but here goes:
      Only use text formatting to emphasize or clarify parts of your post.
      Never, ever, format an entire post in larger/smaller than normal font, bold, italics, or a different color (that won't adapt to different themes).
      Also don't try to abuse formatting to hide text or links (looking at you, "SEOers"!) #
    6. Please mind your language. No excessive swearing or cursing.
      Although we will not be policing your use of language, since everyone here is assumed to be of an adult and tolerant mindset, and using swear words here and there is just fine, we will take action if your use of such language is excessive, uncalled-for, or otherwise considered by staff to not be suited for general public digestion. #
    7. Do not post any information that you want to be kept private. Posts should not contain personal, identifiable information or content embarrassing to yourself or others.
      Please keep in mind that all posts (with the exception of limited boards) are also crawled and indexed by search engines and are fully public to the world. #
    8. This forum focuses first and foremost on support and development of the Pale Moon browser.
      Don't post politically, ideologically, religiously or socially sensitive topics on this forum, especially if they revolve around strong, polarized opinions and world views.
      This to keep drama and heated tempers to a minimum.

      If you want to discuss such topics, please go to dedicated fora for them. #
    9. Do not make rage-quit topics or other posts that serve no purpose other than "I'm upset with X and leaving".
      Making posts that are rants before a rage-quit really don't serve any purpose and will not help others to find solutions to current issues, do not add anything to existing discussions, are pointless as new topics, and in fact interferes with trying to provide support to other users of software this forum supports.

      We understand if you are upset or unhappy for whatever reason and that it prompts you to leave the browser (and inherently the forum as well) behind, but just posting something inflammatory, heated or otherwise upset posts because of your state of mind is still just as much against the forum rules as posting inflammatory material otherwise. Unfortunately this has now become a forum rule since just requesting this courtesy from users is apparently not sufficient any more.

      To be clear: this is just about common etiquette, and has nothing to do with "switching to Firefox" or hatred towards any particular other browser.

      As an exception to the normal 3-strike rule applied to user accounts, such posts/topics are subject to immediate banning of your account, and likely deletion of your posts or topics. #
  2. Stay on topic

    1. Stay on topic in your posts. Many people use fora for knowledge gathering as well as social interactions. Forum posts and threads can be read by hundreds or thousands of users, and as such it's important to read the topic of a particular discussion and keep your posts related to that topic. #
    2. If you want to make a remark in a thread that is off-topic, then please use the [ offtopic ] forum tags. #
    3. Please don't try to call attention to a different thread on the forum in a thread comment. If you want more attention to a thread, then post in that thread! It will automatically be bumped if it's been long enough since the last post. #
    4. When you post a reply to a thread (e.g. after searching) please check the age of the thread.
      If the last activity in the thread was more than a few months ago, you are likely replying to a topic that has already been concluded, of which the participants are no longer active, or to a topic that is, in fact, not exactly what you are wanting to write about or only sideways related (replying to old and inactive threads is so-called necro-posting: the thread's discussion is pretty much dead).
      If you can't find an active thread about your exact topic, please make a new topic, since old discussions about something more-or-less related is likely not relevant to the topic you're wanting to discuss. You can always link to the thread you found, of course, for reference if you think it's actually important to point to what was previously discussed. #
  3. Quoting

    1. Don't quote entire previous posts. We can't stress this enough. Please only lift out relevant sentences.

      A tip here: Hit "reply" first, and in the message composition window, highlight the text you want quoted from the listed previous message(s), and then hit the "quote" button on that message. This will only quote what you highlighted, and automatically state the person you are quoting. #
  4. Accounts

    1. Please don't create more than one user account. Only one account per person!
      Regardless of what reason you may think you have to create multiple accounts, doing so as a single person runs the risk of all those accounts being closed. #
    2. If you have been (temporarily or permanently) banned, do not create "alt" accounts to circumvent your ban or cool-down period. If you wish to discuss your user state on this forum, e-mail staff about it using the general forum e-mail address.
      If you have had your account previously deleted (either through idle purge, by request or through administrative action), you may only re-register using the same name.
      Any posts made on "alt" accounts for banned users are subject to being removed and completely ignored by staff and/or the developers. #
    3. From time to time, we may purge accounts of inactive users. We will normally make an announcement when such a purge is about to happen, and usually idle purges are performed on user accounts that have seen more than a year of inactivity (have not logged in). You are not required to make any posts to keep your account active, but you do need to log in using your username and password to prevent being purged.

      We do these purges for a few reasons, chiefly among which:
      • To keep database sizes under control, and keep the forum running efficiently
      • To prevent personal information that is not in use by active users from being unnecessarily stored on our server
      • To prevent identity theft if your e-mail address is compromised
      Purges are irreversible. If your account has been purged due to inactivity, then the only way to become an active contributor on the forum again is to register a new account. #
    4. Please do not use temporary/disposable e-mail addresses to register on this forum. It's not allowed and if brought to our attention the account will be disabled without warning.

      This is to protect both us and you!
      Please understand:

      • We will never spam you. We hate spam.
      • We will never sell or disclose your e-mail address. (The only exception is disclosure for lawful investigation by the authorities re: abuse/criminal activities)
      • Using a disposable e-mail address makes your account (and in turn our forum) vulnerable to being abused by random people. After all, these e-mail addresses have no verification or login.
      • Using a disposable e-mail address makes our forum vulnerable to potential abuse from third parties (including forum spammers) that learn of your disposable e-mail address by you submitting it to them.
      • A personal e-mail is the only way to properly verify your identity or recover your account in case of trouble.
      #
    5. Some people use what is called "sender verification" which is a challenge sent to the sender of e-mail from a previously unknown e-mail address, requiring a sender's action for the e-mail to be delivered, supposedly to "prevent spam" in their inbox. Please do not use this. It's a terrible idea. Read here for more details.
      This will never work for the forum. E-mail sent to you as-required to activate your account cannot be manually verified by forum staff, and as a result you will never be able to complete your registration or participate in the forum discussions. #
    6. When you register, pick your username carefully. You will not be able to change it after registration. Make it something unique for you and something you would like to be called by for a long time. This will be your community identity.
      Additionally:
      1. Do not use overly vulgar, obscene, purposefully insulting or deliberately offensive usernames.
      2. Do not use overly generic or anonymous usernames (e.g. "user55", "palemoon_user", "forumaccount", "nobody99" or obvious variations in lettering or other languages)
      3. Do not use a username with the intent to impersonate anyone or suggest official representation of a brand or product while not being an official representative.
      This list is not exhaustive.
      Staff reserves the right to assign a different username at their discretion if the username is deemed unacceptable. #
  5. Prevent double posts

    1. Search before posting. It's quite possible that your question has already been answered either in other threads on the forum or on the website. the F.A.Q. section is there for a reason too. Use other resources as well like the MozillaZine Knowledge Base or Firefox Support, or your favourite search engine. #
    2. Use a meaningful topic title when you make a new post. Be descriptive and concise.
      This will help people searching for your topic to find existing threads and keeps search results relevant.
      Examples of bad topic titles: "Pale Moon 26" or "Videos" or "TWITCH"
      Examples of good topic titles: "Problems loading example.com in Pale Moon 26" or "Videos on example.com have no sound" #
    3. Use the correct board for your posts. Pick the forum board that most closely matches the question or feedback topic you want to post about.
      If you are not sure, then please look over all available boards before you make a post. If all else fails, a good generic area for support is "Browser Support" and dedicated sub boards, and a good generic board for non-support topics is "General Discussion". #
    4. Please be patient. You may not get an answer immediately, and if you are new to this forum, do not re-post if the post isn't moderated and approved within a few hours (it will not show up until this is done). This forum is run by volunteers, and we have to take care of other things like work and sleep as well. #
  6. Signatures

    1. Please keep the size of your signatures reasonable.
      If using text, try to restrict yourself to no more than 5-7 lines of text with normal font size. #
    2. Keep your signatures acceptable for the general public.
      Anything rated over PG-13 or at the very most M is generally not considered acceptable. When in doubt, ask staff first. #
    3. If using images, keep your image sizes reasonable (preferably less than 500px wide, less than 150px high).
      Do not use strongly animated or rapidly flashing images, pseudo-video "gifs" or images that have an unreasonably large file size.
      Images in signatures should be for the sole purpose of providing a signature image. Do not use signatures as an image board. #
    4. Where possible, please make sure to host your images on SSL-capable image hosting services or SSL-capable servers.
      (i.e., make sure your image URLs start with https://)
      This way, the overall page security of posts and threads on the forum is not compromised for visitors.

      Signature images and post smilies hosted on http:// links may be removed by staff for this reason. #
  7. Linking

    1. Don't provide a link without an explanation what it links to.
      If you provide a link to an external site, provide a brief description of the site and how it is relevant to the discussion at hand. #
    2. Don't try to use the forum to promote your service or business or "improve SEO". That will get you banned without warning. #
    3. Don't "clickbait" (meaning misrepresenting a link or product for the purpose of tricking people into clicking on it).
      Purposefully creating misleading links in posts is considered a serious offense here. Just don't do it. Not even as a joke. #
  8. In closing

    1. This is not a democracy. You are in our house, and you are a guest.
      Please behave yourself accordingly. #