Revised Posting Rules and Forum Updates

Over the past several months we have been re-evaluating the posting rules for our site, trying to find the right combination that is best for all of our members and for the site as a whole. Although on the surface it seems an easy task, it is rather quite difficult as we consider the demographics of our members as well as the different ways people use the site.

After lots of brainstorming conversations, reading the site feedback suggestions, and many “yes, but…” perspectives, the revamping has taken place. Here are the revised posting rules (you can always find them easily when creating a new post):

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1. Posting Rules
   • Play nice. Keep it civil and respectful and appropriate for all ages.
   • Spam, advertising, pornography and personal attacks will not be tolerated.
   • Remember to make sure that you are posting to the appropriate site category before hitting the submit button. (Inappropriate postings will be deleted and will not be retrievable.)
2. Ownership of Postings
   • LumberJocks makes no claim of ownership to the postings. Your material remains your property.
   • All postings must fit within the guidelines of the site and may be edited by the site’s Moderators, without notice, to fit within the posting rules.
   • Postings may be used in the LumberJocks’ eMag, and our other newsletters, currently the GardenTenders’ News, as well as the LumberJocks’ Facebook Fan Page.
   • If a member chooses to leave the site, he/she has the choice of letting the postings remain or be removed.
3. Non-shop Talk
   In order to keep the Projects, Blogs and Forums as “woodworking-related only” as well as to provide a place for members to socialize about things other than woodworking, we have introduced a “Non-shop Talk” section, located here. The rules are the same as above. The “Non-shop Talk”, although not about woodworking, is still a component of the site and the same rules and expectations apply. “Play nice” sums it up nicely.
4. Monitoring
   Due to the high activity on the site it is impossible to read everything that is posted and so we rely on the flagging system to monitor posts. If you see something that you feel is inappropriate, whether it is in the wrong location, is deemed “spam” or is offensive in some manner, flag it and we will look into it as soon as we can.
5. Projects
   Over the past year we have tried to get the site back on track as a woodworking showcase. What is appropriate for the projects section? Things made with wood. Tool Refurbishings? Absolutely – when it is the wood component that is being refurbished. Other refurbishings can be discussed in a blog or in the Woodworking Tools Forum. Non-wood material made with woodworking tools? Blog about it. We love to see woodworkers thinking outside the box with his/her craft but we also want to keep the projects section for wood-working only.

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As you can see above we’re reopening the Coffee Lounge forum that was closed 244 days ago and it got a new name: Non-shop Talk. That’s the place for all discussions that are not related to woodworking. One important change is that activity in this forum will not clutter our unique LumberJocks Pulse that allows you to stay in the loop easily. But, all posts in this forum will appear on the Forums page. So if you feel the need to socialize more here on LumberJocks just visit the Non-shop talk forum and start chatting. And if you prefer to focus only on woodworking while here feel free to ignore this forum and make use of Pulse for easy browsing.

Note, that we will monitor Non-shop talk forum strictly and if you don’t play nice your membership may even be terminated.

Last but not least… we have added three new forums by popular demand:

• Finishing
• Hand Tools
• Jigs & Fixtures

I truly hope that most of you will be happy with these changes.
Enjoy LJ and as always – keep posting!

-- Martin, http://lumberjocks.com | My Facebook: http://profile.to/msojka