MersenneForum Netiquette (the unwritten 'rules', documented)

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Online you can't assume anyone's age, gender, country, etc. (no matter their user ID or their avatar).

C'mon man, do you mean I can not say publicly that Sweety and Dana J are girls, and that Retina is bald and smokes cigars?

Joking apart, about crossposting, albeit it is difficult to avoid sometimes, you should never reply to a post in the next 20-30 minutes after it was made, unless the poster specifically requests you to do so (like asking for some urgent help). I don't know how much netiquette is in that, but it is a lot of pragmatism. First of all, you avoid engaging in flame wars, then, if you think for few minutes before posting, you avoid posting stupid things which you may regret later (math included). Then, you give the time to the ante-poster to edit the post and correct the stupid things he said which he may regret later . I for example edit my posts repeatedly, in the first minutes after posting (almost all my posts are edited like that) to fix typing mistakes (I am a very fast typist, but not always correct), English/grammar mistakes (partially, when and if I realize, 'coz I am not a native speaker, sorry!, and I was all my life an anti-talent for learning languages), fix crazy ideas, calm down after drinking my coffee in the morning, etc.

So, if you don't give my my editing minutes, you may find yourself in the situation that you replied to a post which now says something else than is said when you replied to it

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by retina

I have a generic aversion to URL shorteners. Basically I hate them. They are used both for hiding the destination, and tracking users visits to other websites. Plus the shortener service can disappear and then the link is dead with no idea where it was going.
Shorteners only add an extra layer of dependence, but without any associated benefit.

I am totally with you here. It happened in the past that the service disappeared, and there are links "in the air" even in important documents, like .gov pages. The shortened links are also unsafe, in the sense that some may ask you to install plugins, and could make havoc in your computer. Using the right link you make a service both to yourself and to the web page owner (he can make statistics about who is interested on his page, for example, by geographic areas, which may help him to provide other interesting stuff in the future, as opposed of getting all the hits from a single address - if you really need to be so anonymous, then use proxies and VPNs). So, take the right link, purify it from referals and ads, eventually beautify it (as described, using the "globe" icon ). How is something like "goog.le/ab7g5985q6" (fictive typing) better than the real link? You would not remember it anyhow, and you need anyhow to do a copy-paste.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Joking apart, about crossposting, albeit it is difficult to avoid sometimes, you should never reply to a post in the next 20-30 minutes after it was made, unless the poster specifically requests you to do so (like asking for some urgent help). I don't know how much netiquette is in that, but it is a lot of pragmatism.

Crossposting is in reference to posting the same content across multiple subfora. I was not referring to posting right after someone else. That happens all the time and can't be helped.

[LaurV]

Than, it is not crossposting, but multiple posting, or worse, spamming. Crossposting is when me and you reply to the same question in the same time, saying mainly the same thing or not, but without seeing each other's reply.

[Uncwilly]

Wiktionary disagrees with you dear sir:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosspost

[LaurV]

wiktio doesn't know Where is the "cross" in that?

[retina]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Wiktionary disagrees with you dear sir:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosspost

Hehe, well then Wiktionary disagrees with you also.

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Crossposting is in reference to posting the same content across multiple subfora.

Originally Posted by Wiktionary

An electronic message posted to multiple newsgroups simultaneously.

And Wikipedia says this:

Crossposting is the act of posting the same message to multiple information channels; forums, mailing lists, or newsgroups. This is distinct from multiposting, which is the posting of separate identical messages, individually, to each channel, (a forum, a newsgroup, an email list, or topic area).

So I guess you actually meant multiposting.