SimplyMaya´s Newbie´s Guide to SM Etiquette

Welcome to SimplyMaya

You´ll find this site an excellent Maya-related resource site, coupled with an excellent community of Mayans.
Being this a Community-driven site you´ll find yourself discussing topics, commenting other Mayans works, and perhaps even participating in Challenges and Battles.
As such there´s a basic level of Etiquette you´ll have to attend to if we want to keep the site that way:

When replying think just for a second: "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread.

Be ethical
If you encounter an ethical dilemma in cyberspace, consult the code you follow in real life. Chances are good you'll find the answer.

Lurk before you leap
When you first enter SM, take a look around. Spend a while reading some posts. Get a sense of how Sm´s Mayans act. Then go ahead and participate.

Respect other people's time and bandwidth
When you post, you're taking up other people's time (or hoping to). It's your responsibility to ensure that the time they spend reading your posting isn't wasted. For example, if it´s a question, please be sure to include valuable data -perhaps include screenshots- so the guys who´ll answer might have a btter chance at handling efectively your problem.

You are not the center of cyberspace
When you're working hard on a project and deeply involved in it, it's easy to forget that other people have concerns other than yours. So don't expect instant responses to all your questions, and don't assume that all Mayans will agree with -- or care about -- your passionate arguments.

Take advantage of your anonymity
You won't be judged by the color of your skin, eyes, or hair, your weight, your age, or your clothing. You will, however, be judged by the quality of your writing. For most people who choose to communicate online, this is an advantage; if they didn't enjoy using the written word, they wouldn't be there. So spelling and grammar do count.

Know what you're talking about and make sense
Pay attention to the content of your writing. Be sure you know what you're talking about -- when you see yourself writing "it's my understanding that" or "I believe it's the case," ask yourself whether you really want to post this note before checking your facts.

Don't post flame-bait
Finally, be pleasant and polite. Don't use offensive language, and don't be confrontational for the sake of confrontation.

Is swearing acceptable on SimplyMaya?
Usually, if you feel that cursing in some form is required, it's preferable to use the classic asterisk filler -- for example, s***. The archness is somehow appropriate to the net, and you avoid offending anyone needlessly. And everyone will know exactly what you mean.

Share expert knowledge
Don't be afraid to share what you know. It's especially polite to share the results of your questions with others.

Be forgiving of other people's mistakes
Everyone was a newbie once. So when someone makes a mistake -- whether it's a spelling error or a spelling flame, a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer -- be kind about it. If it's a minor error, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before reacting. Having good manners yourself doesn't give you license to correct everyone else.

Search
The site has an excellent search feature, and chances are, your question is already answered somewhere around.

Copyright and posted material
The free exchange of information through cyberspace has raised all sorts of questions about who owns that material. Is material that's posted to a forum still owned by the original author? What if it's repeatedly quoted in further discussion? What if you write a tutorial and make it publicly available -- do you still own the copyright?

The answer to these questions is yes, yes, and yes. If it's your original work and you wrote it down, the copyright is yours.

There's a common -- and mistaken -- belief that posting information in cyberspace, puts it in the public domain. That's not true. Think about it -- if you paint a picture and display it for all to see, you're not giving up the copyright to it.
As such when linking people to a site or an image, or if using one as reference, remember to point out credit where due.

If you have question about how the site works, how can you post images and such, you can refer yourself to the forum´s official F.A.Q.
Chances are, your question´s already answered there.

Enjoy the site,



SimplyMaya Staff


This Newbie´s Guide to Netiquette in SM was made by adapting Virginia Shea´s book Netiquette available online here