LOCKED TOPIC

How to get a post deleted/locked in 10 Easy Steps

Did you ever see the movie "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days?" It was about a magazine reporter who was writing sort of a "reverse psychology" article about what NOT to do in a dating relationship. Well, a few of The Lounge Mods have come up with some helpful hints in the same vein .... HOW TO GET A POST DELETED/LOCKED IN 10 STEPS .... which should serve as a humorous n' handy list of things NOT to do when posting.

 1. SPAM US. If we want spamburgers or Spamwiches, we'll buy a can of Spam (ok, Spam Lite since we're calorie counting) ... otherwise, the following are no-no's here on CC in the forums.

• Promotional posts linking to websites selling stuff (put it in your profile)
• Links to your own home page or blog (put it in your profile)
• Requests for us to donate a kidney, pay your way through college, or support the charity of your choice (put it in your profile)

2. THWART THE LANGUAGE FILTERS. OK, mainly we just wanted to use the word "thwart" in a sentence. Whether you agree or not, curse words and profanity are a no-no here on CC in the forums. This includes coming up with weird mispellings and creative spacing and strange characters to get around the language filters. The F word is not allowed. The S word is not allowed. There are probably other words that aren't allowed, too ... and you know what they are. Be creative, use another word, K?

3. CALL SOMEONE A "DOO DOO HEAD"  Even if you are correct, you simply can't call people names in our forums. This doesn't just mean profanity, it includes all sorts of names and derogatory comments you might be tempted to throw around like nunchucks. Debate the idea; not the person.  Everyone is welcome here as long as they follow our rules, so no name-calling is permitted.

4. POST IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.  We're nosy and we want to know what y'all are saying, and there is simply no way we can keep you from .... ummm.... selling timeshares or asking for dates or advocating overthrow of another forum (or whatever) if you post in any language other than English. Of course, you are free to still throw in the occasional french word (How many calories in escargot?) if it pertains to your overall topic, but otherwise, no posting messages in ig-Pay atin-Lay or any other foreign language. (Is Pig Latin a foreign language?)

5. NO THREAD HIJACKING. There's a rule that says no "off-topic" posts. Of course, on occasion, we all are tempted to wander off on entertaining tagents about our mother in law's bunion surgery or what we watched in TV last night, but our goal really is to avoid hijacking people's threads on a specific topic and turning the thread into a totally new topic. It's just not fair to the original poster.... and it's sort of like going off on a joyride with someone else's car. If you or someone come up (mid-thread) with a nifty new topic that people want to discuss ... simply start a new thread.

6. ADVOCATE UNDEREATING/ADVOCATE FAD DIETS/ADVOCATE ILLEGAL CONDUCT. One of CC's primary missions is the promotion of healthy eating habits and weight management. To help achieve these goals, we really don't want posters suggesting, advocating, approving of or recommending (much less boasting personal experiences with) under-eating, starvation diets, dangerous fad diets, or anything else that we all know is just not legal, safe, and/or healthy. This would also include things like "I am doing great on 500 calories a day -- you should try it" sort of posts. (If you need help with eating disorders or undereating, please visit our Health and Support forum.) And (this should come as no surprise) advocating illegal activity would also be a no-no.

7. VIOLATING COPYRIGHT LAWS. If you find a really nifty article, story or other copyrighted work, please don't cut and paste the whole article into a post since that's ... ummm.... AGAINST THE LAW! You are free to post small excerpts (with your own comments) and you can always post links, too .... but entire song lyrics, whole articles, etc.... nope. (And if you disagree with copyright laws, feel free to bug your Congressperson or start a thread debating the merits of Copyright laws.)

8. POSTING DETAILS ABOUT YOUR SEX LIFE. Your profile page, your journal, your MySpace page, your diary .... these are all dandy and appropriate places for you to share intimate, graphic details about your sex life, if desired. In contrast, our forums would NOT be the appropriate place for that. You are, of course, free to post general (non-graphic, non-adult) comments (presumably in the context of seeking relationship or health advice) .... but keep the adult/private stuff .... to your own pages, please.

9. THREATENING/HARASSING OTHERS. If you find that someone has really bothered you, you are free to (1) block them; (2) ignore them; and (3) report them .... but threatening or harassing others is just not OK on our forums.

10. TROLLING. OK, what exactly is "trolling" you are probably wondering. Well, it's sort of one of those things that you know when you see it, but basically it's intentional pot-stirring, making extremely rude or inflammatory comments, or posting something you know is against the rules just to get a rise/response out of people. If you see someone "trolling" .... just hit the Report Violation button and one of your handy-dandy on-call Moderators will review the thread and see what needs to be done.

MOLLY