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Welcome to the Photobird forums! We hope your enjoy your time here.
To make your time productive and enjoyable in these forums, please adhere to the following etiquette.
Before you post a question:
 Please search the forums first to see if the answer to your question is already available. Searching for the answer only takes a few seconds and will be faster than posting your question and waiting for a response. Reducing the number of repeat questions ensures that everyone's time in the forums is focused and productive.
If you're shopping for a digital camera, please peruse the Photobird Digital Camera Buyer's Guide and read the reviews before asking "Which camera should I buy?". Even if you still need advice from the forums, it's best if you have conducted some research and have a narrowed down your choices before posting your question.
If you have a camera-specific question, please review the owner's manual that came with your camera. If you cannot find your owner's manual, many camera manufacturers offer their owner's manuals available for download in PDF . To help find the owner's manual for your camera online, enter the model name of your camera and "manual" or "guide" into any web search engine.
When posting messages:
Do...
Help us help you. Be sure to include as much information as possible, including details about your camera and its settings, to ensure quick and accurate responses when asking a question. Linking to and displaying your actual photos is very useful and encouraged.
Especially when asking "Which camera should I buy?", be sure to include:
which features are important to you,
what activities and events you plan to shoot with your camera,
how much money you'd like to spend on your camera.
There are so many digital cameras available, that there may be many available that suit your needs; so the more specific you can be about your needs, the more targeted responses you'll receive from fellow forum participants.
Stay on topic. Please only post messages that are relevant to the subject of the online forum.
Lurk before you post. Get a "feel" for the forums by browsing through them first to ensure your question is appropriate and that you're posting in the correct forum. Use the Testing 1,2,3... forum for your first post to ensure you clearly understand how to use the forum software. Lurk, test, post.
Use descriptive titles for your posts. Descriptive titles help fellow forum participants successfully identify your topic. Vague titles such as "Help!!", "Urgent question!!", and "Which camera should I buy?" may be overlooked by experienced users; vague titles provide vague indications as to what your issue may be and whether forum participants may be able help you. Better message titles include: "Trouble auto focusing", "Good prices for 4GB CompactFlash cards?", and "Looking for a small, 5 megapixel camera for boating".
Be nice. Please do not post inappropriate language and content in the Photobird forums. Personal attacks and insults are never appropriate nor productive. Let's keep this in perspective and on topic: we're talking about digital cameras, accessories, taking beautiful photos, and sharing them with friends and family.
Be courteous and civilized to others. Respect others' opinions. You may not agree with their opinions, but you should respect them. The Photobird forums are not actively moderated, but we do keep an eye on them. Please behave yourself and be responsible so everyone can enjoy participating in the forums.
Be specific when responding. Try to provide as much information as possible, including links to helpful web pages and your own photo examples.
Understand common acronyms. It's helpful to understand some terms that you will see in the forums, such as BTW, AFAIK, and IMHO, which stand for "by the way", "as far as I know", and "in my humble opinion". Here's a more complete list.
Don't...
Don't type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Typing in all capital letters is akin to YELLING. It's unnecessary. Please keep your "caps lock" key off. Emphasis in your messages can be made alternatively with *asterisks* and _underlines_.
Don't recklessly publish your personal contact information. Please understand that all messages in the forums are publicly viewable and will be viewed by millions of people. When you post on the forums, your message is also indexed by third-party search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Posting personal information such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information may result in unwanted e-mails and contacts, so be selective.
Don't perpetuate off-topic message threads. If someone posts an inappropriate message or "spam", please notify us. Don't add more noise by replying to the forum.
Don't post attachments. We have configured the forum software to disallow attachments. If necessary, and especially if it's a good photo that you want to share with others, we encourage you to provide a link in your message.
Don't post several photos in one message. A few photos is good, but if you want to share a larger number of photos, post a link to your online photo album instead. Sharing your photos in more frequent, multiple posts is better than posting one large message with your favorite photos.
Don't post messages with bikini, glamour, nude, or voyeur-type photos. People from all around the world participate in these forums and some people may be offended.
No spam. No advertising or solicitation is permitted in the Photobird forums. If you have an announcement to make that is of direct interest to a particular forum, you may post a single message after receiving approval from Photobird.com. Contact us for approval and include the text of your announcement. Approved announcements will have "ANN:" at the beginning of the subject.
No trolls. Deliberately antagonizing others to incite arguments is prohibited.
Don't quote previous messages. Only quote when absolutely necessary, to improve the understanding of your post. People can easily view previous messages. If you respond to a message, remember that its entire text is available in the forum, and everyone has probably just read it. If you are responding to a small part of another message, only quote that part of the message. If you are responding to an entire message, don't include any of it. This helps ensure that your messages are quick and easy to read.
Don't 'bump' post. If you haven't gotten a response to your question, please do not post a blank or 'bump' message to move it to the top of the message list. These bump messages only add unnecessary noise to message threads and create extra clutter to the forums. If you still need help after posting your question for the first time, wait a day or two, then respond to your original message with additional information.
Don't duplicate threads. Before posting messages, please familiarize yourself with the forum, and use the forums search feature to find any previous messages that may have already answered your question.
Don't cross-post or double-post. Posting a message to more than one forum (a.k.a. "cross-posting") is unnecessary, and creates extra traffic for you and others to read through. If you've already posted a question, please don't repeat your posts in order to get more attention. If you still need help after posting your question for the first time, wait a day or two, then respond to your original message with additional information.
General terms
By using the Photobird forums, you acknowledge and agree to the Photobird.com Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Photobird.com reserves the right to delete or move (to a more appropriate forum) any message, especially messages which do not follow these guidelines. Photobird.com reserves the right to ban anyone from the forums for any reason; however, we really do not want to ban anyone and will only do so in extreme circumstances. Photobird.com records your computer's IP address when viewing and posting messages and will contact your internet service provider to terminate your access if necessary.
If you have feedback about the forums or a complaint about a particular participant, please let us know. Do not complain in the forum and perpetuate problems. Because we may not always see your specific feedback in the forums, please contact us directly.
We greatly appreciate your adherence to this etiquette and we wish you much success and enjoyment in the Photobird forums!
For more information about Photobird.com:
Back to Forums / Help / Photobird.com
Published 20 June 2005
Updated 22 September 2005
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