<h2><a href="#civilized">This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion</a></h2>
<p>
Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgment of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
<h2><a href="#improve">Improve the Discussion</a></h2>
<p>
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the discussion or might detract from its usefulness, think over what you want to say and try again later.
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<div class="more">
<p>
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
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<div id="agreeable"></div>
<h2><a href="#agreeable">Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree</a></h2>
The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.
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<div class="more">
<p>
Discourse provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: favorites, bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, and so forth. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.
</p>
<p>
Let’s try to leave our park better than we found it.
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<h2><a href="#flag-problems">If You See a Problem, Flag It</a></h2>
Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.
When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. <i>Just flag it</i>. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.
In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts in any way; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.
even the <i>appearance</i> of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.
Rather than posting “+1” or “Agreed,” use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a New Topic.
You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.
Yes, legalese is boring, but we must protect ourselves – and by extension, you and your data – against unfriendly folks. We have a <a href="/tos">Terms of Service</a> describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our <a href="/tos">TOS</a>.