AoPS Wiki:Netiquette

Netiquette refers to the conventions of politeness used over the internet in mailing lists, on message boards, and other electronic venues. The term, netiquette, is formed from the words internet and etiquette. The RFC 1855 provides a comprehensive review of the netiquette guidelines.

AoPSWiki Netiquette

Listed below are a few rules of netiquette which should be followed when using the AoPSWiki.

1. When substantially changing the content that is already in an article, state your reasons for doing so on that article's discussion page. If the change might cause a lot of controversy, it's advised to discuss changing it on the discussion page before editing.
2. Do not edit other people's userpages unless they give you permission to do so.
3. Sign your name after you post a new comment on a discussion page by typing --~~~~. However, you should never sign your name on a main article. (To sign your name with the click of a button, push the Signature button on the toolbar above).
4. Always be constructive and courteous in your feedback or comments on other users edits. An example of what to do. An example of what not to do.

AoPS/Mathlinks Message Boards Netiquette

Listed below are a few rules of netiquette that should be followed when posting on AoPS/Mathlinks message boards.

1. Be careful about what you post. Think before you post. Here are a few examples of things you should NOT post:
   1. Spam
   2. Advertisements
   3. Anything that can be deemed inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to, posts that contain vulgar language, obscene pictures, or anything with personal information about you or someone else.
   4. Messages in all capital letters
2. In contrast, here are some important things that a good post SHOULD contain:
   1. Proper punctuation, good grammar, and correct spelling
   2. English - the official language of the boards is English. Exceptions to this rule are the National Communities.
   3. At least two sentences - if you find yourself able to only produce a one-sentence reply, chances are that your post is spam. However, this is not always the case, and it is up to the user's discretion to know when a short post is acceptable.
3. For the most part, double posting is highly discouraged. Double posting refers to making two posts in a row in a topic. There are some exceptions to this rule such as when one is posting a problem for the resources section and then posts the solution right after that. In many cases, unnecessary posts can be avoided by using the edit feature of the boards. Any typos in a post should be addressed by editing the original message and not making a new post entirely.
4. One of the main tenets of the message boards is to be courteous and respect one another. The users of the AoPS-Mathlinks message boards come from a wide variety of locations each with its own customs and traditions.

Games and Fun Factory netiquette

The Games and Fun Factory forum is slightly different from all other forums in that spam is generally accepted in this forum. Some users have gone as far as to call it the spam factory. All the netiquette rules listed above should still be followed though. It's just that spam is tolerated more as are shorter messages.

NOTE: There are different types of spam. The spam that is acceptable in the Games and Fun Factory is that which could otherwise be classified as irrelevant or lacking much content. On the other hand, spam such as advertising or flooding a thread with messages is still unacceptable and consequences can follow.