Forum Decorum and Expectations

FreeSK8 Forum Goals:

Since posting “Rules” seems draconian and lame, let’s instead set some lofty goals for ourselves as a community. First and foremost, when it’s time to share PEV information, let’s do it with a minimum of fluff.

For someone who is looking for a solution or some specific knowledge, wading through a ton of admittedly funny comments and general derail makes for a really irritating search. So please, let’s keep our amusing selves in control and keep the unrelated chatter to a minimum outside of the designated fun zones—the watercooler and personal workshops (more on this in a bit.)

Flags:

To help us police ourselves properly, we ask users to use Discourse as it was intended by leveraging community flags to control and curate the content. Pulling a flag is not a negative thing when it helps the greater community, and it really helps the mod team see when there is an issue that needs addressing.

If you’re getting jiggy outside of “The Watercooler” category or a member’s workshop, don’t be surprised if you get flagged. (You can always PM a mod if you feel this is unfair.)

The Mod Team:

We’re lucky to have some awesome volunteers helping keep this place running right. Despite busy professional lives, families that need attention, and PEV builds waiting to come together, they’re donating their time and knowledge to help the community out. So please don’t play stupid games with them or waste their time.

Workshops and Garages:

To get the most out of FreeSK8, we suggest you put up your own workshop thread. If you’re building cool stuff and want to share it, there’s no better place than your own workshop.

Or if you’d rather share the builds in your arsenal, give us a look at the goods in your personal garage.

The content in your personal workshop is yours to curate, so feel free to flag the naughty or let the madness continue unabated.

The Watercooler:

Since we’re rarely able to collectively behave ourselves, that’s where “The Watercooler” comes in. In this category, off topic (non PEV) discussion is welcomed e.g. everything is fair game except when it comes to the decency rules posted below.

For the most part we will not be monitoring for content, so go ahead and fly your freak flag.

Buying and selling:

The aim of the site is to share content related to developing and building PEV, so we will not be hosting a “craigslist” type market place.

Instead, we’re asking people to put together their own “workshop” or “garage” thread, where they can post items for sale at will along with their builds and projects.

Then you can either work out the details in your own workshop or even better, use PMs to do the deal. To make these items searchable, we’ll ask people to tag their posts with something like #forsale. This will keep the mess to a minimum.

Vendors:

Since there’s a fine line between enthusiast and vendor these days, vendors will be allowed to post their stuff for sale in their “workshop” or “garage” thread within reason. We won’t be allowing companies to drop in and dump links, however.

Open Source:

Since FreeSK8 is an open-source initiative, we ask that everyone on the forum act according to its principles and encourage people to attribute and publish anything that belongs in the open source realm.

This is the ultimate expression of useful sharing, so let’s hold it up as an example. [citation needed, link to the open source language we are adhering to]

Let’s be decent humans:

Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

  • Spirited discussion is welcome but if it descends into petty squabbles, move it to a PM or better yet take it to a different forum.

So, let’s avoid:

  • Name calling
  • Any and all discriminatory language
  • Political, religious, or general hot-button topics unrelated to PEV/LEV
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Thanks for putting this together Bill!

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