Users Forum Messages Participating People Make Posted Internet

Participating in an online forum can be fun, interesting, and a good way to meet new people, but there are many "guidelines" (things that one should do) and rules about how to "behave" (act) in a forum.

Most users try to be "respectful" (thinking about other people and not hurting them) of other users, and not post angry, "rude" (impolite), or "insulting" (offensive) messages. Most forums do not allow messages that have "foul language" (bad words), "racist remarks" (negative comments about skin color), or "personal attacks" (saying many bad things about a person).

Forum users are encouraged to make "meaningful" posts, or posts that make sense and are related to the topic of the forum. "Irrelevant" posts (posts that are not related to the topic) are often "deleted" (erased or thrown away). Users should also give their messages meaningful titles, not using general titles like "hello" or "help." Once a message is written, it has to be posted in the right "section" (part) of the website. And users need to make sure that a similar message hasn't already been posted "elsewhere" (in another place).

Forum users don't like it when people write in ALL CAPS, because they think this is the same as shouting. On many forums, "storage space" (space to keep large files) is "limited" (there isn't as much as people want), so users are told not to send messages with large attachments. Instead, it is standard to provide a link to the file on another website.

Each forum has at least one "moderator." The moderator reads all the messages posted on the site and deletes the ones that are "inappropriate" (should not be there) and do not follow the rules.