Hotrodders Bulletin Board Guidelines

Please familiarize yourself with the following guidelines before posting on the Hotrodders Bulletin Board. For specific guidelines on using the Hotrodders Classifieds, click here.


These guidelines are amended from time to time, so please review them periodically.


General Posting Guidelines
First of all, bear in mind that we've had nearly half a million different posts on the Hotrodders Bulletin Board. Most common tech questions have already been discussed in great detail. Instead of starting a new discussion with one of these common questions (such as "what carb should I choose", etc.), you'll be expected to look through the old discussions to see what's been covered before. You can use our board search function to look through previous discussions.

Once you've taken the time to search through our previous discussions, and you've verified that your desired subject matter has not been covered before, it's time to compose a post.

Here are some basic posting guidelines:

• It's best to make a simple post in our Introduce Yourself forum before starting to post tech questions on the board. Your first post in the Introduce Yourself forum should only include some basic information about yourself and your current hotrodding projects. Tech questions should be posted in the proper tech forums, not in the Introduce Yourself forum.
  
  
• Place your post in the proper forum. Most forums are self-explanatory (Engine, Transmission-Rearend, etc.). However, for certain topics, you may occasionally be uncertain of the proper forum in which to place your post. For more information on how to decide exactly where you should place your post, please read our proper post categorization page.
  
  
• Be polite and respectful. When you're posting a question, you're asking for a favor. Show respect, get knowledge.
  
  
• Write a descriptive subject, not "having a problem" or "need some help". Everyone here is having a problem, and needs some help .
  
  
• Be descriptive. Describe your question, and everything that relates to it, in good detail. The more information, the better. We want information on the vehicle and/or part in question, plus details and observations on the problem, steps you've taken, etc. Attach a photo if you can.
  
  
• Spellcheck your post. We have a free, easy-to-use spellcheck function. Use it.
  
  
• Preview your post before submitting it. Just use the "Preview" button. Read your post over for accuracy and clarity. If you've posted any graphics or photographs, double-check that they're appearing properly. If you've posted any links, click on them to ensure that they're working correctly.
  
  
• Be patient. Lots of discussions start slowly, then gradually gain momentum.
  
  
• After you ask your question, check back in on it regularly. You can do this by periodically re-visiting the discussion page, using your browser's "bookmark" feature, or by using the email notification feature to get a reply emailed to you when there is a response to your question. Post your follow-up responses in a timely manner to keep the discussion going.
  
  
• After you ask your question, and get a few ideas from the people who answered you, be sure to come back and let us know what happened. We like to know how our suggestions worked out, and if the problem was solved. Also, it helps other people who will look at the discussion later on when they are using the search function to examine previous posts.

Board Don'ts
Here's a list of things that are explicitly against the rules. Violating these rules often results in a warning, followed by temporary or permanent removal of posting privileges.

• Don't use foul language. We strive for a general "PG" rating in our forums, and many of our members visit the site with younger children. We automatically censor certain words by replacing the letters with asterisks, like this: ****. Trying to cheat or override the censorship system is prohibited.
  
  
• Don't try to pretend that you know more than you do. It won't work. Our members have thousands of years of combined experience. If you try to show off, you'll get busted.
  
  
• Don't post your email address on the board in an effort to encourage technical conversations by email. When you discuss hotrodding on the bulletin board, the text of your discussion gets permanently saved, and made searchable by anyone. When you engage in a hotrodding discussion by email, it essentially gets "discarded" when you're done. Also, posting your email address publicly allows it to get picked up by "spambots" -- automated programs that scan the web for email addresses to spam.
  
  
• Don't post in ALL-CAPITAL letters. This is considered "shouting". Here's why: now I'm speaking softly and politely, BUT NOW I'M SHOUTING REALLY LOUDLY!!! Press the "caps lock" key on your keyboard to switch between UPPERCASE and lowercase letters.
  
  
• Stay on topic. Whenever possible, discussions should adhere to the subject matter of the original post. If you'd like to make a contribution to a discussion that significantly strays from the original topic, simply start a new thread.
  
  
• Don't post the same topic in multiple forums.
  
  
• Don't post ads for cars or parts, or help wanted ads. Classified ads are forbidden on the bulletin board. Use our classifieds section. For more information, please review our Classifieds Guidelines.
  
  
• Don't post details on upcoming events or shows on the board. Use the forum calendar. On the calendar, you are more than welcome to post details on any type of event or show, including commercial and charity events.
  
  
• Don't cut-and-paste large amounts of text into your posts. When quoting information from other online sources (articles, emails, posts from other boards, etc.), just quote up to a paragraph of text, and then put a link in your post that people can follow to read the entire resource. For a more in-depth explanation of this policy, please see our copy-pasting information page.
  
  
• Don't advertise your business. If you are affiliated with an automotive business, you may not post contact information for that business on public board posts, in your custom user title, or in your avatar. Business contact information includes, but is not limited to: physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs. Stating the name of your business is allowed, as long as the name of your business is not identical to any business contact information. If you are affiliated with an automotive business website, you may post that website's URL in your user profile page, and then you may refer people to your user profile page if your services are relevant to their question. For a more in-depth explanation of this policy, please see our business affiliation page. We don't allow solicitations for charities, whether or not you are affiliated with the organization for which you're soliciting. Additionally, we don't allow formal solicitations for free parts or services.

If you have any questions about these guidelines, please feel free to post in our Site Suggestions and Help forum.


Nobody expects you to get everything here right on the first try, and everybody screws up from time to time. We thrive on good discussions, and we're relying on you to ask good questions.


It doesn't matter if you've been wrenching on cars for decades, or if you've never done an oil change before. If you demonstrate respect, and show people that you're willing to learn, every door here will be opened for you.


Thanks.

Jon
Administrator, Hotrodders Bulletin Board


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