Understandable thread titles:

When creating a new thread, make sure that others understand what it is about from the first glance. For this, you have to make use of thread prefixes (if available in the particular forum) and and choose a descriptive title. Many people (especially staff members) get irritated by indescriptive thread titles such as 'a dumb question' or 'please help me!!!'. If applicable, include the name of the drug and enough information to get a first idea about what the thread is about.

Spelling:

Post in a readable manner. Try to avoid spelling mistakes (many browsers have a built-in spell checker) because some members do not speak English as their first language.

Caps lock:

Don't use CAPS LOCK TEXT or hard-to-read fonts, colors and sizes.

Post formatting

Format your post in a readable manner. The forum has functionality for editing the font, font size, font accent (bold, italics, underline, strikethrough) and font colour in your post. Just because it is possible to change these things, does not mean you should change these things. Changing the font can make a post unreadable. If your post is unreadable, it is not of good quality and will attract negative reputation points. This is drugs-forum.com, not cute-forum.com - if you want to be cute, but not contribute anything of use because nobody can read it, please post elsewhere.

Correct usage of font accents

Italics

Italics are typically used to emphasise a word or short phrase within a block of text. If it is overused the emphasis is lost, and the text can be difficult to read. Example:

Good usage:

Are you sure you want to drink six gallons of liquid methamphetamine?

Bad usage:

Are you sure you want to drink six gallons of liquid methamphetamine?

They might also be used to highlight a particular section of someone elses work that you are referencing so that the context of the original statement is kept, while highlighting the part that is particularly relevant here.

Example:

Alfa said that he wants feedback on how a buddy system function would work on the site, but that it needs to have safeguards to prevent dealing and harassment.

Bold

Bold text is typically used to strongly emphasise a word or short phrase within a block of text. If it is overused it has the appearance of shouting which is poor forum etiquette.

Good usage:

I think drinking that much liquid methamphetamine is a really bad idea!

Bad usage:

I think drinking that much liquid methamphetamine is a really bad idea!

Underline

Underline is typically used to create headings and subheadings in a post. If it is overused it can be very distracting to read.

Example:

Depressive disorder

Depression is a state of diminished mood which is either of a magnitude or duration beyond what would be considered...

Strikethrough

Strikethrough is typically used to redact information. In the forum it's most appropriate use is for when editing a post to remove information that was incorrect, so that the context of the original post can be understood, but people are not misinformed by the incorrect information. If it is overused it is next to impossible to read.

Example:

The appropriate starting dose of diazepam is 20 2mg*.

Use correct punctuation

Don't end every sentence with an exclamation mark. This is not the same as a fullstop (period), and should not be used interchangably with it. Use comma's to break up long sentences. We are not grammar nazi's, but if you format your posts as though you're shouting at us, or so that the meaning of the sentence can't be understood, then that is not good quality posting. Punctuation saves lives.

Example:

Let's eat, grandma.
Let's eat grandma!

Bad usage (demonstrated by a member for the purpose of the wiki):

Use paragraphs correctly

The forum has a character limit on the size of paragraphs. This is because lengthy paragraphs are unreadable on smaller mobile devices. Do not attempt to circumvent the paragraph limits by posting each sentence as a new line, with or without line breaks.

These are examples of inappropriate posting to circumvent the paragraph limits:

SWIM, FOAF, FUBAR and Flamingo's?:

Self-incrimination about the purchase, sale, or synthesis of drugs is against the rules. For this reason, you may speak on behalf of a 'Friend Of A Friend' (FOAF) and etc. You can even speak about the drugs your pet flamingo is consuming, because it is generally understood that this is a hypothetical scenario that is not actually taking place. The use of SWIM is disallowed.

Drugs Forum slang/Abbreviations:

SWIM = Someone who isn't me / pseudonym of person who engages in illegal activities (The use of SWIM and related is disallowed)

• SWIY = Someone who isn't you
• SWIU / SWIUser / SWIUsername = Someone who isn’t Username
• OP = original poster (user who started a thread)
• ^ (or multiple ^^^^) = relating to a post above (alternative for quoting)
• DM = direct message
• DM-ing = sending DMs / communicating via DMs
• DF / D-F = Drugs Forum
• DF-er = member of Drugs Forum
• DF-ing = reading and posting on Drugs Forum
• chem = chemistry
• archive = File-Archive
• wiki = wikipedia or Drugs-Wiki
• mod = moderator
• supermod = super moderator
• admin = administrator
• rep = reputation
• sig = signature

Common internet slang often used on Drugs Forum:

• LOL = laughed out loud
• LM(F)AO = laughed my (fucking) ass off
• IM(H)O = in my (honest/humble) opinion
• ISO = in SWIM's opinion
• FYI = for your information
• AFAIK = as far as I know
• IIRC = if I recall/remember correctly
• FWIW = for what it’s worth
• HTH = Hope this helps
• UT(F)SE = Use the (Forum/Fucking/Freakin') search engine
• BTW = by the way

Chatroom slang:

• AFK = away from keyboard
• BRB = (I will) be right back
• wiki = Wikipedia or Drugs-Wiki
• mod = moderator
• supermod = super moderator
• admin = administrator
• rep = reputation
• sig = signature

Common internet slang often used on Drugs Forum:

• LOL = laughed out loud
• LM(F)AO = laughed my (fucking) ass off
• IM(H)O = in my (honest/humble) opinion
• ISO = in SWIM's opinion
• FYI = for your information
• AFAIK = as far as I know
• IIRC = if I recall/remember correctly
• FWIW = for what it’s worth
• HTH = Hope this helps
• UT(F)SE = Use the (Forum/Fucking/Freakin') search engine
• BTW = by the way
• TEK = Technique

Chatroom slang:

• AFK = away from keyboard
• BRB = (I will) be right back

Names of substances:

Because Drugs Forum is an international community, brand names of medicines should be avoided if possible. If not possible, please specify active ingredients and dosage. Try to make sure that members from other countries understand what you mean. You should avoid slang terms for medicines (addies, oxys, robo, etc.). It is preferred to post '60 mg oxycodone' instead of 'two crushed oxys', '360 mg DXM' instead of '4 oz. robo max', etc. Using the metric system is also recommended.

Back up your claims:

When making statements that are not anecdotal, you should be able to back up your claims with some sort of evidence. Especially if your claims may be controversial, you may be asked to provide proof (preferably scientific). Failing to do so will hurt your credibility and reputation but not usually get you infractions – except if you post dangerous advice or make a habit out of posting misinformation. Don’t make controversial statements if you are not able to defend them reasonably.

One liners:

Please elaborate and explain your statements.

Respect, flaming and rudeness:

Posting on a forum entails using etiquette; it's easy, without the nonverbal component of communication, to mistake a poster's tone or intention. It is important to exercise respect when posting, especially if the discussion is becoming a heated one. Personal attacks, sarcastic one-liners, general rudeness, deprecating statements, and the like are useless in terms of information and facilitating a constructive discussion, and can constitute flaming in particularly heated discussions.

When posting it's critical to remember to stay focused on the topic of the thread, and not get off on tangents, or start attacking someone personally because they have a different opinion. In fact, differences in opinion, when handled in a mature, non-inflammatory fashion, can lead to a highly informative thread and a more cohesive, comprehensive and therefore accurate picture of the topic being discussed, as it's being addressed from several different angles and (hopefully) scientific sources or expert opinion/knowledge is being introduced.

Respect ensures an informative, useful thread, while rudeness and flaming accomplish nothing and actually generate more work for staff, as they often end up having to step in and put things back on track when a thread degenerates into an inflammatory back-and-forth between/among members, and in extreme cases provocation of moderators and staff in general.

Signal to Noise ratio:

We try to keep a high signal to noise ratio.
Try not to post too much trite and meaningless stuff--one liner posts such as "yeah, totally", "I wish I had some pot", blah, blah, blah. Try to maintain a decent signal to noise ratio, meaning that more of what is said is informative, meaningful, helpful, and interesting (signal); than being a bunch of talking just to hear yourself talk (noise). There are certain areas for such things, the "Some for All" forum is a good place for posting very random things. Within the other forums, try to stay on topic to some degree. This isn't to say everything is strictly business. Have fun but show some restraint ;) Also keep in mind that questions that are specific, thought out, and not already dealt with are just as valuable as answers. A good question is "signal" and can gain you reputation points, just like a good answer.

If your post doesn't add anything, then Moderators will need to clean up after you. You can post such posts in the Some for all and Funny shit forums. Replying to a thread with an (on topic) entertaining remark is usually OK, except if it is offensive.

Posting drug experiences:

When starting an experiences thread, please use the following format for the first post:

Trip reports are very useful, but providing details like those already mentioned as well as context makes them more useful to many people.

Posting drug information threads

When posting a thread to discuss the information of a specific drug, please use the following format for the first post:

Post approval

On occasion, a member may see this message:

Usually this is because a link to wikipedia or youtube has been included in the post. The former is not infraction-worthy, but it will be edited out because wikipedia is not a primary source of information. Its contributors do cite primary sources though, so instead of linking to wikipedia, find the source of the information at the end of the article under the references section and cite that source and/or link to it (if it's not a forum) and not wikipedia. The latter (youtube) requires editing because anything from youtube should go in the video archive, and that URL should be used to link to the video.