Posting guidelines: READ HERE FIRST!

These are the posting guidelines, as copied from CoasterBuzz. They are enforced here as well. Because of the sheer volume of posts, we don't have the time to read each one, or edit each one for problems, so we appreciate your help in following these guidelines.

Our forums are closely monitored by our team of moderators to bring you fresh discussions on the amusement industry with less noise. Your participation in the forums is welcomed with encouragement! We do ask that you follow these few guidelines to help us maintain a fresh and fun environment.

1. Spelling & Grammar usage:
There's a difference between a typo (which we all make) and chat shorthand ("r ne of u lamerz?") People like to read real, spelled out words, with capitalization and punctuation. You don't have to add pointless emphasis!!!!!!!???????!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE IS NO NEED TO SHOUT, we can hear you just fine. Please utilize your shift and caps lock key properly. Respect for the English language is important, and that means chat shorthand is not welcome.

2. Use of objectionable words and offensive posts:
Our audience ranges in age from teens up to our senior elders. Therefore, we strive to maintain a clean and fresh environment suitable for all ages. Our forums are equipped to replace highly objectionable words with “****.” This doesn’t mean that you can continue to include these words in your posts. Offending posts that insinuates this type of behavior will be removed and the offender may be banned from making any further posts in our forums.

3. Flaming
In our efforts to maintain PointBuzz as a family-oriented site, the art of flaming is strictly prohibited in the forums. We define flaming as the intent of the topic is to spark a flame war, objectionable retaliation, and the like. Examples of these topics would include; My park is better than your park.., or Park X sucks... etc. Offending posts that spark this type of flaming will be removed, and the offender may be banned from making any further posts in our forum.

4. Unacceptable topics of discussion:
The forums are dedicated to foster the discussions of roller coasters and the amusement park industry. Sometimes topics are brought up that are not in anyway related this. These topics are deleted, because there are other places on the Internet to discuss these off-topic subjects. We don't talk about world peace or curing cancer here, we talk about coasters (unless of course the peace or cancer is related to coasters). If you choose to talk about something not related to the subject matter of the forums, there are plenty of other sites on the Internet that will satisfy your needs. Examples of other unacceptable topics are those that lack merit (a 700 foot tall coaster with 19 inversions is being built at…), topics that have been brought up numerous times in the past (Cedar Point is running out of room… Superman: the Escape is not a coaster…), constant speculation about what [your park here] is going to get next year, questions that have no real answers (what are crowds like at... what will that park build...) and threads that contain best... favorite... top 10... worst... versus... most... are simply not interesting to read by anyone other than the person who started the topic. Don’t be surprised if these get closed or deleted as well. If your topic has any word ending in "-est," think twice about posting it. We also dislike anything along the lines of "first post" or an announcement about the number of posts you've made. It's not the quantity, it's the quality that counts.

5. Spamming
Spamming is forbidden in the forums. Spamming is defined by Merriam-Webster as “unsolicited usually commercial E-mail sent to a large number of addresses.” In the forums, spamming can take on another form as the promotion of a personal site that contradicts the terms of service. Please note that including the URL to your site in your signature is acceptable, provided it is not surrounded by promotional language.

6. Editing your post
If you find that once you have submitted your reply or message to the forums and you notice a mistake, or left something out, you can click on “edit” above your post to correct the error. Making another post with the correction leaves that topic thread disorganized.

7. Noise
A noisy person talks so they can hear themselves be heard. They don’t really impress others at all. We discourage noise makers in the forums.

8. Quoted replies
Please note that the "quote" link on every individual post is intended to setup a quote of that post in the reply window. Please use this only if you wish to respond to a much earlier post in the thread. Even then, be sure to trim the parts of the post that do not refer to your response. Put your response after the quote tags, so it doesn't blend with the part you're responding to. If you're just making an additional post to the thread, or responding to the immediately previous post, simply use the "reply" link on the post or the button at the end of the thread.

9. Signatures
The signature is a way to reveal a little about your personality and who you are. Please keep the signatures to three lines or less. As mentioned above, it's OK to put your site's URL there provided it is not used with promotional language.

10. Topic titles
Please think about the title you use when you start a new topic. Topics like "What if..." or "What do you think..." or titles composed only of a coaster or park name don't tell us much about what you want to talk about. Please use short but descriptive topics. Give people a reason to read them.

Just a friendly reminder that posts that quote the previous post, which is absolutely pointless, will be deleted without much thought.

Signatures longer than three lines will also be edited.

You should really watch this video before you post anything, or even if you're a long-time member:

http://coasterbuzz.com/content/VideoTourForum.aspx