Guide:STEP Community Citizenship

by S.T.E.P. Team

Updated: 6:51:10 9 July 2013 (UTC)

GUIDE FORUM THREAD

Preface

Modders Etiquette

General Points on Etiquette

Wiki Editing

STEP Boards

Mod-Specific Posting Guidelines

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Preface

Welcome to the STEP-Community website! We have many relevant forums and a beta version of a unique wiki implementation that articulates to some extent with the forums. The official STEP Guide now exists exclusively on the wiki and is always under active development. The wiki will soon be open to the public (accept for functional pages relating to the STEP Guide), and this will facilitate more of a community-desighn approach to STEP (according to the STEP Mandate). Within the site, you will find many helpful resources voluntarily provided. Many of the questions that you may have will likely have already been answered by others.

We humans are composed of personalities that fall along a continuum of positive to negative, and fortunately, the majority tend to associate with the more positive pole of this continuum. Unfortunately, there is a minority that aligns with the more negative --not necessarily pessimistic, but more truly negative. While these individuals are not necessarily "bad" people, they can nonetheless be a damper to the rest, and like a wild yeast, can have a tendency to sour an otherwise perfectly good batch of home-brewed mead. This monologue and the guidelines that follow are intended for all, but necessitated by these less "enlightened" of us.

TheCompiler and the other STEP-Community site administrators ask that you, as a registered member of this site, participate and/or contribute in a manner of good spirit and common courtesy. Adherence to this simple ethos will head off any unpleasantries before they are manifest. Let the guidelines outlined herein serve as a reference for our members, so that the community may evolve to its maximum potential.

The STEP Community Mantra:

Help us foster an environment that leverages your enthusiasm within a culture of good humor ... and rigorous analysis!

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A Note About Mod Redistribution

We understand wanting to download mods in bulk from a torrent, or even better, the skyrim/ directory from the full setup; however, we at STEP are committed to the whole of the modding community. That includes mod hosters, the modders that host with them, and the users of said mods. In good faith to all, our commitment precludes our support of mod hosting without the expressed consent of the mod authors.

Most of us are firm believers in "freedom file sharing", but it is not as if everyone in the world does not already have access to these materials and information. It is a matter of respect and ethics which governs the majority of the modding community, who work for free and provide resources for free. We here at STEP simply show the users how to utilize these resources using the intended channels. We users win by the fruits of these labors, so the least that we can do is spend the time it takes to download, prepare and learn how to use these resources.

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General Points on Etiquette

• Use your judgement when choosing a username. Don't start out on the wrong foot by choosing something offensive. Be polite and friendly on arrival!
• Please use standard English grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Organize your post into short paragraphs for easy reading. For our foreign friends where English isn't your first language, Google Translate, can be a very valuable tool.
• Please don't use [Caps Lock] or all caps for thread titles or for any substantial part of a post.
• Wait a reasonable amount of time (at least 48 hours) before "bumping" your topic.
• Refrain from "Double Posting". Please use the [Edit] button to correct this when done accidentally.
• When editing or modifying a post, please add your new message on a new line starting with "EDIT:". It can be very confusing and possibly even unfair if a post to which another user has responded, mysteriously changes. (The exception is minor spelling or punctuation corrections, no EDIT note necessary in such cases).
• On guides, how-to's, or anything else in that realm, a basic edit changelog is acceptable, just make sure to state what you changed.
• Any post with the following will be immediately removed. PLEASE DO NOT ...

... generate spam by posting frequent and/or annoying messages that are not on topic, or are difficult to read (we have visitors from all around the world).

... post anyone else's personal information... ever.

... discuss or assist in illegal activities such as software and music piracy, warez, cracks, serials, etc. This includes linking to other websites with said material.

... re-create a deleted or locked thread for the purposes of trying to keep it going.

... post flashing or strobing images or text.

... use excessive amounts of large, colorful, or otherwise annoying text just to emphasize your words.

... reply to a thread without anything to contribute (e.g., "First", "Second", etc.).

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It is expected that any information added to this wiki is clearly cited where applicable, as many others do not appreciate unverifiable speculation unless it is plainly stated as such. That is, feel free to write what might or might not be fact, but qualify what is intended' to be factual.

Some of the information that may be found on this wiki is carefully written and with a particularly writing style (e.g., consistent tense and syntax; addressing the reader in the third person rather than directly). Please familiarize yourself with a given article's (i.e., page's) writing style before contributing so as to maintain consistency within the article. If there is a reason to alter the manner in which a page is written or laid out, please consult the original author(s) prior to making large changes.

HOWEVER, We want to facilitate community contributions, so we encourage this and provide a forum thread for discussions of wiki topics. The OP has a list of wanted & needed contributions, so feel free to jump in on that thread and get a feel for what is wanted and needed before diving in.

Editing Tips

A wiki is simply an integrated assemblage of articles (i.e., pages) containing information that usually links to other wiki pages (i.e., articles). Every internal wiki link points to another page. If the link is blue, the page exists, and if it is orange, the page is referenced, but has not been created. Feel free to click on orange links and create the page by adding something relevant and saving.

• The wiki search bar is located at the bottom right of the browser window; however, can be found in the Wiki drop-down menu at the top of the page as well. Use this to find just about anything quickly.
• From the Header bar at top, select WIKI > Recent Changes to get a look at the most recent activity on the wiki. This is often the most convenient way to find a project of interest (and to see who may be fiddling around lately).
• Select TOOLBOX > SPECIAL PAGES and towards the bottom of the first list under "Maintenance Reports", there are links to "Wanted" pages. This means that someone has created an article with reference to information that is not yet defined (i.e., by creating the page).
• The simplest way to get started on the wiki is to begin by playing around under your personal user page:

wiki.step-project.com/User:Username

• Editing and general preferences can be set by user ... click on your user name at top-right in the header bar.
• When editing a page, be sure to fill in the summary box below the editing space with what changes you made before saving that page. This summary will be logged on the Recent Changes page and helps everyone to know what exactly was added/changed with a given edit.

Useful Links

• Help:Contents - MediaWiki's Help directory
• Cheatsheet - A quick guide to the basics of Wikitext formatting
• Tables - Wikitext syntax for tables
• Magic Words - Behavior switches and variables
• Parser Functions - Functions meant to provide more advanced logic
• SMW User Manual - Documentation for Semantic MediaWiki

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Posting

• Use your common sense when posting. If you are inexperienced with internet community life, have a read through a few pages to get an idea before posting. If in doubt about the tone of your post, pause, grab a hot cocoa, a coffee, a beer, a glass of wine or a shot of tequila (for those legal aged members). Then come back and preview your post, read it, and ask yourself: "Is this offensive or needlessly provoking?". If the answer is anything but "of course not!", then please don't post it.
• New users on a forum are often upset when they receive a seemingly curt reply to their post. This will often occur if the question or comment has already arisen (often repeatedly) in recent posts. Even the nicest communities tend to get irritated by this. Make good use of the search feature before posting, especially if you're looking for support, and always read back a couple of pages before posting ... your question may have already been answered.
• Once you've made your query, comment or request, don't keep repeating it. Sometimes you won't get the response you hope for, but constant repetition is a form of spamming, and won't be appreciated by the community.
• Always try to find the correct sub-forum for a new topic. Threads made in the wrong places will be moved by a moderator into the right location and a post will be made explaining why.
• Be conscious of maintaining the original topic in a thread, and avoid derailing topics or mindlessly hi-jacking a thread.
• Always try to cite your sources when stating information. People especially appreciate the extra effort of providing a link to the source. Use the search feature for the thread and forum to find your reference. Don't plagiarize content, or post material from other sites, and always give credit where it is due.
• Screenshots and video are welcome, but they should be hosted elsewhere with links embedded. Dropbox, Imgur, and YouTube are popular choices.
• Use the available codes (quote, code, spoiler, etc.):

Using a spoiler tag to hide your text, is useful if you're making an extremely long or highly technical post.

[spoiler]

Use a code tag to put your text in a scrollable box that ignores all codes (except of course /code). Codes are used as follows:

[code]text[/code]

Use a quote tag to put your text in a quote box. Quotes are used as follows:

[quote]text[/quote]

You can add a header to your quotes which is useful when citing the source:

[quote='quoteTitle by authorName']text[/quote]

[/spoiler]

• As a general guideline, most NSFW (Not-Safe-For-Work) content is prohibited. This is a very open-minded community, but graphic content that suddenly appears on users' screens can cause real life problems (e.g., angry wives/mothers or overly-curious children/co-workers). Use good judgement. Also, please make sure to state if a link you've provided contains NSFW content.
• Debate and discussion are always encouraged, but rudeness and personal insults aren't. This includes starting flame wars, or posting purposeless inflammatory posts. Offending posters will be handled accordingly.
• Links to any harmful websites/software, virus, referral sites, etc. are also prohibited and will be removed with prejudice. The community will not tolerate this sort of abuse, and offending accounts will be removed and their users banned.
• Each person is allowed to have one account only. Posting with multiple accounts is known as 'sock-puppetry', and is totally against the spirit of honest and fair discussion. We'll remove all of a user's accounts if we discover multiple sign-ups.

Signatures

• All rules and guidelines for the forums also apply to signatures. This means keep it Safe-For-Work, no adverts, etc.
• The overall signature must be within 650 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall and <= 2,000 characters.
• Individual images must be under 150kb. Please be respectful of those with less bandwidth.
• Excessive animation or otherwise annoying images can really clutter a page, so we may remove such images if they prove distracting.

Avatars

• Avatars follow general forum guidelines as well.
• Images size is limited to 100x100 pixels.
• Image's file size must be <= 150Kb

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Posting Guidelines

Avoid redundancy and excess

• Search the forum for the mod of interest before creating a new thread
• If the mod thread already exists, post within the existing thread, multiple reviews and suggestions in the same thread is the whole point :D

Make mods easier to track

• OP should be titled exactly according to Nexus mod name, if the Nexus name changes mention it in a post and we will add it to the OP and update the thread name
• For non-mod apps or mods that do not exist on the Nexus, use the dev's/mod author's given title
• Always include a link to the mod and more is better

Enhance quality and usefulness

• All posts should be in poster's own words; PLEASE do not paste the description from the Nexus or ReadMe
• Mod authors, PLEASE do not write a suggestion/review for you own mods, but please do provide input to qualify others' reviews of your mod(s).

• If you are suggesting a mod that you have not used, tell us in your own words what draws you to the mod and why you think its a good fit for STEP
• A review should provide in-game examples along with your personal opinions and practical experience
• If you can provide screenshots with your review they will be appreciated by the community.
• If you are comparing two different mods, please provide screenshots of both in your post. This will go a long way in helping the community and justifying your debate.

The STEP Community expects that you have used the mod enough to post a quality review ;)

Spamming and Advertisement

• Any form of spamming or advertising is explicitly prohibited and will be removed without warning. Any users in violation of this rule will also be banned immediately.
• This includes spamming through the use of the forums directly or any other methods related to this site, such as private messages, emails to users, etc.

Moderation

• Moderators and Administrators can be identified by special username coloring on their posts, Last Posts, Board Statistics, etc.
• The boards use a warning system to identify "problem" users. Too many warnings in too short a time will get you banned temporarily or even permanently .. and all "bad" behavior is not viewed or handled equally.
• Moderators do not want to ban you! We don't have "Dirty Harry" moderators here, who enjoy kicking people out with a stinging rebuke for good measure. Please listen if a moderator asks you to reconsider something, and don't force them to act.
• Please keep any communication regarding Moderator action private. If you feel something was done incorrectly, first contact the Moderator responsible, and if truly necessary, explain the situation to another Moderator or Administrator.
• Don't attempt to impersonate a Moderator, or falsely claim authority over other members.
• Although we always try to be tolerant and work with our members, we will act immediately in the case of excessively abusive language, malicious trolling, hate speech, etc. Those making such posts will be banned permanently.