ITH Poker Forum

[cybrarian]

General Board Introduction and Guide
Welcome to the General Board. This post introduces the General Board, and gives a few tips on how to post here. Much of it, I would hope, applies to the other forums, too.

What is the General Board?
In short, the General Board is a forum for posts that don't belong in any of the other ITH forums. For a complete list of all the ITH forums, together with brief descriptions of each, see the Forum Index.

Posting to the General Board
It’s definitely not my role to teach anyone how to write (not until anyone pays me for it, anyway), but here are a few thoughts and suggestions.

1. Before you post
   
   There are over 7500 threads in the General Board, containing over 60,000 posts. A lot of questions have already been asked, and a lot have already been answered. To search for existing threads in ITH, use the forum Search facility
   
   For tips on searching the forum, read my guide to searching. (coming soon...)
   
2. The post content
   
   Don't break the forum rules.
   In case you don't know them: ITH Forum rules
   
   Write intelligibly and legibly
   I generally believe that a well-written post is easier to read, easier to understand, and easier to respond to. If you write clearly you will get better responses. When it comes to searching through old posts, ones with spelling mistakes are often harder to find.
   
   There's an old thread that covers a few areas: A helping hand from cyb
   
   Be polite.
   If you disagree with a post, try to be constructive in your response.
   
   URLs
   Read Linking to another site for a short, but sweet guide to including tidy and helpful URLs in your posts.
   
   Keep it clean.
   Please try to keep the profanity to a reasonable infrequency.
   
   Quotes
   Try not to overuse the quote facility. You usually don't need to quote another post in full before adding your response: quoting excerpts is often better. As a general rule of thumb you should write more than you quote.
   
   Use the Preview button
   Before you submit your post for the world to see, you can click the Preview button to see what it it will look like. This is a chance to check that you have got your BBCode right (particularly useful if you've quoted another post) and that you haven't made any silly mistakes in your post.
   
   Try to stay on topic
   From time to time, threads wander off into strange areas, and that's not really a problem, but please try to stick to the topic under discussion as far as possible.
   
   Duplicate threads
   If you post a thread, but for some reason end up posting duplicate threads, please change the title of one of the duplicates to something like "Duplicate", or "Dupe", or (less preferable) "Please delete". This will hopefully discourage posters from responding to that thread, and make them more likely to respond to only one of the threads. A moderator can then delete the duplicate.
   
   
3. Dealing with responses to your post
   
   Dealing with abuse
   Happily, we rarely have trouble with abusive posts at ITH, but if you are unhappy with another forum member’s posts, or the responses to a post, or if you think someone is out of order, please send a private message to me or one of the other moderators, and we will deal with the situation.
   
   Don't fan the flames.
   Trolls are, by their very nature, greedy creatures. Please do not feed them, as this will only encourage them to come back for more. If an argument is already in full swing, think whether you are adding anything constructive to the argument before responding. Please at all times try to avoid using the phrase "this isn't 2+2".
   
   Be polite (Pt II)
   There are a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people on the forum, and although they don’t offer their wisdom and advice so that they can get thanks from people, it often doesn’t hurt to show your appreciation. Often, sending a private message to someone who’s been very helpful goes down well.

Useful Links
ITH articles
ITH forum index
Search ITH
ITH Forum Rules
ITH bonus listings

Interesting threads from the General Forum
What to do when the table is too loose - A very early thread – shows that there’s been quality here for a long time.
Reflections on SSH
I’m considering playing way above my bankroll
50,000ish hands (long)
Rating yourself
ITH Anniversary: A look back - Matthew neatly summarises the first 12 months of the forum.
Fish say the darndest things - Some light-hearted relief.

Comments and suggestions for the general forum

If you have any comments to make on the guidelines please add them to this thread.

Also use this thread if you have suggestions for the improvement of the General Board.

Regards,

cyb.

[Suited_Jock]

Hey neil,

Thanks for pointing out the guidelines my one question though is how do you determine if a post should be moved or not?

I could go through each post just now on the general forum and move them to either MTT, Off topic etc and we'd have almost nothing left... Even one of your example posts "Im considering playing well above me bankroll" Should quite cleary go in the bankroll management forum. This ain't a rant or a dig but just a need for further clarification.

[cybrarian]

Thanks for pointing out the guidelines my one question though is how do you determine if a post should be moved or not?

Good question, and as you will probably agree, it's a grey area. As the number of forums has increased, and the board has evolved, there's not always perfect distinction between forums. Sometimes I wish we could nominally include posts in multiple forums, but that clearly would have its downsides as well as its benefits.

Where old posts are concerned, I won't move them unless someone posts to them, they get bumped into the recent posts lists, and I spot them there. I simply don't have the will to go thrugh the archives sifting everything out. (Also, bear in mind that going way back, there were fewer forums, so there are bound to be old threads in general that could be moved). Re: the "I'm considering...bankroll" thread, I'll flip a coin later to decide what to do.

For newer posts, I do try to move things appropriately, but on the whole i try to err on the side of not moving things. If a post has not been responded to and clearly belongs elsewhere, then I'll move it without leaving a shadow in General. If it could be in one place or another, but it probably won't make much of a difference, I tend not to interfere, unless I think a post will get more responses in another forum. If a thread starts off general but wends off into other areas, I might move it, leaving a shadow in General, or split it.

If anyone notices anything that they think should clearly be in another forum, feel free to PM me, or mention it in this thread.

[checkmate]

Neil;

Fantastic job on this post!

Using the bbc code always has been a mystery to me and now its plain and simple. You have taken quite a bit of your time to put this post together for us and I know I for one appreciate it. Very well done and thanks a ton.

This site keeps getting better and better every day. If my poker would do the same Id be a happy man

[RiverCascade]

This site keeps getting better and better every day. If my poker would do the same Id be a happy man

~groan~ ditTO... err... happy woman, anyway.

K, to topic. The intro is hugely improved. Excellent job there. The search before you post section is too long, and part of my aversion to it is becz I can *never* find anything I'm searching for. Maybe your "how to" will help. It makes me feel intimated about possibly posting a redundant thread-- I can only imagine how it would make a newcomer feel. Personally, I don't think overlapping or similar posts is that big of a deal. There are new people all the time who weren't around the first 20 times a topic was broached. Who cares if they're repeated, really. If it was a topic someone reading the new thread bookmarked, they could link to it in the thread. I think that's better than intimidating people with long sections on "search first." Not saying a sentance toward that end wouldn't be appropriate. It's the second paragraph that is belabored, much like my comment here! I don't think the google search suggestion is necessary.

I'd omit the choose a good title section. We're not children and I'd venture very few posters are unfamiliar with forums.

Post content. I gave up. It's too long, Cyb.... the whole thing. People want to know the rules and what not to do or what isn't tolerated... gratuitous obsenity, etc. The be polite part is good.

When I started reading the comments here, Check's interested me in the bbc code, but I never got that far in the original guidelines.

Sorry, again, but you asked... and you know I love you!

[cybrarian]

RC, I reckon you're right, as ever. I've done some heavy filtering.

[maf66]

RC, I reckon you're right, as ever. I've done some heavy filtering.

I think someone didn't read the guidelines and press preview before they posted.

http://www.internettexasholdem.com/phpb ... 28905.html

[cybrarian]

Aye.

Notepad kindly word-wrapped for me, which I fixed, then made a change, but didn't check the second time round.

Fixed now. Thanks for the headsup.

[RiverCascade]

You're a rare breed, Cyb, and I'm certain you make an outstanding friend.

I kept thinking about the guidelines the rest of last night. I think your points are great, and need to be said. I just think a sentance incorporating the topic point, then moving on, may be of more benefit.

Also, know (you) that I know, how easy it is to critique someone else's hard labor while she, herself, has yet to get hers done. My laptop has been returned from repair for the 3rd time (the 2nd time it came back, 10 days ago, it worked for all of 2 hours before having to be returned). I hope to be working on Guidelines for the new members (borrowing from some of yours). I'll send you a link and determine to suck it up when you return the favor.

[toom]

Absolutely fantastic summary. Very well written. Concise yet thorough. Spot on.

[cybrarian]

I've added a comment to the guidelines about Duplicate threads:

Duplicate threads
If you post a thread, but for some reason end up posting duplicate threads, please change the title of one of the duplicates to something like "Duplicate", or "Dupe", or (less preferable) "Please delete". This will hopefully discourage posters from responding to that thread, and make them more likely to respond to only one of the threads. A moderator can then delete the duplicate.

[cybrarian]

A quick recap on some points about posting to this forum:

Be polite.
If you disagree with a post, try to be constructive in your response.

Try to stay on topic
From time to time, threads wander off into strange areas, and that's not really a problem, but please try to stick to the topic under discussion as far as possible.

Dealing with responses to your post

Dealing with abuse
Happily, we rarely have trouble with abusive posts at ITH, but if you are unhappy with another forum member’s posts, or the responses to a post, or if you think someone is out of order, please send a private message to me or one of the other moderators, and we will deal with the situation.

Don't fan the flames.
Trolls are, by their very nature, greedy creatures. Please do not feed them, as this will only encourage them to come back for more. If an argument is already in full swing, think whether you are adding anything constructive to the argument before responding. Please at all times try to avoid using the phrase "this isn't 2+2".

Be polite (Pt II)
There are a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people on the forum, and although they don’t offer their wisdom and advice so that they can get thanks from people, it often doesn’t hurt to show your appreciation. Often, sending a private message to someone who’s been very helpful goes down well.