While not a moderator here, I do globally moderate a sister site also under Brent's ownership. As such, I post the following:
NEWBIE's
1: You cannot include attachments or links within your posts without them being approved by a moderator. This could be minutes, or days, depending on how busy a moderator is with his/her normal day to day schedule (we are not paid, we volunteer). The reason for this is to keep spammers from flooding these sites with commercial type posts for shoes, porn, or get rich quick schemes.
2: Sending multiple PM's asking when a post might be approved does not get the post approved any faster.
3: As a newbie, you sometimes forget to look at the date of the last post in a thread you are interested in. Dates are located above a user name and are in the following format "
05-30-2015, 09:04 AM" You click on the reply/respond button and inadvertently resurrect threads that are 5-15 years old. Most with outdated information, or asking for information from a specific end user, who may no longer be on the site, or in a worst case scenario, has passed away.
4: As a newbie, you fail to use the "
search" function, thus asking a question that has mostly likely been answered between 1-100+ times. This simple forum tool is beneficial for any and all end users, newbies especially.
5: As a newbie, you should think before you post. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and first impressions on a specialty automotive forum are forever lasting.
6: When starting a new thread, make sure it is in the proper sub forum, also make sure that the title description is on point, not too short, and not too long.
7: When responding to a thread, it is always suggested you use the "quote" option (bottom right hand corner of each post), so all end users know who you are directing your response towards.
8: Be patient for a response, do not make a follow up post 10,20,30,60 minutes after you asked a question at 3am. Not everyone who knows the answer is up or on their computer when you are.
9: Read all instructions before you post, if there is a 50kb size limitation to an attachment, and your attachment size is 10meg, then that is an operator error, and PM's to the moderator or sys admin is not required.
10: Go with the flow, do not try to reinvent the wheel here. Take things slowly, and ease yourself in to the flow of traffic.
Yes, the above really is that simple.
Bill S.