Anyone who has logged in, in may join a discussion. You don't have to be a member of the Linux User Group (LUG). Once logged in, simply select the topic on which you wish to express a point of view and click add comment. You may also add a reply to any of previous comments, for example, if you know the answer to a question, or problem,

When a comment has no replies, it may be (optionally) edited by its author. The comment module uses the same input formats and HTML tags available when creating other forms of content.

Even though initially you may not have the necessarily privileges, to start a new forum topic, that doesn't prevent you proposing a new topic, or question in a comment. All we would ask is that it be relevant to Linux, open source software in general, or one of the collaborative projects we get involved in from time to time.

Forum navigation

Currently the active forum topics block appears in the right hand toolbar and shows the five most active topics. Clicking on any one of them will take you to the node for that topic discussion, which you can then browse and respond when you log in. There is a link to the right of the login request which will take you to a collapsed view of that node, while above is a link to the previous/next forum topic.

In the horizontal navigation bar at the top of the page is also link to forums. This should be you first point of access to forums. At the bottom of the form is a collapsed view of the forums, All the forum topics are show via the additional pages link at the bottom of the page. Follow the links, until you locate the forum topic, along with any associated comments and replies.

If you choose the same link as before, from the active forum topics,you will have arrived at the same point.

Netiquette (internet etiquette)

Comments/replies will normally join an approval queue for moderation, so may not appear immediately, and some may not appear at all, or may be edited for the reasons set out below. Simply put, be polite, good manners, will help keep forums free from conflict, which may deter other internet users from using the site.

There are many different rules and conventions regarding netiquette, depending on the type of forum. To a responsible person, the following guidelines should be obvious. nor are they intended to be an exhaustive list. If you find your comments have had text removed, are are been posted, take that as warning.

• Remember anyone, may be able to read the forum and may have vastly different levels of experience of a given topic. So if someone makes a mistake, whether its a spelling error, or what may seem a stupid question, bear that in mind when posting, There's a fine line between constructive criticism and derogatory remarks. Your comments can easily be misinterpreted. and may be regarded as offensive, in the absence of visual or aural cues, such as tone of voice, facial expressions etc. Symbols, such as :-), smiley face, :-( unhappy face, may help clarify your intention, but if you have to resort to such devices, chances are your comments are inappropriate.
  Likewise, typing in capitals, or using bold type, is considered the equivalent to yelling (or anger) on an internet forum. If you want to emphasise a point, or certain word, to show that it's important to the point your are making, use italics, or quotes.
• Do not use textspeak, Ex. How r u? It may be faster, and even if your point is valid, you may find yourself being ignored, as it comes across as dumb, It doesn't necessarily mean that you are dumb, but you're not creating a good impression. For similar reasons, check what you have written, make use of spell and grammar checkers.
  If you're looking for technical help, don't ask questions you could easily answer yourself by reading the (on line) manual, so wasting others time and effort. Check to see if the site has a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section. If asking for help, it will save time if you include details of what you've done to try and solve the problem yourself.
• In a professional forum, (and we'd like to think this is a professional forum), remarks of a personal nature, which may be OK other "social" networking sites, or forums, will usually be regarded as inappropriate. In short don't be a Troll, i.e someone whose sole intent is to insult.
• To avoid repeating points that have already been made, read all of the posts in the thread before posting yourself. The order in which posts appear depends on the site settings. Usually, latest comments appear to at the top, in descending date/time order
• Keep forum posts short, concise and relevant to the topic under discussion. Be sure of your facts because misinformation is the bane of the internet.
• Do not "hijack" forum threads by directing the thread away from the current line of conversation, particularly if the original post is seeking an answer to a question.
• If your comments don't add anything to the discussion, Don't post. Posting comments like, "Neat", "Thanks for sharing". is commonly known as fluff.
• Along with other forms of attack, Spamming is strictly verboten / forbidden, and likely to get you instantly barred from the site
• Bumping, i.e. trying to promote, or exaggerate the importance of your comments ahead of everybody else. We are after all equal, and that's a good place to end. You are free to comment on any of the above, or propose additional netiquette rules, but unless we (the moderators) agree, the above list will remain capped at 10.