Our goal: A better site
for everyone
Ncdsa.com's posting guidelines exist to maintain the high
quality of content on ncdsa.com. The main thing we have
learned over the years while running the site is this: "Good
posts follow good posts; bad follows bad." By following
these simple guidelines you help build a better website for all of us, and you also help lighten the workload of our community-based moderators who would otherwise have to vote your post as abusive.
Posts attacking other people
Got a beef with somebody and want to flame 'em good? Then do it via email, not on ncdsa.com. We don't need the negativity, and you don't need any more bad publicity. Posts that defame, abuse, harass, stalk or otherwise violate the legal rights
(such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others are prohibited. Posts threatening other people, i.e. unlawful assault, will absolutely not be tolerated.
Posting Images
Links to your over-sized images slow our pageload times. First and foremost, note our 50KB file size limit and 600 pixel wide dimension limit! Any digital camera over 1-mega pixel is going to produce files that are way too large for web consumption. These images should first be prepared for web consumption using the Free Image Resize Starter program which is available from sources like download.com and tucows.com. That said.. Our web server allows
you to embed the pseudo-HTML tag [IMG] so you can now
include pictures with your posts. Your image file must be
accessible on the Internet before this will work. If you don't have
access to a server with a full-time Internet connection, look into one
of the few remaining free image hosting services like tinypic.com. Once your image file is "on the
net", the tag you embed with your post should look like this:
[IMG]http://tinypic.com/fc53t1.jpg[/IMG]
Large image files kill page-load times for modem users! Keep your image file size below our 50KB limit. Overly wide images cause undue horizontal scrolling. Size your images below the 600 pixels wide limit. Also, don't forget the http:// part of your URL! And finally.. images that are too FAT or too W-I-D-E will simply be removed. Poof!
The Gong Show forum
This new forum is a guest moderated forum, meaning that the topics should follow the direction of the current guest moderator. Guest moderators are volunteers and they will change from time to time. If you have an interest in being a future guest moderator on the Gong Show please contact the webmaster.
Got a Gripe?
Are you dissatisfied with a product or service that you purchased from a vendor or retailer? Your first step should be contacting the retailer to explain the situation and suggest a remedy. If you bought it factory-direct then please contact the factory. Many of the companies that serve this specialty market are small and they will go to great lengths to keep their customers happy and their hard-won reputations intact. In other words, don't go posting on our very public forums about how some product sucks because it didn't meet your expectations, or how some company sucks because they didn't answer your email, without first giving the company a chance to do something about it.
Delete Me? Nooo!
The "Delete Me" link you see beneath your sign-up in the Contest Calendar is visible only to you, and only on the computer from where you signed up. It's there in case you need to drop out of the contest.
Yes, We Have no Stickers
Ncdsa.com has no stickers, shirts, caps, posters, or other swag. We just don't. Really.
Eww.. Did I Post That?
Please don't bother our busy webmaster or volunteer moderators with requests to delete your errant posts. It's a time-consuming process and we have little free time, so post with care. If you absolutely must have a post removed please email the Post# (visible in the Rate This Post! box) to the webmaster and it will be dealt with as time permits.
Hey! Where's My Post?
Posts that violate our User Agreement or Posting Guidelines can and will be removed by our volunteer moderators. Learn the rules of the road before posting. Anonymous posts and emailless posts will be granted little leeway; others more so. Particularly clever/informative/humorous posts from members who properly identify themselves will be afforded the greatest latitude, but there are limits.
Hey! Why am I Banned?
Banned members lose their posting privileges. We take banning seriously and it takes repetitive offenses or particularly aberrant behavior to wind up on the banned list. Bans can be lifted if the webmaster is satisfied that the behavior will not continue, so if you find yourself banned and want your posting privileges reinstated, contact the webmaster and be prepared to explain your conduct.
Commercial posts
belong in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum
Are you a company selling something? A deck
maybe? Think the Decks forum is the perfect place to
promote your wares?
Think again. All commercial
posts, whether you are the largest longboard manufacturer
or a garage operation turning out your first batch of
decks, belong in Buy-Sell-Trade.
Buy-Sell-Trade
Individuals are welcome to post items directly relating to Ncdsa.com's content. Posting links to items listed on Ebay and other off-site listings is not permitted.
Posts promoting RUI
(riding under the influence)
Huh? I thought ncdsa.com was cool? What up?!
Here's what's up: We're not here to tell you how to live
your exciting lives, but realize that ncdsa.com is read by
hundreds of kids and teens who don't need this role
model. Nuf sed.
Posts with unnecessarily foul language
Spare us your oh-so talented prose.
Reviews that are
really ads
Testimonials are one of the most effective
means of promoting a product. Unfortunately, some companies cannot
seem to wait for the "good word" to come in on their incomparable products. So what do
they do? They write their own "review"
and post it on ncdsa.com. Wrong move. These bogus reviews are
almost always obvious as shills, and only cast their
company in a dubious light. If you're a Vendor,
i.e. selling or preparing to sell more than one
of something, use the Vendor's Corner forum instead (described
below).
CAPS LOCK
Writing in all caps on the web is equivalent to
shouting. Keep your voice down.
Cross-posting
Some people think that if they post their message
to more than one forum, that people will have a better
chance of seeing it. Wrong. Our site stats show that
most visitors read
every
new post, so posting the same message
to multiple forums just mucks up the works. Refrain from
this cyber no-no.
Double posting
When you make a post, please click the Submit
button
once and once only! It works every time,
even if you get an error message or a blank page. Most
error messages occur because your 20 minute session timed
out, most likely because you spent so long composing your
message, or possibly because you didn't request a web page
from our server for a while. To prevent this from
happening, click your browser's Refresh button just before
you begin composing your post. This will give you the
full 20 minutes to write and submit it. If you still get
an error message after submitting, close your browser and
come back to that forum page. Surprise! Your post made
it even though your browser couldn't see it before.
Removing double posts is the single largest task handled
by our webmasters. We really appreciate it when you post
5-6 of the same message.
Miscellaneous
matter
If you're not sure which forum your
longboard-related post should go in, put it in the
Bulletin Board forum. If you post isn't even about
longboarding, the Guest Book is the forum of last
resort.
Vendor's Corner
The place where vendors can communicate with
riders to discuss products. Riders, tell vendors what you've always
wanted!  Beginning in 2008, vendors who don't otherwise support Ncdsa.com through paid advertising will be limited to one post annually that serves solely to advertise their products or services as determined by the moderator.
Posts from Vendors
Ncdsa.com has only two commercial forums: Buy-Sell-Trade and Vendor's Corner. Posts from vendors that relate to their own products must be made in one of these two forums. Occasionally, a member will post a question about a vendor's product in a non-commercial forum, e.g. the Trucks forum. In that case, the vendor should make a short post in the Trucks forum saying "This question will be answered in the Vendor's Corner.", and then follow up there. This keeps the non-commercial forums non-commercial. Were vendors to continue the thread in the non-commercial forum, more posts would follow on the same topic and before long, one vendor would be dominating the non-commercial forum.
Rating Posts
Ncdsa.com members have the ability to rate posts using the voting box seen in the upper-right corner of each post. The purpose of this rating system is to 1) highlight posts of significant or exceptional value for upcoming filtered searches, and 2) to bring abusive posts to our moderators' attention so the can be dealt with in a timely manner.
Each member is allowed only one Best of Ncdsa vote per day. If you've used your one vote it will reset at midnight. Users are allowed an unlimited number of Informative and Abuse votes, but they may only vote once for each post (our system enforces this on a number of levels.. those who forcefully circumvent these measures will lose their voting privileges).
It should be noted that Abuse votes should only be given to posts that violate Ncdsa.com's User Agreement or these Posting Guidelines. Abuse votes are not to be given simply because you don't personally like the person posting or the content of a post. Those abusing them will lose their voting privileges.
Crashing forum
Posts in this
safety forum should be
limited to actual crashing stories. Not comments about
other peoples' crashing stories. Not stories about the
time you almost fell and the cute girls laughed at you
anyway. This forum is meant to drive home the dark side
of the sport so riders have a keener sense of why safety
is so important.
Soulcarving
forum
This forum is about feeling the groove of
skating, the joy of carving a turn at sunset, the lifelong
pursuit of carving the arc, etc. If your post has no
soul, keep it outta here! Read previous Soulcarving posts
if you still don't get it.
Riding locations
forum
Include the city with your post! How the hell
are people supposed to know which Main Street by the 7-11
you are talking about?
Vintage gear
forum
This is for pre-1980 gear only. If you think
post-1980's gear is also old school then you are simply
too young.
ÑÇDSÁ!
Ncdsa.com is an international site
that receives visitors from places where English is not the
primary language. Don't be bagging on bad grammar or
spelling, or non-English posts.
Posting Links
Our web server allows
you to embed the pseudo-HTML tags [LINK] and [URL] so you can now
include links to other sites with your posts. The tag you embed with your post should look like this:
[LINK]http://www.yahoo.com[/LINK] or [URL]http://www.yahoo.com[/URL]
Irritating posts
Ah, my favorite category. These include, but are
in no way limited to:
1. Bogus or overblown embedded HTML
2. Inane kid-spell like "hEY, My SkOoL Is Not KOol."
3. Reviews like "RedDog bearings rip!". Tell us
why they rip.
4. Posts about shortboards. There are hundreds of
shortboard sites on the web. This is not one of
them.
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