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A Guideline to Posting on Formiculture.com


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#1 Offline T.C. - Posted February 16 2018 - 3:27 PM

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This thread is in regard to all the “cringey” posts (if you will) I see come up, especially here lately. Honestly, I don’t know where to begin as I am personally unaware of the greater issue here. I could start talking about just general forum etiquette, or discuss what should be discussed on a myrmecology forum. Bet let’s just take a look at the many things that drive a great deal of us mad. If we all follow these guidelines, then we shall have a wonderful flawless community


Number 1.   One word threads. If your post is is shorter than your title, then it’s likely not going to be enough information to get a detailed response from another member. Generally a thread should be multiple sentences and in most cases,a full paragraph unless a person is sharing a link for example. This is especially an issue when people are filling out ID threads and there is barely enough information to even determine if is an ant or not. Which by the way, we have a template for that.


Number 2. Titles that are horribly misleading. Your thread title should accurately represent what I am about to read. If a new thread title says, “Formicarium,” how am I supposed to know whether this is a question regarding the making of a formicarium, or a completed project you have made, or advice on which one to purchase from a company? If it were a question, perhaps asking for advice on building a formicarium, then you would want to give it the title, “Advice on Building this Formicarium.” Or something similar so we have a general idea of what you are looking for prior to clicking on it.



Number 3. Ridiculous off topic posts that no one cares about. I understand some people just have one colony and they like to give them a name for fun. That’s perfectly ok. However making threads asking people what you think you should name it, or even worse asking people what some other bug should be named doesn’t belong anywhere but in chat. This goes for alot of things, including “what colony you should keep,” or “the next bug you should buy?” These are just a few of the many examples, and lets all be real honest. Does anyone else care? Posts like that pull the professionalism right out of the community.



Number 4. Posts that are so numerous and rapid they take over the side of the of the Latest Posts area. Now, there is nothing wrong with “frequent” posting as I am am quite active myself. Activity is appreciated by the community. However if your name and avatar completely starts to take over the “Latest Post” sidebar, then you are posting too much. If your name is showing up more than 4 times in a row in the sidebar, then you are posting too much. However there is occasional exceptions, like for example you just got done updating journals and had made a comment or two on other peoples threads.




Number 5. Commenting on journals with “Good Jog” or “awesome XD.” It’s okay on a occasion, but going through everyone’s journals just saying “nice ants” “awesome” “good job” etc is generally just kind of pointless. If you are commenting on people’s journals, then there should be an actual discussion, like asking questions or offering constructive criticism.  If you just want the person to be aware you like their post, then use the like button. No need to make a bunch of posts with one or two word posts cluttering up their journals.



Number 6. Posting in correct subforums. This one we all know about. It’s just general forum courtesy to post your topic in the correct subforum, not only so everything stays neat and tidy, but also so moderators don’t have to waste their time moving them to the correct subforum for you.


Number 7. Good grammar. You all knew this one was coming. Grammar is so important and I see a lot of posts missing correct punctuation, and completely forgetting about capitalization. And of course there is the “slang” and “chat acronyms” which is also not proper grammar. When you post in a forum such as this, the information will be found by others and used for years to come. It’s important it’s professional to some extent.



Number 8. Posting in topics that are months, or even worse, years old. Once a topic has been there for so long, then it is just for reading purposes. Bringing up old topics is simply just bad practice. The discussion is dead.


Number 9. Quoting posts with images in them. If a post has an image in it, it’s not a big deal. However if you are quoting someone’s post with several images in them, then remove the files from the quote. Nobody wants to have re-scroll through all them images they just did in the original post. It’s just annoying.


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#2 Offline VoidElecent - Posted February 16 2018 - 4:12 PM

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I don't know if I completely agree with these guidelines, but I definitely agree something needs to be done about these "cringey" posts, as you put it.

 

For example, I agree that we don't need useless topics polluting the forums, but I also think some subjects like "what species should I keep?" deserve their own threads sometimes. After all, this is an ant-keeping forum. Granted, posts could definitely be cleaned up, grammatically correct, carefully written, and a little more detailed, but I don't think we should limit content on the forums to the point where there's nothing conventionally entertaining. 

 

I know some more experienced hobbyists are angry about the influx of particularly young ant-keepers infiltrating the forums, but these kids really are the future of the hobby. Yes, some regulation would change things up (and are undeniably necessary, given the state of things), but there needs to be a reasonable degree of tolerance.

 

I do fully support this idea and believe with a little touching up, some guidelines like these should be stickied.


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#3 Offline KBant - Posted February 16 2018 - 4:59 PM

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Number 5. Commenting on journals with “Good Jog” or “awesome XD.” It’s okay on a occasion, but going through everyone’s journals just saying “nice ants” “awesome” “good job” etc is generally just kind of pointless. If you are commenting on people’s journals, then there should be an actual discussion, like asking questions or offering constructive criticism.  If you just want the person to be aware you like their post, then use the like button. No need to make a bunch of posts with one or two word posts cluttering up their journals.

 

I agree with everything but your number 5. If I had a nice colony that I worked hard to raise, it would mean a lot to me if someone took time to simply say, 'nice colony" or "love the growth" or "amazing."  Pointless to you but meaningful to the person who took time to take detailed pictures, and take meticulous notes. 


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#4 Offline nurbs - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:05 PM

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Number 5. Commenting on journals with “Good Jog” or “awesome XD.” It’s okay on a occasion, but going through everyone’s journals just saying “nice ants” “awesome” “good job” etc is generally just kind of pointless. If you are commenting on people’s journals, then there should be an actual discussion, like asking questions or offering constructive criticism.  If you just want the person to be aware you like their post, then use the like button. No need to make a bunch of posts with one or two word posts cluttering up their journals.

 

I agree with everything but your number 5. If I had a nice colony that I worked hard to raise, it would mean a lot to me if someone took time to simply say, 'nice colony" or "love the growth" or "amazing."  Pointless to you but meaningful to the person who took time to take detailed pictures, and take meticulous notes. 

 

 

Not arguing or defending this either way, but believe what TC is referring to is the recent flippant nonchalant short-spam posts, where the user just posts for the sake of posting, filling up the entire right side of the forum without any sincere care for what the post is about.


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Instagram:
nurbsants
 
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California Ants for Sale

 

Unidentified Myrmecocystus

https://www.formicul...ls-near-desert/

 

Undescribed "Modoc"

https://www.formicul...mp-ca-5-4-2017/

 

Camponotus or Colobopsis yogi:

https://www.formicul...a-ca-1-28-2018/

 
Camponotus us-ca02
https://www.formicul...onotus-us-ca02/

 

Unidentified Formica

https://www.formicul...l-ca-6-27-2020/

 
Pencil Case and Test Tube Formicariums
https://www.formicul...m-and-outworld/
 
Bloodworm Soup
https://www.formicul...bloodworm-soup/


#5 Offline KBant - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:09 PM

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Number 5. Commenting on journals with “Good Jog” or “awesome XD.” It’s okay on a occasion, but going through everyone’s journals just saying “nice ants” “awesome” “good job” etc is generally just kind of pointless. If you are commenting on people’s journals, then there should be an actual discussion, like asking questions or offering constructive criticism.  If you just want the person to be aware you like their post, then use the like button. No need to make a bunch of posts with one or two word posts cluttering up their journals.

 

I agree with everything but your number 5. If I had a nice colony that I worked hard to raise, it would mean a lot to me if someone took time to simply say, 'nice colony" or "love the growth" or "amazing."  Pointless to you but meaningful to the person who took time to take detailed pictures, and take meticulous notes. 

 

 

Not arguing or defending this either way, but believe what TC is referring to is the recent flippant nonchalant short-spam posts, where the user just posts for the sake of posting, filling up the entire right side of the forum without any sincere care for what the post is about.

 

 

Ahh I see I see. I didn't make that connection because number 4 refers specifically to that problem, but number 4 is a problem/annoying for sure. 



#6 Offline T.C. - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:11 PM

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" Whatever You Are, Be a Good One "


#7 Offline nurbs - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:15 PM

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Together, we can make Formiculture great again!

 

Nice to see you become as grumpy and cranky as this senile old man. Thought I was the only one. Welcome to the club  :lol:


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Instagram:
nurbsants
 
YouTube
 
California Ants for Sale

 

Unidentified Myrmecocystus

https://www.formicul...ls-near-desert/

 

Undescribed "Modoc"

https://www.formicul...mp-ca-5-4-2017/

 

Camponotus or Colobopsis yogi:

https://www.formicul...a-ca-1-28-2018/

 
Camponotus us-ca02
https://www.formicul...onotus-us-ca02/

 

Unidentified Formica

https://www.formicul...l-ca-6-27-2020/

 
Pencil Case and Test Tube Formicariums
https://www.formicul...m-and-outworld/
 
Bloodworm Soup
https://www.formicul...bloodworm-soup/


#8 Offline Bracchymyrmex - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:16 PM

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Together, we can make Formiculture great again!

 

Thanks for putting yourself out there, T.C., formiculture has become somewhat polluted by irrelevant, misleading topics and threads which have damaged the overall experience. I hope we can work back to more sophisticated, relevant ant related posts. 


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#9 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:20 PM

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Together, we can make Formiculture great again!

Prez T.C  :D


I accidentally froze all my ants 


#10 Offline KBant - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:24 PM

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Together, we can make Formiculture great again!

 

 

Its different but still great. Minor changes need to be made but formiculture is nonetheless great yet can always be better. My biggest gripe is that not enough people post journals and posts of substance, yet some, perhaps out of boredom, post posts that are pointless. Simply posting to post is not progression towards anything, yet is infuriating for others to see.

 

Yo Drew, can we add a scroll bar to the latest posts column? I think this would help a lot. As this hobby continues to grow, more posts will be made. Many posts will be pointless, but at least we can scroll down further to see what else was posted. 


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#11 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted February 16 2018 - 5:30 PM

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Together, we can make Formiculture great again!

 

 

Its different but still great. Minor changes need to be made but formiculture is nonetheless great yet can always be better. My biggest gripe is that not enough people post journals and posts of substance, yet some, perhaps out of boredom, post posts that are pointless. Simply posting to post is not progression towards anything, yet is infuriating for others to see.

 

Yo Drew, can we add a scroll bar to the latest posts column? I think this would help a lot. As this hobby continues to grow, more posts will be made. Many posts will be pointless, but at least we can scroll down further to see what else was posted. 

 

I agree with the scroll bar idea. I would also like to see any threads and posts in the Ant Identification part of the forum to be separated into a different "Most Recent Posts" list. It should say Most recent ID Requests. This would help people trying to find posts asking for identification and answer them.


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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#12 Offline Kevin - Posted February 16 2018 - 6:31 PM

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I pretty much completely agree with these guidelines. The most important/annoying out of all of these would have to be the one-word replies to other peoples threads. Please people, if your post does not sincerely contribute to a discussion and can summarized with the "Like This" button, please use it. It is incredibly irritating to scroll through pages of useless replies to find the good information. Also, another one I saw recently was a more "chat" like discussion, where it was constant postings in a thread that was more like text messaging than posting on a forum. Forum postings should be more used like an e-mail and not quick and rapid replies.


Edited by Kevin, February 16 2018 - 6:34 PM.

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#13 Offline Jadeninja9 - Posted February 16 2018 - 7:26 PM

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Number 4. Posts that are so numerous and rapid they take over the side of the of the Latest Posts area. Now, there is nothing wrong with “frequent” posting as I am am quite active myself. Activity is appreciated by the community. However if your name and avatar completely starts to take over the “Latest Post” sidebar, then you are posting too much. If your name is showing up more than 4 times in a row in the sidebar, then you are posting too much. However there is occasional exceptions, like for example you just got done updating journals and had made a comment or two on other peoples threads.


 

What if your name shows up more than 4 times in the sidebar, but the comments you've made on each of those posts actually contribute to the thread? I do this often because I have no life.


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#14 Offline Gabraime - Posted February 16 2018 - 11:47 PM

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# 7 will be a little difficult for me to follow, because I'm still learning english. So what about that?

#15 Offline T.C. - Posted February 16 2018 - 11:50 PM

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# 7 will be a little difficult for me to follow, because I'm still learning english. So what about that?


Well, this post is looking pretty good.

" Whatever You Are, Be a Good One "


#16 Offline dermy - Posted February 17 2018 - 1:54 AM

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Number 4. Posts that are so numerous and rapid they take over the side of the of the Latest Posts area. Now, there is nothing wrong with “frequent” posting as I am am quite active myself. Activity is appreciated by the community. However if your name and avatar completely starts to take over the “Latest Post” sidebar, then you are posting too much. If your name is showing up more than 4 times in a row in the sidebar, then you are posting too much. However there is occasional exceptions, like for example you just got done updating journals and had made a comment or two on other peoples threads.


 

What if your name shows up more than 4 times in the sidebar, but the comments you've made on each of those posts actually contribute to the thread? I do this often because I have no life.

 

Depends, I know back in the old days a member by the name Greg would update all his Journals in one night every few weeks and it would "flood" the sidebar. But that kind of flooding [which has actual information, discussion and ant relatedness to it] is perfectly fine in my eyes.


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#17 Offline Mettcollsuss - Posted February 17 2018 - 5:33 AM

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привет я из России один мой друг из США хочет отнять у меня муравьи harpegnathos венатор но я не знаю как доставить их к нему есть какой-нибудь способ доставить муравьи из России в США?


hi I am from Russia one of my friend from the us wanted to take away my ants harpegnathos venator but I do not know how to deliver them to him is there any way to deliver ants from Russia to the United States?

No, it is illegal to transport ants across state or country lines, especially exotic ants.



#18 Offline Kevin - Posted February 17 2018 - 6:14 AM

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This is exactly what we are talking about.

 

Completely useless derailment. The last three replies provided absolutely no value to the subject, especially being that same controversial topic that is brought up every single week.


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#19 Offline Mettcollsuss - Posted February 17 2018 - 6:34 AM

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my middleman often brings animals from other countries didn't know it was illegal.

I'm not sure about other animals, but ants are definitely illegal to transport from country to country.


Edited by Mettcollsuss, February 17 2018 - 6:34 AM.


#20 Offline dspdrew - Posted February 17 2018 - 6:57 AM

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I don't really agree with 4 and 8. I don't care if the entire side bar is one person's posts, as long as they are good posts. That's all that matters to me. As for bringing back old topics, as long as they are still relevant, and someone has something new to bring to the discussion, what's wrong with bringing the topic back? This is something most every forum hates, but I never can understand why. Again, it's all a matter of whether or not it's a good post or not, in my opinion.


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