This forum is for you - the people of Photographic Art Gallery!
It should be your voice, your ideas, your work, your play, your style.
Since it's for everyone, we need to make sure that we all play fairly and do the right thing by each other. We don't want to have hard and fast rules, but there are definitely principles and guidelines. The most important thing?
Golden Rule: Be respectful.
Respect each other, others ideas, other companies and respect the forum. This is a global community of people who love photography. It's as diverse as our photos and everyone deserves respect.
Other guidelines we borrowed from Adobe's Forum Rules with slight personalisation;
Be Encouraging
The forums are designed to encourage widespread interaction among a worldwide community, made up of users with different levels of expertise. Don't belittle people for asking simple questions. It discourages and intimidates new members from participating, and diminishes the value of the forums for all.
No SPAM
A firm No-SPAM policy is in effect -- and is strictly enforced by the moderator. Violators will be banned from the forums.
No Flames or Personal Attacks
Each participant is accountable for his or her own messages. Please take care in how you express your comments. Also, remember that your intended tone of voice can easily be lost in written communication; if you want something to be understood in a certain way (humor, sarcasm, etc), it may help to provide an obvious indicator of tone to avoid misinterpretation. Failure to grasp the sender's tone is a common cause of angry replies, or "flames." Please keep "flames" off the forums.
No Commercials
Do not post blatantly commercial messages. If someone poses a query for which you believe you can offer ("sell") a product or service, please send your detailed reply privately to the original sender rather than post it to the forums. Posting a brief mention of a product or service that is in direct response to a legitimate request from another participant is acceptable, but it should refer the person to the source for more information. No promotional information should be posted.
Be Concise
In general, keep your messages concise. (Shorter posts are also more likely to be read.) When lengthy messages seem appropriate, be sure to break up the paragraphs for easy reading.
Add Value
Only post a reply if and when you have something constructive to share. Don't merely add a "Me too!" or "LOL" note.
Stay on Topic
Stay on the stated topic, or start a new forum topic. Provide sufficient detail so others won’t need to request information before they attempt to offer help. Make sure you look through all the forum sections and search for your topic first.
Use Meaningful ‘Subject’ Lines
In starting a new discussion topic, use a meaningful 'Subject' line. Many people decide whether they want to read a forum message based on the the subject line. Don't say 'Help me,' but instead indicate the specific type of problem for which you're seeking help.
Check Resources First
Don't ask questions for which the answers are readily available in available resources, such as our FAQ section. Don't expect others to do your research. Ask questions when you truly are stuck on a problem and can't figure out what's wrong, and want input from other users.
No Cross-posting
There are numerous topic-specific forums. Please post your questions and comments in the most relevant one--do NOT cross-post to multiple forums, as duplicates will be deleted.
Respect Copyright
Please do not post copyrighted information to the forums. Posting the full text of a newspaper or magazine article Adobe Acrobat, for example, is not acceptable and is
a violation of the publication's copyright. It is acceptable to post brief "fair use" excerpts of such articles, along with a link.
Contact Moderator
Do not post questions about forum management in the forums. Contact the forum moderator (support@phartgallery.com) directly.
