Just the other day I was monitoring a thread, trying to learn and imagine from a members code sample (I do not have the SDK installed) when BAM, the next post is a cut and paste cross post pointing to another members Brainstorm. It came crashing through and just laid there all hot and steamy disrupting the continuity of the thread.

I responded in that thread that it was off topic but I didn't realize it was a cross post until I went out into the main page of the forum and found that just about every thread in the active topic bar was one that the same, out of context Brainstorm pointer had just been posted in. In a subsequent forum thread that was authored by the producer of this advertised brainstorm I asked; why cross post and thread crap in active threads?

Cross posting is unproductive and considered rude by some, the reply I received was that cross posting was necessary because nothing was getting done and that the author represented a group of people who wanted an answer now. < (paraphrase, but the actual conversation is recorded in that thread).

I replied that the end does not justify the means, to which he replied that this place wasn't very user friendly along with a statement that I hadn't helped him in the past, as if he had asked (he hadn't) and I refused.

Now I see this thread and I am confused?

Internet Tablet Talk and now talk.maemo.org are about the friendliest tech forums I have encountered. There generally seems to be a balance of contributors that step in to help, or steer threads away from the rocks and shoals that all threads on every forum must navigate. I have been short with my answers at times but when I am, someone will point it out and I will acknowledge it and apologize for it. I can honestly say that I have never seen where another member hasn't done the same when given input from another member.

However, we all have operated under a common code of conduct that hadn't needed to be expressly presented as "Rules".

Perhaps now might be the time to revisit this thing called "rules" starting with cross posting and thread crapping. Since this conversation was avoided in the normal course of that thread and it has now morphed into a defense of our "user friendly" status. I fear that cross posting and thread crapping will become acceptable and a member’s ability to follow a developing idea in an individual thread will be lost. I can only speak for myself but if this does become the norm, this forum will become useless to me as a learning environment.

Another item that could be addressed is links to commercial sites in signatures. What I see now are mostly small and tasteful but where do we draw the line?

Can I advertise my brother-in-laws insurance agency? How about porn sites? How come he can and I can’t? Can I just post a coupon code so that I get a discount?

These are all user friendly questions that will be coming with increased membership.

Now before anybody comes at me (with or without wood). I like the fact that we are not overly moderated and do not need to post stickies at the top of each forum with rules. I want to keep it this way but not at the cost of usefulness.

We have demonstrated our user-friendliness in the past and we either accept who we are, and be dang proud of it... or; allow others to incorrectly stereotype us as a cliché that needs defending.

Irony?