Rule Change

[Dave Blake]

Guy we have made a change to the forum rules. This one is important enough for its own thread.

New Rule:
? Story Linking - Please link all Windows Phone related stories to the Windows Phone Central blog. We reserve the right to remove links to posts or close threads linking to articles similar to those published here. In addition, do not copy and paste stories in their entirety. Writers (from all sites) work hard, and deserve proper credit.

We have way too many threads linking to competing website. Its time to stop this from happening. Our writers are the best I want them too see us support their efforts. We now have the tool we need to do just that.

How this need to be done:

If a thread is new doesn't have any posts quoting the OP and it makes sense to do so edit the OP remove the link to the competing website and ling our news/blog post. Note the change in the edit box. All other cases will require the thread be close. In this situation you will need to PM the OP and give that person the opportunity to start a new thread. We don't want to be steeling anyone credit. Post in the closed thread that this topics was covered by WPC and link the article.

Links to topics not covered on our blog are fine. Leave these threads alone.

Questions or comments lets hear them. James or Rich might have more to add.

Thanks

 

[palandri]

Roger that

 

[James Falconer]

I'm on board with this for sure. Thanks Dave.

Very timely as well, as I'm starting to piece together a UNIFIED forums rule set for all Mobile Nations sites.

I think in the end it'll be much easier for everyone involved once we have a single set of rules, in one place! It'll still be open to edits/enhancements/updates... but instead of different rules on each site, we'll have one master set to work with.

 

[Duvi]

Rule change? Thought this was the case, already. I've been doing that every time the story is on WPC.

 

[palandri]

Something i was just thinking about. The right side of the forums has that block that says, "Most Recommended Articles" which directs people to other competing mobile websites. Maybe they should think about doing something else with that space instead of directing people to other competing mobile sites:

 

[palandri]

Any thoughts on, "Most Recommended Articles" block?

 

[James Falconer]

What you're seeing there is actually from an ad partner, so there's not really much we can do there

Folks that place advertisements these days are finding that the traditional banner ads aren't converting like they should. So what you're seeing here is actually an ad. The advertiser picks links where they'd like traffic to go, and sets it up to look just like content. Users prefer content over the regular 'ad' style... go figure...

 

[palandri]

Thanks!

 

[palandri]

I closed a thread by henilp89. He wanted people from WPCentral to go over to Technobuffalo to defend him:
http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-920/205491-does-anyone-want-defend-me.html

He PM'ed me two times wanting to know why I closed the thread and I responded:

It's nothing personal against you. It's just not helpful or constructive to WP Central to drag people over to TechnoBuffalo to help defend you in a comment section. I am sure you understand.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'm on board with this for sure. Thanks Dave.

Very timely as well, as I'm starting to piece together a UNIFIED forums rule set for all Mobile Nations sites.

I think in the end it'll be much easier for everyone involved once we have a single set of rules, in one place! It'll still be open to edits/enhancements/updates... but instead of different rules on each site, we'll have one master set to work with.

I like the idea of the rule change, as Dave mentioned in his OP.

Actually, WPCentral isn't too bad in terms of linking to other sites.

CrackBerry definitely needs something like this in its rules. The News & Rumors forum on CrackBerry is an example of exactly what Dave doesn't want here on WPCentral.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Another suggestion I have is to make it easier for folks to share news tips. The way the front page is set up it isn't really all that easy for members to send tips of stories they see elsewhere.

I'm familiar with the site, and I've sent a few tips. For instance, I didn't post the story from Zdnet about the support of the Surface and RT for at least 4 years in a thread. I sent a news tip, and I saw that Rich Edmonds wrote a story.

A lot of folks might not even find that news tip icon, since it's found halfway down the page, not very conspicuous, kind of buried below the RSS, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+ links.

 

[Dave Blake]

Another suggestion I have is to make it easier for folks to share news tips. The way the front page is set up it isn't really all that easy for members to send tips of stories they see elsewhere.

I'm familiar with the site, and I've sent a few tips. For instance, I didn't post the story from Zdnet about the support of the Surface and RT for at least 4 years in a thread. I sent a news tip, and I saw that Rich Edmonds wrote a story.

A lot of folks might not even find that news tip icon, since it's found halfway down the page, not very conspicuous, kind of buried below the RSS, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+ links.

Its been brought up a week ago already but nothing has changed yet. I think they are waiting for James to finish an audit of the forum

 

[Laura Knotek]

I've noticed that the site WMPoweruser.com tends to be the quickest on breaking news. I found that out by subscribing to their RSS feeds. The Weave app has a "Windows Phone" category, and that site is one of the preinstalled sites in the category. So a lot of forum members here might be getting the news from that site if they use the Weave app.

 

[palandri]

Hey, why is my Bears helmet avatar smaller? That's Blasphemy in Chicago, punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

 

[Duvi]

Hey, why is my Bears helmet avatar smaller? That's Blasphemy in Chicago, punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

Because they're not Giants :grin:

 

[Dave Blake]

Go to the Avatar editor we now have the Mobile Nations avatars. You undoubtedly had a smaller helmet on your account on another forum. Mine chance earlier today to an avatar that I used on WebOS nation back when I had a Palm Pre

 

[Duvi]

No wonder I have CB Moderator. Wonder why the CB one was chosen? Guess it goes by the account created first?

 

[James Falconer]

Hey Dave, your avatar is just a blank white image for me over here.

Let me know if you're having issues with the new avatar setup... or if you just haven't edited your avatar yet! Want to make sure all is good.

 

[Dave Blake]

I am having Avatar Issues James. Time to try something else.

 

[Laura Knotek]

No wonder I have CB Moderator. Wonder why the CB one was chosen? Guess it goes by the account created first?

Or maybe where you posted most?