Telescope Reviews: DSO Forum and Image Posting Guidelines

Welcome to the Deep Sky Observing Forum!

We would like to welcome you to this forum and hope you will find it enjoyable and informative.

To make our forum the best it is important that all of you utilizing this forum please assist us in keeping this forum user friendly by adhering to the guidelines.

These are what we believe to be good common sense guidelines (remember, the Terms of Service always apply):

1. Please no profanity (including "fake" profanity), young teenagers frequent this site and we do not want them thinking it is okay to use profanity in a public forum. So please refrain from the four letter words even if you hear them on primetime television. Let's be better than everyone else.

2. Many times we take people posting the wrong way and the first thought is to lash out against the poster. Please use common sense and if you feel someone has offended you:

a. First, re-read the post and make sure you're not reading it wrong.
b. Second, if you feel your assumption is correct, either politely ask the posting party if he/she meant the statement as you took it; or send the person a private message asking the same thing. Many times you will find out the person did not mean it the way you took the message and will either re-write the message or he will/should explain the message in a way that is satisfactory to you.
c. Just because we disagree with one another does not give anyone the right to personally exchange little sarcastic messages back and forth. There are other forums that have this kind of behavior and we do not like it here.
d. If you still have a problem with someone's posting, contact one of the moderators via private message and we can and will handle it.
e. Above all, be a sport.

3. Unwanted threads will be deleted or moved so please adhere to the guidelines.

4. Photo posting in the threads.

a. We know that everyone is rightfully proud of their photos and sketches and wants to share them with others in the forum. However, images must be limited to 800x800 pixels and no more than 100K (and smaller if possible). This includes images linked to directly from an outside website, where the picture is visible in the post. If the file is larger than 100k, please post it in the appropriate photo gallery at the bottom of Cloudy Nights Forum listings or on your own or another website, and put a link in your post so that if people want to see your photo it can easily be found.

There are still many folks that do not have broadband Internet service and it shows a lack of consideration to those folks by being a bandwidth hog. So let's be courteous and keep our image size down.

If you need help with resizing your photo, check this thread -- Photo Resizing Tips

If you need help determining how big your image is, check this post -- Image Guidelines Info

b. If you want to add a photo that is not yours, please make sure to obtain the owner's (or copyright holder's) written permission to use it. This permission must be included in your post. The best way to direct fellow CN members to material you have found is to simply include a link, when possible, in your post.

c. Posting of NASA/NOAA images and the images of other government agencies is permitted in context provided the following conditions are met: 1) The respective agency permits that sort of use for the photo, 2) the photo is clearly labeled/credited, and 3) a link is provided to the site from which the photo was obtained.

Thank you!

Edited by Olivier Biot (07/30/08 04:00 PM)