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Purpose of the Astronomy Software & Computers Forum
The purpose of this forum is to discuss all things associated with computers & gadgets, both hardware and software (including PDAs, smartphones, tablets, laptops, astronomy programs and apps, Celestron SkyScout and Meade MySky devices, etc.) -- as they relate to astronomy only.
While we welcome and encourage the exchange of information, this is not a venue for the promotion of one operating system or software package over another. In the future, posts and comments of a fanboy nature and posts containing derogatory comments regarding a “rival” system (regardless of which system is involved and who makes it) will not be allowed. This includes flippant “Get a – whatever system – …” comments. Deliberate and sarcastic misspellings of ANY computer product or service will be removed.
Keep responses to posts relevant to the question(s) asked regarding the system in use by the person who has come to us for help (assume the original poster cannot afford the expense of a new system). Uninvited and irrelevant comparisons between systems will be considered off topic and subject to editing or removal.
This by no means eliminates discussions comparing features of different operating systems and astronomy software packages, so long the discussion is relevant to the problem, or when a member is seeking such a comparison to guide a purchasing decision. Those of you having experience with these options can do the forum a great service by addressing such a request. But these discussions must be limited to information based on firsthand experience, and may not include comments that seek to promote a system by “bashing” its rival. This requirement is, of course, nothing more than what is expected of all other astronomy equipment discussions on Cloudy Nights.
Other useful information
Cloudy Nights Terms of Service (TOS)
Use of the Astronomy Software & Computers Forum, like all other fora, is regulated by the Cloudy Nights Terms of Service (TOS). We encourage you to become familiar with the TOS by clicking on this LINK.
Scams in CN Classifieds
Please be careful whenever you transact through online mediums with other people. If you have any questions, or think you may have encountered a scam here on CN, do not hesitate to contact any CN administrator or moderator. For more instructions on how to deal with potential scams please read the following guidelines:
Reporting Possible Scams in Shop & Swap and Cloudy Nights Classifieds
Please read the info in this linked post. A very carefully constructed scam has appeared in the CN Classifieds section:
CN Announcements -Scams in CN Classifieds
Kindly also read the announcement below. It is important to exercise good judgement in your dealings through the Classifieds:
CN Announcements - Learn to spot Scammers
Stolen Astronomy Equipment usually finds its way through various online sites. There is a thread in Swap & Shop Miscellaneous Forum to report such stolen items, to be used as a means by which folks can hopefully locate stolen equipment by giving our members a heads-up about it possibly being out in the market, and chit-chat will only clutter things up and get in the way:
Stolen Astronomy Equipment
Cloudy Nights Image Posting Guidelines
In amateur astronomy, image is everything, and so it comes as no surprise that we frequently want to share images with fellow Cloudy Nights members. This is a fine thing, especially with the number of excellent photographers and astro-imagers within our virtual community. However, for members using dial up connections, these images can come at the price of long waits while a thread downloads. As a courtesy to those using slower connection speeds, Cloudy Nights has implemented the following image posting policy:
"Image size is restricted to a maximum size of 1600x1200 pixels and the file size is restricted to no more than 500KB. Please consider our dial-up users when posting an image, the smaller the better. Any image over these 2 parameters will be modified or deleted. Please note that the moderators of each forum within the Cloudy Nights community may further refine this policy in regards to image and file size within their forums. The policy within each forum will govern the posting guideline for that specific forum. If there is no policy posted in particular forum, this policy will be in effect.".
System Glitches
The Cloudy Nights system is hosted on a WWW server paid for by our sponsor, Astronomics. At times, there may be more traffic on Cloudy Nights than the hosting server can gracefully handle. When this happens, parts of the system, especially relating to the databases which track your past reading activity, may suffer. Long delays when loading pages or saving posts can also occur.
If this happens, you may think that your post was interrupted and did not get through, causing you to repost or hit the send button again, even though it is possible that your first post was submitted as intended. This is also an issue for members posting ads in the Classifieds section. Instead of resubmitting your post, first copy it and paste to a secure location, then please refresh your browser to see if your initial attempt was successful.
Moderation of topics / posts
The Terms of Service (TOS) provide guidance as to what could be construed as questionable content – content that we may request a member to edit, or edited and as a last step removed by the Moderator Team.
While the Moderator Team endeavors to maintain Cloudynights Forum to a high standard, we ask the members to understand that we are not the police – rather, we are fellow members of this Forum, we are here on a volunteer basis and our numbers are finite, therefore on occasion we may delay initializing a moderating action. We may also take time to ponder if a topic or post is in violation of the TOS and then take action.
You, as members of Cloudynights, are our team members too and we encourage you to use the “notify moderator” option under each post, to let us know if a topic or post is in breach of the TOS of Cloudynights. We would appreciate it greatly if you first pause and consider if a topic or post which may appear at a first glance to be a violation of the Terms of Service, is actually one.
The guidance for this is documented in the TOS and the Stickies in each Forum. Kindly refrain from using the "notify moderator" option for no real reason or because of personal differences of opinion or for other non valid reasons. We all need to have a "thicker" skin and avoid taking offence at the slightest comment as it shouldn't matter so much.
Since we are all discussing online instead of face-to-face, it is easy to misunderstand someone's comments by way of a knee-jerk reaction, so take a breath and think about it again with clear mind. Words of wisdom from a friend - if it is not a TOS violation "let it go".
We most appreciate your assistance in maintaining both the high standards of the Forum but also its orientation as a family friendly forum.
