OTA Forum Guidelines
Thanks for joining us! We're excited about the OTA community forums and, and are always happy to meet people who feel the same way. We want everyone to get the most out of OTA community forums, so we ask that you please read and follow these guidelines. And enjoy your visit here!
Make Yourself Heard
Want to start a new discussion? Great, that’s what the forum is for! First, be sure to spend a moment browsing the forum, familiarize yourself with the categories and how the sections are organized. Then, do a few searches for keywords related to your topic: it could be someone has already started a discussion about it!
When you're sure you're ready to start a discussion, please keep the following points in mind:
- Give it a good title! You'll get the best results if your title makes it clear what you want to talk about.
- Choose the right category tag(s). This will increase the likelihood your post will be read and answered promptly.
- Don’t post repeatedly about the same topic, as doing so will tend to have the opposite effect.
- Please post in English & Telugu only as far as possible. We expect most of our members to know one or both of these two languages. We can't help if we can't read you!
- Remember, you don't need to sign your posts. We've got your profile to let us know who you are.
Please make the effort to help us keep things organized. Time spent tidying up is time that we can't spend getting to know you, discussing your issues, and overall working towards our primary objectives of helping Telugu people, promoting and preserving our Telugu language and culture. And that, after all, is what we're all here to do!
Make Your Reply Count
You're taking the time to participate in a discussion, in the hope that others will read your ideas and take them into consideration. So why not make the effort to make your reply worth reading?
- Don't reply to a title. Take some time to read the OP (original/first post), and at least scan the rest of the conversation first.
- Ask yourself if your reply adds to the discussion. If it doesn't, give it some more thought before posting.
- Avoid making one-word posts just to agree/disagree with or thanking someone; you can use the "thumbs up / thumbs down" link for that to up vote or down vote.
- Avoid making multiple posts in a row when one would suffice. This is a forum, not a chat room.
- If your reply is likely to divert the course of the discussion, consider starting a new discussion instead.
- If you just want to post a bit of nonsense as a test, please do it in the “Test Posts” tag instead.
- Make sure your replies provide constructive feedback and support to allow for an inclusive community.
No one's going to complain about the occasional joke or smart remark. We like to keep the mood light! But to keep things productive, as well, we ask that you try to avoid derailing a discussion altogether.
Above All, Be Cool!
We're all here to talk about things that matter to us and can help others, and to work together toward making the results even better. Criticizing ideas (by means of reasoned arguments, of course) is an important part of that. But let's not get carried away and devolve into personal attacks, because negativity only gets in the way. We also ask that you avoid the following:
- Offensive or abusive language, as well as any kind of hate speech
- Posts intended to harass, impersonate, or defame others
- Unnecessary deletion of posted content
- Attempts to abuse or expose the private information of others
- Obscene or sexually explicit content
- Spam, phishing posts, and any actions intended to deface this site
- Discussion of software piracy and similar topics
- ANYTHING that can show anyone, the community or the association in low light
All the above are grounds for moderator action. If you have an issue with another member, we ask that you please don't confront them yourself. Please just use the Report option on the post in question, then leave it up to the staff to deal with the situation.
Our moderators may edit or delete any content that is offensive or disruptive to the flow of communication. Serious or repeated offences may lead to suspension of the offending user's account. So, you know, be cool.
And remember: the staff here always have lots of stuff to do, so please be patient!
