Do we have unspoken rules in this forum

[rat03gopoh]

If the rules aren't written publicly, they aren't forum rules. However, forums also rely on decentralized contributions from "executive" board members (DTs), and they sometimes have their own unique unwritten rules.

There are also universal content rules that are too specific to be explained in the rules and are rare; usually, someone will open a thread on Meta to address the issue.

[alegotardo]

This may not belong here but I had this question in mind for quite a long time, I don't know what board exactly it would fit in but here I would love to ask this question.

I know that the forum rules and regulations are clearly stated but however in every gathering, there are some rules that are not primary rules nor secondary but tertiary rules that are not always discussed or talked about but as a member of that gathering, as time passes by you will seem to likely begin to understand or noticed and adhere to them without anyone telling you about it.

so my question is does the forum have something like that?

Look, imagine this...
Just like in any society or country, we always have a "rule book" that is public knowledge and that everyone needs to follow, regardless of whether they know it or not, because the rules are public and everyone has access to them, so feigning ignorance is not an option and is never accepted as a defense.

But, there is something that prosecutors and judges always apply in all trials, and here in the forum it is no different: ethics and common sense.
So you always need to ask yourself: Is what someone is doing right? Did what someone did harm other people or give them an illicit advantage?
If so, even if it is not written in any "rule book", they will always be considered guilty and will pay for mistake committed.

The rules are subjective here in the forum and everywhere... we write what we remember or what is most harmful to society, but we will never be able to put everything clearly.

[Asiska02]

Yes, in my area they said that "anybody who ask questions doesn't get missen", but we should never forget that in that pinned threads where the instructions or rules and regulations, not everybody who opens it love to read everything, some persons find it hard to read long post and they only skip, many of us are guilty of this act?.

Some people prefer to learn as they grow in the forum rather than reading the pinned threads that contains the rules of every boards. This is just the nature of some people and you can’t take that away from them. About a person that really wants to learn, once corrected after making a mistake, they immediately take heed to it and correct their mistakes immediately.

So many things are still not in the official rules of bitcointalk forum but it is grown against and that’s where the DT members come in to frown against and tag such users for such acts. Some things are actually absurd when you look into them but not in the rules, if it’s frowned against and has negative impact in the forum here, it is better to avoid it to avoid your account been stained for something not nice to read about you.

[un_rank]

Is it really possible to sell merits in the forum? and how does it work because it's kind of strange to me why someone will buy merits when they can earn it by making quality posts.

Not everyone is patient enough to read to learn and give back quality posts and conversations. Most do not have the desire to either, they only see this forum as a means of earning and need to rank up as fast as possible to apply for a campaign. They form merit trade rings or just find people they can buy it from, they should be able to find themselves same way account sellers and buyers communicate.

- Jay -

[EarnOnVictor]

so my question is does the forum have something like that?

The issue is that the forum doesn't have its official rules, and that has been causing some conflicting interests and interpretations that could make anyone feel this way. However, I believe the official rules were being silent about just to give some better degree of freedom.

That's why you would read a thing clearly in the unofficial rules and people would feel it's wrong and interpret it otherwise. However, if there are some specific case studies, tell us, so we can discuss them practically.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

Those are actually four good valid unspeakable rules that we actually have on this forum together with the list of the unofficial rules given on the list above by @mprep. However, I will like to add mine too which I think they are unspoken, but acts as a necessity which every user on this forum needs to know about and understand it. And they include;

Do NOT not expose your account Gmail to the public, because you can get hacked
Do NOT click on unknown link posted by random users for you own safety.
Apply caution when trading with people with red tags.

Because these are rules both personal and forum related worth knowing our safety

These are not rules,. They are rather are personal practices necessary for a user's own safety and that of their assets. You can choose to keep on ignored them and your own risk, it poses not direction risk to the forum, although there is a thread for reporting suspicious links Report Malware and Suspicious Links here so Mods can take Action !. I believe rules are public and obvious here is the forum, but interpretations of these rules by members, especially those in DT which prompts decisions and actions is what makes it look as though there are unspoken rules, but I don't think there's any.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Everyone's already mentioned the unofficial rules (enough times that it's obvious that few members are bothering to read what's already written), and any other 'unspoken' rules are just a matter of forum etiquette.

One good one is to lock your thread if you've gotten the answer you needed from a fairly simple question.  If you don't, your thread will just turn into a neodymium magnet for shitposters--believe me, I've seen it hundreds of times.  It's like word spreads through the idiot faction of the community that there's a chance to earn easy scratch if you're in a campaign or bounty or whatever.

Are there even bounties anymore?  Shows how long it's been since I've looked at people's signatures or certain toxic areas of the forum.

[crwth]

Self-moderated threads.
Basically, it has some additional unspoken rule that only the OP has if it doesn't follow their standards.

Read stickies first
In a forum, it's usually the initial actions by users, but it seems like that's not always the case. And if a new user started a topic without reading it, members might respond harshly to the OP.

[TokenTikas]

(OP) Are you still waiting to get an answer to the issue you created the post about? From what I can see, people have already explained things quite clearly, so you should have understood it by now. Most users don’t even bother reading the written rules, yet you’re talking about unwritten ones. If people actually took the time to read and follow the written rules properly, the forum wouldn’t have so much unnecessary drama.

[nutildah]

Seems this is most likely about account sales. OP didn't want to mention it, but the problem continues to arise because of the conflation between forum rules and negative trust. Negative trust can be given out by anybody, but forum rules are only enforced by moderators. Ideally, negative trust shouldn't be given for breaking forum rules as the punishment should be administered by moderators. Sometimes breaking a rule renders an account untrustworthy; in which cases red trust is still justified.

[Repeat06]

You may not face any problems.

If you keep the official rules of bitcointalk and keep posting within the rules, this is the right decision. Whenever a person goes against the rules and joins any activity, he can be associated with something bad. With strict care, it is better to move forward.

[Sexylizzy2813]

~
What I'm trying to say is that some persons find it hard to correct their errors even when they have been told to do so, instead they continue doing their thing like is nothing, how do we treat these sets of persons?  Because some members will see it as wickedness when the Queen of investigation finds out.

Nobody knows everything completely, we make mistakes and learn from them. That is how things work out. But those others who probably knows what they are doing is wrong or not encouraged by the community, and still wanted to do it for whatever reasons or simply they are here to troll and when you come across such user better to click the ignore and move on instead of getting involved in endless debate.

That is true, we make mistakes and learn from it but not everyone who make mistakes and learn from it and even try to do it in a way that everybody in the Forum would see it and say this particular user is doing the right thing. When I see how some users are being treated I don't really feel for them, that's if they are found guilty of whatever they are being accused of because before anyone would go that far to start punishing any user, they might have sent clear warning to stop or correct the mistakes before anything but some persons I wonder how they take things as important as the rules of this Forum, they see the warning as nothing important and that is where you'd see tags and threads calling out the offender. For me I don't really know how to ignore members on the Forum, if I mistakenly do that I undo it, but I can ignore if I noticed any form of scam from any user.

[Rruchi man]

Everyone's already mentioned the unofficial rules (enough times that it's obvious that few members are bothering to read what's already written), and any other 'unspoken' rules are just a matter of forum etiquette.

One good one is to lock your thread if you've gotten the answer you needed from a fairly simple question. 

Another is, don't send unnecessary private messages to other forum members on topics unrelated to the forum, especially as someone new on the forum; it is possible to become friends with someone on the forum after a while, maybe based on perspectives, views, or opinions on some certain topics or some other reason, but the forum is not a place to socialize; it is a place to learn.

And also, be careful of private messages you receive.

[PERtua]

~
What I'm trying to say is that some persons find it hard to correct their errors even when they have been told to do so, instead they continue doing their thing like is nothing, how do we treat these sets of persons?  Because some members will see it as wickedness when the Queen of investigation finds out.

Nobody knows everything completely, we make mistakes and learn from them. That is how things work out. But those others who probably knows what they are doing is wrong or not encouraged by the community, and still wanted to do it for whatever reasons or simply they are here to troll and when you come across such user better to click the ignore and move on instead of getting involved in endless debate.

That is true, we make mistakes and learn from it but not everyone who make mistakes and learn from it and even try to do it in a way that everybody in the Forum would see it and say this particular user is doing the right thing. When I see how some users are being treated I don't really feel for them, that's if they are found guilty of whatever they are being accused of because before anyone would go that far to start punishing any user, they might have sent clear warning to stop or correct the mistakes before anything but some persons I wonder how they take things as important as the rules of this Forum, they see the warning as nothing important and that is where you'd see tags and threads calling out the offender. For me I don't really know how to ignore members on the Forum, if I mistakenly do that I undo it, but I can ignore if I noticed any form of scam from any user.

I believe that there are some unwritten rules in every forum. Particularly in a forum such as Bitcointalk that has lots of experienced members who are serious about both quality and reputation. When someone makes a mistake, it's okay, because no one knows everything at first. But it's important to be willing to learn and get better when corrected. Most members of the group will give warnings or clues first. Before the problem gets serious. The actual issue begins to occur when a person carries out the same action purposefully or when he or she disregards the suggestions of others. I think in these cases the best approach is to simply ignore trolls and avoid unnecessary arguments, but if there is blatant scam activity. Or abuse. Then it makes sense to expose them to benefit the community.

[Betwrong]

I think racism wasn’t mentioned here, even though it seems to be one of the unspoken rules of this forum not to make racist comments. And overall, being toxic to many users will not bring you anything good on Bitcointalk. Plagiarism would be another thing that is not encouraged here, as far as I can see.