Forum Moderators: rogerd
I run a forum for people of a certain West African country, and to ensure readability I have a guideline that says people should try as much as possible to post in 'normal' english, punctuate and capitalize properly.
But many posters keep doing things like:
-> Posting pages of text with no paragraphs.
-> Completely ignoring rules of punctuation.
-> Using all caps in the middle of sentences.
-> Using swear words.
-> Using "net-speak" or what I call "Sms language".
I'm so tired of editing. What are my options? Do I just let them post however they like? I need more traffic and I won't like to have to edit every post! I also won't like to have to exercise punitory measures on so many people!
I notice that, on most forums I visit, including webmasterworld, people format their post properly. Are any special measures required to achieve this?
If you have lots of time, editing the posts is an option - but leave a note behind saying "Posting of this message was delayed because of..." to encourage proper behavior.
Most forum admins don't have the time to correct poor formatting. I usually warn the member once; if the behavior doesn't substantially improve, I turn posting off and PM them with the reason. Usually, the member will either ignore you or PM back with an apology and a promise to do better.
