Welcome to Military.com. Read, heed, relax and enjoy "In the News".

This guideline is for direction on the "In the News" debate forum within these "Hot Topics/Current Events" discussion boards.
Remember that these are open forums, so PERSEC and OPSEC must be observed at all times. (PERSEC is personal security-OPSEC is operational security.) Do not give names, units or locations of self or others, and keep your personal info to a minimum.

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To all you newbies, Welcome Aboard. This post was created with the purpose of giving you some advice and guidance before you jump into the world of Hot Topics and Current events at Military.com. This is a pretty long post, but be patient and read it through - it will help you avoid embarrassment and give you some very helpful background information.

STARTING OUT

- READ the TOS. Let me say that again: READ THE TOS. That’s the Terms of Service. When you are reading a thread, you will find a number of blue, underlined phrases at the bottom. The “Terms of Service” is at bottom right. Go there - it will list for you all the violations that can and will get you kicked off this forum. Read it, heed it. Especially Paragraphs 6 and 14.

- Read the boards. Don’t just jump right in and start a new thread with your little rant - visit other threads, view the opinions expressed, and get a feel for the flow of discussion that goes on around here.

- Your Profile - it’s not mandatory that you put personal information in your profile, but anonymous posters tend to be less trusted than those who are honest in their profile. Some tips on your profile:
. - List your ACTUAL status.
. - If you are a military spouse, SAY SO - do NOT list your spouse’s military rank as your own.
. - The rank listed in your profile is a Military Rank, not the rank you hold at your NJROTC Unit. If you are a Cadet Captain, then you list yourself as a “Cadet”, NOT a “Captain”. If your equivalent rank in the Sea Cadets is E-3, then you list yourself as a “Cadet”, NOT as an E-3.

- Learn how to post. At the top of the thread screen are five rectangular buttons:
GO: Selects your profile settings or find different forums.
NEW: Starts discussions, polls or private threads. Recommended you stay away from the "Poll" button until you "get your feet wet".
FIND: Allows you to find topics within any forum. If you plug in "depleted uranium" you'll find where to go for that subject.
NOTIFY: Used to deliver 'New" topics and/or replies to your email. Good for those Forums with less traffic.
TOOLS: (Help or Panic Button) Shows how to do the things we just outlined.

-At the bottom of the current post is a rectangle saying "REPLY" with two buttons; either will allow you to reply on that thread. Try not to panic, check out the "Tools" help how-to's and get the feel of the place.

HOW TO BEHAVE - Do’s and Don’ts

- Argue all you want, but be respectful. This forum is provided to you for free, and is a public forum, but that does not give you the right to be disrespectful.

- This forum supports the Military. That doesn’t mean that non-military aren’t welcome, but it DOES mean that certain beliefs and traditions are held in higher regard. Among these are:

- Respect for the Commander In Chief. Argue against administration policies all you want. Present your case, and have your facts lined up. But you’d better be respectful of the position. “President-bashing” of a disrespectful nature is not tolerated, and will quickly earn you the disdain and outright mockery of the membership. This especially includes derogatory nicknames.
. - Inter-Service rivalry. All of us like to tease the others about our respective services, but keep it light.

. - Don’t question the service of another member. Nothing gives you the right to disparage anyone who served honorably.

. - Those who have direct military experience in a given topic have a higher level of regard than others here (within their area of expertise). If you jump in offering your opinions on a particular military subject, your level AND TYPE of experience comes into play.

. - Sensitive information. Don’t come here trying to find the location of a service member overseas or wanting to discuss classified topics. Certain information, while not strictly confidential, is still not appropriate for discussion on a forum that is open to a world wide audience. If in doubt, don’t talk about it.

- Don’t rant and rave –Try to use reasoned debate, logic, credible sources, etc. In time you will be listened to with respect and you’ll enjoy your time here.

- Keep a thick skin and a sense of humor. You are in amongst a number of folks who may or may not be ‘PC’. They have managed to figure out how to get around the automatic filters that replace profanities with ******, and they love to heckle, tease, and poke. Understand that most of it is in fun.

- Agree to disagree - don’t keep hammering away with a point that another member refuses to acknowledge. Just agree to have a different viewpoint; otherwise the resentment builds.

-Name Calling is discouraged and not seen as a way to “win” a debate. Resorting to name calling generally results in disruptive posts by all parties involved, and will lead to suspension of posting privileges.

-“Calling Out” of a member is not allowed because it disrupts the normal flow of debate on these forums. This is a debate forum. Not a forum to air personal grudges.

-Posting “Incendiary” Threads. Members who post extremely controversial thread topics for the sole purpose of aggravating large “groups” of members will have their threads moved and will face disciplinary action by the Moderators. An extreme example might be: “Why are all Independent Voters azzhats?”

Respect the Moderators. The Moderators are those individuals who monitor the forums, assist the members, and ensure that the TOS is adhered to. On this site, the Mods are the all-knowing, all-powerful gods of your little universe. If they give you a warning, HEED IT - the next warning will be your banishment. The mods here at P/CP & In the News are a little more forgiving when it comes to heated dialogue, but they WILL step in if you push too far.

Moderators enjoy some flexibility in applying discipline on these Forums. Members, who calm down, and comply with Moderator warnings will fair better than those who do not.

MISCELLANEOUS
Quoting. If you want to throw someone’s words back in his face, just click on the quote marks in the lower right-hand section of his post. This will get you a reply window with the words QUOTE and /QUOTE in brackets on either side of the text. If you only want to reference a small piece of the quote, just delete the other stuff. You can also just copy the portion you want to quote, hit “Reply”, and then paste it in. Be sure to use quotation marks so that people know these are not your words.

Bumping Sometimes you may see a post that says, simply, “Bump”. Bumping is done to keep a topic near the top of the list, either because the “bumper” feels it is important or because they are waiting for a response. Be judicious in your bumping.

Checking profiles: Look at a member’s profile before you get into it with them. Simply click on their screen name and you can find out more about the poster. This is very useful, and will keep you from making mistakes like: referring to a woman as “he”, debating infantry tactics with an Infantry Master Gunnery Sergeant, or the like. It also lets you find out more about your fellow Military.com members.

If you are a service member, don’t forget to visit the particular forum for your service. There’s a lot of good advice on those pages, and a lot of service-specific topics.

There you go, newbie – a bit of wisdom to get you started. Read, heed, and Welcome Aboard!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Silent_Surface,