Since there have been discussions going around at the forum, and outside it, I thought I would post some pointers of the unspoken rules and hints for new fans.
I will address those things that most people I have talked to have voiced opinion about and I hope that more people will join in with ideas and suggestions. This will hopefully also give you a minor forum dictionary of the common forum language.
Hints for new posters:
Take the time and LOOK AROUND.
The first page you will encounter is the MAIN forum page. There you have the list of the various forum SECTIONS/FOLDERS.
There is a REASON why the community is divided and broken up in several sections. The reason is to make it user friendly and easy to navigate.
Then we have the SEARCH function.
SEARCH is your friend. It likes you. LEARN how to use it.
If you are looking at the MAIN forum page and use SEARCH from there (small yellow text just above the list of the sections), you can search through all the various sections by using the scroll bar list. If you are already in a section; for example Grobanite Discussions, and you click the SEARCH above the list of threads, you will only search that section.
It will save you a lot of hassle if you learn how to use the SEARCH function.
Each forum holds 20 pages. For every new thread started, the last thread on page 20 will be kicked off the forums, never to be seen again, since it will be eaten up by the evil cyberspace.
That is a reason why some of us keep asking you to look around before starting a thread. You WILL kick another thread off the forum. Probably not a very popular thread, but you never know.
We are over 19,000 members; even though just a fragment post on a regular basis. Please try to see if there is a thread already in existance about your subject and add to it rather than beginning several threads about the same thing.
At the top of every page in all the different sections are threads that are thumb tacked. I.e. they will stay at the top of each page in that section, no matter what page you are on.
Only the moderator can thumb-tack a thread. Most thumb tacked threads are filled with compiled information. PLEASE READ THEM!!
Those threads contain things that are considered important and/or interesting for many/most people. Like posts from Josh, links to where you can find additional information and links to the frequent asked question.
At the main page you can read a description for each section. Most names are self explanatory; but since people repeatedly post in the wrong section it might be a good idea to READ the description. If you start a thread in the wrong section, you might be adding extra work for the moderator, since he will be the one moving the thread. It is RARE that threads get deleted, so if you return and cant find your thread, it is probably moved to a more fitting place in the community.
Example: If you start a thread in the main Josh Groban forum; with a name like Hi, Im new, you can be sure it will be moved to New Fans Section.
So instead of creating more work for the moderators, to not annoy people and to be sure that you will find your thread later on; Please try to post in the correct section .
If you can add a question mark in your subject line when creating a new thread, it should be started in the Questions section. Period. No matter what it is about. Read the fine print at the top of the Josh Groban section where it clearly asks you to post ALL questions there.
If you desperately want Josh to read something; there is an Official Please read this Josh thread thumb-tacked at the beginning of the Josh Groban section. So instead of starting a new thread; Please post there.
If you stumble over an article or a media clip with Josh online and want to share it; do so in the MEDIA Section. Just make sure to look through the already posted threads before posting it to avoid double threads. Either by reading through the names of the threads or use the SEARCH function that you learned before. SuperNay is amazing on compiling media clips and Cindy aka Lizzy is a wizard with printed media. You can find them both in the Media section. PM them straight away and send them a copy of your media. They will appreciate it!
When starting a new thread, take a moment and write a descriptive SUBJECT line.
The difference of between; OH! Look here! And Josh in US Today (and the date) is that first off people will know what it is about and second; the chance of being read is waaaay higher!
Another topic that is upsetting many people. Especially those who are on dial up modems.
The gigantic signatures!!!
Moderators have through the years posted this:
I'd like to (gently) ask people to rethink their signatures in consideration of other members of the board. Guidelines, you ask? Well, I'd like to "borrow" the guidelines used for Winamp.com.
Signature Size:
To keep the page loading time and visual annoyance factor down to a minimum, ensure your graphical signatures do not exceed a maximum of 12,500 pixels or 15 kilobytes file size, whichever is reached first. Alternatively, three lines of text can be used as a signature. Do not pad out your text lines with blanks lines. A line of text is defined such that it does not wrap when viewed at a resolution of 640x480."
Quoted from: forums.winamp.com/rules.php
I'd like to think of these as "loose" guidelines, if your image is slightly over 15kb, for example, I aint gonna scream, and I'm not going to do any hardcore crackdown or anything. We respect people's freedom to express themselves and their creativity, but we do ask that when creating your personalized signatures, you take into consideration your fellow board users' experience.
It can be annoying when someone replies to a post and you have to look for the message since it is hard to find a 2-word sentence above a signature that takes up half a page.
Also, for people on dial up, it takes an enormous amount of time to load each page. And time is money when it comes to dial up.
PLEASE, dont post while upset! Better take a step back and return the next day. If it still upsets you, then you might want to post.
No one is forcing you to read anything!
What we post reflect back on Josh. Not only do the fans come here to talk and read; Josh, his family and friends, management and press all over the planet some here too.This is a PUBLIC ACCESS board.
We have fans of all ages and beliefs here. Dont post anything that you couldnt say to your mothers, fathers, children, priests or whatever. Respect that others might not share your opinions. Agree to disagree sometimes.
The Internet isnt a safe place. Be careful of giving out too much information. (I have seen people write out their home phone numbers a few times. NOT a good thing to do.)
Not even here are we spared. People arent always what they make out to be. Please be careful.
DEFINITIONS
Section/Folder: Named part of the community/forum ex: Grobanite discussion, Josh Groban Forum
Thread: Each new subject under a folder.
Post: Starting a new thread or replying to an existing one
Mods/moderator: The person who has charge of the forums.and has the right to move, delete or thumb tack threads.
Edit: Change the text in your post. Mostly to correct miss spelling. When signed in, the edit link will appear under your name on each post.
Bump/ing: When you reply to an existing thread, the thread will automatically be moved up to the first post under the thumb tacked threads. From time to time people bump threads to save them from falling off page 20.
Newbies: affectionate name for newly joined fans.
Oldies: affectionate name for fans who has been registered for a longer time. Has nothing to do with age.
The team: Brian Avnet (Josh manager; posts under the name BRIANAVNET) Lynne Malone (Brians assistant, our webmistress; posts under the name mobstermalone) David Foster (Josh producer; posts under the name joshproducer)
FoJG: the abbreviation for Josh fanclub; Friends of Josh Groban
Signature: the text you can make that will appear at the end of your posts. Read the recommendations above.
Josh personal life is, just that, personal.
Please try not to pry.
Most of the things you would like to know about Josh; when he was born, grew up, went to school and so on, can be found on the forum.
More then likely you will find it in the Questions section; in the thumbtacked Crib notes thread in the top, in the New fans section or in the Favorite archived section.
Josh has always been very open about himself; much more then many other new artists.
Please respect that what he hasnt already told the world via interviews and the Q & sessions with Josh and David Foster, is private. Yes, Josh is a public person, but even a public person is entitled to some privacy.
The majority of the people around here have agreed that even if the tabloid papers or other media dont have the courtesy to not pry, we who really support Josh and take that step back and let Josh have that well deserved privacy.
Miscellaneous information
We have some people we like to call 'trolls'. These are people who post obnoxious, disgusting things here. I am not going to get into specifics. Think things completely innapropriate for young children to come across. Please IGNORE these people. Do NOT respond to their threads. Instead, please report them or spammers to the webmaster, who will take care of the situation. Do NOT try and take matters in your own hands. That will only make the situation worse. The trolls are people who just want attention. Please do NOT give it to them.
Please don't take things too personally here. We all get along for the most part. We'd like to keep it that way. If you have an issue with someone or something they said, please send them an e-mail or pm. Don't post it here.
There are a few topics that are likely to become heated..some examples are; religion, abortion and politics. There are some threads in the other topics forum, if you want to talk about issues like that. However, be prepared for some pointed discussion.
A general reminder of no swearing vulgar language or cursing. Also, please watch what you say in terms of how personal it is: there's certain areas where we just shouldn't/don't go. Think to yourself "if I were famous, would I want someone asking me this question or asking this question about me?" If the answer is no, don't post. (i.e. 'is Josh a virgin.- I don't mean to single you out, but it's just a good example of where we draw the line.) Remember: Josh and his family DO read this!!
Just take care in what you say, and don't take things too personally and HAVE FUN! Please make sure you post in a color that can be seen and read.
Also, please make sure to post in the CORRECT AREA!! This is VERY IMPORTANT!!
There is the freedom here to post your opinion, but free speech involves responsibility, as I'm sure everyone knows.
If you are looking for translations to Josh's songs, the best one to go to is: www.thatjoshgrobanguy.com or www.grobania.com
Most of this was taken from the previous thread started after a general survey for information about what was needed to help clarify and guide new members. (thank you Malin for looking after this thread for so long.)
Webmaster
I will address those things that most people I have talked to have voiced opinion about and I hope that more people will join in with ideas and suggestions. This will hopefully also give you a minor forum dictionary of the common forum language.
Hints for new posters:
Take the time and LOOK AROUND.
The first page you will encounter is the MAIN forum page. There you have the list of the various forum SECTIONS/FOLDERS.
There is a REASON why the community is divided and broken up in several sections. The reason is to make it user friendly and easy to navigate.
Then we have the SEARCH function.
SEARCH is your friend. It likes you. LEARN how to use it.
If you are looking at the MAIN forum page and use SEARCH from there (small yellow text just above the list of the sections), you can search through all the various sections by using the scroll bar list. If you are already in a section; for example Grobanite Discussions, and you click the SEARCH above the list of threads, you will only search that section.
It will save you a lot of hassle if you learn how to use the SEARCH function.
Each forum holds 20 pages. For every new thread started, the last thread on page 20 will be kicked off the forums, never to be seen again, since it will be eaten up by the evil cyberspace.
That is a reason why some of us keep asking you to look around before starting a thread. You WILL kick another thread off the forum. Probably not a very popular thread, but you never know.
We are over 19,000 members; even though just a fragment post on a regular basis. Please try to see if there is a thread already in existance about your subject and add to it rather than beginning several threads about the same thing.
At the top of every page in all the different sections are threads that are thumb tacked. I.e. they will stay at the top of each page in that section, no matter what page you are on.
Only the moderator can thumb-tack a thread. Most thumb tacked threads are filled with compiled information. PLEASE READ THEM!!
Those threads contain things that are considered important and/or interesting for many/most people. Like posts from Josh, links to where you can find additional information and links to the frequent asked question.
At the main page you can read a description for each section. Most names are self explanatory; but since people repeatedly post in the wrong section it might be a good idea to READ the description. If you start a thread in the wrong section, you might be adding extra work for the moderator, since he will be the one moving the thread. It is RARE that threads get deleted, so if you return and cant find your thread, it is probably moved to a more fitting place in the community.
Example: If you start a thread in the main Josh Groban forum; with a name like Hi, Im new, you can be sure it will be moved to New Fans Section.
So instead of creating more work for the moderators, to not annoy people and to be sure that you will find your thread later on; Please try to post in the correct section .
If you can add a question mark in your subject line when creating a new thread, it should be started in the Questions section. Period. No matter what it is about. Read the fine print at the top of the Josh Groban section where it clearly asks you to post ALL questions there.
If you desperately want Josh to read something; there is an Official Please read this Josh thread thumb-tacked at the beginning of the Josh Groban section. So instead of starting a new thread; Please post there.
If you stumble over an article or a media clip with Josh online and want to share it; do so in the MEDIA Section. Just make sure to look through the already posted threads before posting it to avoid double threads. Either by reading through the names of the threads or use the SEARCH function that you learned before. SuperNay is amazing on compiling media clips and Cindy aka Lizzy is a wizard with printed media. You can find them both in the Media section. PM them straight away and send them a copy of your media. They will appreciate it!
When starting a new thread, take a moment and write a descriptive SUBJECT line.
The difference of between; OH! Look here! And Josh in US Today (and the date) is that first off people will know what it is about and second; the chance of being read is waaaay higher!
Another topic that is upsetting many people. Especially those who are on dial up modems.
The gigantic signatures!!!
Moderators have through the years posted this:
I'd like to (gently) ask people to rethink their signatures in consideration of other members of the board. Guidelines, you ask? Well, I'd like to "borrow" the guidelines used for Winamp.com.
Signature Size:
To keep the page loading time and visual annoyance factor down to a minimum, ensure your graphical signatures do not exceed a maximum of 12,500 pixels or 15 kilobytes file size, whichever is reached first. Alternatively, three lines of text can be used as a signature. Do not pad out your text lines with blanks lines. A line of text is defined such that it does not wrap when viewed at a resolution of 640x480."
Quoted from: forums.winamp.com/rules.php
I'd like to think of these as "loose" guidelines, if your image is slightly over 15kb, for example, I aint gonna scream, and I'm not going to do any hardcore crackdown or anything. We respect people's freedom to express themselves and their creativity, but we do ask that when creating your personalized signatures, you take into consideration your fellow board users' experience.
It can be annoying when someone replies to a post and you have to look for the message since it is hard to find a 2-word sentence above a signature that takes up half a page.
Also, for people on dial up, it takes an enormous amount of time to load each page. And time is money when it comes to dial up.
PLEASE, dont post while upset! Better take a step back and return the next day. If it still upsets you, then you might want to post.
No one is forcing you to read anything!
What we post reflect back on Josh. Not only do the fans come here to talk and read; Josh, his family and friends, management and press all over the planet some here too.This is a PUBLIC ACCESS board.
We have fans of all ages and beliefs here. Dont post anything that you couldnt say to your mothers, fathers, children, priests or whatever. Respect that others might not share your opinions. Agree to disagree sometimes.
The Internet isnt a safe place. Be careful of giving out too much information. (I have seen people write out their home phone numbers a few times. NOT a good thing to do.)
Not even here are we spared. People arent always what they make out to be. Please be careful.
DEFINITIONS
Section/Folder: Named part of the community/forum ex: Grobanite discussion, Josh Groban Forum
Thread: Each new subject under a folder.
Post: Starting a new thread or replying to an existing one
Mods/moderator: The person who has charge of the forums.and has the right to move, delete or thumb tack threads.
Edit: Change the text in your post. Mostly to correct miss spelling. When signed in, the edit link will appear under your name on each post.
Bump/ing: When you reply to an existing thread, the thread will automatically be moved up to the first post under the thumb tacked threads. From time to time people bump threads to save them from falling off page 20.
Newbies: affectionate name for newly joined fans.
Oldies: affectionate name for fans who has been registered for a longer time. Has nothing to do with age.
The team: Brian Avnet (Josh manager; posts under the name BRIANAVNET) Lynne Malone (Brians assistant, our webmistress; posts under the name mobstermalone) David Foster (Josh producer; posts under the name joshproducer)
FoJG: the abbreviation for Josh fanclub; Friends of Josh Groban
Signature: the text you can make that will appear at the end of your posts. Read the recommendations above.
Josh personal life is, just that, personal.
Please try not to pry.
Most of the things you would like to know about Josh; when he was born, grew up, went to school and so on, can be found on the forum.
More then likely you will find it in the Questions section; in the thumbtacked Crib notes thread in the top, in the New fans section or in the Favorite archived section.
Josh has always been very open about himself; much more then many other new artists.
Please respect that what he hasnt already told the world via interviews and the Q & sessions with Josh and David Foster, is private. Yes, Josh is a public person, but even a public person is entitled to some privacy.
The majority of the people around here have agreed that even if the tabloid papers or other media dont have the courtesy to not pry, we who really support Josh and take that step back and let Josh have that well deserved privacy.
Miscellaneous information
We have some people we like to call 'trolls'. These are people who post obnoxious, disgusting things here. I am not going to get into specifics. Think things completely innapropriate for young children to come across. Please IGNORE these people. Do NOT respond to their threads. Instead, please report them or spammers to the webmaster, who will take care of the situation. Do NOT try and take matters in your own hands. That will only make the situation worse. The trolls are people who just want attention. Please do NOT give it to them.
Please don't take things too personally here. We all get along for the most part. We'd like to keep it that way. If you have an issue with someone or something they said, please send them an e-mail or pm. Don't post it here.
There are a few topics that are likely to become heated..some examples are; religion, abortion and politics. There are some threads in the other topics forum, if you want to talk about issues like that. However, be prepared for some pointed discussion.
A general reminder of no swearing vulgar language or cursing. Also, please watch what you say in terms of how personal it is: there's certain areas where we just shouldn't/don't go. Think to yourself "if I were famous, would I want someone asking me this question or asking this question about me?" If the answer is no, don't post. (i.e. 'is Josh a virgin.- I don't mean to single you out, but it's just a good example of where we draw the line.) Remember: Josh and his family DO read this!!
Just take care in what you say, and don't take things too personally and HAVE FUN! Please make sure you post in a color that can be seen and read.
Also, please make sure to post in the CORRECT AREA!! This is VERY IMPORTANT!!
There is the freedom here to post your opinion, but free speech involves responsibility, as I'm sure everyone knows.
If you are looking for translations to Josh's songs, the best one to go to is: www.thatjoshgrobanguy.com or www.grobania.com
Most of this was taken from the previous thread started after a general survey for information about what was needed to help clarify and guide new members. (thank you Malin for looking after this thread for so long.)
Webmaster
I can't seem to find how to put a signature on, would somebody mind telling me?
Much love
sent to you from me... I'm Perfectly Bohemian!! 
P.S. Dance, like no
ones watching... 
