Just some things I find mildly-annoying, off the top of my head. I've probably overlooked some obvious points as I hadn't planned this. I hope it does some good at any rate, and sincerely hope I don't come off as a fuddy-duddy.
1) Respect the mods. They're the landlords and housekeepers. 'Nuff said.
2) Split information-rich, seemingly-endless blocks of sentences into paragraphs. This makes it much-easier to navigate, read and even figure out what they're all about at a glance.
3) Don't be afraid to use the magic words in your thread titles as well as opening "statements" of issues at hand. Good manners go a long way, and apart from helping to maintain the friendly-and-courteous vibe here, won't do your attempts to elicit help from the forum any harm at all either.
4) Make some sort of effort to look up rudimentary facts in the manuals before inviting others to do so for you, especially as the PDFs allow for quick-and-easy searching, unlike hard-copy manuals. Of this we should be grateful IMHO.
5) Afterthoughts should be added to posts either on the quiet or under a heading such as, "EDIT" (that's what the "button" is for), as opposed to their constituting multiple, consecutive additional posts. It clutters the forum, wastes space, and IMHO it's far-easier to read someone's input as a series of sentences or paragraphs in one post than across numerous ones. The logical extension of such a mentality is to make every sentence an individual post. No point venturing even one step down that road.
6) If a question can be asked on the forum, especially if it's one that logically many would benefit from seeing, don't PM someone to ask it. This is what the forum's for; it's the Kemper-support forum. PMs are for everything else. Just 'cause someone's obviously spent a lot of time posting here, it doesn't follow that he or she is automatically at the ready to answer support questions from all and sundry.
7) Treat everyone with (equal) respect. Lack of talent, experience (or both) and lengthy CVs mean nothing here. Try to judge requests and opinions on their merits and not through a lens that filters so-called big guns from noobs. We're a family, a community with several passions in common at least, and all members deserve the best-possible treatment we're able to deliver.
8 ) Off-topic musings should remain brief and indirectly-relevant, at the very least, and should be avoided as much as is humanly-possible in the troubleshooting sub-forums such as the "Feature Requests", "Share Tips and Tricks", "Profiler-related Discussions", "Profiler-related Issues and Trouble-shooting Help" and "Rig Manager - Librarian Software" ones.
There's obviously more scope for straying a little in the "Free Rigs and Profiles", "Commercial Rigs and Profiles" (banter between customers and vendors or opinion-sharing of merchandise, for instance), "Link Your Music", "Website and Forum discussion", "Introduce Yourself" and the "Other Gear" sub-forums, as none of these relates directly to trouble-shooting of the KPA, the primary purpose of the forum.
9) Don't be afraid to use emoticons to help clarify possibly-ambiguous statements, humorous or otherwise. We all know that the printed word, especially in the hands of luddites such as myself, can at times fall a long way short of conveying one's true intentions.
10) Feature requests: Helping the OP by pointing out ways of achieving what he or she wants, or questions to elicit more-clearly what he or she seeks, are great, but try to refrain from posting why you don't think a feature is necessary. This doesn't add value. Just because you don't think a feature is necessary doesn't mean it might not be a real need for other people.
11) Use descriptive topic titles - not just "please help" etc. Describing the problem briefly in the title is courteous in that it saves folks from wasting their time reading posts with which they can't identify at all. Further to this, doing so is likely to attract input from those who might otherwise have overlooked the topic, not having realised what the thread was all about.
12) Pull out of discussions early if they appear to be going nowhere or get personal in nature. You are only adding fuel to the fire. Be the bigger man or woman and stop responding. It annoys the silent majority when these things go on and on.
13) Don't let frustration lead you to bash Kemper products or the company; it detracts from the cooperative atmosphere we have here and will only get you less help and derail the thread. Vent elsewhere, such as via private messaging.
14) Give other people the benefit of the doubt when they point to potential flaws or problems with their Kempers.
15) Be specific regarding signal chains when troubleshooting, and try the things suggested. Quote the post with the suggestions you've tried and report the results. People spend a lot of time helping others on this forum, so please respect that time.
16) The use of capital letters is the equivalent of shouting. Please be aware of this as most folks don't appreciate receiving an ear bashing.
17) Try to keep your sentences, syntax and chosen words simple when speaking to members for whom English is not their first language and who're obviously struggling with self-expression and comprehension. It's usually obvious to native-English speakers when this is the case, and not making any effort to accommodate the circumstances is, frankly, insensitive and arguably-rude.
18) If you're the first responder to a post, there's no need to quote it. If it's a long one, it makes sense to quote only the relevant part/s you're addressing for the sake of clarity. Some folks seem to use the "generic" (button) option by default in these situations, even when it results in a bird's nest of quotes, pictures or both. For one thing, how are readers supposed to know what's being responded to? Further to this, it's a waste of space.
A suggestion might be to drag the mouse over the pieces of text you'd like to quote, and select "Save Quote" or "Insert Quote". This way, even afterthoughts can be catered for by first positioning the cursor where you'd like an insertion to occur and then implementing one of the aforementioned actions.
If I think of any more issues to add, I'll do so to this OP. Maybe I'll run the thread using the same layout as the wah one, but as a "reference" only, for those for whom this whole inter-webs thingy's a new-fangled experience.
Thank you for reading, beloved Kemperites!
PS: Any suggestions are of course encouraged and welcome, and please correct me if I'm way off the mark with any that I've already put forward, dear Kemperites and mods.
but courtesy is always appreciated.
