Anatomy of a Good Post. (Guide to Creating Beneficial Posts/Threads/etc.)

Forums are great places to share your knowledge and get answers...to make connections, share your hobby, or just socialize!

What I don’t like about forums is the insane amount of bad posts that I must wade through to get to the useful nugget.

Heres a little guide to posting, threads, and what not to do.
Hopefully we can all learn from it and demonstrate the knowledge in future posts/threads.

Enjoy, learn, and if you have anything to add...please post below.

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Before You Ask:
1. Try to find an answer by searching the archives of the forum you plan to post to.
2. Try to find an answer by searching the Web.
3. Try to find an answer by reading the manual.

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Placement & Duplicates:
1) Duplicate Check: Try searching around a little bit to see if there is already a thread discussing what you are wanting to post.
2) Title: Should contain some relevence towards the content/subject of the thread.
3) Placement Check: Post your topic in the correct section. If you are unsure, ask a forum member!

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Anatomy of a Thread:

Participate in Your Thread
People often create threads and forget about them. If you are active within your forum thread, that will help keep it on the first page. This might inspire people to contribute to the thread if they see the creator still involved with it. This does not in any way mean you should bump or spam your thread, as that will simply scare or annoy some people away. Make sure your posts further the constructive discussion, so as to continue on topic.

Pictures
Everyone loves pictures. Pictures attract people, as long as it keeps on topic (and sometimes when they don't ).

Organization
An organized thread is a good thread. Using quotations, lists, and many paragraphs can make a large wall of text seem much less intimidating. No one, I'm sure you will agree, wants to read a giant wall of text with only two paragraphs and three periods. Commas, periods, lists, quotes, paragraphs, and using clear English will make any thread a winner.

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Anatomy of a Post:
•Does this need to be posted? I often ask myself this question, and more often then not, realize that the post I was making truly was not needed.
•Will this post take the thread off topic, or help continue the constructiveness of the thread?
•Will this post be beneficial to the thread?
•Have I made my post illegible? Are there any typos? Is this simply a wall of unintelligible text? Should I have a cookie before work?
•Brings the topic back to the OP if the thread has strayed.


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Time Waster Posts:
Posts that just plain don't belong.

Short posts of one or two lines - or less.
It’s very rare that a post truly offers anything of value in one or two brief sentences.

Thank you posts. Say I've written a great article on dismantling a gearbox. You love it and it helps you out alot. Sure, it’s nice to hear that I offered you something of value. But if thank you is all you have to say, please do through PM's.

Agreement posts. Again, it’s nice to hear that you think I’m right (I can’t tell you how much I love that). If you must post an announcement of your agreement, do so...followed by information valuable to the topic. That goes for the "+1" posts that are becoming all too common here.

Repetitive posts.
If it’s already been said in the thread, please think twice before you say it again. Not only are you wasting our time, but you are letting us know that you haven’t read the thread or you just want to post to get your links on.

Poorly presented posts. Lots of typos, poor grammar, words missing. These are usually one or two line posts, BTW. It’s rare to see a substantive post that is unprofessionally presented.

Rank posts.
Most of the time this has the opposite effect of what the poster intended. And they get deleted.

Flame Posts.
Flames and insults, oddly enough, are often accompanied by otherwise substantive or thoughtful information, but the confrontational tone serves to polarize the opponent and make it impossible for them to the intended point. Everyone gets defensive and no one learns anything.

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COMMON SENSE PREVAILS.

I think that you need to add to the "+1" thing that as long as there is something else substantial, then it's okay. Like this:

WRONG:
@Spl. Durkee +1

RIGHT:
@Spl. Durkee +1 But I think that reading Mein Kampf can really give some insight into how good a speaker and mass psychologist Hitler was, even if most of it is just anti-Semetic ranting and the intelligible ramblings of an insane man.