How to use our forums

[Mark Bentley]

Note that most forums are only accessible to full members of ShareSoc, as the discussions are private to our members, and certain forums are for SIGnet members only. You need to be logged in as the appropriate type of member to view and post to those forums. If you are not logged in, or are only an associate member, you will only see a very limited selection of our forums.

Welcome to ShareSoc’s member forums!

These forums are a place for our members to discuss investment related matters. Each forum can contain an indefinite number of discussion topics, and forums can also contain “subforums”. Only the system administrator can create new forums. Please post your request here: suggestions and requests if you feel a new forum ought to be created. Once a discussion topic has been created within a forum, any authorised logged in member can view and add posts to that discussion topic. You must be logged in in order to post. If you would like a login id, join us!

Note that most forums are only accessible to full members of ShareSoc, as the discussions are private to our members, and certain forums are for SIGnet members only. You need to be logged in as the appropriate type of member to view and post to those forums. If you are not logged in, or are only an associate member, you will only see a very limited selection of our forums. Only full members of ShareSoc and SIGnet members can create new topics within our forums. Go here to upgrade your membership.

Subscribing to receive email notifications

You will find a “Subscribe” link at the top of each forum page. Clicking that link causes an email to be sent to you whenever a new topic is created in the forum.

Similarly, there is a “Subscribe” link at the top of each topic page within each forum. If you are interested in the topic, click “Subscribe” to receive an email notification whenever a new comment is posted in the topic.

Once subscribed, an “Unsubscribe” link becomes available, which will cause notification emails for that topic or forum to cease.

Posting in our forums

When creating or replying to a topic, you can format the text, insert links and insert images using HTML tags. The toolbar at the top of the editor helps you to insert the tags. If you wish to insert an image or add a file to your post, the image or file will need to be hosted on a 3rd party site (e.g. Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive) and you can then include it, either with a image tag, referencing the URL of the image (for images) or simply by inserting a link to the file in your post.

By default, you will be identified by your real name when you post on our forums. If you would prefer to post using an alias, please contact our office who can set an alias for your identity rather than your real name. Note, however, that posts by members using anonymous aliases will be more rigorously moderated (see below) than those of posters prepared to disclose their identity, and we will be less inclined to tolerate minor deviations from our rules and forum etiquette for such posters.

Please note the following rules and guidance for using ShareSoc’s forums:

• To make this a valued and successful discussion forum, ShareSoc asks all members to be respectful, understanding and helpful to other posters
• It is forbidden to write defamatory remarks, whether about site users or others. Any potentially defamatory posts will be removed without warning
• Topics or posts which appear to incite or encourage an act that may be illegal, or advise in favour of a course of action which may be illegal, or any post which is in itself might be criminal or illegal, may be deleted without warning, and appropriate sanctions may be taken against posters of such material.
• Robust debate is allowed, but it must remain polite and respectful at all times. Stick to the facts and argue the points discussed, rather than criticise the poster.
• Any derogatory remarks regarding any groups, whether majority or minority, will be removed.
• Swearing is strongly discouraged. Automatic filtering of some swear words and manual removal of others may be done without discussion. Where users are asked to moderate their language, they are expected to comply.
• Please respect copyright holders and the applicable laws. You, as members, are the initial defence against copyright infringement so please be careful. Where ShareSoc considers that the copyright of others may be infringed, posts may be edited or deleted without warning. In general, it is acceptable to quote a short extract from another source, under the “fair dealing” exception, provided due credit is given and a URL link to the originating site is provided (or citation if no URL is available). However, copying large sections of text from elsewhere is likely to infringe copyright. Some websites seek to allow no quoting of any text, and it is the user’s responsibility to comply with copyright law. Please note that many images are also copyright material. For Gov.UK guidance on “fair dealing” exceptions please refer to https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright. ShareSoc will not ordinarily enter into discussion over moderation decisions in this respect, and moderators are likely to err on the side of caution.
• All embedded images (including data and graphs) in posts must:-
  Include an additional link (URL) to a web page where the original may be viewed in context, or (where the image is hosted on either a domain owned or controlled by the poster, or a hosting site account e.g. Imgur, Picasa, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) be followed by a statement that the poster owns (or is legally permitted to post) the content of the image. If this is later to be found to be incorrect, appropriate action will be taken by administrators. Images which do not comply with these requirements may be removed without warning.
• Each forum has its own focus for discussions. While ShareSoc is happy for things to shift slightly off-topic, please respect the fact that the regular users of that forum may not wish it to diverge too far away from its stated intent. Once again, mutual understanding and respect is requested. Our administrator can always create a new forum if there is significant demand.
• Posting of links to 3rd party sites is acceptable where it is entirely relevant to the discussion. However, any links promoting a 3rd party site are not allowed.
• Links to gambling, pornographic and other undesirable sites are prohibited.
• Users are prohibited from posting SPAM posts.
• Users are prohibited from impersonating a ShareSoc Moderator or Admin, and prohibited from using any Moderator-related forum functions.

 
You can test posting and formatting replies here: https://www.sharesoc.org/forums/forum/test-forum/. Full members and SIGnet members can also test creation of new topics.

[Mark Bentley]

Watch this video for an explanation of how to use the posting toolbar to format posts, and how to include links, files and images in your posts.

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