When making a post to an occult forum, form a complete thought. An easy way to do this is to use a complete sentence for your post.

Seriously, don’t just post something random like “Crop Circles” and expect intellectual discussion to magically appear. The more likely result would be you being mocked for not posting a complete thought, or a word association game being started.

A simple piece of advice that can go a long way :).

Speaking with a few who have substantial experience with posting to occult forums, I have come to the conclusion that you need to replace your BS meter with a GAS meter in order to fully enjoy occult forums.

What do I mean by that? Replace your bullshit (BS) meter with a give-a-shit (GAS) meter. Too often I find people posting to topics they really don’t care about just so they can call BS on someone. Or what about people that just go around posting to topics for the sole purpose of calling bullshit and bashing people (like, say, Sir Todd on MySpace).

Yes, people post downright unbelievable crap on forums. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored. I’m just saying that if you’re going to post to a thread, at least give a shit. That means, it’s tolerable to rip into someone for wearing fairy wings to a Pagan Pride Day, when you’re a Pagan Pride Day committee member and realize that Pagan Pride Day is all about social outreach and correcting misconceptions the general public has about Pagans and their practices.

Don’t rip into someone for the sake of just ripping into something. Well, okay, if you have a personal vendetta, go ahead - but that qualifies as giving a shit :D.

If you see your GAS meter being triggered all the time, ask yourself, do you really GAS? Sure, I may be annoyed about someone on some otherkin forum claiming to be some weird fairy-winged wolf or some crap like that. But what’s the point of calling BS? In my experience, all that does is make someone defensive and thus re-enforces their existing beliefs. If they are looking for attention, a lack of attention will scare them away.

That’s my two cents - and the first two cents I’ve had about occult forums in a long time.

Unlike many other types of forums, Pagan and Occult forms assume that once you are ready to participate, you will introduce yourself. This can be in a formal “introductions” thread or if it’s a mailing list or MySpace group, making a post introducing yourself.

What should be in an introduction? Well a good place to start is what you want people to call you. If it’s an alias (such as a magical name), it may be interesting to others how you came to use that alias. Why you’re a member of the group and what you hope to gain by being a member are also good things to mention. If you somehow contribute to the occult community doing research, shows (informative or entertainment) or whatever, that may be an interesting tidbit about yourself you may wish to share.

Other than that, be as short or as long-winded as you desire. I personally find it bad luck to do long-winded responses… but that’s just me being weird.

One thing you my hear on forums is the concept of “Thread Hijacking.” Thread Hijacking is when you purposely post a completely irrelevant comment to a thread in hopes of derailing the discussion. It is often considered to be a form of attention whoring, especially by those who created threads that did not get many responses.

Unfortunately, this is a mistake easily made by novices. Rule of thumb is that if you have something highly irrelevant to the existing thread’s discussion to say, start a new thread. The same people that were participating in that thread will also look at your thread.

The gray area is what is the difference between strating off-topic and an outright Thread Hijacking. Off-topicing is usually a gradual process where one discussion evolves into a related discussion. For example, discussing the sexual nature of Beltane may lead to a discussion about fertility practices of other religions, that would be off-topicing. The discussion ultimately may not be related to Beltane, but a closely related subject. Of course, threads may continue to slowly evolve multiple times before individuals stop posting to the thread. A Thread Hijacking would be making a post about how great Wicca is, in a thread discussing anthropological findings related to Hellenismos.

There is never a situation where Thread Hijacking is acceptable. If you feel you are making a post that is extremely off-topic, just start a new thread. It’s really that simple!

This was discussed in Episode 56 of PCP. I am recycling discussions into blog posts until I can come up with ideas for new posts in this section.

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Cross-posting is when you make the same post to multiple forums. This can be to collect information from multiple sources, perhaps advertise a survey or whatever. The general point is that the same thing is posted to multiple forums. This is considered a bad practice.

Why is cross-posting a bad thing? Simple, many of the people on the forums you are on are likely to be be on these other forums as well. They simply don’t want to see the same thing over and over on multiple forums. As a result, you may wind up annoying many people by cross-posting.

I’m not saying to avoid cross-posting completely. However, there is a gentler way of doing it. Instead of posting the same exact thing everywhere all at once, post to one forum, wait for responses and only once that thread has been exhausted, if you need more feedback, continue to another forum. However, be sure to explain on this new forum that you previously posted this on another forum. Some forums have rules about giving the names of other forums as some forums tend to be run by rather egotistical folks that see other forums as “competition” or “threats.” Yeah, unfortunately such immaturity among forum leadership is the norm rather than the exception, not just with occult forums. Therefore, it is best not to name the forum unless someone asks in a response to your post (to avoid it being perceived as spam).

To summarize: don’t post the same exact thing everywhere at once; do feel welcome to gather input from one forum then present the result of that input to another forum for further input, being sure to note that you did post this previously on another forum without actually naming the forum you posted it on.

Forums are a whirlpool of intellectualism, people’s feelings and ADD. If you post ANYTHING to an internet forum, expect discussion to waver from the original topic. I sometimes see individuals go off the deep end when their thread gets “derailed” by off-topic discussion. Forum threads are a means of discussion, not an assignment to answer the original question.

However, I will concede that it is always a good idea that if you feel you are straying into an entirely new topic - start a new thread! It just keeps the forums nice and tidy to have separate discussions in separate threads. If you are later trying to find some interesting discussion which was embedded within some other thread, it can be a royal pain to find that information.

Back on my original topic, I think people need to be less uptight about thread derailments and stop taking such things so personally. If you throw a hissy fit about your thread being derailed, expect the entire forum to knock their respect for you down a notch due to your whining.

One thing I see often on forums is people being annoyed at partial answers. For example, someone may make a very long post asking several questions. Then a person on the forum sees the post and answers one or two of the questions as they are merely answering the questions they feel they can confidently and accurately answer.

Sometimes I will see the original poster completely flip out like “why didn’t you answer all of my questions?” First of all, remember, people use forums on their personal time. Be glad for any assistance you receive (goes back to How Not to Ask for Help). Secondly, some people may be able to answer some things accurately, but know their limits thus not attempt to answer the entire inquiry and thus don’t attempt to answer the portions they don’t know much about.

There is still vagueness among forum communities if this is acceptable. However, my personal take is that it should be acceptable. Here’s why: first, it encourages the sharing of what knowledge you know while discouraging talking out of your ass. If you are going to force people to post something, expect it to be low quality (if they post at all). Some people simply refuse to post about something they do not know very well, and I believe that is a good thing. It’s the quality of the responses that count, not the fact someone replied to every single tidbit of information in an inquiry.

If you were the person starting the thread, and people aren’t answering a specific question, wait a few days then start a thread with just that question and explain why it is important to you. The explanation is important as many will notice the re-post and you do not want to be accused of wasting space on a forum. If there’s an explanation, generally the moderators will not mind. Just try not to be emo about getting a response. If you get no responses, don’t bother to bump the thread, just let it sit or find another forum whose membership may be able to answer the question in a responsible fashion.

My advice is speak of what you are confident of or know very well. Don’t feel obligated to post about something you barely know about. I’m not saying not to post about something you don’t know much about, merely don’t feel obligated to do so. You can do it if you choose, but it should not be forced upon you in a typical forum thread.

When I mentioned forums are like chatrooms, Sam responded: very slow chatrooms. She is right.

A major faux pas I see many who are new to forum posting is a lack of patience. They become frustrated if no one answers their post within a few hours. Forum posts may go for days before they are answered, especially uninteresting ones or ones that look like giant blocks of text. So please, do not go yelling at everyone on the forum if your forum post wasn’t answered within 3 hours. You will get pwn3d by the forum admins, if not the general membership itself.

One tactic commonly employed when someone feels their thread has fallen through the cracks is the so-called “bump.” Bumping a thread is a tactic of placing a short message (sometimes simply the word “bump”) on your own thread to purposely try to get more people to look at it. This can be done since forums will place threads with new posts (including new threads) at the top of the list of threads. As a result, more people are likely to see the thread and thus possibly reply. This used to be known as “bumping to the top” before it became more generically known as “bumping.”

It is good practice to wait 2 to 3 days (preferably longer) before bumping a thread. If no one replies to your thread after the first bump, bumping the thread again is generally considered bad practice and will annoy some forum posters. Additionally, bumping a thread in under 2 days is considered bad practice as well. Both of these circumstances are generally classed under forum rules for “excessive bumping.” I personally would recommend waiting a week before bumping a thread. This is in case you happened to post at a bad time (for example, college finals week). Waiting a week will ensure a sufficiently different set of people may be viewing your thread that may be interested in replying to it. Bumping too quickly is simply showing the same people who are not interested in your thread the same thread they’re not interested in.

To sum it all up: be patient. Forums are not instantaneous means of communication.

This has always been an interesting topic of discussion on various forums. Some occult forums outright ban it to protect the identities of its membership. Other forums encourage it to promote a sense of community and emphasize you are talking to other people. Regardless, forum posts should never include last names. First names are okay, middle names should be a rarity - unless the individual goes by their middle name rather than their first name.

The golden rule of forum posting is “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

If you don’t see anyone referring to anyone else by their first names, then don’t do so yourself. If you do see people referring to others by their first names then feel welcome to do so as well. However, it is generally considered bad practice to refer to someone by their first name if their name is not yet known on the forum. Asking permission from someone to refer to them by first name on a forum is a good solution to this issue.

I personally prefer to be on a first name basis with those on occult forums merely because I’m very likely to meet these individuals at some point in real life (IRL). You will find that forums comprised of a membership that knows each other outside of the forum and on a personal level will more frequently refer to one another not just by their screen name on the forum, but by their first names as well. Other forums, where anonymity is king, are less likely to meet IRL hence a lack of emphasis on personifying the membership. Not to say one forum is better than another. In my experience, forums that stress anonymity tend to be great resources of academic knowledge whereas forums that are on a first name basis tend to be better at generating a wide variety of perspectives and opinions on any given situation.

Should you even display your real name on a forum? After all, potential employers may “Google” you even though they technically may not be permitted to do so.

That’s a sticky question. My solution: use only your first (or middle) name. Never include your last name. While there may be several people with your same name, a breach of data security at AOL Search a few years back indicates that web browsing habits alone can identify people. Additionally, there’s tons of people with the same first name. Not so many have the same first AND last name. I’d suggest being personal by using your first name - but only if you are comfortable with meeting these people in person. Otherwise, just go with a screen name. I personally go by screen name only until I feel there’s a good chance of me meeting these folks in person. Even then, I may not use it until after I have met these folks outside of the internet forum.

That’s just my two cents :).

I always love it when threads titled “How NOT to ask for help” crop up. Any forum that has been around for any decent amount of time is bound to have at least one of these. In fact, this is very likely to become a topic I re-visit occasionally. It’s just one of those things that crops up so often in so many different ways.

First up, the phrase “Just Fucking Google It” (which is also now a dot-com). If your question begins with “What is” or “Where is” or some other quest for facts, you should use Google, Wikipedia and similar resources - not a forum. With exception to academic environments, forums are for discussion, intellectual dialogue and opinion. They are not teaching environments. If you ask such a question about something easily found on Wikipedia or Google, then expect someone to post a snarky response to the effect of “just fucking Google it”. If it’s some obscure piece of knowledge that’s not easily found or you are seeking resources to look this stuff up yourself - only then a forum may not be a bad idea.

To summarize this point: don’t be lazy. Look something up yourself before asking on a forum. Remember, forums are for opinions and discussion - not teaching. Therefore, you may wish to begin your inquiry with “What’s your thoughts on …” or “What do you think about …”

My next tip is equally blunt: don’t be an insulting asshole or holier-than-thou when asking for help. People are helping you for free out of their own personal time. A quick way to be ignored or harassed is by insulting someone for helping you. Be civil, especially when you’re the one depending on someone else’s good will for help. We don’t care if you’re a level 3 high priestess of doom that serves Hecate. Ask your question politely, civilly and keep that attitude throughout the thread… even if you are “better” than everyone else. Forums are communities, integrate yourself into the community or get out (or be forced out by the forum moderators). If you find yourself in a community of all fluffs, then find a better forum to post on.

Just remember, when you’re the one asking the question, you’re the one at the mercy of everyone else.