Introduction
Remember, before using the boards be sure to read the forum rules, and above all else don’t be a jerk. We hope you enjoy your use of the Giant Bomb forums.
Guidelines
Wiki Specific Boards
In addition to the main forum boards Giant Bomb also has a separate board for each page within its Wiki database. When you create a forum topic for a particular game and just that particular game your topic should be attached to the Wiki Board for that game. These boards are often referred to as "Wiki Boards" and we ask users try to post topics about information contained in the database into its specific Wiki Board.
- This can be done by going into the "Newest Topics" board and clicking on create a new topic.
- Then click on the "(Want to attach this to a specific page instead?)" to the right of the "Select a Forum" bar.
- Type up and enter the name of the game your topic is about.
- For blogs you simply go to the bottom of your blog and type the name of the game in the bottom bar. Blogs can be attached to as many Wiki Boards as possible but please only attach your blog to appropriate Wiki Boards. Remember, if a blog is mainly about one game, platform, or company, it must be published to that specific forum. Blogs that belong in a specific forum and published to General Discussion or any other board instead will be moved. Please see this tutorial for instructions on getting your blogs posted to the correct place.
If you see anything offensive or breaking any of the forum rules, report the post by clicking the "Flag" button on that user's post next to the reply button.
How the System Works:
- Karma points are hidden from all users except for the staff and moderators.
- Every user starts with 0 karma points.
- If you flag an item, you gain a karma point and the author of the content you flagged also gains a karma point.
- Once you get 5 karma points or higher, you can no longer flag any content.
- Once you get 10 karma points or higher, you can no longer post to the site.
- Everybody gains -1 point back at the end of every day.
- Moderators can manually adjust karma, so if you find yourself unable to flag send us a PM and we'll sort it out for you.
Workflow:
- Once an item is flagged, it goes to a moderation queue.
- Forum moderators will monitor this queue to determine if flagged content is OK or if it needs to be removed from the site.
- If a moderator deems content as OK, he will mark it thusly and the author of that content will lose 1 karma point. (The reporting user will still have gained their karma point for flagging the content that was unnecessary.)
- If a moderator deems content as inappropriate, the moderator will remove it and the karma points stay for the user that flags the post and the user that got his post flagged.
If you'd like to have a question answered and feel it's going to be asked many times, feel free to leave a comment here with the question.
- What do I do if I need to get in contact with a member of staff or a moderator?
- If you have an issue that you need to discuss with the mods here on Giant Bomb you can find them under the Users > Mods link on your navigation bar.
- If the problem is urgent then you can use this link here to PM all mods: PM Mods
- Need to contact a member of staff about community/tools/forums? Send a PM to Rorie.
- Found some hot gossip? Email Us News Tips.
- It says that I can't flag any more posts, what's wrong?
Don't panic, nothing is wrong! In theory your karma will reset one point per day. Sometimes it gets stuck and needs a little nudge. When this happens, or in the event that you find a slew of spam or inappropriate forum posts and have exhausted your flags, immediately contact a moderator so that your karma can be reset manually.
- I'm a new user and I can't post on Giant Bomb any more! What's wrong?
Until new users reach 25 posts, users are limited to five-posts per day. This is in place to deal with and limit the spam-bots that tend to invade Giant Bomb every now and then. Once you hit 25 posts, feel free to post as much as you want, as long as it follows the rules and stipulations highlighted in this FAQ.
- How can I support Giant Bomb?
The simplest way you can help Giant Bomb is to sign up for a membership, monthly or yearly. Whiskey Media has its own store for members who want to go even further where you can purchase merchandise themed to all of the various Whiskey Media sites. Short on cash? Tell your friends about this site and work to make this a clean and enjoyable website that everyone can enjoy.
- What do all the colored names mean?
The colored names indicate the platform 'Alignment' the user has selected in their profile.
- Can we have signatures?
There are no plans to implement a signature feature as the Staff feel the only purpose they serve is to clog up the forums. However you can still put signature related information into your mini bio by editing the "About Me" section on your profile page if you wish to show anyone who is interested in seeing information about you.
- How to hide certain boards from showing on the forums?
If you want to stop seeing topics from certain boards appearing in the "Newest Topics" list they can be turned off by clicking the "Preferences" option which has a rainbow icon beside it on the toolbar located above the list of newest topics. Once clicked a box should appear listing the boards that can be turned off. Opposite the list of boards are two columns titled "Show" and "Hide". Click the box under the "Hide" column that is opposite the board you wish to hide and then click save. You can change these settings at anytime.
- How should I decide which forum to put my thread in?
Since we have a forum for every single video game, company, gaming concepts, people, etc as well as all the consoles, it would be ideal to put a thread about that certain game/company/concept/person in their specific forum. For example a thread about Halo 3 is recommended to go in the Halo 3 forum, and NOT in the 360 forum. If you're making a thread about 2 different games, you have to option of putting it in one of those game's forum, the 360/PS3/Wii forum if it deals with that specific console, or in General Discussions.
- How do I change my profile icon?
There are many ways to change your profile icon that shows up on the forums, but the easiest way to do this is by clicking the large avatar in the top-left corner of your profile. Note: You cannot have an animated .gif as your avatar on Giant Bomb and no Whiskey Media sites have no plans to make this a possibility.
- How do I embed images/videos/gamercards?
Whenever you want to embed anything, get the embed code, and look for the "insert" icon on the reply box tool editors. After selecting the "insert" icon choose what you wish to embed onto your forum post. Note that for videos on YouTube or other video web hosts you can simply paste the url of the video to embed it on a forum post.
- How to add a poll to a topic?
Adding polls to topics on Giant Bomb is very simple. Just begin to create a new topic and beside the "submit" button there is an option asking to create a poll. Click this and fill out a question and some options for users to vote for then submit the topic. You will notice that when the topic submits it is just a poll that is submitted, no text in the original post. Should you decide to not want to make a poll after clicking to make one, you can always click the option beside submit and revert back to creating a regular topic again.
- Why did my blog get locked?
Blogs that are posted on the forums are treated as a regular thread. Therefore, if a thread with the same topic was created before your blog post, it will be locked and redirected. If you do not want to post your blog on the forums, after submitting your blog, just ignore the "Attach my blog to the forums." The blog will still be there on your blog section and will not appear on the forums.
- What is considered a 'spam' topic?
Two of the most important things to keep in mind when creating any topic or blog on Giant Bombs' forum are these.
- Any topic or blog posted to the forum should always abide by our rules and guidelines.
- Any topic or blog posted should have productive discussion value to inspire a positive and good natured debate amongst the community.
Below is a brief explanation of what we consider to be 'spam' topics on our forum.
- Topics advertising, promoting, soliciting and offering goods or services for commercial purposes and financial gain.
- Example - A topic created to advertise MMO gold sellers.
- Topics that consist of random 'thoughts of the day', immature or inane content and purpose.
- Example #1 - A topic explaining what your latest fart smelt like. The Giant Bomb forums are not Facebook.
- Example #2 - Creating an empty forum topic with no discussion material that simply exists to accomplish a quest.
- Topics linking to websites, images, videos or other material without any original commentary from the topic creator.
- Example #1 - A topic linking to a news article with the majority of the article pasted into the original post without any direct opinion, input or commentary from the topic creator themselves.
- Example #2 - YouTube Spam - Posting random non-gaming related videos without any discussion material and probably don't have any discussion material to them in the first place are considered spam
Ultimately if you create a topic on our forum we expect you to put effort into inspiring productive discussion value when you create the topic. Posting topics regarding every random though that comes into your head, random YouTube video you find and so forth will be considered spam. Unless of course you provide adequate discussion value to the content of the topic. Here is an example of how not to post a youtube video. And here is an example of that exact same video posted in a way that promotes lots of constructive discussion.
Useful links
Here are some links to other useful threads on using the forums:
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