Welcome!

Welcome to Echoing the Sound (ETS). Thank you for taking the time to read these rules. Following the rules will make your visits here much happier for both you and the board community. If you have any questions, or problems, please feel free to PM an administrator (or moderator). If you can't manage the PM system, try emailing greg at echoingthesound dot org. If you can't manage email, well, perhaps this whole internet thing just isn't for you. Check out your local VFW for NIN fan club meetings.

General Directives

• Keep a cool head.
  
  
• Be friendly. It's hard to detect sarcasm on the internet, and things will go a lot more smoothly if you take EVERYTHING lightly.  There are plenty of rapier wits out there on the board, and well, just remember, it's the internet.
  
  
• Fights happen.  Insults are bandied about.  People take things personally.  We're of the general opinion that occasional public sparring is fine.  However, polluting random threads with personal attacks is not acceptable, and will be removed.

Posting And You

Posting here at ETS should be a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. To that end, we ask that you follow a few simple rules.

One, stay on topic. If you are in the Nine Inch Nails forum, don't start a thread about your personal life. If you are in the Tour section, don't start a thread about David Duchnovy's new movie, Against The Grain: The David Hasselhoff Story. Here is a list of the available forums, and their appropriate threads:

• Speak Your Mind: This forum is for everything that does not fit into any forum below.  Talk about anything!
• The Musical Revolution: Any music that is NOT Nine Inch Nails related is welcome here!
• Le Cinema: Should be obvious.  Mooooovies!
• In The Headlines: This forum is for current events and/or extremely topical discussion.  This should be plain.  Want to rail on about Kenya?  Or Peru?  Or your city council banning polka music?  Take it to SYM.  If you've got a news article (link required) you want to discuss, post it here.
• Artistic Expression: This forum is for artistic creations by our users.  Please post anything and everything you create.  But not that of other artists, and not just general art talk.  Take that to SYM.
• Tour News and Discussion: Talk about the upcoming NIN tour! Band members, playlists, general commentary and meet-up discussion goes here.
• Upcoming Shows: Guests can post here. This forum holds all discussion specific to the individuals shows. Find a ride, find a ticket, find some like-minded fans to party with.
• Nine Inch Nails: Discuss anything about NIN that is not related to the tour.
• The Rest of Nothing: Discuss the now defunct nothing record label, and artists related to the same.
• Reports and Suggestions: If you'd like to give us a pointer on web design, board moderation, the state of the internet, whatever, take it here. Complaints welcome as well, of course. Odds are only the admins and the diehards are going to read it, so don't try to start anything insightful down here.

Not only should you stay on topic with regard to the specific forum that you're reading, but you should also endeavor to stay on topic within threads. If someone posts a thread about "NIN's Set Designer Rocks!", don't co-opt that thread to post about how much you hate Robin Finck, and that god awful band Guns and Roses. And speaking of which, I hate Guns and Roses... stupid Axl Rose and his stupid hair. Corn-rowed like he's got SOUL... he WISHES. Let me tell you something, girlfriend... I know about corn-rows! See! Going off-topic dilutes your point, clutters up the thread you're in, and generally is BAD. Try to stay on topic!

Two, before posting a new topic, decide if you're contributing something useful. Look at what you've typed and ask yourself: Is this contributing to the discussion? Is it intelligent, insightful, interesting, or funny? Are there no similar topics already posted? Are the title and subtitle as descriptive and specific as possible? Is the topic likely to receive more than one reply? If you're asking a question, is there enough information provided to receive a meaningful answer? If the answer is NO to any of these questions, you should consider holding back until the answer is YES. Most of these suggestions also apply to posting replies.

Three, make sure you're following the copyright and forum-specific rules that apply to your post. Short form: don't post or ask for anything that is illegal to copy. If in the Tour forums, don't scalp.

Lastly, please do not post FORBIDDEN things. Short-form: things that are illegal, or that are unnecessarily annoying, images that are possibly offensive.

Crime And Punishment

It happens. You've broken the rules. Well, you've made a mistake, and now you've gotta pay. Odds are your post will be moved, locked, or possibly, removed. In any of these cases, do NOT re-post whatever it was that was moderated. If you think you should be allowed to do whatever was moderated, PM a mod or admin, or post in Reports and Suggestions.