Guidance for contributors

Here's a few hints specific to UK-Dance that you might find useful, especially if you're new. They aren't formal rules that will get you expelled if you break them, but if you go along with them then people will probably appreciate your messages more.

• Try and keep discussions relevant to what UK-Dance is here for: talking about the United Kingdom's dance music scene. If you wish to discuss things outside the community's charter then use private mail instead.
• Before replying to everyone in a discussion, think first about whether your reply is of interest to everyone or just the person who wrote the message. In particular, don't send messages for just one person to the whole of the group.
• If you're answering a question then it's a good idea to check the rest of the messages first to see if it's been answered by somebody else already.
• Personal advertising is acceptable as long as it's for things that are related to the list, such as secondhand records. However, if you've got a long list of items then it's better to just post a short note asking people to mail you for the full list.
• When you reply to a message, try and cut out as much quoted material as possible from the previous message. You only need enough to make your response understandable.
• If you're responding to a message by e-mail, try and use the same subject as the original message. This will ensure your message appears on the web site in the same thread as the original and doesn't get overlooked.
• Big signatures at the bottom of messages waste space and soon get irritating. 3-4 lines is ideal.
• Don't e-mail attachments to UK-Dance. They will be removed by the system.
• If you've posted a message once and got no response then don't keep on posting again and again hoping that you'll get an answer. The lack of response usually means that nobody can help.
• Some subjects, such as drugs and the merits of CD versus vinyl, arouse extremely heated passions. If you're thinking of writing on such a subject then please think extremely hard about whether your message really is suitable for UK-Dance before you send it.
• If you're going to attack a particular artist or music genre then at least try and give some reasons for your comments.