A reminder

The birdwatching forum is one of our most popular non-gardening forums. We appreciate the diverse range of geographical locations and birds that everyone brings to light here, with your awesome photos and knowledgeable comments.

However, every rose has its thorns, and this is no different. Along with differing regions and birds, we have a wide range of expertise and posting styles here. That makes the experience richer for everyone, as long as everyone respects these differences.

To that end, this is a gentle reminder of a few basics guidelines that will go along way in maintaining the peace and harmony DG is known for:

~Be aware of the laws that are in place to protect wild birds. (If you're not, you should take it upon yourself to become familiar.)
~Be respectful of your fellow members, whether they are more or less knowledgeable than you.
~Be polite and civil to one another, even when disagreeing.
~Agree to disagree or take any personal disagreements offline or elsewhere.

If someone is disregarding some or all of these basic posting principles, it's up to you to choose whether to contact them privately (through dmail) as one peer to another, or let Melody or me know if you feel the situation warrants an administrative intervention.

If you post something and later wish you had not, you have an edit button next to each of your posts. As the saying goes, use this button for good and not evil. (It's fine to remove a post you realize was unintentionally hurtful. It's not okay to misuse it to post a "nastygram" with the intentions of retracting it when you know your words have hit their mark.)

Hopefully this note is clear, and can be up "front and center" temporarily, as a brief reminder. If you have ANY questions about our site rules regarding member conduct, please refer to the Terms of Use and Rules links at the bottom of this page, or use the Contact Us link to reach the admin helpdesk.