Hi All,
In the midst of the holiday season the staff team felt it best to issue a reminder to everyone about the spirit of the forum and how best to model the fantastic community that we have here. We are a welcoming and inclusive group of Pokemon fans, and this forum should reflect that throughout.
First, with regards to new members. These people are often just starting out in collecting or getting into serious collecting. They may not know everything, and may hold common misconceptions that the more experienced among us are tired of confronting. The best way to respond to common misconceptions and even incorrect statements is to educate in a friendly manner. A welcome message and friendly explanation as to why they don’t have the right information can go a long way in bringing in a new collector to our community. In contrast, offering a blunt response that does not help the user understand why you are answering or responding how you are can contribute to the member leaving the site before they even got started. In general, if a person has fewer posts and perhaps doesn’t appear as knowledgeable, don’t respond in the way you would to someone who has been on the site for years.
Second, all members should be treated with respect and courtesy. We encourage debate and clashes of ideas, and some of the best threads we have here are spirited debates. That being said, always attack ideas and not people, and use facts to back up your argument where applicable. Simply insulting a person or position is not the type of debate we want to cultivate here.
These issues exist as a significant minority of interactions on the forum, but minimizing if not eliminating these issues is our goal. No rules have been changed or added, but changes may take place in the future if we keep noticing problems here and there. Feel free to review the rules thread here, as a few rules have been updated recently: www.elitefourum.com/t/the-rules-read-here-first/14022/1