[1] Respect the Forum Staff
- All of the forum staff are volunteers and offer their free time to keep the forum running smoothly. Any decision made by an administrator or moderator is final and should be respected.
- Do not argue with Staff directly in a topic; if you wish to discuss an issue, contact through e-mail or PM (Private Message).
- This includes usernames, signatures, avatars, PMs, and posts.
- Any offensive material, such as swear words or derogatory terms, is prohibited. Hate speech, as defined as an attack on religion, race, nationality, sexual orientation, or any other self-identifiable group, is not tolerated.
- Disclosing personal information about another person ("doxxing") is not permitted
- Adult content, including obscenity, pornography and erotic material are not allowed
- Censoring a swear word by substituting a letter with an asterisk symbol "*", or using acronyms that contain a swear word is considered swearing.
- Messages that personally attack or call people names is considered abuse. These are sometimes referred to as "flame" posts.
- Messages that contain sensitive religious or political topics may be removed on the basis of inciting far too emotional and personal debate.
- This includes posts, in a signature, or with the personal website field.
- Spammer accounts will be deleted. SPAM accounts are made "for the sole purpose of providing information about and/or links to commercial websites or other advertisements".
- Do not use Mint Forums to blatantly promote other projects
- Do not respond to spam, simply report it and allow it to be dealt with.
- Exception: Linux Mint's partners may link to their websites in their signatures and/or profiles.
- Any requests for help pertaining to illicit computer activities is prohibited and will not be supported (i.e., piracy, malicious hacking). Requesting, distributing, or linking illegal material is forbidden.
- Trolling consists of messages that contain an apparent foolish contradiction of common knowledge, being deliberately sarcastic to the user(s) of the forum, or a broad request for trivial follow-up messages. It serves no purpose other than the enjoyment of the troll.
- Suggesting commands that could harm or destroy another user's system, even in jest, is strictly off-limits.
- Experiment with chatbots like ChatGPT for your own risk, not somebody else's. Do not put your question or someone else's question in a chatbot and then copy and paste the chatbot's response as reply in any topic on this forum. This forum exists for users to help other users. Not to document or discuss chatbot responses.
Linux Mint User Guides
[1] Search Before Posting
- Search the Linux Mint forums and Google for questions before posting.
- As the forum search function is very limited, you should consider searching the Linux Mint forum site with Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo or your favourite search engine by entering site:forums.linuxmint.com with your search query.
- Do not add new questions to existing topics, start your own instead! This will make it easier for other members to provide support. This includes hijacking, do not ask unrelated questions in a user's existing support topic.
- Do not resurrect support topics others have created. The automated topic-locking system closes topics six months after they were created so you could be locked out of a response if you resurrect someone else's topic.
- Posting to specific sections can make it easier for others to provide assistance and for future searches. For example, if you are having a specific software issue, post to "Software and Applications" section instead of "Beginner Questions".
- If you would like your topic moved to a new location after you create it, click the
!button on a post in the topic, select the last option from the drop-down, and write to where you want it moved. The next available moderator will move it for you.
- Use a title that is specific. Do not use titles such as, "HELP ME!!!" or "linuxmint fails". Instead, make titles that define the problem in a clear and concise manner such as, "Kernel Panic: Wifi Intel 3945AGN". A clear title will attract more views to the topic.
- Include the version and architecture (32-bit, 64-bit) of Linux Mint.
- List any relevant hardware or software specifications. For this you can use the System Reports (mintreport) program from your menu. Open it, go to the System Information tab and click the Copy button there. Paste the copied information in your topic.
- List what Display Environment you are using if relevant (Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce or other).
- If you have output errors, list them in their entirety.
- When posting output of commands use the "Code" tags if it is more than 2 or 3 lines long - this makes it more readable. The button that inserts these tags is marked
</>. - If your Linux Mint installation isn't in English, prefix any commands that you want to share output of with LC_ALL=C. That forces output to be English. For example instead of running the command
make, you'd run the commandLC_ALL=C make.
- Use of bold, italic and underline text can help convey meaning in a post - but use them sparingly and with cause.
- Don't use different font sizes or colours for the whole post - use the defaults. If putting a word or sentence in a different size or colour can help convey meaning in a post you can do that - but don't overdo it in a post.
- Refrain from using <CAPS> lock on posts - it gives one the impression the user is screaming.
- Avoid jargon and slang, speak in plain language.
- Don't use excessive punctuation - one "?" or "!" is always enough.
- Images may help explain something more clearly or indicate a problem you are experiencing better - but use them sparingly and with cause.
- Please use the [rimg] tag instead of the [img] tag for large images, which will create a thumbnail automatically.
- Remember that not everyone has the same bandwidth, so use thumbnails.
- Do not create identical topics across multiple forum sections. Cross-posting creates unnecessary work for community users by separating potential answers and solutions - do not do it.
- When an issue has been resolved for you, please edit the original post to include <SOLVED> in the title. This provides a good indicator for users with a similar problem to check out the topic. Please make sure the solution that worked for you is clearly indicated, especially if more than one solution has been proposed. If your solution came from outside the forum then describe it or post a link to it. Following these simple instructions will help other users find success solving similar problems.
- Posting one word to bump a topic is generally discouraged. Try to research the problem and be patient for a solution. If nobody has responded within 48 hours, you may bump the topic to promote attention.
- To bump a topic, scroll to the bottom of the topic and click Bump topic, by Board index, Subscribe topic, and Bookmark topic (the Bump topic link will appear 48 hours after the last response).
- The forum staff cannot moderate every single post and message, it is inevitable that some inappropriate posts are missed. If you see a post in violation of the Linux Mint Rules, please report it. Topics can be reported by clicking the exclamation mark
!on the option buttons of a post.
- We have all been a newbie to GNU/Linux. Some users are harder to help than others, but remain respectful.
- Assume a user is green unless otherwise certain. Provide detailed instructions and avoid technical jargon, slang, and procedures we take for granted.
- If you are unsure of your instructions, or the instructions carry a risk - tell the user this.
- Do not PM or e-mail forum members for support questions without prior consent. Those who help do so in their free time, and prefer to respond to topics of choice rather than being singled out.
- Do not post bare links. All links should include an explanation or excerpt unless its meaning is clear from the context.
Linux Mint Team
[1] Banning
- All users in direct violation of the General Rules will be given warnings where necessary. In extreme cases, such as messages containing hate speech or pornography, the user may be banned without further notice. Bots can be banned without notice as well.
- A user account will be deleted if demonstrably created for the sole purpose of posting spam message(s). These accounts show links to commercial websites in the signature and/or personal website field, with little or nonsensical forum participation.
- If you have a question concerning what is acceptable, ask a Staff member.
- When an active forum member adds a commercial website link (charges a fee for services or sells a product), it is considered spam. In a case like this the member is sent a PM requesting the link be removed. If it is not removed within a reasonable time, the forum Administrator will globally edit the member's signature and remove the link. Only if the member persists in replacing the spam link after all of this will he or she be banned.
- Posts in violation of the General Rules can be edited at a moderator's discretion. Whether posts are edited or removed, a warning will be issued if considered necessary. If posts are removed, a copy shall be held in the Staff archive. Persistent non-compliance with the General Rules will lead to a ban.
- If a topic develops where those involved become too personally involved, in cases of heated and stirred debate, trolling, etc - the topic may be locked without further notice at a moderator's discretion. Warnings will be given when appropriate. When topics are removed, a copy shall be placed in the Staff archive.
- Cross-posting identical topics in different forum sections will result in deletion of the copied topics, or with the topics being merged.
- Topics may be moved to more appropriate sections when necessary, do not be offended!
- Posts may be split from a topic and given their own place where applicable.
