READ FIRST: The Rules (yes, you! read this!) (2013-12-21)

[Rick Brewster]

The RULES

Also read the:

• Pictorium Guidelines before posting in The Pictorium
• Tutorial Posting Guidelines before publishing a tutorial
• Tutorial Replying Guidelines before replying to any tutorials
   

You must read these rules, and you must abide by them. They are mandatory. The rules are not 'recommended reading'. They are important for keeping the forum organized, productive, and awesome. We reserve the right to lock posts, delete posts, remove avatars, edit signatures, and ban users for not following these rules, or for any other reason at our discretion.
 

NOTE: All rules except #2 and #22 apply both in the main forum and in private messages. Report violations to a moderator.
 

0) This rules list is subject to revision and updates. We will try to be as fair as possible about it, however. I'll put the last revision date in the post title for convenience.
 

1) Before you ask for or about ANYTHING:
 

1. Read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/399-frequently-asked-questions-faq/
 

2. Search for your answer, http://searchpaint.net/. This URL links to a custom search engine and differs from the forum search function. The custom search is wider and returns more results - it is the preferred search tool.
 

3. Read the Popular Feature Requests posting. If it's already there, don't ask for it. Seriously. Don't. https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/2940-popular-feature-requests/
 

4. Read the Help file, All basic Paint.NET question are answered here. https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/
 

2) Post in the correct section. For instance, the Plugins and Tutorials sections are STRICTLY reserved for PUBLISHING ONLY. Do NOT post questions in there. Your post will be deleted immediately. If you don't know where to post, you should probably be posting in the General forum.
 

3) DO NOT SHOUT. We can hear you just fine. Using all capitals is often interpreted as rude, so please don't.
 

4) You must make sense. Tiping lyk thz iz n0t kewl.
 

5) You only need one exclamation ! or question mark ? It's really obnoxious when people post like this: "How do I do this ??????????????????" or "That's awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" C'mon people. We get the point just as well if you only use 1 or 2. Thanks.
 

6) Thread titles must be descriptive and specific -- NOT generic. You need to use descriptive thread titles. The following are examples of thread titles that are NOT ALLOWED:

"Help"

"Please help"

"I need help"

"Can you help"

"HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!" (if you post like this you WILL be banned)

"Tutorial request"

"Feature request"

"Plugin request"

"Looking for..."

"Looking for a tutorial / feature / plugin"

"Can Paint.NET do this" ('this' is complete ambiguous here)

"I'm a newbie"

"Hello"

"I'm new"

also, putting "HELP!" in any title is also not allowed, it's really quite obnoxious. We know you want help, that's why you're posting in the first place. etc.This pollutes the forum with generic threads and makes it impossible to navigate. Imagine if everyone posted with thread titles like this and we had pages full of "Help!!", "Please help", "Please I'm a newbie" or even "Hi" or "Pony" ... it would be stupid. Just like you should be doing with e-mail, write your subject line for the recipient, not the sender. Read here for more detailed info: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20070118-00/?p=28353/ (btw, Raymond Chen's blog is excellent, and I recommend reading as much of it as you can!). Here's the important part: from now on, threads with generic titles will be locked and/or deleted. Without warning. This rules posting is your warning.
 

Also, do not put something like this in your thread title: RICK READ THIS THREAD!!! That is extremely rude and annoying.
 

7) You must be using the latest version of Paint.NET, available here. This is a requirement. If you want to stay with an older version then that is your right, but we cannot help you. If you are unable to upgrade, then please post in the troubleshooting section.

This is to avoid posts that go like this:
 

Quote

Person A: How do I do ______ ?

Person B: Oh just click on _____ and then do _____

Person A: I can't find it 😢 😢

Person B: Well make you sure you look over ______ and click on _____ first

Person A: I still can't find it!!! 😢

Person B: (suddenly gains psychic insight) Oh, make sure you have the latest version installed.

Person A: (suddenly gains the power of the latest version) Yes! IT works now!

If everyone has the latest version, we can skip all the rigamarole. Pre-release versions, such as alphas and betas, do not count as the "latest version" for this rule.
 

8) Do not ask for older versions of Paint.NET. This is a corollary to #7, but I'm spelling it out separately anyway. We will not provide download links for them -- you are on your own to find them (hint: try a search engine). Along with this, don't ask about Windows 2000 (or XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1) support. Seriously. You may think you have some new question or insight, and that's definitely possible, but this is not something that will be added back in to a future release of Paint.NET. End of discussion. If you want to complain about this, then don't talk about it here -- just write on your blog or talk to your therapist or something instead, please.

 

9) Be courteous to others. Constructive criticism is generally welcome and encouraged. Starting fights and being rude is not. However, if your tutorial is really lame, don't be offended when we say as much (By the way, the moderators will generally and almost always follow this rule, but are not required to if circumstance warrants it -- which is at their own discretion.)
 

10) Do not private message other users with Paint.NET questions. That's what the forum is for! If you PM a moderator with a question like, "How do I crop or something?" then your message will probably just be ignored. Remember, this is a public help forum, meaning anyone should be able to see answers posted to questions; if someone else has the same problem as yours, but it was answered in a private message, they won't be able to find the answer. Also, if the person you've messaged doesn't know the answer, it ends up making your quest for knowledge that much longer. Just post on the boards and be patient, someone will answer your post eventually.
 

10a) Don't ask another user to email you the answer to a question. In addition to the reasons given above, we're not your personal help desk, and we don't have time to be. Please don't get offended; we're busy people with real world jobs (and this is not that job. For any of us).
 

11) Don't reply to very old threads. Also known as "reviving" or "resusitating" old/dead threads. Also called "necroposting" (eww). If there has been no discussion in a thread for, say, 3 months ... then it is dead. Do not reply to it -- pretend like it is locked. If you reply to it, then the thread will be immediately locked and your post may be deleted. Please just create a new thread if you have something to say about that subject.
However, this rule does not apply to The Overflow, Tutorials, Pictorium, or Plugins sections of the forum.
 

12) Posting inappropriate images or using inappropriate words is a quick way to get yourself banned. For example, the word "gay" is not an insult. Neither is the word "retarded". Photographs of people, whether modified or unedited, should not be of a "seductive" or lecherous nature. "Erotic art" is not permitted. Remember, this is a family-friendly board. Let's keep it that way. If you want to show off that kind of art, then please get an account at Deviant Art.
 

13) Putting images in your signature is fine, however, annoying, blinking, or especially inappropriate images will be removed (also refer to #14, 15)
 

14) Avatar size requirements: They must not be wider than 120 pixels, nor taller than 160 pixels.
 

15) Signature size requirements: The combined size of all images in your signature must not be wider than 500px, nor taller than 150px. There is no specific limit as to the number of lines of text permitted in signatures, as we understand that text can render differently in different browsers, but if you have text in addition to an image of the maximum 150px height, please keep it down to two lines. Ideally, text and images in your signature should be around a 200px combined maximum height.
 

16) Don't try creating new "official" threads for things. For example, "post all plugin requests here!" If the moderators want to reorganize or officiate things, then we will -- that's our job, not yours.
 

17) Show off your work in the Pictorium. Don't create a new thread in other forums just to show off your artwork (this includes avatars and signatures). The place to show off is called The Pictorium... https://forums.getpaint.net/forum/16-the-pictorium/ . You may create one thread for your personal gallery there.
 

18) Do not include the [quote], [hide], or [spoiler] tags in your signature. Do not use the Quote button, Code button, or Spoiler button in your signature.  As you can imagine, the mods read TONS of posts. Including any of these features in your signature just slows us way down.
 

19) Don't ask to be a moderator.
 

20) Don't feed the trolls. If you notice someone is trolling the forum, don't respond to them. A mod will deal with them soon enough. This includes SPAM posts--don't respond to them. If you see a spam thread just ignore it or click the "Report" link on that thread and a mod will deal with it.
 

21) Don't create useless polls. Also, don't create polls in any forum except the Overflow forum--and even then we may delete them if they are useless.
 

22) All forum activity must be in ENGLISH. Except in the Localization section. This includes posts as well as signatures. However, you can use whatever language you want when sending private messages to other forum members.
 

23) ADVERTISING and SOLICITING are strictly prohibited. This is NOT a place to find artists or developers, either for hire or for volunteer/free. This is NOT the place to advertise your product, company, or community. If you want, you may include a few links in your signature as long as they are small and unobtrusive. See Ash's signature for an example of what is tasteful and acceptable: https://www.getpaint.net/misc/ash_sig.png
 

24) Do not swear. This includes "ASCII Swearing" where letters are replaced by symbols/numbers in an attempt to get around the autocensor.
 

25) Do not 'bump' your own thread unless it has received 0 replies and it has been 24 hours since you posted it. You may not bump a thread more than once. ('Bumping' refers to posting simply to get your post moved to the top of the list--"Is anyone listening?", "I really need some help here!", "Can't anyone help me?", "Help!", "bump", "up", etc.)  When bumping your thread, it may be wise to edit the original post to give more details as the usual reason no one responds to a post is because it is too confusing.
 

25a) Do not "sneaky-bump." Sneaky-bumping is deleting your post and reposting the same message. This is harder for the moderators to notice (hence "sneaky"). Breaking rules out of ignorance is forgivable -- not even the moderators have all the rules memorized! But sneak-bumping is actively attempting to circumvent the rules. It's morally equivalent to spitting in the moderators' faces, and we don't like that.
 

26) Never 'bump' someone else's thread.
 

27) Do not "bite" newcomers / newbies. See here for more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:BITE

This also applies to established members. If you want to be rude, do it on another message board. We have no use for it here. "Constructive Criticism" is fine when a user posts in a thread made for that purpose ("rate" threads and the Pictorium), but be helpful. Being rude just to be rude will earn you a warning.
 

28) No "warez" discussion. Encouraging or aiding in illegal download of software, music, videos, etc. is against forum rules. Hundreds of people work for thousands of hours to program that software, and they deserve to be paid. That's why even discussing warez is against forum rules. You may not encourage others to do it, or tell them how to do so, either by private message or open forum post. Your post will be edited or locked, and you may be banned. If you are running a pirated copy of Windows or whatever, then just keep that fact to yourself.
 

29) Don't post huge images. Not everyone has an internet connection as fast as yours or a monitor as large, so don't make their pages take 10 minutes to load and don't make them scroll sideways. Keep images no larger than 800 pixels tall or wide. Rule #29 is considered unnecessary. We do recommend users post clickable thumbnails and/or links to a larger versions of images because the Forum has a modest attachment limit (10mb per user).

 

30) Don't post phone numbers. This is to save you from getting robocalls.
 

*) Spam. Any spam posts will be deleted as soon as they are discovered by a moderator. The user will be banned, as will their e-mail and IP address. Depending on the e-mail and IP, their subnet and e-mail domain may also be banned. If you are banned by accident, then please contact a moderator for assistance.
 

(Change Log:

September 2nd, 2008 - Rule 28, "no warez talk," re-added. Don't know where it went in the first place...

September 3rd, 2008 - Rule 18, spoiler tag now prohibited in signatures, also.

June 1st, 2009 - Rule 18, 'hide' tag now prohibited in signatures.

August 1st, 2009 - Minor revisions.

August 11th, 2009 - Consider all rules for PMs, also.

March 15, 2010 - Rule 25a, "no sneaky-bumping" added by pyrochild.

April 7, 2010 - Links updated for new forum

December 31, 2010 - Minor revisions.

December 21, 2013 - Fleshed out rule 10, added 10a, moved post title portion of rule 10 to be part of rule 6. -d.a )

July 8, 2014 - Updated Rule 8 for Paint.NET 4

Dec 6, 2015 - Added to description regarding searching - EER

April 14, 2023 - Struck out rule #29 and added off-site hosting note - EER

[BoltBait]

Minor edits.

[david.atwell]

It's been 2 weeks since it was released, so I think it is safe to update Rule 8 for the release of Paint.NET 4.