[About XDA developers] TheByteSmasher:
This post is designed to promote proper forum etiquette. There has been a distressing trend in the XDA forums of laziness, impatience and rudeness. My goal is to curtail this and help promote the environment that XDA was designed to be.

A fun place for different people of varying technical experience to get together and learn from each other and to encourage out of the box thinking and design.

In order to accomplish this we, as a community must follow certain guidelines and have certain understandings. The following list is by no means all inclusive and in the true spirit of XDA, I welcome ANY and ALL constructive comments or additions.

1.

The XDA forums are NOT a funded, company driven organization

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a. The participants are other people generally like you, with jobs, families and Outside XDA (OXDA) lives. Remember that and try to treat them as such.​

2.

You are NOT entitled to anything

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a. If a developer creates an App or ROM or Kernel (ARK) and freely distributes it, remember that. FREE. Nothing is really for free. That individual spent his/her time in the development of that ARK and is either looking for feedback or simply enjoying sharing it with the community

b. You may feel negatively about that ARK, that’s OK. Ensure to voice your concerns in a CONSTRUCTIVE way or don’t voice them at all.

c. Don't hassle the OP about release dates of ARKs. They will share with the community when they feel it's ready and not before. If they didn't, they'd be opening the door to lots of criticism and "Halp! this is Broken!" (<-- Franco used that first I think :) ) type comments.​

3.

NOT EVERYONE is on the same technical level as you

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a. There is no need to be rude or condescending to someone who has less knowledge than you.

b. By the same token, if you have less knowledge than those in the topic you've chosen to join, it’s always a good idea to remark on that if you ask a question; you may receive a more precise answer the first time.

c. If you've received an answer from someone via PM or figured it out on your own… SHARE it with the community. Chances are someone else has that issue also​

4.

***REMEMBER THE 5 MINUTE RULE***

The 5 minute rule, as it applies to conversations, states that “You must be a part of a conversation for at least 5 minutes prior to asking a question.”

a. This same rule applies in forums as well. Read at least 10 pages or 2 days’ worth of posts PRIOR to asking a question.

b. There is little more that will set off seasoned forum members that the save question being asked 2 or 3 pages in a row because someone figured they would just “Pop on” and ask a question in the first topic they thought was appropriate.​

5.

Google Search Does Work

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a. No one likes to help those who don’t help themselves.

b. If you’ve found your way onto the XDA forums site, you understand how Google works. Use it to search for your answer first. You might be surprised by how easy it is to find an answer.​

6.

Most devices have a General Question and Answer (Q&A) Topic

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a. Use this if resource if your question is Off-Topic (OT).​

7.

READ THE OP

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a. The OP (Original Poster) is the individual who creates a thread. Commonly OP is the term used for the first post(s) on the first page of a thread, such as this one. I'll be referring to the common definition of the initial few posts.

b. A lot of the redundant posts have already been answered in the OP.

c. Failure to read the OP (+ the other initial post by the Topic’s creator) often leads to post after post of members saying the same thing…READ THE OP.​

8.

Betas and Alphas

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a. Often apps in development will be released in the forums as Beta or Alpha (Test) software.

b. Test software MAY DO HORRIBLE THINGS TO YOUR DEVICE. This is not likely but understand that if you participate in test programs, the author does not have any responsibility for any damage caused to your device.​

9.

Paid APPs

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a. An author may offer a paid version of his/her app(s) on the Play Store. The author may also have a Topic on XDA for that app.

b. Here is where the water gets murky.​

i. You have paid real money for a bit of software, and therefore expect a reasonable amount of support.

ii. Often that support can and does come from other forum members.

iii. If your problem is still not resolved, don’t get snippy with the forum members, rather contact the developer directly (usually through their email from the play store).​

10.

DON’T FALSELY BOLSTER YOUR PROFILE

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a. Most members of Topics are subscribed to many other Topics. You may see them there too.

b. Creating a second profile or using a friend to “Thank” your posts undeservingly is not only underhanded but other members will realize what you are doing. This is also against XDA Forum Rules. Perpetrators will be caught and banned.

c. There is no benefit to having eleventy-billion thanks if you have nothing of value to contribute.

d. YOUR PROFILE WILL BUILD AS YOU BECOME MORE ACTIVE IN THE FORUMS. This is not a video game where reaching Recognized Developer will afford you riches beyond compare. It’s actually useless if you lied and schemed to get there.​

11.

Vulgarity & Rudeness

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a. There is no need to be vulgar (in any language) on XDA.

b. The forum members are a community of Men, Women, Teens and some really intelligent Sub-teens :D. Foul language is neither constructive nor appreciated.

c. What is the point of being rude, either to your fellow XDA-ers or to the OP. Please don't feel that anonymity grants you license to be rude or disrespectful.

d. Due to the multiple countries & languages involved, it is nearly inevitable that someone will take something the wrong way, I have. Try to curb the natural lash out reflex and probably you'll find more of a language barrier than someone who was intentionally trying to be rude.​

12.

Ignored Private Messages (PMs)

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a. Some developers and more senior members don’t/rarely respond to PMs from people they don’t know.

b. Often they have hundreds or thousands of people who use their ARK and cannot hope to respond to all via PM. Some of these (NRGZ28, Franco Francisco, Romanbb, WugFresh…), are so busy constantly making their ARK better for YOU, they often don’t have time to pop in on their own threads as much as the user would like. THAT IS THE STRENGTH OF XDAs MEMBER COMMUNITY. Use it appropriately and you will prosper. Abuse it and you might find yourself shunned.​

13.

Posted Pictures

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a. We love PROOF, as a community. With all the slag on the Internets™ and the Googles™ (TM George W. Bush) we are often skeptical. That being said, it is not necessary to post every screen shot of your battery life, signal strength etc..

b. If it is not possible to describe your issue or if your issue requires a visual aid, great, use it.

c. If it isn't necessary, use a Dropbox account or the like and share the link. This accomplishes the following.​

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i. It reduces the storage load on XDAs servers.

ii. It minimizes clutter in threads making it easier for people to follow guideline #4 and for others to locate what they need

iii. It reduces Data usage for people using cellular data to browse XDA.​

14.

Stay on Topic

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a.If the conversation strays too far from the topic you will give new people the wrong impression and clutter up the post with unrelated conversations. Little jokes are OK and a pleasant break but if the conversation has veered too far from the OP topic, it’s best to either form a new topic for that discussion, find the topic in which it belongs or continue via PM, Email, G-chat etc.​

15.

Don't Forget to Hit Thanks!

a. If someone has helped you, in a PM or in a thread, hitting "Thanks" shows them & others you appreciate their efforts and adds to their DESERVED status.​

I welcome all new members and look forward to helping anyone that I can. Please remember, this list was not created out of malice but out of respect for this community and to aid new members in adjusting to our way of life, so to speak. :).

Thank-You for all the suggestions, please feel free to continue to make our XDA better!