README: Forum Rules & A Message From The Founder

edited November 2014 in
Welcome to WinWorld & WinBoards

As founder I'd like to welcome you to our website and forums. With the recent changes in the past few months I feel compelled to make a more personal post welcoming users to our community.

Since I was a young teen, I've always had a fascination with technology both old and new. This was my main drive when I founded WinWorld in mid-2002. Since then, through many changes in domains, servers, staff and outright closures, WinWorld and WinBoards have continued to remain alive thanks to the effort of many dedicated administrators, enthusiasts and stoners, for which I am immensely grateful.

I strive to keep this website alive as a resource for aspiring techies and geeks, as well as those who simply cannot run modern software because of their circumstances. When I founded WinWorld finding abandonware online from a reputable source with easily accessible downloads was remarkably difficult and limited by the services available at the time. In addition to this, I was often left using rather older technology and software myself at the time, further driving me to create a go-to source for abandonware software downloads, information and a community for help and support.

With that, I welcome you to the forums and encourage you to post and contribute. All I ask is that you read our simple forum guidelines and abandonware criteria below. Think before you post. Common social and internet courtesy go a long way. Thank you for helping us maintain a respectful, adult community.

If you have any issues in regards to the administration or forum rules, please contact me in a private message, or email us via the General Correspondence form on the Contact page.

Sincerely,
Duff & The WinWorld Staff

Forum Guidelines

WinBoards is a community for adults and those who can present themselves as adults. What you post here has the possibility of remaining readable on the Internet for a long time. We don't expect perfection in your posts, however there is a degree of expectation for readability, grammatical correctness and content.
  1. Moderation Queue: Posts made by guests and Probationary Users must be approved by a moderator or administrator before appearing publicly. Do not double post; sometimes there isn't a moderator or administrator active at the moment you post.
  2. Post Quality: Your posts should add some form of relevant message or expression and not be simple posts like "LOL" or "thanks alot!!!". If you don't have anything more to add than a simple sentence, don't bother posting. Image macros/memes and the like are acceptable when not used in excess.
  3. Thread Bumping: Pay close attention to the date of the last post in a thread (visible at the top-middle of every post) before replying. Unless your post adds significantly useful, unsaid information, do not bump the topic. If it's a support request, make a new topic.
  4. Support Requests: Support requests, location of files and general availability of what we offer on WinWorld is done on people's personal time, and they are under no obligation to help you. Do not throw any fits if they don't do what you want, when you want it; it will only accomplish the exact opposite of what you want and possibly earn yourself a ban.
  5. Topics of Discussion: Two specific topics that are 100% off-topic and off-limits for discussion on the forums is religion and ponies. We also do not care to have topics or posts asking questions that could easily be solved by a minute of searching online - do some basic research, other people are not here to do everything for you.
  6. Common Sense: Know what you're talking about before asserting anything you perceive as a fact on these boards. In other words, don't act like you know everything and are the ultimate authority on any matter unless you genuinely are - and you most likely are not. We welcome new users who are trying to learn and are willing to make the small effort to learn. Most importantly, use common sense and think before posting. This will keep you safe 99.9% of the time.

Abandonware Criteria

We have noticed a considerable increase in the amount of discussion and requests regarding Windows XP and related non-abandonware tools. This has lead to problems for the staff at WinWorld. As such we are making this as clear as possible: Requesting and sharing software that is not pre-release (beta) or abandonware is strictly prohibited on our forums. Our criteria for abandonware is software which is no longer being distributed, supported or widely used and was released prior to January 1, 2000. For more details, read this post.

User Groups & The Administration

Newly Registered Users: Newly registered users are shown in blue. Users in this group have a slightly stricter set of limitations on posting and require moderator approval before posts appear to the public. This status is lifted automatically after a set point or if a staff member feels you do not need to be under these restrictions any longer - if you make quality posts this will not be difficult.

VIP: Trusted members of our community who are known to contribute quality posts and content. Membership in this group is granted solely at the discretion of the administration - do not ask for VIP membership status.

Infrastructure Team: These members graciously have provided mirror space for WinWorld's usage.

Administrators: Pretty self explanatory, list below.
  • Duff is the founder of WinWorld; I maintain a shadow presence on the forums generally but am always present and can be contacted via PM or on IRC.
  • stitch is the main developer of WinWorld and largely responsible for the transformations WinWorld has seen over the past year as well as maintaining the code and database. He also pays for and manages our primary server which hosts the website as well as our North American library mirror.
  • Ka0s has been involved since the early days and highly influential in the administration of the forums and keeping the place online at times.
  • SomeGuy is a long-time trusted member that is responsible for much for the work involved in making and maintaining WinWorld including forum moderation and maintaining/organizing our software library.
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