Help - Blurtit Etiquette

Welcome to Blurtit our interactive online Question and Answer community. Here at Blurtit we have a certain net-iquette when it comes to keeping Blurtit a friendly environment for all our members and visitors. Blurters need to understand that good etiquette makes the site a pleasant and safe place to spend your time online.

Writing a good question is simple but you need to follow some essential guidelines when asking a question on Blurtit. A question usually begins with a question word such as, Who, What, Where, When, Why, or How. Not all questions begin like this but it creates a better question if it does. A question should always end in a '?' - question mark; punctuation used to tell other people that you've asked a question rather than just making a statement. Make sure that you choose an appropriate category for your question before submitting it. We will spell and grammar check your question before it goes live but careful spelling and good grammar is greatly appreciated.

Take care not to repeat your question. Please do a search first to see if anyone else has already asked your question (or something very similar). There may already be an answer to your question on the site. Some people get frustrated or want special attention for their question and they ask it three or four times in a row. This is likely to get your question deleted and will be a waste of your time. Ask your question once, leave it some time and then check back to see if anyone has answered it. If they have you may rate their answer or leave a comment for them.

Always try to answer the question directly using the one thousand word limit with a combination of fact and your opinion on the subject if you wish. Please answer the questions in a polite and sincere way.

When you are writing your answers please use fact or at least opinion that is fact based. Always remember that someone may act on your advice.

Try to organise your thoughts into smaller blocks of text by the use of paragraphs. This makes the answer easier to read and it looks better.
Check the spelling of any unusual words and try to maintain correct spelling throughout your answer. Take the same care with simple grammar and try to sustain a good quality of English. We know no one is perfect but please do your very best.

Please do not swear in your answers. You might feel that you need to use a word that could be deemed offensive by Blurtit, but people around the world are sensitive to different uses of language. Our main objective in this matter is to maintain a friendly, non- offensive and non-threatening community.

We would appreciate it if you did not use 'text' language or shortcut 'text speak'. For example: U r gr8 t. We would like you to use real English please.

We don't expect you to know everything and we know that you will need to research some answers in books or by using the Internet. That's absolutely fine, but collect your information from many sources and write it in your own words. If you fail to respect copyright you are stealing knowledge from others, this is intellectual copyright theft which is a crime. The answer must be your own words; copying your answer from anywhere else will not be tolerated at Blurtit.

We are all here to share knowledge and help each other learn great new things at Blurtit; however there are some types of questions and answers that we just won't accept. Don't ask any questions that could be considered illegal or have illegal consequences, such as: where can I buy drugs in Tokyo? Or, how do I kill someone with my bare hands? Likewise, violent or adult themed questions and answers will be deleted. Don't ask questions that you wouldn't want a child to read.

You may not use Blurtit to buy or sell things directly so please don't ask questions such as, would anyone like to buy a computer from me? There are more appropriate websites for that. Don't try to obtain other Blurter's personal details in a question. Questions or answers that contain discriminatory or offensive comments about someone's nationality, religion, ethics, gender, intelligence, etc, will not be tolerated at Blurtit. If you have very strong opinions that you wish to express you might need to tone the language down a little so as not to offend other users. We appreciate that you might have strong convictions but do not hurt other Blurters with your opinion, e.g. 'you have cancer because you have sinned'. Remember that Blurtit is a family friendly international community with thousands of members varying in age, ethnic groups, backgrounds and gender. Your perspective on a subject might be based on a stereotype that could be hurtful to one of our Blurters even if you don't mean it personally. So please, always think carefully before you type!

We at Blurtit wish to create a friendly and safe environment for all our users, this code of conduct has been created with this in mind. While we welcome diverse opinions, your contributions to the site must comply with the following rule of conduct:

Users must not under any circumstance post any comment or answer that may be deemed: abusive, hateful, racist, bigoted, sexist, harassing, threatening, inflammatory, defamatory, knowingly false, vulgar, obscene, pornographic or is in any way in violation of applicable laws, rules or regulations.

Any violation of these above rules of conduct may result in the removal of a users posting, revocation of registration and the banning of the registrants email address.