JavaScript Room: Unofficial Rules.

JavaScript Room

Unofficial Rules and Guidelines.

Basics

  • Do not spam. This is a fairly simple rule, do not repost questions because you did not get an answer right away. It was likely we read it and just didn't care. Tough luck. There are times when the room gets carried away with images or oneboxes, but this is no excuse to make a habit of it.
  • Do not be a Help Vampire... Seriously, we all have to learn this shit and you should too! Don't expect us to write your code for you unless you are willing to shell out a bit of dough. For more details see Asking for Help.
  • Do not mass ping people. If you are not getting help or attention pinging random users will not get you any further, and will just annoy everyone. It is a great way to ensure you get no help and ignored.
  • If you are going to post code, please learn how to properly format it. The chat formatting is pretty simple and a quick visit to our FAQ should clear some things up for you. Be Warned! Unformatted code will likely be binned.
  • Generally we like to be respectful. This does not mean we cannot disagree or have a constructive argument, but name calling and offensive behaviour will not be tolerated.
  • If you want to play with the ChatBot please do so in the Sandbox room. Don't flood the JavaScript room learning commands or trying to hack hangman.
  • There is no need to ask to ask a question. For more details see Asking for Help.
  • The room title is JavaScript, which only implies we all have some interest in the language. That does not strictly limit the topic of conversation to JavaScript, and often it is not about JavaScript. Please do not interrupt and complain about this, if you have a comment about the language toss it in and if someone is interested they will stop and help.
  • THE GAME!

Etiquette

This is a very simple guideline for everyone to follow. We are all adults and come from different walks of life, we will not always see eye to eye on political or religious topics... However this is also the internet and these topics do come up from time to time. Please be respectful when discussing them and be prepared to cease discussion if someone asks you to. I am not for censorship but there is a proper forum for this type of discussion and in the case of someone being offended by it that forum should then be used in lieu of this one.

Some people see languages as religions, this cannot be avoided. We all hate Java but we shouldn't lynch the people who write it. CoffeeScript might not be your cup of joe, so if someone is soliciting help in it, just ignore the conversation. Please use common sense while chatting in the room. We don't want to flag people but we will.

Swearing is tolerated so long as 1) you are not using it to insult another user. 2) you are not throwing around curse words like a 10 year old at summer camp. We understand emphasis and frustration can result in a fuck or two, but just try not to get out of hand.

Animated gifs are fun, and often entertaining and we all (mostly) enjoy them... at first. There is a timeout on editing posts, please take note of how long said timeout is and "un-onebox" the gif before it is too late. People like to enjoy the gif once, maybe twice, but over and over until the conversation pushes it off screen is annoying.

You may have already noticed there is a ChatBot in the room (often), and you can make him say or do evil things. Please do not abuse the Bot unless you really, really, REALLY must. If you make the bot say something stupid of offensive then we will flag you not the bot. I cannot re-enforce this enough: Please use common sense while chatting.

Often you might want to reward someone for providing stellar help in the chat. But how do you ask? Find a well written (usually highly rated already) question or answer of theirs and toss it an up-vote. Remember not to go wild, one will do (seriously).

Having a single unified language in the chat is a must, and this language is English. We cannot allow conversation to go on in multiple different languages and if you must do this please create a new room with the user or users you wish to speak with. This is not to discriminate against non-english speaking people, it is merely to control some order and consistency in the room. With that said, all non-english messages (outside of themed arguments) will be binned and an appropriate link to these rules will be dropped.

Asking for Help

  • Are you a help Vampire?
    1. Do you get more code from Stack Overflow than you write on your own?
    2. Do you feel entitled to help from Stack Overflow users?
    3. Do you believe in the philosophy "Just use jQuery"?
    4. Do you spend more time looking for the right "plugin" than you likely would writing it on your own?

    If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, there is a good chance you are a Help Vampire. Sorry.

  • 10 simple steps to not being a Help Vampire.
    1. Show effort: We really like to see that you are trying to achieve your goals on your own first.
    2. Be ready to be wrong: Often we suggest you take a new approach.
    3. Don't ask for help before doing the research yourself: If my google search returns your answer in the first three links, you are doing it wrong.
    4. When given resources to learn, use them. We do not like repeating ourselves.
    5. Do not beg for help: If you have asked once and we ignore you then move on.
    6. Contribute to the community: We like to help people who also like to help people, it's pretty simple.
    7. Don't ask for code: Pseudo code is more than helpful and will set you on your way.
    8. Ask for help finding the answer, do not ask for the answer: we are not here to do your work.
    9. Be polite: We are helping you, no need to be rude.
    10. Crack a joke or two: who doesn't like to laugh.
  • How to format your code.

    Formatting your code is very simple, and so long as you can remember two rules you will be a code formatting master in no time.

    1. Inline code needs to be wrapped in ``. Take for example this text "How would I parse `object.property`?", would turn into:
      How would I parse object.property?
    2. If your text contains a hard line break (not a natual overflow) then inline formatting (``) will no longer work. YOU MUST AT THIS POINT USE FIXED FONT.
      To use Fixed Font you can either press CTRL+K or press the "Fixed Font" button on the right of the input.
      Note: Fixed Font insets a tab before the text, this is the same as main site code formatting.

    Tools have been made to help with text formatting in the chats. See Useful Links for more information.

  • When is it appropriate to use a paste service?

    If you are thinking about pasting some code into the chat for review or discussion please use a paste service if the code is over 15 lines long. This is not a hard rule, but it is just a nice thing to do. Always remember formatting when posting code, even in paste services.

    For a list of paste servies see See Useful Links.

  • How to link questions from the main site?

    Links to main site questions on any Stack Exchange site will onebox in the chat. So, if you would like to post a link to your question please post it by itself, not additional text (in that post). This way we can see the onebox and get a little more information at a glance, it will also help your chances of having the question viewed.

    Please don't spam links to your question. Most regulars will browse the transcript if they have missed a bit of time, this is when your question will be seen. The active people in the room don't need to see it posted 4 times with the question, "Anyone?".

  • Don't ask to ask questions!

    This has to be the biggest annoyance for any room owner or regular. We are on a Question and Answer site; so yea, I'm pretty sure it's ok for you to ask a question here.

    Keep in mind that asking to ask a question will invoke snarky remarks and will hinder your questions chances of being answered. So once again, just ask your damn question!

Useful Links

JavaScript Resources

Frequently Asked Questions