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Ted

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Dec 21, 2002
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Welcome to FreeMathHelp.com!

Please take the time to read the following before you make your first post. It will help you to get your math questions answered promptly and in the most helpful manner.

Don't post a list of homework problems. Please start new threads for new exercises. Try to limit the number of questions you ask to a reasonable number per day. (There's no exact limit, but try to be polite and not abuse the service.)

Post to an appropriate category. Questions about derivatives (calculus) do not belong on the Beginning Algebra board. Questions about finding the area of a circle (geometry) do not belong on the News board. Please show appropriate care and consideration. (If you're not sure which board to use, feel free to guess.)

Try to use halfway-decent English. No, this isn't Englishhelp.com, but you'll get more help if you spell correctly. Actually, I don't care if you spell a few words wrong, but the IM speak will probably cause some people to skip over "ur" question. If we can't read it, we can't help you. :smile:

Post the complete text of the exercise. This would include the full statement of the exercise and its instructions, so the tutors will know what you are working on. Typing the exercise word-for-word also helps us to identify possible mistakes in class materials. If there is a graphic or table or some other non-textual information necessary to the exercise, please include a detailed description. You may upload appropriately sized, cropped, and rotated images directly to our server. See the FAQ, and note image-size restrictions (listed by file extension, available in the upload window). Always use the Preview Post button, to verify images, before submitting your post. Images may not render legibly for a number of reasons -- most frequently it's because the forum software must reduce extra-large images to fit the post frame. Using multiple images is better.

Show some of your work or explain where you're stuck. Don't worry that your work might be wrong; learning is a process of making mistakes, so we want to check your efforts. If you've shown no work at all, some tutors may assume that you're needing help getting started and may suggest only a first step. Other tutors may wonder if you just want somebody to do your homework. Even if you're asking only about the very end of the solution process, still include intermediate steps. Errors may have occurred earlier than you'd realized; correcting part (b) may clear up your confusion on part (d).

Preview or edit your posts for clarity.When composing your message, you may include formatting that doesn't work when the message is finally posted. For instance, the forum script strips away spaces at the beginnings of lines. (To prevent this, such as for aligning text, use Code tags and a fixed-width font, like Courier New). Kindly "preview" your submissions, to check for typographical errors and to catch other mistakes. For formatting advice on typing math expressions, try "Formatting Math as Text". For math symbols (to copy & paste), you may try sites like here or here. (For those interested in LaTex, please see this notice.)

Be nice. Everyone here is a volunteer, so treat them with respect and we will (probably) be nice in return. If we aren't … then it's probably just been a long day. If you have any conflicts, try to avoid starting a flamewar on the forum. You may post concerns on the Administrative Issues board, contact a site leader by private message, or use the post-reporting tool. For unresolved issues, please contact me personally (ted@freemathhelp.com).

Don't spam. Okay, so the spammers aren't going to read this anyway, but it's probably good to have it in writing. We don't have resources to carefully research URLs posted in threads or profile pages. If material appears at first glance to violate forum policy, it will be removed without further inquiry, and the member submitting it will be banned from the forum and the evidence/registration info reported to anti-SPAM databases. We do not allow images or links for commercial sites, promotions or advertising. This includes all apps, even if they are free, without ads. We don't vet apps. On profile pages, we allow one link to your personal web page only (no blogs, linkedIn profiles, "favorite" sites, etc). All members who desire to publish their homepage link must get permission first. Submit your request to a moderator (site leader) by private message. This is your only warning. If you post profile material without permission, we don't have time to check it; we have time for removing and reporting it. Don't spam.

Have patience. There is no paid staff waiting on-hand to give instant replies. Many of the volunteer tutors have "real" jobs, and they all have to sleep from time to time. The people "viewing" your posts may be fellow students. Please don't be offended if there are "views" but no replies. It may take hours, even days, for a tutor, qualified in your topic's area, to respond.

Don't post URLs to image-hosting sites that add extra images to their pages. We have no control over these extra images, and some of them violate forum policy. (This is a family-friendly site.) Pick an image-hosting site that does not add extra images, or reference the hosted image using IMG tags instead of posting an URL.

Don't create duplicate threads or posts.
There's no reason to do that. You won't get help faster, by repeating questions on multiple boards. Also, new members won't see their first few posts appear right away, due to SPAM control (explained here).

Well that's all I can come up with right now. I know there must be other useful things to have in this post, so feel free to make suggestions if you would like to add something, or ask if there's anything you don't understand. Post your comments on the Administration Issues board.

Thanks for visiting, and please come back!

Ted
 
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