Forum

From Mindat

There are a number of different topics into which the Message Board is divided. Photographs of mineralogical topics may be uploaded in the following Boards - Identity Help, Mineral Photography, Rockhounds, Scrapbook.

Boards include:

1. General - For posts that don't fit into any of the other categories.
2. Mindat Magazine - This forum has general discussions about the upcoming online Mindat Magazine.
3. Rockhounds - This forum is for general interest "Rockhound" topics.
4. Collecting - This forum is for asking about specific collecting localities or arranging field trips.
5. Identity Help - Help on the identification of mineral specimens. It is helpful if you have a photograph of the material that you can upload. Also include any locality information that you have and any tests (http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/id/mineral_id_keyi1.htm) that you have done - Acid test, cleavage or fracture, hardness, magnetism, habits, etc.
6. IMA Status - This forum is used for the posting of the official status of new minerals, any information on the properties of new minerals, and any official discreditations of minerals. Please make sure to read our rules on the announcement of new mineral species and unpublished minerals.
7. Manual - This forum is for activating memberships and any specific questions about how to use mindat.org.
8. Mineral Cleaning and Preparation - Questions and answers on how to safely clean and prepare mineral specimens for display.
9. Mineral Photography - How to take mineral photographs and recommendations on equipment and setup.
10. Mineralogical Classification - This forum is for discussions about how the various minerals should be split among various groupings.
11. Mistakes & Errors - This is the area to post questions if it appears that there are mistakes in the database or if you find some errors with the programming of the site.
12. New Features - Post your requests here for features you would like to see added to the site or if you would like some things to be handled differently.
13. Scrapbook - Board for posting comments that can be cleaned out regularly. For some time sensitive material or things you don't want hanging around this site forever. This is the only place where 'off-topic' conversations are tolerated.
14. Swap Shop - Board to set up trades of minerals. NO sales for money are allowed here, this is strictly swapping of minerals for minerals.
15. Foreign Language boards - There are a number of foreign language boards for people who feel more comfortable in their native tongues. These are for asking questions about how to use mindat.org pages as well as general mineralogical topics. Currently these include chinese, german, italian, french, dutch, spanish and portugese forums.

Rules:

• Good taste and decorum are expected of posts.
• Unsuitable posts will be deleted (this is a board devoted to mineralogical and geological topics).
• Posting of items for sale will be deleted.
• Young persons should not post any identifiable information (address, phone, etc.) on this board since it is open to the web.
• HTML code is not allowed in the messages - it won't work (see BBCode section for formatting instructions).
• Please post your message on only one board. Multiple posts may all be deleted from the site.

The guidance on registering accounts with pseudonmys are:

1. We prefer you don't do it and use your real name, however there are some people (under 18s, paranoid people, those hiding from the law, etc!) who prefer not to, and so in general it IS allowed to use a pseudonym on this site.

2. You may NOT register a second 'anonymous' account if you already are registered on mindat with your real name.

3. You cannot add photos and new mineral data to mindat (except in exceptional cases where mindat management know your identity and have the ability to contact you if problems are found).

4. You should refrain from commenting on threads giving positive or negative opinions about commercial products or dealers as these messasges will in general be deleted if there is no real name given by the poster.

5. You should refrain from commenting in the 'IMA Status', 'Mineralogical Classification' and 'Money Grubbers' messageboard sections. Anonymous/pseydonym postings in these areas are likely to be deleted.

6. You should under no circumstances feel that your hidden identity gives you the freedom to post things that you would not be comfortable to say if people knew your real identity. Even the slightest bit of controversy in your message can be a reason for it to be deleted. Your messages are more likely to be deleted than those of a member who gives their full name.

7. These rules may change if and when people start abusing this privilege, and if so pseudoyms will be banned outright.

8. Using your commercial company name as a pseudonym is allowed ONLY if you are a paid mindat advertiser, or you have agreed in advance with me about the use of your name OR if you are a non-commercial geological organization/club, or a bona-fide museum or university.

9. In any case, should Mindat management dislike for whatever reason a particular registration name you have chosen we can ask you to change it, even if it abides by the guidance given above.

Chat (chatroom - next section), and the Scrapbook and Rockhounds forums are more informal in nature.