FAWM is awesome. Let's keep it that way!

These guidelines are in addition to the Terms of Service you agreed to when you registered. Please read and abide by these guidelines for a better FAWM experience for everyone.

• Keep the focus on creativity and productivity
• Everyone will be reasonable
• Everyone expects everyone else to be reasonable
• Do not be offended if someone suggests you are not being reasonable

Reasonable people think about their use of this site, and the needs of others, and adjust their behavior to meet the goals of a common good for the community, i.e., expressing what you want to say, but accepting and accommodating the needs of others. Volunteer moderators will work to make sure this principle stays on track. Mods reserve the right to remove posts from the forum which they feel may disrupt the discussion within a thread or may mislead other members.

In generally practical terms, this means:

• Keep comments constructive
• No attacks, insults, or flamewars (even if you feel attacked, insulted, or flamed)
• If you see abusive comments, use the “report abuse” button and let the moderators know.
• If you get frustrated with the site or its users, take a break and go write some songs!
• If you feel a fawmer has “cheated” (posting covers, recycling old songs, etc.), don't make a scene. Maybe it is against the ethos of FAWM (maybe not?), but that does not undermine your own achievements!

The Internet is a weird and sometimes rude place. Help us make FAWM the Internet at its best! More detailed suggestions below…

When posting songs, here's some meta data that should help others out in finding and providing feedback:

• If responding to a challenge, use the tag perscribed by the fawmer who issued the challenge (usually in the first post)
• Reserve the “favorite” checkbox () for the 2-3 songs you most want feedback on (don't just “favorite” everything). These will usually be your “best” or favorite songs, but it's meant as a guide for fawmers looking to provide feedback but don't have time to listen to all of your FAWM material.
• If you “feast” (i.e., write several songs in one sitting), flag your songs accordingly (). That way people can wait to listen to them all together, or optionally filter them out of the jukebox (some fawmers prefer to skip these when giving feedback and short on time).
• If posting songs with profanity or explicit themes, please check the NSFW or “Not Safe For Work” box (). This will let listeners know what to expect, and filter accordingly.

We like to think of our forums as being more positive and welcoming than the average web forum. Please do what you can to keep it that way. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Fawmers come from all over the world. If someone says something you find offensive, it might just be getting “lost in translation” (it's pretty hard to communicate with strangers solely in writing anyway). Even if they are being rude, you don't have to fan the flames.
• It could also be that you just don't get along. That's fine, too.
• You're not going to change anyone's mind over the Internet (see: http://xkcd.com/386/).
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Do not use personal insults.
• Do not insult other peoples' songs, websites, albums, etc.
• Please keep threads on topic!
• If there is a general thread for a topic, please do not create a new one (eg - demo updated)

Keep the focus on productivity and creativity. The minute the website or its social aspects start interfering with that, take a break. You're here to make music and musical friends.

ALSO: The community isn't very tolerant of anonymous advertising or blatant self-promotion in forums and comments. It's fine to peddle your CDs and things you are proud of in the “Off Topic” forums, but don't post links to your website all the time, etc. We get it. If people want to find you elsewhere, that's what your profile is for!

Any posts considered to be offensive/unsuitable for any reason will be removed or edited.

It is easy to mistake your watchlist for a “friends list” in many social network sites like Facebook or MySpace. However, watchlisting is not a popularity contest. The purpose of this list is to make it easier for you to keep track of the songs posted by artists to whom you intend to give feedback. You should try to keep your watchlist down to a manageable number (10-25 is recommended), or else you won't be able to keep up, and that defeats the purpose!

When commenting on the music of others, you are encouraged to be honest and respectful. Constructive criticism is welcome, but there are a range of songwriters who participate in FAWM: some are seasoned music professionals and others are writing their very first songs. Grace and humility are trademarks of good “fawmments.” Here are some rough guidelines:

• focus on the song rather than the demo (if any)
• don't discuss your rating of the song (if any)
• accentuate the positive
• generally avoid negative remarks
• phrase any criticisms in a way that suggests how to improve the song (not show off your expertise)
• check the song page or the fawmer profile for more information about the type of comments sought (e.g. go easy, be tough, seeking feedback on a particular aspect of the song)

Two particular kinds of comments are great fun to give: fawmlings (commenting on songs by newcomers to the FAWM community) and zong-busts (being the first to give feedback on a song). Look in your MyFAWM dashboard for counters and links on how to keep up with these.

Soundboards (the comment area below each fawmer’s profile and song posts) may be used to contact like-minded songwriters for encouragement and collaboration. The same rules apply here as in forums and comments.