Welcome fellow porn fans, to the Porn Pool! This is the most highly traveled forum on AdultDVDTalk, and is also where many of our new members first "dive in". As such, I thought I'd take a little time to give those who are new, and even those established members of ADT, a little introduction (or refresher, as the case may be) to our somewhat unique community.

Forum Etiquette
Hardware, DenverDon, Scipio and I (MLyons) moderate the Porn Pool, and just like the moderators of the other forums here, we do so according to a combination of rules and traditions that spring from a document called forum etiquette, which I hope everyone will become familiar with. I find that re-reading the forum etiquette on occasion reminds me of certain courtesies due to my fellow posters, courtesies that we can all too easily forget about in the dog eat dog jungle of internet anonymity. It helps to be periodically reminded to conduct ourselves here as we would in the company of friends, and that above all, we are here to have fun--and that's what forum etiquette is all about at ADT.

Honest Discussion
The Porn Pool, and ADT in general, is a forum for honest discussion of porn and all its facets. We are fortunate to have a significant amount of industry participation in our forum. By and large the industry insiders are here to interact with and get constructive feedback from the fans. ADT's forum was established on this principle, and The Porn Pool, specifically, is not a place for industry insiders to self-promote their product. Excessive self-promotion devalues ADT's usefulness as a consumer driven entity, diluting critical and honest consumer opinions with veiled advertising for movies or websites that may or may not have to do with the discussion at hand. Obviously, this is a tricky situation to balance, as many industry insiders are also consumers in their own right, and they have as valid an opinion as anyone. As a general rule of thumb, however, all promotional posts, or industry news and information should be placed in the Porn News - Press Releases forum.

I encourage all industry insiders to read Steph's Industry Insider's Introduction to AdultDVDTalk for further information on how to get the most out of ADT.

A word of caution to our fellow fans: it is critically important that we remember to post with the understanding that the industry is listening to us, and that they are people too. Criticism is welcome, as long as it is substantiated and politely delivered. Attacks on character, racism, hounding, rude or disrespectful behavior, and overzealous crusades of individual agendas that are repeated ad-nausium will not be tolerated.

Copyright Issues
ADT supports the porn industry's fight against illegal pirating of adult material. For this reason, discussion of how to make copies of copyrighted materials, the discussion/promotion of suspected copyright violators, or the sharing of adult website passwords, etc. is not allowed here.

Moving / Locking Threads
On occasion, moderators will find it necessary to move or lock a thread. Threads are moved when the moderator feels that the topic of discussion would be more appropriate in another forum--a thread started to discuss Jenna Jameson might be moved to the Star Crossed forum, for example. Threads are locked when the discussions in them are in continual discordance with the guidelines laid out in the forum etiquette. There are many reasons why a thread might be locked, including, but not limited to, when the discussion becomes circular, or overly contentious, when it duplicates topics that are discussed elsewhere in the forum, when it appears to be spam, or if it is in violation of copyright or trademark protections.

It is important to remember that no one should feel personally threatened or slighted simply because a thread has been moved or locked. These are simply judgment calls that the moderators must make in order to keep our community friendly, organized, and running smoothly.

Sometimes making the right call can be very difficult, and it's impossible for that call to be popular with all parties. However, we hope that you recognize that our decisions are made to serve a larger community, not to pick on any one person. If you feel a thread has been unnecessarily locked, send a polite email to the moderator who locked it and ask for reconsideration. If you are still unsatisfied, email Steph, the administrator of the forum, at webmaster@adultdvdtalk.com.

Links and Embedded Images
Sometimes posters like to reference other websites in our forum as a starting point for discussion. Within reason, this is allowed, but be aware that posts that look like obvious spam, that include affiliated links, or that obviously don't intend to engender any fruitful discussion will likely be deleted. When you do reference other websites as part of a discussion, it will behoove you as a poster to include active links rather than simply cutting and pasting the URL. My partner in moderating crime, DenverDon has written a very handy [link deactivated:404 - Page not found]forum tutorial[/url] that explains in clear terms some of the tricks of the forum, including how to create links. Generally ADT prefers that any images used in the forum be referenced as links rather than imbedded into posts. Please see ADT's image policy for further restrictions and information about the use of images in the forum and for reviews.

Reviews
ADT hosts thousands of consumer-written Adult DVD reviews. Anyone who is not affiliated with the adult industry can write a review, and in some cases, exceptions will be made for those affiliated with the industry to write honest, candid reviews as well. The review section of ADT is one of the most popular destinations on the entire site, and each review is read by thousands (and in some cases, hundreds of thousands) of people. If you want your voice to be heard, writing a review will reach far more people than a post in the forum will, and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you've helped some fellow porn-hounds in their search for good porn. Here is a link to where you can submit your own review.

Overall
ADT is a community above all else. Although it is intended to be a place of honest discussion it is not intended to be a pillar of uncompromising free speech (there are other places on the internet for that). To post here, you should regard your fellow posters as friends, and even though friends often disagree and debate, at the end of the day we are still friends. That is the basic philosophy that we try to live by.

I hope you've found this introduction useful. Once again, welcome to our unique community. If you're new here, many people have found their addiction to ADT will eat away at their free time like a cancer that cannot be cured. Our community can keep you coming back year after year, even after your interest in porn itself has long since abated. This is a fascinating place with a startling diversity of membership from all walks of life.

Edited by - heynow on Jul 1 2011

Edited by - flash on Jun 3 2019

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