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Guidelines
We hope that the Commentary Bank will serve as a resource for all tour directors for years to come.  For that to happen, it is important that everyone understand how it is organized and follow some basic rules.   

These rules might seem confusing at first.  This is normal if you are new to online bulletin boards.  But no technical skills are required.  Once you get familiar with it, and explore a little, it will all make sense. 

The Commentary Bank is broken up into geographic regions.  Within each regions you will find three types of forums (a forum is a place that holds related discussions or topics, which are known as threads) 

First, there is a regional discussion forum where tour directors working in that area or going to that area can discuss anything or ask questions to each other. 

Second, there is a quotable quotes forum, where you can post quotations about places within the region. 

Third, you will find the sub-regional forums, devoted to states, provinces or countries within the region.  It is there that the commentary is posted.  The commentary can include just about anything, including links, images, graphics maps and brochures.  If commentary pertains to the whole region, you can post it in the  "Regional Topics" forum located within that region.

To Review:

Perhaps the most important rule that everyone needs to follow, in order to keep the commentary organized and usable, is to

give the threads the correct titles.

Topics need to be titled correctly so that they can be sorted alphabetically.  Otherwise, it will all be a big mess.

Here's how to title a thread or topic:

[Here is an an example of what some actual topics or threads in the Commentary Bank might look like.  Once a thread is started, anyone can add additional information on that topic to it.  You can click on the word "thread" to sort alphabetically.]

If the topic is related to California, and it hasn't already been created by someone else, start a new thread in the California forum and title it like this:

The Place in California/the Topic

Here are some examples:

Anaheim/Disney Land
Anaheim/Facts and Figures
Central Valley/Agriculture
Los Angeles/Smog
Los Angeles/Wilshire Boulevard
San Diego/Good Restaurants
San Francisco/Golden Gate Park
San Francisco/Famous Residents
San Francisco/great walks
Yosemite/Geology
Sacramento/Hotels

If the topic is something related to all of California, title it like this:

California/Mission System
California/Gold Rush
California/Whales
California/Mark Twain

If the topic is a drive, from point A to point B, make sure that the topic is only a short drive, starting at one potential stop or site and ending at another.    In other words drives should be broken into short sections, no longer than you would go without a stop.  The topics should not include info about the the starting and ending point, only the road between.  The starting and ending points should be their own topics. Title drives this way:

San Francisco to Sacramento
Anaheim to Palm Springs

Then create a thread with the reverse, that refers users to the original, like this

Sacramento to San Francisco (see San Francisco to Sacramento)
Palm Springs to Anaheim (see Anaheim to Palm Springs)

Before starting a new topic/thread, make sure it doesn't already exist. 
If the topic already exists, you can add to it, by posting a reply.

Read what's already there to avoid redundancy.

Ask questions in the regional discussion area, not in the sub-regional forums, which should only contain information.  Questions will only clutter it up.  Also, it's more likely to be seen in the discussion forum.

Do not attach Word documents.  If you have your commentary in Word, simply open Word, copy the text to your clip board and the paste it into the appropriate thread.  Attachments should only contain pictures, graphics. maps, brochures or handouts.  

Post links to useful web sites.   A link should not stand alone, but should have an explanation of why you are recommending it.   In addition, you may want to include text from that web site, but do give credit to the site if you do this.

Under "Forum Tools" or "Thread Tools" you can subscribe to a single thread or a whole forum.  If the subject matter of any forum, or of any thread is of particular interest to you, you can subscribe, which means that that you will receive automatic email notifications or private messages any time someone posts something new.

No commercial postings -- spamming is a problem on all online bulletin boards.  Please report these posts so they can be deleted.  Violators will be banned from the board.

If you see a mistake ... Please consider it your obligation that all information on the board is correct.  If you see an error, first notify the author and point it out, requesting that they correct it.  (Everyone can edit their own posts)  If it is not cleared up, or if the author does not respond, then email a moderator or administrator who can also edit all posts.

Under "Forum Tools" or "Thread Tools" you can subscribe to a single thread or a whole forum.  If the subject matter of any forum, or of any thread is of particular interest to you, you can subscribe, which means that that you will receive automatic email notifications or private messages any time someone posts something new.  You can also find  a way to display a printable version or email a version under thread tools.

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