If you're starting a thread in this category...

[gwyneth]

...and it's about:

• your pet
• your relatives
• being charged a multi-million dollar (pound, rial, etc.) fee because anybody but HG or your domain registrar made a mistake
• taking better pictures
• your basement particle collider
• the worst (or best) movie you ever saw
• or any of a zillion other topics that don't have anything to do with your HostGator site

you're definitely On Topic.

But if you're asking about anything specifically relating to your HG account or site, or web applications you run, want to run, can't run, will never run again, etc., you're off topic in this category.

Note that this isn't just being prunefaced--it's for your own best interest. Posting in the right category gets you faster, more appropriate (and more) answers than posting here, because some of the forum's most expert members are sometimes too busy to read this category.

PCs at home or work? On topic--they go here.
Trying to run a private server on your own PC? Maybe on topic, maybe off, but you're more likely to get an answer in the Webhosting ("anything hosting related") category immediately above this one or the dedicated server categories if your issue is very technical.

Google giving bizarre results for you as a searcher? On topic.
Google and anything connected to your own site? Almost certainly off-topic...use the Webhosting or Site Promotion category (particularly if it's about improving your SEO).
Google stock and your trust fund? On topic.
Google phone and whether it's worth it? On topic.
Google phone and setting up your HG account's IMAP to work with it? Probably off-topic, try Webhosting or one of the account type-specific categories.
Google apps on your own PC? On topic.
Google apps running on/with your HG account's email addresses? Off topic.

Disgruntled client going nuts? It depends. If you want specific suggestions about dealing with his/her wacked-out attorney, enforcing your TOS, contracts and paperwork, the Webhosting category is probably a better bet.
Disgruntled client having a problem with WHMCS or WHMAP interaction? Off topic, use those categories.
Disgruntled client claims you set up her or his email wrong or having other issues with your or his/her site? The Reseller, Dedicated, or VPS categories are for you.
Disgruntled client eloping with your girl/boy friend and you need to rant or gloat? On topic.

What GatorWarthog (fictitious, hypothetical name) looks like? On topic, but you probably won't get anywhere.
How GatorWarthog saved the day or "ruined" your site? Off topic, try the Review category.

Wordpress (Joomla, Drupal, EenyMeenieTeenieWiki, etc.) themes acting weird when you set them up? Off topic.
Wordpress (and so on) theme on some site that hypnotizes your kid so s/he cleans her or his room, then asks whether the trash needs taking out? On topic.

Browsers interpreting your pages strangely? Off topic.
New browser that's easy/hard/strange/confusing and whether anybody's tried it? On topic.

Making a video of your newly washed aardvark? On topic.
Trying to run that video on your site and whether it will work/is allowed? Off topic.
Providing a link to your site to share that video (if allowed)? On topic.

Whether a given sentence is correct grammar? On topic.
Whether correct grammar helps your site's search results? Off topic, try the Site Promotion category.

Whether your grandma is hep enough to build a site? On topic.
Grandma trying to teach you how a cgi/perl application interacts with the server and you just don't understand? Off topic, try the Webhosting or specific account-type categories.
Grandma's site getting much better SEO than yours and she won't tell you how? Off topic, try the Site Promotion category.

Trying to push your site-related services? There's a much-underused category for you, the Web Hosting Services category.
Want to pay for a site-related service? Ditto.
Got a funny story about someone trying to sell you a site-related service? On topic.
Need advice about whether you should use a site-related service? It depends, but the general Webhosting category just above this one is probably a better bet.

[cleanxhost]

nice post!

[gwyneth]

Thanks, cleanxhost! I was afraid it sounded too hair-spray (not in the John Waters sense) but really...what's the point of having an Off Topic category if it doesn't have stuff that would be out of place anywhere else in the forum?

After all, it's just as inappropriate to appropriate the tv at the Stagger Inn to see how the long term industrial millage rate Powerpoint slides look as suggesting a drinking game at the village board meeting.

If other forum members disagree, they should pipe up...and if they agree, maybe sticky it. (I've never suggested that before about my threads, but being coy is silly.)

[mrintech]

Great Post

[gwyneth]

Thanks, Mrintech!

I'd also like to point out that the Crocs (our intermittent forum awards, usually for outrageously unreasonable posts) and Corcs (Crocs spelled backwards, for exceptionally helpful, useful, or otherwise distinguished posts) are not off-topic here because they don't really fit elsewhere.

Also, Review Reviews belong here. It's unfortunate, IMO, that they got rare after one (now banned) forum trouble-maker made them the subject of some of his many complaints. His view was that they were mindless HG defenses written by mindless HG toady customers, ignoring the fact they tended to focus more on what the review reviewers felt were really outrageous expectations or behavior on the part of the disgruntled customer doing the review.

He also deliberately overlooked that a) some of the most scathing were written by some of the forum's most helpful members; b) they were/are really educational about what is reasonable and what is unreasonable to expect from a hosting company or a type of account; c) they certainly weren't knee-jerk responses to any and all reviews disappointed with the HG experience; and d) discussion of Review Reviews included both agreement and disagreement. Allowing negative reviews in the public review category is one of HG's (and this forum's) strengths, and providing a customer counterpoint was/is too. The forum is to teach and learn, and the Review Reviews further that.

While group bullying is never OK, nor insults, personal attacks or generalization about ethnicity, religion, country, etc., it isn't any of those to point out that a review denigrating HG because a Baby account can't handle a 10,000-SKU e-commerce site is ridiculous (though 'unrealistic to the point of irrationality' may be a more tactful way to put it).

Didn't mean to go on, but couldn't explain that Crocs, Corcs, Review Reviews are On Topic here without clarifying that the only thing banned about them is using the word 'idiot' about other forum members.

[EarlyOut]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

...outrageous expectations or behavior on the part of the disgruntled customer doing the review.

Oh, I love those! In my short time here, I think I've seen about one per week.

"I canceled my account, changed my mind, provided an expired credit card number, used an email address from my former ISP, transposed two digits in my phone number, and lost my backup copies, and then when I called HG at 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, they didn't have my account up and running flawlessly within 12 minutes! I'm outraged!!!"

[Pazeh]

and this post is on topic!!

very nicely done!! thanks

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by EarlyOut

Oh, I love those! In my short time here, I think I've seen about one per week.

"I canceled my account, changed my mind, provided an expired credit card number, used an email address from my former ISP, transposed two digits in my phone number, and lost my backup copies, and then when I called HG at 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, they didn't have my account up and running flawlessly within 12 minutes! I'm outraged!!!"

EarlyOut, perhaps the all-time, all-time Review Review is:

Wallee, step on down. You've won the croc is right!

which I just reread. The only reason it didn't wake up my dog for the nth + x time is that he's two rooms away and doesn't hear as well as the previous times (or, possibly, he opened one eye and thought, 'that's gotta be either the Wallee thread or the guy with 10,000 skus and I'm just too old to deal with her juvenile sense of humor.")

[EarlyOut]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

... the all-time, all-time Review Review is:

Wallee, step on down. You've won the croc is right!

It's gonna be tough to top that one. But I have faith that someone will! Hope springs eternal..

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by EarlyOut

It's gonna be tough to top that one. But I have faith that someone will! Hope springs eternal..

As, alas, do unreasonable customers and what they expect for what they are willing to pay/do.

[EarlyOut]

Well, now, that didn't take long, did it?!

We have a new nominee: http://forums.hostgator.com/dis-satisfied-t62481.html

"My account is in arrears and has been suspended, and I'm leaving HG, but I'm angry that HG won't go out of its way to help me." Got it.

[EarlyOut]

Not satisfied with his first assinine post, he's now doubling down. I'm sure HG will be heartbroken to lose this customer.

[EarlyOut]

Oh, we've got us another live one!

http://forums.hostgator.com/still-wa...ed-t64532.html

Working himself up into high dudgeon because no one was there on a Friday night to take care of that critical step of enabling his forum access.

[gwyneth]

EarlyOut, since this is a sticky thread, it would be better to discuss specifics in separate threads.

If you (or anyone) decide to do a "Review Review", remember that the point is the merits/demerits of the review, not the reviewer. Good discussion points include: scope of expectations (reasonable/unreasonable); truthiness (sic); ANFTROTS (or, as I think it was kmaw who said, 'and now for the rest of the story'); overall tone of discourse; strength/weakness of logic; and whether there's anything to be learned.

And since the forum does not tolerate bullying, insults, and negative comments about ethnicity, nationality, etc., if a "Review Review" could be interpreted as any of those, it's absolutely not OK to write.

[gwyneth]

When I wrote the guide in this thread to staying on topic in the Off Topic category, the last section was almost an afterthought:

Originally Posted by gwyneth

Trying to push your site-related services? There's a much-underused category for you, the Web Hosting Services category.
Want to pay for a site-related service? Ditto.
Got a funny story about someone trying to sell you a site-related service? On topic.
Need advice about whether you should use a site-related service? It depends, but the general Webhosting category just above this one is probably a better bet.

But in the last week, we've had several posters starting threads that were soliciting business so perhaps this should have been clearer:

Business solicitation in this category is allowable under so few circumstances that if you're wondering if yours is OK, it probably isn't. If it's for a site-related service or product, put it in the Web Hosting category for services sought or sold. If you want to promote your site, head to the Site Promotion category, but observe the distinction between promoting your site (ok) and promoting what your site is selling (not ok).

And where, you might be wondering, should you post business solicitation for non-web related services or products--such as the mobile phones you sell from your uber-professional sounding hotmail address? You shouldn't. Not in this category; not in this forum. It's called 'spam' and we don't like it. Moreover, the fact that you haven't gotten to know the forum well enough to realize it has no place will work against any presumption of "whoops, didn't mean to..."

Note that selling your site-related service or product is fine...in the category designed for it, where it may really help a desperate fellow member. Or you may get bookmarked for future use. But when you post such a solicitation in this category, you look less professional to your prospects and you loose credibility with fellow members.

The fact that a three-step approach is actually sounding sensible (first violation, warning and thread moved; second violation, thread deleted; third, member banned for spamming) should indicate something...

[satnav]

And if it is about my pat which is having some problems related with HG...
Is that on or off topic?