SMNetwork is, at its core, a forum about a profession and therefore one which requires a different sort of approach to posting than your standard online social community. We do encourage everyone to explore and contribute to the discussions here regardless of your level of experience. However, one must remember when posting that the global theatre community is a small one and an
extremely talkative one. It is very likely that some of the individuals who read and post here are going to be working with you at some future point. We encourage you to consider your posts on this site from the perspective of someone who is looking to hire you as a stage manager.
Here are some things that we like to see:
- Informative topics. Be specific! If you're looking for information on how to fix a broken zipper, title your post "Need help fixing broken zipper" rather than "HELP!!!!!"
- Minimal use of exclamation points and capital letters.
- Minimal use of colored text, bolded text, moving text and smilies.
- Spellchecked posts. You can use the built-in site spellchecker.
- Proper grammar, punctuation and capitalization.
- Use of acronyms only when referring to business entities (AEA, IATSE), avoiding common "txtspeak" (OMG, yru doin tht?)
- Patience in waiting for a response to your questions. Sometimes it takes a while for us to formulate a proper reply, but that doesn't mean we haven't seen your post.
You may get a PM from a staff member referring you to this post if one of your contributions is difficult to read or posted without regard to the guidelines above. The community staff may also edit your post accordingly, although they are not obligated to do so. We do not do this to scold you or embarrass you. Rather, we do this to assist you in making the best impression possible on a community that may well be serving you throughout a career in stage management. Even if you're still in an informal environment such as a school drama club, please bear in mind that a large number of our readers are established professionals, doing this for a living. As in any situation where one is seeking advice from professionals, please post in a manner that is appropriately respectful.
Thank you!
