Ok how does GB forum work? Where do I post this...exactly?

I'm sorry if there's an FAQ somewhere, but I have been looking and I can't find it. Got a few questions. It's been a couple of months since I started posting here and there's still some things I'm not quite clear on.

I still haven't quite figured out how this works on GB and there's one thing in particular that's kind of confusing. I'm often seeing the same threads in both the General Discussion and console specific forums.

Is it ok or generally frowned upon to have multiple threads on the same topic since console specific threads end up getting bumped up in the General Discussion forum anyway? Or game specific threads and console specific threads? Or is this more of a loose issue, because I'm seeing it all the time?

How exactly does one decide if news can be posted in the General Discussion board or if it's inappropriate and needs to be in a console or game specific board? What's considered typical forum etiquette? Is there a thread we can go read about things like this? Perhaps a simple rule of thumb to follow?

And where does a thread like this one belong exactly...General Discussion or Off-Topic? Or is there an FAQ board? I couldn't find that either.

I've learned you can't post Youtube videos without commentary. But as far as this subject goes, I'm still lost.

It's not really explained in the one at the top of this forum.

SILENCE! do not expose the flaws in the system.

There shouldn't be multiple threads period

Things that I would put under general discussion are topics in which no one specific game is the central part of the discussion. Topics about gaming as a broad discussion would go there.

If the topic is about a specific game then put it in it's own board.

It is considered youtube spam if you just post a video with no text backing what you are showing (generally 1-2 paragraphs)

Always be Off-Topic.

Ok an announcement by a manufacturer that's platform specific Vita/PS4 bundle, FiFA/X1. General Discussion or console specific or both?

A piece of new game reveal(aka Killer Instinct video)...K.I. forum or Xbox One forum or both? If you post it in the game specific forum, then it appears there and General Discussion, but not the Xbox One forum. That seems wrong.

I feel like general discussion is just that, general discussion. You can post anything you want here about video games or giant bomb, specific or not.

A killer instinct video for example should go in the killer instinct forum but its fine if it goes in the xone forum or the general discussion forum but it should Never be in all three.

Its ok to post about specific things in non specific boards but not the other way around

A thread like this, because it is about Giant Bomb is in the proper place here.

I think the Forum Rules largely speak for themselves on this subject:

• Posting threads in the wrong forum: Every game and platform has their own forum, please use those when creating topics on the message boards. If a topic is about a game, a platform, or a character, it belongs in that forum. Threads about videogames or Giant Bomb go into General, and everything else goes into Off Topic. Please note that this is not optional; threads will be moved when appropriate and users who refuse to post topics in the correct forum may have their posting privileges revoked.

• Duplicate threads: Be sure to use to the forum search to check that the thread you are creating doesn't already exist, as duplicate threads are subject to removal.

In general, avoid creating two threads about the same subject, and create threads on the most specific forum that makes sense.

Example 1: Should go onto PS4 or Xbox One boards

Example 2: K.I board only

@alexglass: Moderator here. Hopefully these will answer your questions:

• Duplicate threads are against the forum rules and will be locked.
• If a thread pertains to a specific platform or game, it goes on the board for that specific platform or game. If it's more general than that, it goes in General Discussion.
• There's never really been a hard rule on where meta threads about the site itself belong, but I'm of the opinion that they're more suited to General Discussion.
• There's no FAQ board, however, if you want to discuss or ask questions about editing and tools on the site, there is the site Editing & Tools board.
• To expand on the YouTube video thing, the rule is a little more complicated than that. Essentially we're against threads created to showcase YouTube videos that have nothing to do with games, promote YouTube content of specific users, or show off a video about video games without any greater commentary. There are some exceptions to these rules though. We do allow threads that promote videos based around Giant Bomb content, for example remixes of podcast clips or live shows. We also allow a select few friends of the site to promote their YouTube content here, and we also allow people to post trailers and similar content related to games if they don't exist in the site's video section proper.
• For any and all questions you can PM the mod team using the button on the right hand side of the forums.

Not so much duplicate, but the same topic posted by 2 different people is what I'm seeing a lot of. Like someone posts something in the General Discussion and another person might go check the Xbox One forum, and not see it and posts it in the console specific forum. So it shows up twice in the General Discussion forum. Like I posted the X1/FIFA bundle in the General Discussion. Then someone else posted it in the Xbox One forum. Then I don't know which one to bump or continue when an update occurs.

And I guess that would apply to games/console specific as well.

@alexglass said:

We call those duplicates. If you see a duplicate thread, flag it, or better yet inform the mod team via PM. We will lock the second thread and keep the original.

Gotcha. Thanks.

Just consider what a mess the forum page for the XOne would be if every post about a game on that console also linked there. A console forum should be linked only to posts regarding the console itself specifically.

Granted, there's room for a big grey area. Say, if you're discussing how a game on the XOne has such and such unique feature/problem/whatever, then I'd say adding it to the console forum as well is all good. With my own posts, I try to just consider what a user browsing a specific forum wants to see. Someone checking out the XOne page probably isn't looking for a general post about K.I., but if it's about how K.I. is an example of the possibilities of free to play games on the XOne, then it might be of interest there.

Also, it's awesome to see someone give a shit about forum organization. Post on!