How would i know if i violated the rules?

Maybe the number of your post is being updated or will show up again tomorrow. You can also check from the "discussions I've responded too" if some have been deleted which might have affected your number of post. But don't worry you have a good rating and I don't think you have violated any rules. And good idea to check on the guidelines. Maybe you'll find a good explanation there. Good luck! Keep up the good work! Have a nice day Luay! (^^,)

Don't feel bad luay. I lost about 25 points too and I have no idea how. I have been here long enough to know what is a good discussion and what I should avoid. I went back through discussions I responded to and I can't see where any got deleted. But the strange thing is, this seems to happen everytime I report someone for cheating. It may be a coincidence but I will no longer be reporting anyone. It really stinks that we have no idea of what we did to lose points. How can we correct it if we don't know what to correct.

If you respond to discussions that are in violation of the writer's guidelines here, it is possible that those discussions were deleted. This is why it is important to NOT respond to discussion that are in violation, because it hurts us and it also sends a message to the member that created them that they won't get responses for discussions that are in violation. If you yourself created any discussions or responses that were in violation of the writer's guidelines, then your discussions may have been removed. here's a link to the mylot discussion on why your discussions are considered violations and get deleted: http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/457762.aspx #3,#4, and #7 on that page are the most common reasons for why discussions are deleted. The list is a bit vague and mylot should clarify it a bit more and include a whole thing on what constitutes plagiarism here. Here is the link to the discussion guidelines: http://www.mylot.com/o/topguidelines.aspx Another common mistake and notion on mylot is that members believe that once you hit 500 posts mylot has given you permission to copy and paste everything and anything you can steal from other websites, and well that's not true and it's unethical. Plagiarism and copyright infringement is a big no-no on mylot. Rule of thumb, if you didn't write the discussion or response in your 'own' words, then you have plagiarized and possibly copyright infringed depending on where you took the text from. To avoid this, only copy a small snip or quote of text into the discussion you created about the topic, then give the link to where we can find the rest of the text. Or, just create your own discussion and give a link to where we can find more information. Hope this is helpful.

Some times we respond to discussions that get deleted. It could be one line discussions. Like what is your favorite color? Those are a no-no. Or if you started a discussion like that it could of been deleted also. Or copy and pasted discussions get deleted too. Just be careful what you respond too. Another type of discussion that gets deleted are ones that post referral links in their discussion. Good luck and welcome to mylot!