The following link, which I posted in the help section, explains a little bit how to behave on internet forums.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_etiquette#Forum_etiquette
But, who wants to read when you can watch an educational cartoon?
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-behave-on-an-internet-forum
I would say that most of this is what most members here are trying to do. Except for the part about derailing threads which is a tradition around here.