the Pro Posted:

So everyone needs to check that thread every time before they post? I don’t think that’s reasonable.

Any other reasonable solution requires the users to check SOMEwhere. A black bar, for example, is only effective as long as it’s displayed. This does nothing for someone who goes on vacation for a week or two. And some people bookmark directly to the forum pages and so wouldn’t see it anyway (this has happened before).

So if the user has to check SOMEwhere for the posting rules, I can think of no better place than the very place where they’re posting.