I’ve been lurking and reading for a month and finally registered. I’ve read the FAQ’s and here and there have found hints on SD etiquette, dealing with trolls, to bump or not bump up a long string, etc–but my search for a consolidated “hints for newbies” came up empty. Sooo…anybody have any advice before i make a complete idiot out of myself? [yeah yeah i know, i’m not a complete idiot–some parts are missing : ) ]
inconceivable? i don’t think that word means what you think it does
One of my tricks: if someone does something I like (insertion of a picture, different font color, etc.), I find out how they did it via the reply-with-quote feature. That is, click the icon that has the red arrow on it. It is the rightmost icon on the same row as the time&date stamp. Then I can read the ubb codes that accomplished whatever was cool.
Tinker
Read twice, reply once. And don’t start any pit threads for a good three months.
“You CAN’T be evil. 'Cos no matter how many ‘bad’ things you do on purpose,
you MUST be doing it because you think it’s the right thing to do.”
A month of lurking probably is more than enough for you to have a pretty good feel for this place. If you haven’t already, it also wouldn’t hurt to buy a few of Cecil’s books. This gives you a good overview Cecil’s world, and the later ones include sample postings from the earlier message board.
OK, you want Tips & Tricks? Here’s one.
The moderators keep hammering away at us about this: Trust the CGI!
They’re right. Once you hit that “Submit Reply” button, DON’T TOUCH IT AGAIN! Even if the whole board crashes, it will still go through. Some people ended up with double posts yesterday because the board went down in the afternoon (at least, I’m assuming I couldn’t get through because the board crashed–maybe it was Palestinian terrorists in the office, who knows?), and they assumed that their posts didn’t go through. Well, I am here to tell you that they did.
I know, saying “trust the computer” doesn’t sound right, but it is.
Louie: if you’re within the sound of my voice, I want to tell you that you were absolutely right about me getting kicked out of the reply window because Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the backspace key should tell the computer “Back”. Evidently they didn’t solicit any input from serious typists before they made that decision.
So all I have to do is rethink 30+ years of touch typing, huh? Just remember to stop in between typing the oopsie and backspacing with my right pinky, in order to reach over, grab the mouse, and click on the window to make sure the cursor knows what planet’s it’s on?
Retard. :mad:
(Bill Gates, not you! 
)
Good thread. I didn’t get here in time for the particular tips to be new for me, but others will benefit from the interactive nature of this.
I’m always here to help.
Louie
whatever for?
First; Always try the search engine before posting a question. A lot of topics have been discussed here and you may find yours among them. Otherwise, at the very least, you may find your question being ignored by people who already are bored with the subject or, worse yet, you may innocently step into the middle of a subject that is already a source of argument. So search in the archives here and on the home page. And for good measure consider a Yahoo or Google search as well.
Second; Right or wrong, many people here have a high standard of how the English language is used. Try to make sure your grammar, punctuation, and spelling is correct.
Third; Don’t whine. Don’t grovel. Don’t brag. And don’t claim to be an expert unless you can prove it. There’s a lot of smart people here who know a lot of different subjects, so don’t think you’ll go unchallenged.
Four; Trolls and sock-puppets are not welcome.
Five; Relax. Enjoy yourself. This is only a Board. Any mistakes made here will not count against you in real life.
OK, here’s my list of things not to do. Most people don’t do these things, but some do, and they don’t usually get treated well for it.
Post in the correct forum. Especially when it comes to complaints. MPSIMS is not the place for that.
Don’t whine about the treatment newbies get. If you do, do it in the Pit, and expect to be flamed.
Don’t tell the regs how to behave.
Don’t start a new thread for everything you say. Respond to other people’s threads. If you have something smart to say, more people will read it if it’s in, say, a WallyM7 thread.
Don’t take everything personally. Especially in Great Debates, people will challenge points you make, and won’t be overly polite about it.
Appreciate that this is a MB filled with intelligent people who like challenging questions, and that any question that can be answered by looking it up on Altavista is not appreciated.
Don’t start threads that cover well trodden ground. For example, don’t post “Any evolutionists out there?”, because it’s been done numerous times.
Don’t make wild assertions without some way of backing them up. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You can’t say “Don’t vote for Bush because he’s a part of the NSA conspiracy to erode our privacy” and expect everyone to take it on your word alone.
Don’t develop a “Friend” who’s only purpose on the board is to chime in with support for you when you get outspoken.
And this above all, don’t be a jerk.
But, you seem to be off on the right foot already. Good luck.
If I read you right, waterj2 your list of things not to do begins like this:
Do not Post in the correct forum.
Do not Appreciate that this is a MB…
…Sorry, I’m just one of those standard bearers Little Nemo mentioned…
You’d think that Superman would be a good person to invite to a barbecue but trust me, he’s not. I mean, sure he can cook the hot dogs fast with his heat vision, but they all taste of charred eye boogers.
The only exception to this I can think of is when you get the flood control page. When this happens the script has not sent your post.
Actually, that only happens when you’ve changed focus from the text box to something else (like a button). So long as you have a caret in the text box, backspace backspaces.
Tinker Grey
Many thanks for your tip.
A specific question…what is trolling and how do I avoid it? Seen several people chided for it.
Illiterate in Northern Ca
Trolls come and, mostly, go. Some though have stuck around. Our currently active troll is bedboy; look at some of his posts and see if it occurs to you why he’s getting a poor reception here. Just go to the top of the page and find the search function (just below and to the right of the Reply button) and run a search (it’ll go quicker if you limit it to five days) on his user name (which I think is actually bedboy4).
While the occasional innocent newbie is sometimes labelled a troll, trollish behavior is easily avoided. Put simply, it is “posting with the intent of pissing other people off”. The quickest way to spot a troll is someone who almost exclusively posts in their own threads. Not all people who do this are trolls, but trolls almost always do this. If you follow the divine doper mandate (“don’t be a jerk”), you’ll be fine, unless you are using some bizarre, heretofore unknown, definition of jerk (e.g. the third derivative of position).
This is an UL??? Who could know?
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Are you stuck on stupid?
Here’s my two cents:
Become familiar with some other sites that can give you information that might help you come across as a gullible idiot.
Here’s a few of my bookmarks:
The Computer Virus Myth Homepage
The AFU & Urban Legends Archive
The Urban Legends Reference Pages(better known as “Snopes”)
The Skeptic’s Dictionary
Urban Myths, Legends, Folklore, and Fairytales
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)(Debatably the best place to go for info about movies and TV shows.)
Refdesk.com(An incredible site with links to tons of reference sites on the web.)
Enjoy.
God is my co-pilot. Blame Him.