If you could give ten tips

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

If 90% of the posters in the thread tell you that you are being an ass, you might want to rethink your position. Or at least rethink your approach.

22

This thread has turned into a brilliant first stop for any new doper. All of the answers are greatly appreciated, and made for a good read.

It took me nine months of reading to build up to the opening post, and I think it was worthwhile. So I hopefully am on the right side of the “Read more than you post” suggestion put forward by Eureka.

Thanks for all your answers.

23
  1. Say thank you. If you’ve asked for advice, asked for an answer to a specialized question, asked for help: acknowledge Dopers’ responses. On preview, I see you’ve already learned this one. I’m pretty sure this qualifies you to proceed to the current initiation thread, which I only just now noticed contains a board no-no. I’ll put it in a spoiler box for those who want to test themselves:

It’s the revival of a very short 2002 thread; the preferred method in most cases is to start a new thread with a link to the old one.

  1. Read all the forum rules. Read them more than once. Go back and read them again periodically.

  2. Read threads in About This Message Board. Some of them are meaningless, but there are lots of opportunities for learning about board standards and history.

  3. If you have a computer question for General Questions, read the sticky about computer questions. Chances are, there’s an answer in there already.

  4. Have fun. Don’t take this place so seriously that you contribute to trainwrecks. Don’t take it so lightly that you violate rules.

As others have said, this is a very cool place because of the people who post here. There’s amazing 1) variety in opinions, 2) depth of knowledge, 3) range of humor, 4) amount of concern.

Welcome! (And excellent opener, by the way.)

GT

24

When you’re ready to hit submit, copy and paste your post first. I wish I had a dime for every time someone says, "I had a really great post but the hamsters ate it.

If you make a claim but don’t have a cite, people will call you on it. Provide a link when you make a claim like “More people drink beer than wine.” Of course, some people will sneer, “That’s a biased cite!” But do it anyway.

Some people think it’s required to curse in the Pit. It’s not.

25

Do not:

Hide thinly veiled pleas for help for your budding posting career in the OP. EVAR.

26

  1. Don’t start threads on too specialized a topic. I know musical theatre and soap operas do not attract a lot of posters. If someone else starts a thread, however, you can jump in with your astonishing amount of knowledge.

  2. The Administrators are your friends. No, really. If you have a “should I or shouldn’t I” moment, ask an Admin.

  3. It doesn’t hurt to suck up occasionally (see tip #2).

  4. Don’t post while drunk or high. Unless it’s funny.