# Things a newbie should know (Help!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284 "2002-09-06T14:20:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/21 "2002-09-07T22:52:06Z")
Well, I’ve been here for a little bit (not still a newbie, I think) but I still haven’t gotten a lot of the abreviations people use… like WAG, IIRC, etc. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/22 "2002-09-07T22:55:26Z")
wag - wild ass guess iirc - if i recall correctly etc - hmm… Latin for ??? so on and so forth 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/23 "2002-09-08T01:27:14Z")
Latin for “et cetera” (pronounced “EHT KEHterah.”) It means “and the rest.” Also, in **Cafe Society** , or in any forum, remember that posting spoilers without notification in the thread title or within the spoiler tags is frowned upon. The ending of _The Sixth Sense_ was ruined for me in that way. It was a “Very Bad Thing.” ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/24 "2002-09-08T02:01:10Z")
As a newbie myself I thought I would take this opportunity to ask some questions of my own… How do you make that “Spoilers” box with the black background and black font? What do these terms mean: Witnessing Trolling Hijack I would like to know so that I may be able to use them in the proper context in the future. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/25 "2002-09-08T02:17:41Z")
Spoiler box: {spoiler]Text that you want in the spoiler box.[/spoiler] Replace the initial { with a [. Witnessing - giving testimony as to one’s deeply held religious convictions, to be done in GD Trolling - posting inflammatory remarks designed to evoke angry reaction, solely for that purpose Hijack - to post a response to a thread that points the discussion away from the subject described in the OP ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/26 "2002-09-08T05:46:23Z")
To give examples, for those of you who learn visually… **Witnessing** … Being a newbie on the SDMB is kind of like being a newbie Quaker. Initially, you have doubts, but if you just let God into your heart, and let the love of Christ take hold, you will achieve wonderful things through your relationship with Him. So, for all of you reading this thread, I sincerely hope you find out about the Truth of the Gospels. I pray for you all. God bless. **Trolling** … This thread sucks. Newbies suck! Anyone who doesn’t know the rules of the SDMB should be BANNED immediately. Anyone who disagrees with me should be shot. PROVE ME WRONG! I DARE YOU! Otherwise, you suck. **Hijacking** … Speaking of being a newbie, I was a newbie in Napster before I knew the ropes. And let me tell you, it was great to finally get the program working. I loved downloading music at my convenience, but the government shut it down. They’re trampling on freedom of speech! The record companies just want to squeeze the last ounce of money from the public. I think that they are in the wrong, and that file-sharing should be legal again. Who’s with me? Those are examples. Hope it clears things up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/27 "2002-09-08T05:53:46Z")
If you haven’t already done so, go to the “About This Message Board” forum and read all the faq/sticky threads carefully. Also read the message board faq (button in the upper right corner of every page). And welcome! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/28 "2002-09-08T12:54:46Z")
And stop picking your nose! Fer God’s sake, we can all see you. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/29 "2002-09-08T14:11:01Z")
If you make a tiny mistake (such as typos, the wrong to/two/too, then/than, teh instead of the, :plays the harpsicord:, whatever), do not, I repeat, DO NOT post a second time only to say, “Damn the smilies!!! that was _supposed_ to say : plays the harpsicord :!!!” Yeah, we’re a pretty intelligent bunch, I think we can figure it out. BTW (by the way), : blahblahblah : indicates action. There’s a thread in ATMB (a couple, if I’m not mistaken) re: acronyms. This would be a good time to familiarize yourself with the search function because, to be real honest, I’m just too lazy to look it up for you. Also, I’d like to point out that dantheman’s last post here really cracked me up. (Seriously, I’m giggling. Funny, funny stuff.) I will not, however, run in here screaming, “OMFG, dude! I’m totally LMAO!! I spewed ketchup/soda/juice/mucus/cheese doodles/whatever all over my keyboard/monitor/favorite N’Sync action figure!!! Somebody toss me the Bounty!” I will _especially_ not do that if that’s the only reason I’m posting. Never, never, NEVER post the complete lyrics to a song. Never post the complete work of anyone who isn’t you. There are copyright issues there and I seriously think Eutychus is on the brink of insanity because of people posting songs and whatnot. Really, he’s a sweet guy and everything, but I think he’ll maybe kill you if you do it. There are thousands and thousands of things you could (and probably will) do that will piss off someone here. It’s pretty impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. We can help you out plenty by posting more of the obvious “rules” here, but the best way to learn is to participate. Welcome to here and happy posting! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/30 "2002-09-08T14:58:30Z")
**Don’t care about your post count, or other people’s post count.** Judge people by the content of their posts, and the way they carry themselves around the board. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/31 "2002-09-08T15:23:41Z")
\ Oh, and when you are using that Search function, it’s best if you search one forum at a time, rather than all of them at once. This means that the system retrieves data from just the one forum, rather than the entire database, thereby saving wear and tear on the server. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/32 "2002-09-08T16:40:35Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. The search function is your friend. It’s usually bad form to ask a question that has already been answered elsewhere or bring up a debate that’s been beaten to death eighty times already unless you’ve got new data or a different angle to bring up. Almost every “Great” Great Debate has been beaten to death a million times. But if you want to debate it again, you can start a new thread (its easier than going through six pages of a thread started two years ago where you want a poster who isn’t around any more to clarify something). You will probably have someone link to the old thread. Some of the people will come back and rehash the same old over a over again. Others will have lost interest in the topic, but there will be new people willing to discuss “Is there a God.” We are terribly patient with Newbies - there is no SDMB hazing process and we will extend the benefit of the doubt - unless your first couple of posts indicate you are a troll or sock puppet (troll has been defined, sock puppet is when we have reason to believe you are actually someone who posts here (or used to post here but got banned) using another user name). Hang out, read and learn. There have been several successful posters who find the site, post a lot immediately, earn a good reputation and stick around. But most people start a little slow. Unless you earn yourself a reputation for being particularly note worthy (good or bad), it may take months and hundreds of posts before you begin to feel like anything other than a newbie. Its ok, some of the people with a thousand posts still feel like no one knows who they are. ---
**Author:** ![lynn73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@lynn73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynn73)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/33 "2002-09-08T22:11:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by liirogue \* > \*\*Well, I’ve been here for a little bit (not still a newbie, I think) but I still haven’t gotten a lot of the abreviations people use… like WAG, IIRC, etc. \*\* I don’t know all the abbreviations either. Nor do I know how to link something. Are there instrutions for technical dummmies? ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/34 "2002-09-08T22:21:39Z")
[Abbreviations](http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm), [vB codes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?action=bbcode) (including how to link something), and the source of all this wonderful information, the[Technical Issues FAQ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103503), which is also a sticky in ATMB. (Abbreviations and vB Codes links provided by **Arnold Winkelried** in the Technical Issues FAQ thread. After all, proper citations are important.) Happy linking, BTW! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/35 "2002-09-08T22:21:57Z")
Everybody with an e-mail address eventually receives a page of cute questions stolen long ago from two or three famous comedians. They really have no answers, and we’ve swatted them down again and again. Please don’t post them here. Some folks get snappish about that. You also may come across a page of “little known facts.” We’ve repeatedly dissected them and skinned the phony ones. You can find the threads by Searching. My current signature line refers to some of these no-nos. I discovered, though, that if you change your sig, all past posts will carry the new sig. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/36 "2002-09-08T22:31:22Z")
If you want to post a link, move your curser up to the address bar at the top of the toolbar. Click on it so it turns blue. Then press ctrl + c. Go to the top of the response box, just to the right of the vb code box. Click on the box that says http://. If you want to say something clever, like “look” or “see” or “link”, type this into the box that will appear. Click ok. Then another box will appear. Press ctrl + v. The address to the site should appear. Click ok. I am not an expert. I see some folks practice this stuff in the “about this message board” forum. People also practice or test signatures and stuff. It is pretty cool. Check it out.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284/37 "2002-09-09T00:05:21Z")
Also, the system is set up to automatically parse URLs, meaning that the coding is inserted for you. All you need to do is type the actual website name. For example, when I type [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com), URL will become a hyperlink when I post this message. If you’re ever unsure, click Preview Reply after you compose a post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-newbie-should-know-help/127284.md?page=1)