First of all, WELCOME. Please read the following tips and that will help us all keep the board running smoothly. These tips are compiled from the suggestions of the whole board.
TIPS FOR NEWCOMERS:
Please check through the posts to see if there is already a thread discussing your idea. If so, reply to that post rather than starting a new thread.
While this is a Harry Potter fan board, we do not stick to HP, exclusively. We request that you read back over at least a page or two of posts so you will know what topics are current and to get a taste of the way this board communicates.
Please remember that this is a message board. If you are looking to chat, there is a link from this page to a chat room. However, not many members make use of it. Chat room style posts will be deleted by the moderators.
Feel free to post off-topic messages, but do avoid pointless posts (such as, "Iz ne1 here? I totally luv Dan Radcliffe."). It is irritating and will be deleted.
Above all, please be respectful of the other board members. We have a nice little community here and we are happy to welcome in anyone who cares to be a part of it. However, we will defend, fiercely, any member (or the board, in general) on the receiving end of unwarranted or pointless abuse from a newbie.
You may discuss anything you want, which does include religion. We have a wide diverse group of people on our board, from all sorts of races, religion, ages, and countries. We all get along respectfully as friends. If you want to discuss topics of religion, keep in mind since we do have a wide group of religions on this board, not everyone will share your opinions to be truth. But, we do all respect each other and would not go and bash someone else’s religion, so please do the same, regardless of your personal opinion. This doesn’t mean you cannot discuss it, but it means do it respectfully. The same thing goes for any opinion you may have of other races, or even countries were people live.
Also, when you go and scroll threw the previous page(s) of posts, take note of people’s names and logins. Try to make your name something different then everyone else’s. Say for example “Jessica” is your name, and it is taken, try “Jess” or just make a new one completely. We only like this rule because it avoids confusion. Network 54 does not allow people to have the exact same login as someone else, but you can take the exact same name if you wanted to. That is why I feel it necessary to make note of this, because not everyone looks at the login, and if they see to “Jessica’s”, they may think it is the same person.
Also, you don’t have to be an English major to make posts, but it helps if you can read it. There have been plenty of people in the past, some maybe here still; who write so badly that it is incomprehensible. We generally don’t mind how you type, but please make sure it is readable.
Well, actually, your typing will secretly bother people if it is like "ur all gone, so l8rs..." Not a big fan of the phonetic shortcut...
More advice is that if you do want to chat, and nobody is in the chat room, make a post that says, "If anyone wants to chat, go into the chat room now. Mods can delete this after about 15 minutes" or something like that. It won't be considered pointless, since there will be a point, and you will get to "chat" if anybody comes in it.
Don't come on here as many people, you will be found out and bashed for it. People don't like feeling cheated or made fun of. What that rule means is don't use more then one name and pretend to be different people. It is okay if you make it point clear you are the same person and you are trying to decide on a name, but if you pretend to be more then one person you can and WILL be found out. If you are just bouncing between names if you get board, just tell the board to avoid confusion and maybe aggravation also. What it meant by people don't like to be made fun of or cheated, well that means do NOT under ANY circumstances pretend to be another board member just to make it look like that person said whatever it is you are planning to say and wish to not take credit for. It is just plain rude!!! You can be found out, all we have to do is have your IP matched.
If you have any problems about people, the board or something about the board, email the mods. Every mod's posts say "moderator" on them, so they are easy to spot. Their emails are available by their login.
Remember to put your name on your reply or post. Otherwise, Anonymous gets credit for all your ideas.
Also, when you respond to a post:
PLEASE respond to ONLY the FIRST post (the original one that starts the thread, NOT the first response) or the LAST post. The reason for this is that this way it will end up at the bottom. If you hit reply to a post in the middle, it will show up in the middle. When you make a post it will bump the thread to the very top since it was just posted on. If someone goes to the thread and sees no new posts on the bottom, but know there is a new post, they will have to go and look for the post threw the whole thread. It gets annoying lol!
Now, you may have noticed that with each response, the response (once posted) will move further and further to the right of the screen. If you respond to the original message, not only will you appear at the bottom, but also it will make your post at the very left. If people do that once in a while in the thread it will keep it from going so far to the right that you have to scroll across the screen to read each sentence, also something annoying.
This can also be annoying: When you put alot of characters (as in symbols, letters, or numbers) in a row with no space, it will not go down to the next line on the bottom, it will extend the screen to the far right until it ends. That gets annoying for the same reason as my last suggestion, because of the scrolling across.
Newbie status is more a state of mind than a temporal thing. If you come on to the board showing a desire to participate in a rational, respectful, amusing, decent way, you are a newbie for only a very short time. You become a regular through your actions, not the number of days you've been around. In fact, I don't think anyone could even really answer your question. You are new until you're not. Sorry that's not helpful. Now, some people are newbies forever. They never really learn the way the board communicates and never seem to get the hang of participating in discussions. Some are downright irritating. These folks earn the title, annoybie.
Just be a part of what goes on and no one will think of you in terms of any particular label.
SANDY! Next time you edit this and get rid of the bumps, can I make a suggestion for a new rule to add?
Well, it may already be on there, I'm too lazy to actually read the damned thing myself. But if it isn't on the rules, can you add something along the lines of:
"It's probably a bad idea to read something on one thread, then go make a new thread, or even respond to another existing thread and say the same thing as what someone else already said on the other thread, and make it sound like it was your original idea. That may agrivate the person who already posted. Granted you can say what you want and use what you want from other threads, but give credit where you can if it could be given credit."
I say that because I spotted some annoybie post twice today (well after midnight so once today and once yesterday I guess) useing someone elses idea from a different thread in a thread of his own, and another thread, and wording it like it just came to his head. Kind of annoying if you ask me.
"Let's all play a game of hangman! Now who should we hang"? ~Riley
"If you don't finish that crud on your plate, you won't get any crap for desert" ~Dan on the show Roseanne
"I don't boss Dan around. I'm trying to put him in touch with his submissive side" ~Roseanne
CPGKeyca = AIM
Keycas Place = AOL
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Re: Re: Re: Re: ADVICE TO NEWCOMERS - Updated March 1, 2004
No score for this post
April 5 2004, 1:45 PM
Bumping up and testing my new sig
I know the quote wasnt obviously referred to Sirius (duh! the guy who said it, an american philosopher, died in the 19th century!), but it's almost uncanny as to how it seems to apply so well to Sirius.
I found it on http://sirius.unending-dream.net/
It's unbelievable!!!!
D.B.N.G.T.M.
Sirius i luv you
Bellatrix DEAD!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil."
- John Taylor (1753-1824)
Hallie P.
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
"Let's all play a game of hangman! Now who should we hang"? ~Riley
"If you don't finish that crud on your plate, you won't get any crap for desert" ~Dan on the show Roseanne
"I don't boss Dan around. I'm trying to put him in touch with his submissive side" ~Roseanne
CPGKeyca = AIM
Keycas Place = AOL
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
D.B.N.G.T.M.
Sirius i luv you
Bellatrix DEAD!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil."
- John Taylor (1753-1824)
Hallie P.
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
"Let's all play a game of hangman! Now who should we hang"? ~Riley
"If you don't finish that crud on your plate, you won't get any crap for desert" ~Dan on the show Roseanne
"I don't boss Dan around. I'm trying to put him in touch with his submissive side" ~Roseanne
CPGKeyca = AIM
Keycas Place = AOL
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
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