Originally written by Nikki, but I'm moving it to a new thread so the n00bs see it. After literally minutes reading past PM's I've received off people and looking at comments posted all over the site, I came up with a great (or maybe not so great) idea to make the impossible: A guide to the LPA forums. "Why not?" I said to myself "I can answer most if not all FAQ's in one post" So kids, here we go: Presented by t3h Kat, I bring to you - The LPA's guide to the LPA forums... Ok. First thing's first. Familiarize yourself with the forums, make sure you know which button does what - Sounds simple I know, but I once had a PM asking me what the "post" button did (don't worry, that was somewhere else, not here ). Most basically of them all: READ THE FORUM RULES. They’re not there to make the forum pretty, but to lay down rules that NEED to be followed. I mean this when I say it, but if you don’t take those rules into heart you WILL get warned or maybe even banned. *********************** The Grand old POST function. This is where most people fail miserably or gain a great reputation. Make sure you post in the right forum, so you don’t end up with a “What colour are your socks today” topic in the Announcements forum and a “LP RUL0RZ!!11” in the Artists Gallery. Please take this point seriously, because it gets really boring having to move topics all the time and it also saves you looking silly when we have to move it. Be original with your topics. Make sure there isn’t another topic exactly the same as it. (It doesn’t matter if the other topic is dead though, but if there is another topic like yours that still has people posting in it-don’t make the new topic). Simple as that. Another note - you can't make a poll in the Newbie Camp. God knows why; but hey =P And for the love of god, read the rules. And follow them, obviously. *********************** Functions while posting. You’ll see loads of stuff around in the post window. There’s the actual text box (Where your text goes, obviously). There are little helpers for BB code (Things such as Bolden, Italicize etc...), smilies and some other stuff that’s easy to see. All of this is to make your post stand out-HOWEVER; DO NOT GO OVERBOARD WITH ALL THESE TAGS (or else I’ll be forced to gouge my eyes out). A small amount of tags is good, yes, but having every single word a different colour just pees everybody off. Keep that in mind. The EDIT function is very very important. If, after you’ve posted whatever you’ve wanted to post you see a mistake – USE THE EDIT BUTTON TO CORRECT IT, INSTEAD OF DOUBLE POSTING! (Oh you can tell that gets on my nerves can’t you?) *********************** Why aren't my posts showing up? All members who have under 50 posts will have their posts go into a queue and we must approve them. This is due to an increase of, oh, how shall I put this nicely....complete idiots registering and posting crap. We're not saying what you post is crap, but it just helps keep the boards clear of junk. Do not submit posts twice if they do not show up! Nothing is wrong with your computer or the forum if it doesn't show up immediately. We have to approve it! We typically approve them within an hour or two, but depending on our schedules and the time of day, it may be a bit longer. If I see a post in the queue twice, I delete both of them, no matter how good of a post it was. If your post still never shows up, we probably deleted it. Posts that break the rules are deleted. Posts that contribute absolutely nothing to the conversation are deleted. And posts that require us to get out the Dumb 12 Year Old Kid Chatting in an AOL Room-ese to English dictionary get deleted. It's not that hard to use proper grammar and spell things correctly. If we can't read it, we don't approve it. FAQ’S: Q: Why can’t I edit my post? -----A: You might have clicked the edit button on somebody else’s post instead of your own. Q: I double posted, what do I do?! -----A: No worries, just edit your second post asking for it to be removed...or...something Q: Can I edit someone else’s posts? ----A: No Q: Can I use my own fonts in posts? -----A: Sure you can, just remember that the other people might not have it installed on their computers – So what turns out to be CType or Dragonwick to you, may turn out to be Arial for everyone else Q: Can I double post? -----A: If you want us telling you off then yes. *********************** General behaviour on the boards... This is a huge issue, not just on this forum, but on all the forums of the world. Although we like to have a relaxed and fun atmosphere here, please don’t go around like a teenybopper saying things like “OMG!!11 LEIK ZIDANE, CHESTAH, MIKE AND CLOUD ARE ALL SOOOOO HOT!!11 I’D BED THEM ALL!111” please stay out of the band’s personal life and don’t go obsessing over anyone else for that matter. What is a Teenie? Ok. A teeniebopper is some person that obsesses over a certain person(s) and do nothing except fantasize about said person(s). I swear, if I see another person that is apparently called "[firstnamehere] Shinoda" I will personally kick the person's face in...Just don't do it alright, it's plain common sense.. I had to fit Mark’s famous saying in here somewhere ; don't make it look like you have an IQ level lower than the size of Mark's shoe (which is 9 1/2, by the way). At least make an effort to type in coherent sentences. The odd “ur” is alright, but 1337 t4Lk L13k D1S \/\/1Ll N0t b t0L3rAt3d FLAMING is a HUUUGGGGGEEE issue around here. Flaming basically means directing insults at a certain person on the boards and stuff like that. HOMOPHOBIC LANGUAGE (Calling someone/thing gay) and general THREATS are very closely linked together and NONE of these things will be tolerated. Anyone that disobeys the rules stated about this subject will be warned, and in extreme cases an IP ban will be slapped over the persons head. ...and off the boards. There is a pretty big issue with unwanted attention, and I get this one hell of a lot. Don’t you all just hate it when a random person you don’t know suddenly adds you to their contacts without asking? And when you talk to them they just say “It’s me” (Oh yeah, well that narrows it down to...oh only around 10 billion+ people... @_@) What I’m trying to say is please don’t just talk to someone you don’t know. Ask them if it’s ok to talk to them first by PM-ing them or something... With staff... If you have any questions/concerns/complaints at all, PM one of the guys with either a purple banner or a red banner under their names. We’ll help you as much as we can with your problems, but bear in mind; some of us are really really busy with things in our own lives that come before the board. We can’t just shift out all out own problems and be squeaky clean aliens when we log onto the boards. So if we appear angry at anything, just...stay clear I guess Talking Back to Staff/"Advising" The MODS/TEAM/ADMINS all know how to do their jobs. We will open, close, pin and generally modify topics as we see fit. Please don't give us "pointers" on how we should act... Talking back to staff has increased a little bit since the old days, but like the old days-we won't put up with it. If you receive a warning, just accept it-don't go on a rampage on the person that warned you. Any topics doing this (Such as the fine "Todd is an idiot" thread), will be deleted and the person almost definitely banned. *********************** General Stuff... Concerning Signatures It's good to have a sig, as it makes you stand out from the crowd. However, no "dirty" images are allowed. Images should also not stretch the forum tables (Limit is around 525 Pixels in width) and should be no taller than 5 and a half inches high. Staff will alter signatures if these rules are broken. Simply find a host, upload your picture, and put the link to the picture between Code: and Code: tags. **Concerning animated signitures** Although these look really cool, it's really annoying to have to wait half an hour for a single page because of tonnes of animated sigs and whatnot or just one big file itself. Please try to stick to normal .GIFs or .JPEGs. I'm not saying that there is a ban on animation, but it does tend to lag the forums for us poor sods stuck on 56k.... WARNINGS Each member starts off with three "Chances." If any rule is broken, that member will receive a warning, three warnings equal a ban. No questions asked. However, in extreme cases, a member may be banned right away (For stealing bandwidth, being seriously homophobic etc..) Emoticons Yeah emoticons are cool and all, but having 8 of them in a row makes you look like a teenie >_> (yeah I do realise I've used loads in this post, but it's long so there). an example of what not to do is here: :chaz: :chemist: About becoming staff: --One basic rule to this one. Anyone that asks about becoming a member of staff, will probably never become one The LPA SUPERMEMBER (Oh look, I have a blue banner). These guys are just normal people really (Yeah right). The LPA Supermember title is given to any normal member that has achieved 3000 posts (without spamming of course, children ) The only thing these people can do is delete their own posts, so that leaves no excuse if you lot double post. The LPA VIP (A random person with a fancy yellow banner under them) --The LPA VIP title is given only to people that contribute massively to the site, such as help to collect news, point out people that steal, and generally help the staff on the board. You can also become a VIP by donating to the site. VIPs get immediate access to the arcade, their own special forum, and a warm, fuzzy feeling that they helped out their favorite site. The LPA TEAM (someone stuck in between-Purple Banners) --The LPA TEAM aren’t quite MODS, but they aren’t ADMINS either. These people have all the powers MODS have, but they can also post in the announcements and news forums, and any other forum that actually affects the main site (by main site, I’m talking about the content LPA.com has), The LPA ADMIN (The guys we're all 0wned by-Red banners) --The ADMINS are the people we bow down to These people can ban, unban and virtually anything else you can think of. These are the people who you have to stay on the good sides of (You have to stay on the good sides of everyone really, but mainly Admins). Other colors (Don't ever use colors like that) Anyone with their username in some other color won a contest and temporarily gets a special color and user rank image. No, you can't just get that color. Pay attention to the forums to find out about the various contests we hold. Title Changing/Ranks --These are the basic ranks. These change as your post count gets higher. 1-24 posts - Opening 25-50 - What's a 'Grey Daze'? 51-149 - Ntr/Mssion 150-299 - It's Like I'm Paranoid.. 300-499 - I'm Not Obsessed!!! 500-999 - Extremely H! Vltg3 1000+ - Ambient **Note, you cannot change your title until you reach the AMBIENT rank, where a small box in your profile will be unlocked. SPAMMING/"Reckless plugging" --Spamming (Just making one word/pointless posts), just to get your post count higher won't be taken lightly. It's really annoying when you have an interesting debate going and then there is someone that just goes "LOL!!11" to kill everything completely, so please...if you have nothing to say, don't uh...say anything. --By Reckless Plugging I'm talking about posting a link to your own site, when there is no need for it to be plugged. If you want someone to look at your site, put a link in your signiture. "HATING"/"BASHING" OTHER FANSITES I am sick to death of people hating other LP Fansites and therefore "dissing" them aloud on these forums. Even with a good reason to hate them, publicly slagging the whole site off just makes every single one of us here look even worse than the culprits. Please hold yourselves back from all "flaming wars" as it will signify the end of your existence here on these forums. Because of recent events, this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. POSTING PORN PICTURES OR JUST BEING A GENERAL PAIN IN THE ARSE DOES NOT DO ANY GOOD FOR ANY SITE. *inhales* Name Changing --We can change usernames. We allow you to change it once every 3 months, with a maximum of 3 per year. PM an ADMIN (someone with a red banner) if you would like it changed. CLONES --Please don't register a second account for yourself, just to give props to your original account. When we find out about these "clones" you'll look pretty dumb for trying to give yourself a pat on the back. Clones will be banned upon discovery and the original account holder warned. The Arcade We have an arcade with various games where you can compete with other LPA members. The arcade is limited to members with at least 500 posts. If you do not have 500 posts and want access to the arcade, consider donating to become a VIP (VIPs get access regardless of posts). Do not under any circumstances spam your way up to 500 posts. If you're posting a bunch of useless junk, we'll do one (or maybe more) of the following: 1) Delete your useless posts. Every post we delete reduces 1 from your post count. 2) Manually lower your post count to whatever we feel like. And that's on top of the post count hit you'll take when we delete your posts. 3) Issue a warning Reporting Posts We can't be everywhere at once, and we appreciate any help from our members when it comes to finding posts that violate the rules. If you see an offending post, report it using the exclamation point (!) icon to the left of the post, and the staff will be notified. Do not, under any circumstances, take matters into your own hands. Report it and then ignore the post. Don't reply, don't encourage the offender to do anything else. Once you report it, pretend the post doesn't exist. I think I’ve got everything in there...But PM me if I haven't (or any staff member can alter it for me because I'm lazy). Thanks again you lot, make sure you take this into mind --Nikki and the rest of the LPA Staff
Attention Newbies (from Derek) Board- A flat piece of wood or similarly rigid material adapted for a special use. Bored-To make weary by being dull, repetitive, or tedious: The movie bored us ___ No- Used to express refusal, denial, disbelief, emphasis, or disagreement: No, I'm not going. No, you're wrong Know-To perceive directly; grasp in the mind with clarity or certainty. Knew- Past tense of know New- Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent: a new law. ___ To- In a direction toward so as to reach: went to the city. Too- a.In addition; also: He's coming along too. b.More than enough; excessively: She worries too much. Two- 2 ___ Tounge is not a word. Tongue-The fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is the principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing and swallowing, and, in humans, an important organ of speech ___ Their - Used as a modifier before a noun: their accomplishments; their home town. Signifies possession. They're - Contraction of they are. There - At or in that place: sit over there. __ Your-Used as a modifier before a noun: your boots; your accomplishments. You're- Contraction of you are. ___ Then- At that time: I was still in school then. Come at noon; I'll be ready then. Next in time, space, or order; immediately afterward: watched the late movie and then went to bed. Than-Used after a comparative adjective or adverb to introduce the second element or clause of an unequal comparison: She is a better athlete than I. ___ Sum- An amount obtained as a result of adding numbers. Some- Being an unspecified number or quantity: Some people came into the room. Would you like some sugar? Being a portion or an unspecified number or quantity of a whole or group: He likes some modern scupture but not all. ___ It's pierce, not peirce. Friend, not freind; Weird, not wierd. Like, not lyke. AND What, not wot. ___ Where: Indicating a place. We're: "We are". Were: Referring to the past "You were here 5 minutes ago." ___ u: The 21st letter in the alphabet. Also a variable occasionally used in Algebra You: Used to refer to the one or ones being addressed