Consolidated GD FAQ thread

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Jarinor, Aug 31, 2003.

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  1. Jarinor

    Jarinor New Member

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    Okay, there've been rumblings about making a thread like this for a while, so now I'm bored and procrastinating and doing it. I'll ask Snow to make it a sticky when I'm done. Admittedly this will initially have something of a slant towards my own opinions, but I will eventually be taking into account other peoples'.

    1. Don't spam. If the post doesn't contribute to the thread in any way (i.e. is funny, informative etc) or you're just posting for the hell of it, don't post. If it doesn't have a point, don't click submit. It's a simple concept, really.

    2. Unless English isn't your first language (in which case you get cut some slack) then write with proper spelling and grammar. There's no time limit here, it's not a 'real-time' conversation, there is absolutely no reason why it can't be done. I don't care how obvious the abbreviations or whatever you're using are, if you don't have the respect to write properly for other people's benefit, then I (and probably others) won't have any respect for you.

    3. Don't be a prick. Some members may appear to be insulting other members (and sometimes they actually are) but in the short history of the forum a fair few inside jokes have developed, and the regulars tend to know each other pretty well. Not everyone (me included) is as serious as they appear to be. This means don't jump in and start insulting everyone, because as a newcomer people probably will take you seriously. Wait until you're more well known before doing that.

    4. If someone advises you to do (or stop doing) something, and they have a general air of authority around them, then it would be a good idea to take that advice, especially if that advice is to follow one of the other rules.

    5. Listen to what the following people have to say: Jinxed and Snowmane. These two have moderation powers, and if you piss them off they can make life very difficult for you here.

    6. Don't ask about getting a custom avatar. In the two and a half years of this forum, only the following members have received avatars: Myself, rosenshyne, Milo, Sheriff Fatman, Ferret, mrnobodie, DarkUnderlord, friend_al_23, retard and Feldon Kane. Shadygrove technically qualifies as well, I suppose. You only get a custom avatar when you have a minimum of 1000 posts (spamming to get you there will only piss everyone off), and the topic is generally brought up by the other regulars who will also decide upon the general form of your avatar. Jinxed will give you an unpleasant avatar if you piss him off, as well. It should be one of your aims in life at the forum not to get one of those.

    Edit - I'm adding this because I'm too lazy to properly change the above paragraph, so this is more of an addendum. You still can't ask for a custom avatar, but a few more people received them - xento, Dark Elf, mathboy and possibly a couple of others. Feldon should get one soon. The criteria for a custom avatar has also been more thoroughly defined - you still need to hang around for about 1000 non-spam posts, be popular enough so that more influential members vote for you to get an avatar, not be on the shitlist of the admins, and finally, you have to have distinguished yourself in some way i.e. have a definable personality. Some people have managed to not achieve this last point, so don't think it's going to happen on it's own.

    7. You can't be a moderator either. Only Jinxed and Snowmane were ever promoted to be one, and that was only out of need. The forum generally moderates itself, but don't let that give you any ideas about running amok.

    8. Can't believe I forgot this one the first time around...NO GRAVEDIGGING! This is one of the many actions guaranteed to piss me off. If you're really new, you can get away with it once or twice, but once I've warned you, or you've been here a long enough time, there are no excuses. Gravedigging pisses everyone off - I don't care what the rules are at other forums, because you're not there, are you? I don't care that you don't see what the big deal is, and I don't care about freedom of speech. Gravedigging is, for those who don't know, the 'digging up' of old threads, by adding a reply long after everyone else has stopped talking about it. You may think you're being helpful, but chances are any questions/comments/answers you have for someone have long been taken care of in some fashion or another. How long is it before a thread is declared 'dead' you ask? That varies from person to person - I usually say about 3 days with no activity means the thread is dead, but other, more generous people would say a week. Dig further than that at your own peril.

    The one and only exception to this rule is mrnobodie's joke thread - although please only post jokes in there, and not how funny you find it. We know it's funny, otherwise we wouldn't keep it going.

    If and when I think of any more rules (or have them pointed out to me) they'll be added here.

    Okay, that takes care of the rules, now for a run down on some of the members who have sort of passed into legend, some of the more prominent current members and some forum history (although a proper history of the forum would justify it's own thread). This is all in no particular order (because I'm writing it down as I think of it, and I'm using these parentheses too much).

    Charles BHoff, or however you spell his name. Charles is a conspiracy theorist who types crazy shit up whenever he drops by. According to him, several nuclear wars have been prevented and his ex-wife tried to turned his buddies in the local police force against him.

    Eros Rex/Hel Khat, is a spammy, whiny, gay, black ex-serviceman (and I'm really not kidding about the gay, black ex-serviceman part). He throws a hissy fit whenever things don't go his way, and he doesn't understand the concept of spam. He holds the current record for Most Incarnations of a Single Member, with 5 banned memberships. Flame and reject him on sight.

    YeaYea2001, a drama queen beyond compare. The classic whiny teenage boy, with more 'problems' than brains. Thankfully long departed, he is fondly remembered for his wild stories, stupid debates and general idiocy.

    loo, the original newbie flamer. He considered the Spam Can his own avatar. The mortal enemy of Quethim. I personally liked him, but I was fairly alone in that.

    Quethim, loo's enemy on the forums. The flame wars they had were oft-quoted for the hilarious exchanges. Banned at one point, he made a comeback, and has often complained about no one liking him, being able to use proper English if he wanted to etc etc etc. Sort of like YeaYea, but more likable and without the wild stories. Whenever anyone refers to Q, they're talking about Quethim and not Qilikatal.

    friend_al_23, formerly the holder of the highest post count. An astonishing spammer, who turned it into an art form and managed not to piss people off when he did it. The master of the single smiley post, which has now thankfully fallen into disuse, he could double post about his triple post. Apart from his spamming, he was pretty cool.

    Sheriff Fatman, a member who sadly no longer participates. The why is not for you to know, but he was well respected and admired for his biting wit, keen intelligence and great depth of knowledge. Also repeatedly showed his desire and ability to take part in exhaustively long debates (most notably with DU about MMOG's). The all-knowing ass belongs to Fatman.

    retard, is a suss farmer. Apparently he doesn't have enough fun with his wife, due to the all the spanking he claims to do. Apart from that he's a nice guy, and hard to piss off. Just don't tell him you don't know who Robert F Lee is or try and lay claim to mrnobodie's ass.

    mrnobodie, a disturbed individual. Has an unusual relationship with retard, which only they really know the truth of.

    Milo, resident Photoshopper and hilarious-image-finder. Most probably the funniest guy on the forums. Doesn't post as much as I'd like him to, but he's still a regular visitor.

    Jinxed, the administrator. He doesn't post so much, but he does keep an eye on things. When he talks, you listen. Also a lover of anime - don't call it shit while he's around.

    Snowmane, the moderator. She talks, you listen. Plus, she's too nice to be a target of any flame war. She stops everyone from being too nasty, simply because she locks threads before they go too far, and can change anything you write if she wants to.

    Calis, the Retired Dictator, as he refers to himself. Original owner and administrator of the site, he handed the reins over to Jinxed after he no longer had the time to do it himself. He still drops by from time to time though, and is all round a pretty cool guy. We still call him if there's a problem with the site, though, because he's the only one who ever bothered to learn PHP.

    DarkUnderlord, as was pointed out to me, is mostly known for his Arcanum Modmaking TUTorials, AMTUT (I think that's what it stands for), which pretty much any wannabe modder should read. I have no idea where to get these tutorials though. His massive debate with Sheriff Fatman on MMOG's is also quite famous among the older regulars. You could probably copy what those two wrote and hand it in as a thesis on theoretical design principles for Massively Multiplayer games.

    Feldon Kane, known more commonly as Feldon. One of the eldest and funniest members, he has a terrific combination of intelligence and dirty humour, neither of which he is afraid to share. He's also one of my favourite people, which is far more than can be said for all of my non favourite people.

    The arrogant bastard in me (and logic) dictate that I should also be in the list, but it wouldn't be right for me to write about myself. Besides, if you want to know about me, just ask anyone who's been here long enough (the arrogant bastard in me again). There have been other notable members, but the ones listed above are the real characters. Besides, if I've forgotten anyone, or if enough people get mad at me, I'll add more. Who knows, this will probably end up as a sort of Hall of Fame.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Edited by Vorak 9/3/08. Xz and Vyenna added by Dark Elf.

    Here end the words of the ancient ones and the records of the usurpers begin.

    Xz Known for his staggering number of TA spinoffs and genuine interest in phpBB, the artist formerly known as Xzbyte has since developed a strange fetish for blue monkeys, a matter the rest of us tend to simply avoid.

    Blinky969, Normally referred to as just Blinky and often coming across as something of a creation of Doctor Moreau he is apparently a super intelligent polar bear that secretly controls everything. Blinky is one of the most senior members still capable of anything other than bitter one liners and wistful imaginings of 'the old days'. One of the more philosophical of our number he has a well thought out opinion on most matters and tends to fluctuate between reasoned responses and savage maulings.

    Bunny, Resident fuzzball, beloved by all or at the very least parts of her are beloved by all. Not as active as she once was Bunny still tends to be able to return and either defuse a situation or find the perfect picture to explain whats going on.

    Dark Elf, The only Swede worth taking note of. DE has been here longer than pretty much every other active member (except DarkUnderlord) and in that time has come to stockpile almost every piece of Troika related information known to man which he has been painstakingly archiving in the Troikapedia. Despite rumours to the contrary he does have a heart, but its as black as coal.

    DarkFool, Perhaps the most persistent troll this place ever produced he has had many names including Matt Thorn and Twilights Hammer he argued with everyone worth arguing with and managed to enrage Jarinor quite a bit in the past. If destroying the internet had been required to keep DarkFool out of here Jar probably would have done it; Now reformed he drops in from time to time to check whether the site is still active or not.

    Jungle Japes. Our resident House Warrior, Japes spent inordinate amounts of time as a Crew Chief in Iraq, fighting terrorists and getting sand in his laptop. He has since returned home and occasionally gives us reports of his dating adventures. The best way to infuriate him is telling him he's part of the US Airforce, which he affectionately refers to as the "Chairforce".

    mathboy, Originally a news poster however following the demise of Troika he has spread out into the freelance Admin market as well as the lucrative orc porn trade. He has a strangely mixed set of values, deleting the accounts of active members whilst fighting to keep spambot accounts active.

    rosenshyne. The meanest cat on the forum, Rosie's ability to flame newbies into orbit has ensured here place among TA's dignitaries. Shes now married to JustaFishInaJar and has a proclivity for filling up their government home with cube-headed babies.

    rroyo, is the grand old man of modding and a master of his craft to such a degree that even the works of the old masters fade in comparison to his work. rroyo knows more about modding Arcanum than just about anyone and is always willing to share his knowledge if you have a question. Whilst it is yet to be finished or even properly named his Arcanum: Work in Progress (Arcanum:WIP) Beta is well worth trying out. Note. This is not a shameless plug based around the fact that the mod contains a city named after me.

    Vorak I'm not sure I should be here, but modesty is something I seem incapable of. I joined here and then left for a while to be a part of the myriad of terra-arcanum inspired indie forums, none of which still exists although I do have fond memories of Chaos Inn, Unnamed and all the others. Aside from my involvement in those forums I'm probably best known for introducing the House of Lords to CyberNations and being a bastard to everyone.

    Vyenna Running a personal crusade against stupidity in all it's forms, this Norwegian bombshell has taken the art of flaming to new heights. She is feared for her biting sarcasm and ability to notice even the tinest slip-up on your part. Newbies wishing to get all the stupid out of their system better listen to what she has to say unless they wish to find themselves in the Vault of Folly.
     
  2. Blinky969

    Blinky969 Active Member

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    Dude, how could you include DU in the faq, but not give him a topic? He's DU, the Troika Cow guy. He wrote AMTUT, and he helps people like me make mods, every day. Plus he hasn't flamed me. Yet.

    Edit:
    Oh never mind anymore. :D
     
  3. gargob

    gargob New Member

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    Question: CharlesBHoff has less than a 1000 posts how did he get a custom avatar.
    You forgot Canis.
     
  4. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    I suppose I could be helpful for a change. :)
    Jar, DU:s tutorials can be found at:

    http://amtut.terra-arcanum.com

    ...just bother to add that link to your original post :thumbup:
     
  5. DarkFool

    DarkFool Nemesis of the Ancients

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    I'm tacking an amendment on to this.

    New users: We now require for any threads you make (until said threads have been approved). So if your thread doesn't appear immediately, don't make another. Someone will approve as soon as their sober enough to touch their computer screen.
     
  6. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    This should probably be added to the registration page. Will look into that as soon as my exams are over.
     
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