ShockwaveLover
01-23-2008, 01:52 AM
After browsing through the new posts in the forums one day, I grew a little bored, and, unable to think of anything witty to post, I decided to have a stroll through the SG Forums Archive. While I was trolling through the assorted, outdated threads, I noticed something. The same questions were being asked over and over again. 'How do I insert Youtube videos?' and 'How can I get a title?' were popular, and 'What are terrorists killed/perks/etc.?' had about a dozen threads dedicated to it.
So I got to thinking. We've already got a FAQ for general forum usage, why not have one that answers all these questions, and more?
So I present to you all the questions and tips I could think of, to put into a 'First-Timer's FAQ'.
Q: What is Sarcastic Gamer?
A: Sarcastic Gamer is many things. A website, a podcast, a forum and a concept, SG is dedicated to "Parody, satire, opinion, and occasional facts", and we take pride in being "The second-to-last name in gaming journalism".
Q: How can I support SarcasticGamer.com?
A: Simply by being here and posting, you are supporting us, but there are a number of ways you, as a sarcastic gamer can help Doc, Lono, Dave, Alex, DDL and the rest of the crew achieve World Domination eternal happiness:
Introduce your friends to the podcast, site and forums.
Digg, Stumble and N4G the stories on the main page.
Take the Quick Podcast Survey (http://www.podtrac.com/audience/start-survey.aspx?ver=1&pid=pKGDw9NEEq8$)!
Leave feedback on Itunes (If you have it)
Contribute your ideas and suggestions in the Support/Feedback thread (http://sarcasticgamer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=24)!
Buy some SG Merch!! (http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/sarcasticgamer/StoreFront)
Q: How do I add my Xbox Live gamer tag to my signature?
A: Its simple actually, go to www.mygamercard.net and type in your exact gamer tag into the box and when you select 'generate my gamer card simply copy the BB/forum coding and put it into your signature here on SG.
Q: What is that box underneath my info?
A: That, is the recently introduced 'reputation system. Under every user's avatar (right next to the online/offline indicator), there is a grey person. By clicking this, you can give a person good rep (green) or bad rep (red). Say, if you see randomperson posting, well, random things, you can give him bad rep. But if you see, oh, say Shockwavelover doing his usual amazing job, then you can give him good rep.
Every user starts on 0 reputation, in order to influence the reputation of others you need at least +10 points, until then all reputation you give will be grey (neutral)
As people get their own higher reputation, pass certain posting milestones, are active in the community for longer, the number of points their "positive" or "negative" votes for people increases.
In other words, a person that's been here 2 years, has posted 5,000 messages and has a very high reputation from others will have more "weight" when they give someone positive/negative feedback than someone that has been here 3 months.
And someone that's just joined, cannot leave reputation points at all until they pass some "not entirely instant" milestones of their own.
You can check your own rep by looking in your User CP, and there is a little box just under your post count, that will let you know as well.
Q: What are the consequences?
A: As you recieve rep, the status box under your Avatar will change. By hovering your cursor over the box, you can see what level you are at.
The reputation rankings are as follows:
Between +150 and +249 is "has a spectacular aura about"
Between +50 and +149 is "will become famous soon enough"
Between +10 and +49 is "distinguished road"
Between 0 and +9 is "unknown quantity"
Between -1 and -10 is "shameless behaviour",
Between -11 and -49 is "can only hope to improve",
Anything under -50 is "infamous".
Cheers to Shane86 for helping with this.
Q: What does [INSERT MEMBER HERE]'s alias mean?
A:Check out this thread for most of the meanings.
Q: What are the custom titles, and how do I get one?
A: Those titles are assigned by the forum administrators; it's completely up to them who has a custom title. They are normally given for a silly comment or point of view. One word of warning though: Don't go out trying to get yourself a title, or you may end up with an embarrassing one.
Q: People are questioning my sacred, perfect, point of view!
A: Get over it. You are participating in a public forum. You can and will be called upon to justify your position.
Q: Why are the staff so biased against [INSERT GAMING PLATFORM/GAME/GENRE HERE]?
A: As much as we'd love them to be perfect, and always agree with us and champion our particular cause or type of gaming, the staff are only human, with all the flaws and mortality that entails. The SG team represents a wide range of gaming styles, which only expands as the community lends their input. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 are the primary consoles, the rest are no means left out; the Red Show covers major issues on the PC, the Wii and handhelds. They may not all get equal time on the show, but if there is news worth reporting out on any of the platforms, the staff are garunteed to report it.
As for inclusion on the podcast, while it is true that only one staff member has a handheld, this is more to do with a lack of funds than any real malice towards the PSP or DS. However, the forum community has a section for handhelds, and just about any other gaming platform you can imagine, so suck it up and get posting!
Don't forget, you can make a podcast of your own, and have it hosted on the Sarcastic Feed, so if you think we're missing something, why not correct it?
Q: Are you on Wikipedia?
A: Yes. Thanks to Regua, one of our members, we now have a Wikipedia page. Check it out here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcastic_Gamer)
Q: How can I use all of the cool posting tricks (eg. Youtube, font colour and size etc.) I see in the forums?
A: *Shockwavelover gifts you with a forum code list +30 (http://sarcasticgamer.com/forums/misc.php?do=bbcode#thread)!*
Q: How long does it take to produce one of your episodes?
A:It can take anywhere from 3 to five hours.
Q: Where did Drew go?
A:Thanks Lono! (http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=48466&postcount=112)
Q: When can we expect another parody?
A:When it's done.
Q: Why do the join date's of some of the members read 1970?
A:During the SG forums convertion from yaBB to phpBB script, all join dates stored in the database were changed to 01/01/1970. Then, after the forums' script was changed to vBulletin, they were changed again, this time to 12/31/1969.
Although it's quite a common problem, these changes are irredeemable; they are caused by one database field (the users' registration date) being reset to its default value (0), and - because it's in Unix time format - the saved date becomes exactly midnight of January 1st, 1970, which is interpeted as 01/01/1970 or 12/31/1969 (depends on the script's settings). [Gotta love Regua's concise explanations...]
Q: Who can I ask if I have any problems?
A: That's what the Support/Feedback section is for.
Q: I've got Gamertag troubles!
A: Again, check out one of the threads dedicated to that topic in the appropriate section.
Q: Where did [INSERT REFERENCE OR JOKE HERE] come from?
A: More than likely from one of the podcasts, or a specific thread or post in the forums. Cake vs. Pie, Bacon Salt, Lono's ego and Newsbot all spring to mind. Again, the SEARCH function, and of course the podcasts, are your best friends.
Here are a couple of the more prominent ones:
Halo Jesus: HJ was the nickname give by Lono to the phenomenon that was the Halo 3 launch. For a better idea about this, listen to Episode 11.
'Realer': 'Realer' was the description Dave gave to the water in Ace Combat 6.Episode 14 is your one stop shop for 'realer' fun!
Calyber, and Dave's voice: Episodes 4 and 5 explain this.
Lono's ego: Just listen to him, or read his posts! For further proof, see Episode 11 of the SG Podcast.
Newsbot and Cake: This was the result of the release of the Orange Box, and the great game Portal, combined in Episode 14 of the SG Podcast.
Q: Any tips on forum ettiquette?
A: Here are just a few:
Be sure to carefully read posts before replying to them.
For the love of god, check your spelling.
Constructive criticism please.
Don't spam or post whore.
Don't revive (bump/necromance) old topics, unless you can justify it.
Before starting any thread, be sure to use the SEARCH function, to make sure you aren't duplicating threads.
Talk to me about gaming, your mum, even Chuck Norris, but don't talk to me LIKE THIS or l1K3 7hI5, or I will find you, and make you dead.
Have fun.
Any more suggestions for questions would be welcome. Let's help out new people, instead of just doing a Whitefire, saying 'Welcome!' and sending them off into the forum wilderness alone.
So I got to thinking. We've already got a FAQ for general forum usage, why not have one that answers all these questions, and more?
So I present to you all the questions and tips I could think of, to put into a 'First-Timer's FAQ'.
Q: What is Sarcastic Gamer?
A: Sarcastic Gamer is many things. A website, a podcast, a forum and a concept, SG is dedicated to "Parody, satire, opinion, and occasional facts", and we take pride in being "The second-to-last name in gaming journalism".
Q: How can I support SarcasticGamer.com?
A: Simply by being here and posting, you are supporting us, but there are a number of ways you, as a sarcastic gamer can help Doc, Lono, Dave, Alex, DDL and the rest of the crew achieve World Domination eternal happiness:
Introduce your friends to the podcast, site and forums.
Digg, Stumble and N4G the stories on the main page.
Take the Quick Podcast Survey (http://www.podtrac.com/audience/start-survey.aspx?ver=1&pid=pKGDw9NEEq8$)!
Leave feedback on Itunes (If you have it)
Contribute your ideas and suggestions in the Support/Feedback thread (http://sarcasticgamer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=24)!
Buy some SG Merch!! (http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/sarcasticgamer/StoreFront)
Q: How do I add my Xbox Live gamer tag to my signature?
A: Its simple actually, go to www.mygamercard.net and type in your exact gamer tag into the box and when you select 'generate my gamer card simply copy the BB/forum coding and put it into your signature here on SG.
Q: What is that box underneath my info?
A: That, is the recently introduced 'reputation system. Under every user's avatar (right next to the online/offline indicator), there is a grey person. By clicking this, you can give a person good rep (green) or bad rep (red). Say, if you see randomperson posting, well, random things, you can give him bad rep. But if you see, oh, say Shockwavelover doing his usual amazing job, then you can give him good rep.
Every user starts on 0 reputation, in order to influence the reputation of others you need at least +10 points, until then all reputation you give will be grey (neutral)
As people get their own higher reputation, pass certain posting milestones, are active in the community for longer, the number of points their "positive" or "negative" votes for people increases.
In other words, a person that's been here 2 years, has posted 5,000 messages and has a very high reputation from others will have more "weight" when they give someone positive/negative feedback than someone that has been here 3 months.
And someone that's just joined, cannot leave reputation points at all until they pass some "not entirely instant" milestones of their own.
You can check your own rep by looking in your User CP, and there is a little box just under your post count, that will let you know as well.
Q: What are the consequences?
A: As you recieve rep, the status box under your Avatar will change. By hovering your cursor over the box, you can see what level you are at.
The reputation rankings are as follows:
Between +150 and +249 is "has a spectacular aura about"
Between +50 and +149 is "will become famous soon enough"
Between +10 and +49 is "distinguished road"
Between 0 and +9 is "unknown quantity"
Between -1 and -10 is "shameless behaviour",
Between -11 and -49 is "can only hope to improve",
Anything under -50 is "infamous".
Cheers to Shane86 for helping with this.
Q: What does [INSERT MEMBER HERE]'s alias mean?
A:Check out this thread for most of the meanings.
Q: What are the custom titles, and how do I get one?
A: Those titles are assigned by the forum administrators; it's completely up to them who has a custom title. They are normally given for a silly comment or point of view. One word of warning though: Don't go out trying to get yourself a title, or you may end up with an embarrassing one.
Q: People are questioning my sacred, perfect, point of view!
A: Get over it. You are participating in a public forum. You can and will be called upon to justify your position.
Q: Why are the staff so biased against [INSERT GAMING PLATFORM/GAME/GENRE HERE]?
A: As much as we'd love them to be perfect, and always agree with us and champion our particular cause or type of gaming, the staff are only human, with all the flaws and mortality that entails. The SG team represents a wide range of gaming styles, which only expands as the community lends their input. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 are the primary consoles, the rest are no means left out; the Red Show covers major issues on the PC, the Wii and handhelds. They may not all get equal time on the show, but if there is news worth reporting out on any of the platforms, the staff are garunteed to report it.
As for inclusion on the podcast, while it is true that only one staff member has a handheld, this is more to do with a lack of funds than any real malice towards the PSP or DS. However, the forum community has a section for handhelds, and just about any other gaming platform you can imagine, so suck it up and get posting!
Don't forget, you can make a podcast of your own, and have it hosted on the Sarcastic Feed, so if you think we're missing something, why not correct it?
Q: Are you on Wikipedia?
A: Yes. Thanks to Regua, one of our members, we now have a Wikipedia page. Check it out here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcastic_Gamer)
Q: How can I use all of the cool posting tricks (eg. Youtube, font colour and size etc.) I see in the forums?
A: *Shockwavelover gifts you with a forum code list +30 (http://sarcasticgamer.com/forums/misc.php?do=bbcode#thread)!*
Q: How long does it take to produce one of your episodes?
A:It can take anywhere from 3 to five hours.
Q: Where did Drew go?
A:Thanks Lono! (http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=48466&postcount=112)
Q: When can we expect another parody?
A:When it's done.
Q: Why do the join date's of some of the members read 1970?
A:During the SG forums convertion from yaBB to phpBB script, all join dates stored in the database were changed to 01/01/1970. Then, after the forums' script was changed to vBulletin, they were changed again, this time to 12/31/1969.
Although it's quite a common problem, these changes are irredeemable; they are caused by one database field (the users' registration date) being reset to its default value (0), and - because it's in Unix time format - the saved date becomes exactly midnight of January 1st, 1970, which is interpeted as 01/01/1970 or 12/31/1969 (depends on the script's settings). [Gotta love Regua's concise explanations...]
Q: Who can I ask if I have any problems?
A: That's what the Support/Feedback section is for.
Q: I've got Gamertag troubles!
A: Again, check out one of the threads dedicated to that topic in the appropriate section.
Q: Where did [INSERT REFERENCE OR JOKE HERE] come from?
A: More than likely from one of the podcasts, or a specific thread or post in the forums. Cake vs. Pie, Bacon Salt, Lono's ego and Newsbot all spring to mind. Again, the SEARCH function, and of course the podcasts, are your best friends.
Here are a couple of the more prominent ones:
Halo Jesus: HJ was the nickname give by Lono to the phenomenon that was the Halo 3 launch. For a better idea about this, listen to Episode 11.
'Realer': 'Realer' was the description Dave gave to the water in Ace Combat 6.Episode 14 is your one stop shop for 'realer' fun!
Calyber, and Dave's voice: Episodes 4 and 5 explain this.
Lono's ego: Just listen to him, or read his posts! For further proof, see Episode 11 of the SG Podcast.
Newsbot and Cake: This was the result of the release of the Orange Box, and the great game Portal, combined in Episode 14 of the SG Podcast.
Q: Any tips on forum ettiquette?
A: Here are just a few:
Be sure to carefully read posts before replying to them.
For the love of god, check your spelling.
Constructive criticism please.
Don't spam or post whore.
Don't revive (bump/necromance) old topics, unless you can justify it.
Before starting any thread, be sure to use the SEARCH function, to make sure you aren't duplicating threads.
Talk to me about gaming, your mum, even Chuck Norris, but don't talk to me LIKE THIS or l1K3 7hI5, or I will find you, and make you dead.
Have fun.
Any more suggestions for questions would be welcome. Let's help out new people, instead of just doing a Whitefire, saying 'Welcome!' and sending them off into the forum wilderness alone.