DarkElf27
One thing I have to say. People judge you usually not by what your avatar is wearing. They judge you by how well and literately you type. If you watch your grammar and spelling, you tend to earn more respect than if you try the '|337' approach. So just do your best to type like an intelligent human being, and you'll have a lot more success and be met with more kindness on Gaia. The people who's respect you do want won't be impressed at your skills of pressing the Caps lock, or by shouting everything, or by how many times you can click the emoticon button. And, believe me, no one wants to spend an hour trying to decipher a post by someone who uses symbols and numbers as much or more than they use actual letters. Just try it. Believe me, you'll be met with more kindness.
DarkElf27
There are a few things that a lot of new members do that is not considered proper among most Gaians, and here are a few of them to help you out.
'Txt Tlkng'
I see lots and lots and lots of newbies doing this, using numbers and single letters, shortened words and acronyms to post, as if it were a chat room. This is looked down upon quite a bit. Gaia isn't a chatroom site, it's a forum board. You have plenty of time to type it out, please try to do so. This includes not doing things like using looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of characters in a word, talkin lyk ths, using numbers 2 talk, and USING ALL CAPS (Or not capitalizing when appropriate).
OMG!!!!11!!!1111!!!!ONE!7!SEVEN!
I see this too much. It gives me a headache. Please, no more than 3 exclamation marks, it's rather rude to have a long string of meaningless mumbo-jumbo after a sentence. It annoys people, and they yell at you.
Emoticon over-use
Nothing bugs people quite as much as people that use millions of emoticons (Smilies) in their post. A common example is "Please help me I'm poor!! ", or such like that. One is quite sufficient. (To be honest, most people dislike seeing the crying emote at all.)
Disabled PM's
I can't count the number of times I've seen this. People go around the forums, talking, and ask someone to PM them about something or another, and then they have their PM's disabled. When no one can PM you, it's impossible for people to give you help or offers, or talk to you in private. To make sure your PM's are not disabled, go to Profile>Mail>Receive private messages>Yes
Random Friend Requests
I advise against this, even though many people do it. It usually annoys other members, especially if you use it to pounce on them as soon as they're online with a 'was up' PM.
Random PM's
While these are okay most of the time, I heavily recommend that you only PM people if you have a reason. If you're just looking to chat with someone, there are millions of threads in the Chatterbox forum, full of people doing just that.
Random Trades
If you are sending new trades to people, it's usually a good idea to let them know why. If not, they'll just cancel it, and might even block you for harassing them about it. If you're asking for donations, there are forums for that, if you're trying to buy something, clarify by PM before sending the trade.
Multiple Threads
Especially in guilds, this can get annoying. You only need to make one thread on a subject, especially if it's just asking for gold, or advertising a quest.
Posting in the Wrong Forum
Often times, when a newbie has a question, they will simply go to somewhere like 'Welcome to Gaia' or 'General Discussion'. This annoys the Welcomers, and GDers (General Discussion Forum posters) will flame you and insult you. I advise you to avoid doing that, because then people will be less likely to help you and more likely to grumble about you to a friend later in the day. Instead, please ask your questions in the 'Questions & Assistance' forum, which is dedicated to answering questions and helping with problems. There are subforums for more specific problems.
-Foray
The stare icon
The stare icon is usually considered hostile, so watch how you use it.
'Txt Tlkng'
I see lots and lots and lots of newbies doing this, using numbers and single letters, shortened words and acronyms to post, as if it were a chat room. This is looked down upon quite a bit. Gaia isn't a chatroom site, it's a forum board. You have plenty of time to type it out, please try to do so. This includes not doing things like using looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of characters in a word, talkin lyk ths, using numbers 2 talk, and USING ALL CAPS (Or not capitalizing when appropriate).
OMG!!!!11!!!1111!!!!ONE!7!SEVEN!
I see this too much. It gives me a headache. Please, no more than 3 exclamation marks, it's rather rude to have a long string of meaningless mumbo-jumbo after a sentence. It annoys people, and they yell at you.
Emoticon over-use
Nothing bugs people quite as much as people that use millions of emoticons (Smilies) in their post. A common example is "Please help me I'm poor!! ", or such like that. One is quite sufficient. (To be honest, most people dislike seeing the crying emote at all.)
Disabled PM's
I can't count the number of times I've seen this. People go around the forums, talking, and ask someone to PM them about something or another, and then they have their PM's disabled. When no one can PM you, it's impossible for people to give you help or offers, or talk to you in private. To make sure your PM's are not disabled, go to Profile>Mail>Receive private messages>Yes
Random Friend Requests
I advise against this, even though many people do it. It usually annoys other members, especially if you use it to pounce on them as soon as they're online with a 'was up' PM.
Random PM's
While these are okay most of the time, I heavily recommend that you only PM people if you have a reason. If you're just looking to chat with someone, there are millions of threads in the Chatterbox forum, full of people doing just that.
Random Trades
If you are sending new trades to people, it's usually a good idea to let them know why. If not, they'll just cancel it, and might even block you for harassing them about it. If you're asking for donations, there are forums for that, if you're trying to buy something, clarify by PM before sending the trade.
Multiple Threads
Especially in guilds, this can get annoying. You only need to make one thread on a subject, especially if it's just asking for gold, or advertising a quest.
Posting in the Wrong Forum
Often times, when a newbie has a question, they will simply go to somewhere like 'Welcome to Gaia' or 'General Discussion'. This annoys the Welcomers, and GDers (General Discussion Forum posters) will flame you and insult you. I advise you to avoid doing that, because then people will be less likely to help you and more likely to grumble about you to a friend later in the day. Instead, please ask your questions in the 'Questions & Assistance' forum, which is dedicated to answering questions and helping with problems. There are subforums for more specific problems.
-Foray
The stare icon
The stare icon is usually considered hostile, so watch how you use it.
A big thank you to DarkElf27 and ~The Newbie Supporting and Training Guild~
for granting me the privilege of using this material in the SDG. Yippie!. heart
