TOL newbie tips thread (add your own)

[Nathon Detroit]

There are a lot of newbies on TOL so maybe we should help them out by offering them some tips about the best and most proper ways to interact on TOL.

Let me offer a tip and invite other TOL regulars to add more tips.

TIP#1: ACTIVE THREADS PAGE

In my opinion one of the first places you should check when you visit TOL is the active threads page (bookmark it). The active threads page displays the 75(or so) TOL threads with recent posts in them. By using the active threads page you can stay up to date on all the topics that SPAN ALL the TOL forums.

 

[Mr. 5020]

Newbies are constantly asking others, "How did you make your posts look like that?"

TIP #2: vB CODES

 

[Nathon Detroit]

TIP#3: TOL MEMBERSHIP LEVELS
Theologyonline.com has a wide array of different membership levels that offer differing capabilities. Some are free and some membership levels have a small fee associated with them. Click here to review the various membership levels.

 

[Maximeee]

TIP #4: Introduce yourself here.Let us know who you are, what you believe so that we don't have to figure it out on our own...

 

[PaulMcNabb]

TIP #5: Embed the post to which you are replying.

Click on the [highlight]QUOTE[/highlight] button at the bottom right of a post to create a response and to embed the original post in your reply.

When responding to a post you have quoted, you can insert comments into the middle of the quote by first closing the quote, then inserting your text, and then reopening the quote.

For example, if you are responding to this

What is the capital of Missouri? What is the meaning of life?

you first click on [highlight]QUOTE[/highlight], which will give you this

[quote=TOLuser]What is the capital of Missouri? What is the meaning of life?[/quote]

and then enter your responses like this (note how we use the [/quote] to break out of the quote and then add a [quote] before the start of the next question)

[quote=TOLuser]What is the capital of Missouri?[/quote] Jefferson City [quote]What is the meaning of life?[/quote] Read the book.

which will give you a post that looks like this

What is the capital of Missouri? Jefferson City What is the meaning of life? Read the book.

 

[Maximeee]

TIP #6: Read the 16 (or is it 15 now?) Commandments.

 

[Lighthouse]

Don't report posts that don't violate any of the fifteen commandments of TOL.

 

[PyramidHead]

lurk for a day or two before making a lot of posts

 

[kmoney]

Don't report posts that don't violate any of the fifteen commandments of TOL.

Or what? They'll be mocked by you?? Oh noes!!!! :shocked:

 

[kmoney]

My tip....

If you find a thread you like you can subscribe to it by using the "Thread Tools" at the top of each thread.
Or you can set it up so you are automatically subscribed to any thread you make a post in (that's how I do it). You do that from the "Edit Options" link in your User CP. And if you choose to you can receive email notifications about threads you have subscribed to.

To see your subscribed threads you go to your User CP. Ones with new posts that you haven't read will be there and will be in bold. If there hasn't been any recent activity in the thread you can click on a link to view all the subscribed threads.

The first thing I do everyday on TOL is check out my subscribed threads. :up:


PS: one caveat about the auto-subscribe feature is that if you don't maintain it you can quickly be subscribed to tons of threads, many of which you don't necessarily want to be subscribed to. That happens to me and then I have to spend time going through and unsubscribing to a bunch of threads. I still like that feature, though.

 

[nicholsmom]

Use a spell checker like ieSpell - or use Mozilla which has a built-in spell checker. Then use it!! It's much easier to read your nonsense - er, well-reasoned posts if they have decent spelling.

See, I just checked this post & ieSpell didn't like either "Mozilla" (maybe wrong, I don't know), or "er"

 

[ebenz47037]

Make sure you have a thick skin. Sometimes, we can seem a little rough to people. That's because most of us are tired of the politically correct clap-trap we see too often in society.

 

[CRASH]

CRASH's tip:

Never start a thread introducing yourself, make one post and then never come back again.:madmad:

 

[Door]

No gay avatars. :flamer: :down:

 

[ebenz47037]

Before asking, "How do I get a personalized avatar?", remember you must be a member for two weeks and have fifty posts to do so. Until then, you can choose one from our stock of avatars (We have over one hundred to choose from.).

 

[Town Heretic]

Eye think spiel checkers are overt rated.

That was an example of my old "beware the tot he" speech I gave advanced composition classes with regard to reliance on software of a mechanical sort. You may have meant to write that you went to the store, but spell check has no problem with you going tot he store, if you follow.

Read and edit your posts before running them up the flag pole, both for content, subject verb agreement and tense errors. No one expects perfection (well, except cattyfan ) but sloppy writing infers sloppy thinking. If your thought is serious give the expression of it serious attention.

 

[One Eyed Jack]

Expect to get called on outlandish claims.

 

[chickenman]

Along the lines of what both Nicholsmom and TownHeretic have said, organize your posts in a readable format. Long posts can look too burdensome to bother with, or they can be formatted with indents, quotes, italics, etc. to break it up and make it look like it's an easy read.

Identical information can either look like a mess and no one will want to bother with it, or it can look appealing...simply due to formatting.

 

[Town Heretic]

Along the lines of what both Nicholsmom and TownHeretic have said, organize your posts in a readable format. Long posts can look too burdensome to bother with, or they can be formatted with indents, quotes, italics, etc. to break it up and make it look like it's an easy read.

Identical information can either look like a mess and no one will want to bother with it, or it can look appealing...simply due to formatting.

Great points. And I think its better to paraphrase and link to information than to cut and paste whole cloth. If you've read something that altered your opinion or substantiated it then give us that opinion backed by the information. I'm not against short inclusions, some scripture is in itself an argument, but by and large this is a forum about what you think--not what page 467 has to say about it.

 

[cattyfan]

Always let us know from where your information came (website, source, who are you quoting.)

Don't be afraid to ask questions about rules and how-tos. Moderators and administrators are here to help. Long-time members are also good resources.

Keep the attitude down. People who sweep onto the website thinking they know everything, are the smartest people in the room, and have all new, never-been-heard-before ideas are in for a rude awakening...and will probably not last long.

Newbies who try to tell the owner and administrators how wrong everything here is, and how things should "really" be run, will be summarily terminated and will not be missed.