Czardas
13-07-2005, 02:20
Decided that this needs revision and organization...not that your version didn't have any PM, but still...I'm one of those grammar freaks who needs everything to be shipshape to be good newbie reading material...
Okay, there are a lot of new members here who know little about the forums and are clogging the servers with questions. If you ever had any questions about the General forum, here is the place where they should be answered! Feel free to post if you think there should be any changes made. Pure Metal and I (Czardas) have gone to a lot of trouble to collect all this stuff, so please, don't make us have to try and find more. Post links!
And now, down to business:
Contents:
A. An Introduction to NS
B. An Introduction to the Forums
C. Helpful Links
D. The General Forum
E. General FAQs
------------------------ Introduction to NationStates & the forums ------------------------
Introduction (Pure Metal)
I'll assume you're playing the "game" part already if you've made it here. I'll also assume, for the sake of completeness, that the reader knows nothing of the general ways of an internet forum or this game.
The Forums
First, the game and forums are not directly linked/related. Second, the forums have a number of different levels - to see what else there is click on the "NationStates" link at the top of this page (by where it says "Welcome yourname").
NationStates (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1223) and International Incidents (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1230) are the role-playing forums. For an explanation of RPing see below. The following distinction is made between the two: NationStates (NS) is for character-based and sports role-playing, and more involved role-plays in general, while International Incidents (II) is more for nation-based, war, and trade role-playing. Note: There is a myth that the more "civilized" RPers stick to NS while all the spammers and n00bs are in II. I'll take a moment here to disprove that. While International Incidents has, indeed, been the home for dozens of spam threads and the like, there are still comparatively good roleplays that occur there; it simply takes more effort to find them. ;-)
The United Nations (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1225) is for discussions involving that august governing body made up of a good 32,000 of NationStates' members -- give or take. It is for debates over proposals and resolutions submitted to the UN. If you haven't joined the UN, don't bother coming here. Actually, not true. The UN forum is where most of the more serious in-character debates go, some of which are quite enjoyable, even for non-members. Your call here, however.
Gameplay (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1234) is for game-related questions and regional advertisements. If you want to know how to improve your economy or find a new region, post here. Regional advertisements belong in Gameplay! Post them anywhere else and they will be deleted!
Moderation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1231) is where to get help from the moderators (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=296993), whom you must have heard of by now. If not, the link explains who they are.
Technical (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=1&f=1224) is where to go to report bugs and ask questions about how the game works. It says "Ideas for improvement", but mods do not like you to post those there! Put those in NationStates 2 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=1&f=1228).
Spam (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=29) -- the dark hellhole of NationStates. Not even a part of the NS forums, it is where to go to post pointless, off-topic, and obscene things. Many people do this in General, but that's really the wrong place. Go to Spam and avoid getting banned, annoying the crap out of everyone (especially a small group of hard-working mods), and completely knocking out the NationStates servers for the umpteenth time.
That just about covers all the forums in common use.
----------------Helpful Links----------------[/b]
The NationStates Forum (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=400312) -- one of several threads explaining role-playing in NationStates.
The International Incidents Consolidation Sticky (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=414035) -- This massive sticky, assembled by our Sticky Master Euroslavia and friends, deals with everything you ever wanted to know about RPing but were afraid to ask.
Guide to NationStates (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357975) -- The precursor to the above thread.
The NationStates Orientation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=398818) is a superb thread that inspired this one, and should be read by anyone who -- no, make that anyone.
The One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023) is a collection of all the rules, selected judiciously by Frisbeeteria, one of the hardest-working of our beloved Moderators.
General Forum rulings and good General advice (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=410573) -- The mods have collected the rulings and advice in this thread, concerning General. It is also very helpful and should be followed unconditionally.
NSwiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) is a wiki (collection of interlinked pages editable by any user) about NationStates, the place to post your factbook, history, and anything else you want to write about your nation that Max Barry didn't let you.
The EP Flag Service (http://invisionfree.com/forums/The_East_Pacific/index.php?showforum=150) contributed by 1 Infinite Loop: A service for designing quality flags that ought to be up and running soon. Contact him for more details, not me!
NSeconomy (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/) is probably the best known of several calculators developed for NationStates. It lists lots of helpful stats. However, it doesn't work for nations in large regions.
The Sunset Calculator (http://www.sunsetrpg.com/economystatistics.php) lists more specific stats about your nation, but has no regional stats. These two calculators (Sunset and NSeconomy) provide an interesting study in contrasts.
((There's also the Pipian Calculator and a few others, but I'm not sure where those are...))
------------------------ The General Forum ------------------------
This is where you're at now, and is where posters discuss & debate real life, important issues (like the seperation of church & state), discuss trivial crap ("what is your favourite sandwich?"), get to know each other, and even hold mini-RP's of our own (the NS General Election). All are welcome and you're welcome to talk about anything you like as long as it complies with the rules above.
Etiquette:
From the General Forum rulings:
On The Prevention of Forum Fires
Hello, kids. Today I'm here to give you a few tips for avoiding forum fires.
1. Be Understanding.
-Sometimes people are joking or have not stated their position clearly. Take this into account when you feel like slamming someone for their posts. Carefully consider whether their current behavior is consistent with their past behavior, because an inconsistency may mean that they are joking or being unclear. Instead of jumping on them, ask them to clarify their position or ask them if they were joking.
2. Be Cool
-Whenever you feel like doing physical harm to another poster, it would be advisable to move away from your computer and do something else for a while so that you can come back and approach the situation more rationally. You can hit a punching bag, have a snack, do a small chore, or any number of other things.
3. Use Smilies
-The appropriate use of smilies is a very helpful tool in communicating your emotional state so that other posters do not take joke posts (or serious posts for that matter) as you being snarky.
These smilies are probably not good to use in joke posts, or posts of any kind for that matter, because many posters find them very annoying:
- snip -
And, as always...
Remember kids, only you can prevent forum fires.
* It is also advisable to type vaguely properly & attempt to spell with some accuracy as to not annoy other posters (i.e. "l33t speak" & "msn/txt speak" are likely to piss others off, but its not against the rules)
* if posting an article, please always be sure to post what the source is as well.
The problem is that you post articles in their entirety without adding any comments of your own or any analysis of your own. This qualifies as spam. ...or possibly even trolling (which is posting controversial material merely to ruffle feathers and make people mad).
Don't just copy-and-paste. State if you agree or disagree with the article. Describe why you agree or disagree. This is a political discussion forum; discuss any articles that you post or link to. Don't just reproduce them verbatim.
* USE QUOTE TAGS! Please, the number of newbies who don't use them is astounding - they make the whole forum gig a whole lot easier... but fair enough if you don't know - that's precisely what this thread is for :)
In the bottom-right hand corner of each post you will see a button marked "quote". To quote someone's text (rather than copy it yourself and put it in quotation marks (" ")) simply click this and edit out the bits you don't want to quote. That's exactly what I did with your post, PM! ~Czardas
If you want/need to quote something manually, type/paste the text you want to quote, select it all and then click the Quote button at the top-right hand corner of the reply/new post box. this wraps [ /quote] tags round your text.
To add a poster's name to the quote...
[QUOTE=poster's name]quoted text
... simply put "=poster's name" (minus the quotation marks) before the first end bracket ( "]" ) of the quote tag. like this:
[ QUOTE=poster's name ] quoted text [ /quote ]
* Remember to be courteous and respectful to everyone here - assume trust/respect until proven otherwise is my rule. Remember that on the other end of your keyboard is another living, breathing person, so be nice.
* Always keep in mind that there are differences in politcal culture around the world - for example Liberal and Conservative, as specific definitions, both mean something quite different in America and Europe... but don't let this stop your debates!
* Links to other games (particularly web-based ones) are prohibited. as are links (of any sort, including images) to websites such as ebaumsworld, newgrounds, rotten, etc...
* Don't over-use smilies. specifically, please don't pointlessly add the " :mp5: , :sniper: , :upyours: , or :gundge: " smilies at the end of posts - especially when not necessary or relevant. Newbies who overuse these smilies are called n00bs, and that is not a good thing to be on this forum. It gets you banned or deleted.
* The Mods: not a bunch of 1960s British alternative to Rockers who ride mopeds and have bad taste in music, but moderators...
Above all else be nice to them! The mods are, in fact, your friends, despite what some believe. There is not Mod Conspiracy, nor do they take sides. They do these forums a great service on their own time (& I don't believe they get paid), so please don't go nuts over mod decisions. Most of them are darn funny posters, too ;D (i'm looking at you, Cog, you poll-editing fiend you! lol)
If you have a problem with a mod's decision, take it up in the moderation forum (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1231)
* Read at least 2 to 5 pages into a serious topic in order to become more informed about your opponents' (and even proponents') arguments, when feasible.
* With posts, quantity does not mean quality. Just because someone has a large number of posts does not necessarily mean they've said a single thing of great quality. Don't give into the temptation to simply replying to everything just to raise your post count. You'll be far more respected if you take your time to think about your post, and provide valid, logical points, rather than a single quick answer. Be careful not to make it too long, though. Most people lack an attention span to go through a thread full of insanely long points. Wait for your opponent to make a counterpoint, and respond in kind.
[Thanks, PM. My comments added in red. ~Czardas]
------------------------ General FAQs ------------------------
Here is a list of all the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) available below:
1. What is "The Politcal Compass" and where can i find it?
2. What is the "Moral Compass" thing that i keep seeing round the place?
3. What can't I do?
4. Why isn't my nation growing or doing anything?
5. How do I do....?
6. What does "BUMP" or "TAG" mean?
7. What is a "fluffle"?
8. What does "- snip -" mean?
9. How do I post an image?
10. Where can I post a picture of myself?
11. How do I do Spoilers?
12. What are these weird poll options I keep seeing like "Myrth", "Melkor", "Fris" and "Cog"?
13. How do I make a poll?
14. How do I review my posts or come back to topics I've posted on?
15. How do I post links and what links can I post?
16. How do I get to meet other posters?
[I]1. What is "The Politcal Compass" and where can i find it?
The PC is a useful tool for gauging where you lie on the political spectrum. This is a politcal game after all, and most of the serious discussions that go on here are political/philisophical in nature. The test comprises six sections and takes around 5 to 10 minutes. At then end you are given an Economic Score and Social Score. the former indicates how economically right- or left-wing you are (negative numbers are left-wing), and the latter how socially authoritarian or libertarian you are (read: big state vs little state respectively, with negative numbers being libertarian).
Use this as a GUIDE only, as it says nothing about the specific beliefs of a poster. Most NSers put their PC scores in their signatures (text displayed after each of your posts - go to your Profile control panel to change yours; must be less than 8 lines long & are moderated)
Swimmingpool did a great job a few months back with a grand NSers Political Compass Chart, but I'm too lazy to find it just now, so if anyone posts the link i'll edit it in :)
[You naughty boy! ;-P Oh well, I found it...http://www.iol.ie/~roto/nspolc2.jpg ~Czardas]
link: http://politicalcompass.org/
2. What is the "Moral Compass" thing that i keep seeing round the place?
Same sort of thing as the Political Compass. http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9138673&postcount=3
link: http://www.moral-politics.com/
3. What can't I do?
The rules can be found here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023), compiled by our outstanding Law Enforcement Officer, Frisbeeteria. I quote:
Copycat threads: When somebody creates a popular thread, copycats and parodies quickly flood the forums. Like any other fad, a few can be fun, but once everyone starts to copycat them it becomes overbearing and spammish. Such threads may be locked or moved to Spam by any moderator who considers that thread to be a copycat or spam thread. Threads with genuine content may be left alone, but that probability increases dramatically when you don't use a fad title.
Chat threads: If you want to have a private conversation with one or two other people, this isn't the place to do it. One of the instant message clients (AIM, MSN) or an IRC /query is best. If you must chat on forums, use Jolt's Chat forum.
Cybersex chats: Illegal under the "obscene" clause of the TOS. Take it elsewhere
Social RP: In the wake of several out-of-control threads, standards were established for socializing threads. These sorts of threads are tolerated as long as a) there aren't too many of them, b) they attempt to maintain at least a façade of roleplaying behavior, and c) they are locked at approximately 1300 posts.
Tag Games: Carrying on with a conversation or chase game in unrelated threads is spamming and topic hijacking. Don't do it.
Word Games are banned. Period. It's not a matter of bandwidth, they're just not coming back. If you want to play word games, go start or join some in the spam forum. They're not welcome here.
4. Why isn't my nation growing or doing anything?
First, this belongs in Gameplay and would be moved by the mods (see above). Second, NationStates is a long term game and you probably won't see any marked changes in your nation (certainly your "UN Category") for at least a couple of weeks, so hang on in there and entertain yourself here in General in the meantime!
similarly....
5. How do I do....[insert nation/game based question here]?
Don't come here, that's how. Go to Technical, Gameplay, or Moderation (see links above) to ask your question, so the mods can help you. How do you think they got their jobs?
6. What does "BUMP" or "TAG" mean?
"Bump" is what posters often say when they simply want to 'bump' a thread up to the top of the list, without saying anything (other than bump of course). Excessive bumping is spamming, however, and people will be happier with you if you find a clever way of saying bump. For example "But if you try to debate [x] you bump into a lot of difficulties."
"Tag" is what many posters use to "tag" a thread for later review. If you post on a thread you are automatically "subscribed" to it, and you are notified of updates/new posts to that thread in your Jolt profile's control panel. Tagging allows you to go back to threads when you have a chance to later.
Don't just tag everything in sight though as this would count as spamming.
EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE: do not tag.
Actually -- DON'T tag. It is spamming. We have a perfectly good subscribe to thread function.
something i never use, but damn well should :P
to subscribe to a thread to come back to it later, as described above, do not "tag" but instead scroll to the top of the page and select "subscribe to this thread" under the 'thread tools' drop-down box on the top right-hand side of the page.
7. What is a "fluffle"?
aha! we love fluffles here - especially TInk (FairyTInkArisen, one of our most active, friendly and hottest posters, Queen of NS ;)) of course!
this is a fluffle: :fluffle: [Tink is away at the moment; however, other posters will be just as glad to do you the favor :P ~Czardas]
It basically refers to a friendly or "informal" expression of affection. Don't post too many of them. The same can go for the other smilies as well
8. What does "- snip -" mean?
when you've quoted some text but snipped/removed a portion of it. sometimes all of it if its a lengthy piece
9. How do I post an image?
Get the URL (web address) of where your image is hosted and click the "insert image" button in the post reply box (yellow the one with a little mountain). You cannot post up images stored on your local machine (on your hard drive) - you must upload them to the internet first.
try www.imageshack.com, www.photobucket.com
To post images in the thread itself, use tags around your image, for instance image URL[ /img].
[I]10. Where can I post a picture of myself?
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=412572 there. bear in mind that there is a seperate comments thread. please use it!
please note that not all picutes have to be posted there, just player pictures. you are free to use/post whichever other pictures you like (as long as they don't break any rules, including 'image spam')
11. How do I do "spoilers?"
Well, a spoiler is something used occasionally by posters - especially useful when posting jokes (but as word games are no longer allowed you see these used less and less).
Anyway, spoilers look like this:
like this, see?
The text is hidden until you select it with your mouse, whereby it changes colour and you can read it. Clever, eh? ;)
To do a spoiler, simply type (without the space at the end, inside the square brackets), type your text, and then end the tag with [/spoiler ]
so it will look like this: [spoiler ] your text
Note that relatively often posters will colour ordinary white to hide it instead.
To do this, select some text and select 'white' from the drop-down box in the reply/new post window.
[COLOR=White]like this. posters will often add a smilie with the white/hidden text, partly just to let others know its there :cool:
smilies also look kinda weird when they're highlighted like this lol
12. What are these weird poll options I keep seeing like "Myrth", "Melkor", "Fris" and "Cog"?
Don't let these bother you as they generally have nothing to do with the poll in question. Myrth, Melkor (Unchained), Fris(beeteria) and Cog(itation) are mods here, and it's kind of customary to put them in some polls - on the whole not the serious polls, that is. Originally it was the mod Myrth who got all the poll options, but since he resigned and some posters got annoyed at the whole thing the other mods have been included in the more light-hearted polls. Some of us here would rather they were in the poll options, but you can't have everything... *shiftyeyes*
13. How do I make a poll?
There are two ways:
1. When you are making a new topic, scroll down the page and check the "Yes, post a poll with this thread" box, then click "submit thread."
Don't worry if you don't put enough options to begin with because you can add more at the next (poll creation) page.
The new thread will appear as a normal thread minus the poll until you submit the poll on the following page (so other posters can read your thread before the poll is up... hence the occasional "in before the poll" post you'll see). There is nothing you can do about this, other than write the poll really fast.
2. In a thread you've already started, go to the "thread tools" at the top right hand of the page, and from the drop down list select "add a poll to this thread". Then go through the same procedure as above.
Note that you can make a poll multiple choice, have it close at a certain date (relative to the time you posted it), and/or have it be a public poll (posters' usernames are displayed by the poll option they voted for). you can select these at the bottom of the poll creation page.
14. How do I review my posts or come back to topics I've posted on?
Go to the "profile" button at the top left hand of each page and you'll see all the threads you're subscribed to. Click the little yellow downward facing arrow to go to the last post you read in that topic (doesn't always work properly, mind).
If you want to see your individual posts you'll have to go to search and search for your own username, making sure you select "view results as posts" rather than as topics.
15. How do I post links?
Simply put tags around the link. For example www.nationstates.net[ /url], without the spaces, will give you [url]www.nationstates.net. You cannot post links to any sites that are:
* Illegal -- ought to be pretty obvious lol.
* Obscene -- also pretty obvious. This includes porn, goatse, tubgirl, and lots of other things you shouldn't ask about.
* Other games -- for some reason, the mods don't want you to post links to other online games here. I'm not sure why exactly, and have never bothered to find out.
* Defamatory -- links to sites that slander other people. Very bad.
16. How do I get to meet other posters?
A lot of people post introductory topics telling a little bit about themselves, i.e. "Hi everyone, I'm new here. My name is Czardas. I am an anteater from Michigan." and so on and so forth. However, Fris has said that he will move or lock any future topics like this, as they have grown into a fad (see above. Remember the rules shop?). Also, there are several socialization RPs going around, notably the Paradise Beach and Reject Royalty things here in General (I know nothing about this!!! Someone help!!!).
Or, just jump right into debate and start inflicting your personality on everyone. Believe me, you'll be noticed. It may take a while, but it'll happen. Hey, look at me and where I am right now.
17. The profiles don't work!
Yeah, that happens. Jolt (the host for these forums) is notorious for not working when you need it most. The Jolt admins managed to fix this, but at the cost of the profiles. (Note: that is what you view when you click on someone's name and go to "View name's Profile!") However, you can still subscribe to a thread using the "Thread Tools" drop-down menu on the top of every thread.
-----------------------------------------
So I hope that helps some new people out. I know when I was new here I didn't know what the hell was going on, and the help files were all a little clinical - they assumed a level of knowledge I just didn't have. hopefully this plain-english guide will help some people ease into posting here
Any additions would be most welcome & I'll edit them in.
If you have found this useful at all please post and let me know, thanks!
Also, feel free to post here and introduce yourself if you're new!
Idea (and much of text) stolen from Pure Metal.
Also significant contributions from Lord-General Drache.
Okay, there are a lot of new members here who know little about the forums and are clogging the servers with questions. If you ever had any questions about the General forum, here is the place where they should be answered! Feel free to post if you think there should be any changes made. Pure Metal and I (Czardas) have gone to a lot of trouble to collect all this stuff, so please, don't make us have to try and find more. Post links!
And now, down to business:
Contents:
A. An Introduction to NS
B. An Introduction to the Forums
C. Helpful Links
D. The General Forum
E. General FAQs
------------------------ Introduction to NationStates & the forums ------------------------
Introduction (Pure Metal)
I'll assume you're playing the "game" part already if you've made it here. I'll also assume, for the sake of completeness, that the reader knows nothing of the general ways of an internet forum or this game.
The Forums
First, the game and forums are not directly linked/related. Second, the forums have a number of different levels - to see what else there is click on the "NationStates" link at the top of this page (by where it says "Welcome yourname").
NationStates (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1223) and International Incidents (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1230) are the role-playing forums. For an explanation of RPing see below. The following distinction is made between the two: NationStates (NS) is for character-based and sports role-playing, and more involved role-plays in general, while International Incidents (II) is more for nation-based, war, and trade role-playing. Note: There is a myth that the more "civilized" RPers stick to NS while all the spammers and n00bs are in II. I'll take a moment here to disprove that. While International Incidents has, indeed, been the home for dozens of spam threads and the like, there are still comparatively good roleplays that occur there; it simply takes more effort to find them. ;-)
The United Nations (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1225) is for discussions involving that august governing body made up of a good 32,000 of NationStates' members -- give or take. It is for debates over proposals and resolutions submitted to the UN. If you haven't joined the UN, don't bother coming here. Actually, not true. The UN forum is where most of the more serious in-character debates go, some of which are quite enjoyable, even for non-members. Your call here, however.
Gameplay (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1234) is for game-related questions and regional advertisements. If you want to know how to improve your economy or find a new region, post here. Regional advertisements belong in Gameplay! Post them anywhere else and they will be deleted!
Moderation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1231) is where to get help from the moderators (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=296993), whom you must have heard of by now. If not, the link explains who they are.
Technical (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=1&f=1224) is where to go to report bugs and ask questions about how the game works. It says "Ideas for improvement", but mods do not like you to post those there! Put those in NationStates 2 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=1&f=1228).
Spam (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=29) -- the dark hellhole of NationStates. Not even a part of the NS forums, it is where to go to post pointless, off-topic, and obscene things. Many people do this in General, but that's really the wrong place. Go to Spam and avoid getting banned, annoying the crap out of everyone (especially a small group of hard-working mods), and completely knocking out the NationStates servers for the umpteenth time.
That just about covers all the forums in common use.
----------------Helpful Links----------------[/b]
The NationStates Forum (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=400312) -- one of several threads explaining role-playing in NationStates.
The International Incidents Consolidation Sticky (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=414035) -- This massive sticky, assembled by our Sticky Master Euroslavia and friends, deals with everything you ever wanted to know about RPing but were afraid to ask.
Guide to NationStates (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357975) -- The precursor to the above thread.
The NationStates Orientation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=398818) is a superb thread that inspired this one, and should be read by anyone who -- no, make that anyone.
The One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023) is a collection of all the rules, selected judiciously by Frisbeeteria, one of the hardest-working of our beloved Moderators.
General Forum rulings and good General advice (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=410573) -- The mods have collected the rulings and advice in this thread, concerning General. It is also very helpful and should be followed unconditionally.
NSwiki (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) is a wiki (collection of interlinked pages editable by any user) about NationStates, the place to post your factbook, history, and anything else you want to write about your nation that Max Barry didn't let you.
The EP Flag Service (http://invisionfree.com/forums/The_East_Pacific/index.php?showforum=150) contributed by 1 Infinite Loop: A service for designing quality flags that ought to be up and running soon. Contact him for more details, not me!
NSeconomy (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/) is probably the best known of several calculators developed for NationStates. It lists lots of helpful stats. However, it doesn't work for nations in large regions.
The Sunset Calculator (http://www.sunsetrpg.com/economystatistics.php) lists more specific stats about your nation, but has no regional stats. These two calculators (Sunset and NSeconomy) provide an interesting study in contrasts.
((There's also the Pipian Calculator and a few others, but I'm not sure where those are...))
------------------------ The General Forum ------------------------
This is where you're at now, and is where posters discuss & debate real life, important issues (like the seperation of church & state), discuss trivial crap ("what is your favourite sandwich?"), get to know each other, and even hold mini-RP's of our own (the NS General Election). All are welcome and you're welcome to talk about anything you like as long as it complies with the rules above.
Etiquette:
From the General Forum rulings:
On The Prevention of Forum Fires
Hello, kids. Today I'm here to give you a few tips for avoiding forum fires.
1. Be Understanding.
-Sometimes people are joking or have not stated their position clearly. Take this into account when you feel like slamming someone for their posts. Carefully consider whether their current behavior is consistent with their past behavior, because an inconsistency may mean that they are joking or being unclear. Instead of jumping on them, ask them to clarify their position or ask them if they were joking.
2. Be Cool
-Whenever you feel like doing physical harm to another poster, it would be advisable to move away from your computer and do something else for a while so that you can come back and approach the situation more rationally. You can hit a punching bag, have a snack, do a small chore, or any number of other things.
3. Use Smilies
-The appropriate use of smilies is a very helpful tool in communicating your emotional state so that other posters do not take joke posts (or serious posts for that matter) as you being snarky.
These smilies are probably not good to use in joke posts, or posts of any kind for that matter, because many posters find them very annoying:
- snip -
And, as always...
Remember kids, only you can prevent forum fires.
* It is also advisable to type vaguely properly & attempt to spell with some accuracy as to not annoy other posters (i.e. "l33t speak" & "msn/txt speak" are likely to piss others off, but its not against the rules)
* if posting an article, please always be sure to post what the source is as well.
The problem is that you post articles in their entirety without adding any comments of your own or any analysis of your own. This qualifies as spam. ...or possibly even trolling (which is posting controversial material merely to ruffle feathers and make people mad).
Don't just copy-and-paste. State if you agree or disagree with the article. Describe why you agree or disagree. This is a political discussion forum; discuss any articles that you post or link to. Don't just reproduce them verbatim.
* USE QUOTE TAGS! Please, the number of newbies who don't use them is astounding - they make the whole forum gig a whole lot easier... but fair enough if you don't know - that's precisely what this thread is for :)
In the bottom-right hand corner of each post you will see a button marked "quote". To quote someone's text (rather than copy it yourself and put it in quotation marks (" ")) simply click this and edit out the bits you don't want to quote. That's exactly what I did with your post, PM! ~Czardas
If you want/need to quote something manually, type/paste the text you want to quote, select it all and then click the Quote button at the top-right hand corner of the reply/new post box. this wraps [ /quote] tags round your text.
To add a poster's name to the quote...
[QUOTE=poster's name]quoted text
... simply put "=poster's name" (minus the quotation marks) before the first end bracket ( "]" ) of the quote tag. like this:
[ QUOTE=poster's name ] quoted text [ /quote ]
* Remember to be courteous and respectful to everyone here - assume trust/respect until proven otherwise is my rule. Remember that on the other end of your keyboard is another living, breathing person, so be nice.
* Always keep in mind that there are differences in politcal culture around the world - for example Liberal and Conservative, as specific definitions, both mean something quite different in America and Europe... but don't let this stop your debates!
* Links to other games (particularly web-based ones) are prohibited. as are links (of any sort, including images) to websites such as ebaumsworld, newgrounds, rotten, etc...
* Don't over-use smilies. specifically, please don't pointlessly add the " :mp5: , :sniper: , :upyours: , or :gundge: " smilies at the end of posts - especially when not necessary or relevant. Newbies who overuse these smilies are called n00bs, and that is not a good thing to be on this forum. It gets you banned or deleted.
* The Mods: not a bunch of 1960s British alternative to Rockers who ride mopeds and have bad taste in music, but moderators...
Above all else be nice to them! The mods are, in fact, your friends, despite what some believe. There is not Mod Conspiracy, nor do they take sides. They do these forums a great service on their own time (& I don't believe they get paid), so please don't go nuts over mod decisions. Most of them are darn funny posters, too ;D (i'm looking at you, Cog, you poll-editing fiend you! lol)
If you have a problem with a mod's decision, take it up in the moderation forum (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1231)
* Read at least 2 to 5 pages into a serious topic in order to become more informed about your opponents' (and even proponents') arguments, when feasible.
* With posts, quantity does not mean quality. Just because someone has a large number of posts does not necessarily mean they've said a single thing of great quality. Don't give into the temptation to simply replying to everything just to raise your post count. You'll be far more respected if you take your time to think about your post, and provide valid, logical points, rather than a single quick answer. Be careful not to make it too long, though. Most people lack an attention span to go through a thread full of insanely long points. Wait for your opponent to make a counterpoint, and respond in kind.
[Thanks, PM. My comments added in red. ~Czardas]
------------------------ General FAQs ------------------------
Here is a list of all the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) available below:
1. What is "The Politcal Compass" and where can i find it?
2. What is the "Moral Compass" thing that i keep seeing round the place?
3. What can't I do?
4. Why isn't my nation growing or doing anything?
5. How do I do....?
6. What does "BUMP" or "TAG" mean?
7. What is a "fluffle"?
8. What does "- snip -" mean?
9. How do I post an image?
10. Where can I post a picture of myself?
11. How do I do Spoilers?
12. What are these weird poll options I keep seeing like "Myrth", "Melkor", "Fris" and "Cog"?
13. How do I make a poll?
14. How do I review my posts or come back to topics I've posted on?
15. How do I post links and what links can I post?
16. How do I get to meet other posters?
[I]1. What is "The Politcal Compass" and where can i find it?
The PC is a useful tool for gauging where you lie on the political spectrum. This is a politcal game after all, and most of the serious discussions that go on here are political/philisophical in nature. The test comprises six sections and takes around 5 to 10 minutes. At then end you are given an Economic Score and Social Score. the former indicates how economically right- or left-wing you are (negative numbers are left-wing), and the latter how socially authoritarian or libertarian you are (read: big state vs little state respectively, with negative numbers being libertarian).
Use this as a GUIDE only, as it says nothing about the specific beliefs of a poster. Most NSers put their PC scores in their signatures (text displayed after each of your posts - go to your Profile control panel to change yours; must be less than 8 lines long & are moderated)
Swimmingpool did a great job a few months back with a grand NSers Political Compass Chart, but I'm too lazy to find it just now, so if anyone posts the link i'll edit it in :)
[You naughty boy! ;-P Oh well, I found it...http://www.iol.ie/~roto/nspolc2.jpg ~Czardas]
link: http://politicalcompass.org/
2. What is the "Moral Compass" thing that i keep seeing round the place?
Same sort of thing as the Political Compass. http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9138673&postcount=3
link: http://www.moral-politics.com/
3. What can't I do?
The rules can be found here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416023), compiled by our outstanding Law Enforcement Officer, Frisbeeteria. I quote:
Copycat threads: When somebody creates a popular thread, copycats and parodies quickly flood the forums. Like any other fad, a few can be fun, but once everyone starts to copycat them it becomes overbearing and spammish. Such threads may be locked or moved to Spam by any moderator who considers that thread to be a copycat or spam thread. Threads with genuine content may be left alone, but that probability increases dramatically when you don't use a fad title.
Chat threads: If you want to have a private conversation with one or two other people, this isn't the place to do it. One of the instant message clients (AIM, MSN) or an IRC /query is best. If you must chat on forums, use Jolt's Chat forum.
Cybersex chats: Illegal under the "obscene" clause of the TOS. Take it elsewhere
Social RP: In the wake of several out-of-control threads, standards were established for socializing threads. These sorts of threads are tolerated as long as a) there aren't too many of them, b) they attempt to maintain at least a façade of roleplaying behavior, and c) they are locked at approximately 1300 posts.
Tag Games: Carrying on with a conversation or chase game in unrelated threads is spamming and topic hijacking. Don't do it.
Word Games are banned. Period. It's not a matter of bandwidth, they're just not coming back. If you want to play word games, go start or join some in the spam forum. They're not welcome here.
4. Why isn't my nation growing or doing anything?
First, this belongs in Gameplay and would be moved by the mods (see above). Second, NationStates is a long term game and you probably won't see any marked changes in your nation (certainly your "UN Category") for at least a couple of weeks, so hang on in there and entertain yourself here in General in the meantime!
similarly....
5. How do I do....[insert nation/game based question here]?
Don't come here, that's how. Go to Technical, Gameplay, or Moderation (see links above) to ask your question, so the mods can help you. How do you think they got their jobs?
6. What does "BUMP" or "TAG" mean?
"Bump" is what posters often say when they simply want to 'bump' a thread up to the top of the list, without saying anything (other than bump of course). Excessive bumping is spamming, however, and people will be happier with you if you find a clever way of saying bump. For example "But if you try to debate [x] you bump into a lot of difficulties."
"Tag" is what many posters use to "tag" a thread for later review. If you post on a thread you are automatically "subscribed" to it, and you are notified of updates/new posts to that thread in your Jolt profile's control panel. Tagging allows you to go back to threads when you have a chance to later.
Don't just tag everything in sight though as this would count as spamming.
EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE: do not tag.
Actually -- DON'T tag. It is spamming. We have a perfectly good subscribe to thread function.
something i never use, but damn well should :P
to subscribe to a thread to come back to it later, as described above, do not "tag" but instead scroll to the top of the page and select "subscribe to this thread" under the 'thread tools' drop-down box on the top right-hand side of the page.
7. What is a "fluffle"?
aha! we love fluffles here - especially TInk (FairyTInkArisen, one of our most active, friendly and hottest posters, Queen of NS ;)) of course!
this is a fluffle: :fluffle: [Tink is away at the moment; however, other posters will be just as glad to do you the favor :P ~Czardas]
It basically refers to a friendly or "informal" expression of affection. Don't post too many of them. The same can go for the other smilies as well
8. What does "- snip -" mean?
when you've quoted some text but snipped/removed a portion of it. sometimes all of it if its a lengthy piece
9. How do I post an image?
Get the URL (web address) of where your image is hosted and click the "insert image" button in the post reply box (yellow the one with a little mountain). You cannot post up images stored on your local machine (on your hard drive) - you must upload them to the internet first.
try www.imageshack.com, www.photobucket.com
To post images in the thread itself, use tags around your image, for instance image URL[ /img].
[I]10. Where can I post a picture of myself?
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=412572 there. bear in mind that there is a seperate comments thread. please use it!
please note that not all picutes have to be posted there, just player pictures. you are free to use/post whichever other pictures you like (as long as they don't break any rules, including 'image spam')
11. How do I do "spoilers?"
Well, a spoiler is something used occasionally by posters - especially useful when posting jokes (but as word games are no longer allowed you see these used less and less).
Anyway, spoilers look like this:
like this, see?
The text is hidden until you select it with your mouse, whereby it changes colour and you can read it. Clever, eh? ;)
To do a spoiler, simply type (without the space at the end, inside the square brackets), type your text, and then end the tag with [/spoiler ]
so it will look like this: [spoiler ] your text
Note that relatively often posters will colour ordinary white to hide it instead.
To do this, select some text and select 'white' from the drop-down box in the reply/new post window.
[COLOR=White]like this. posters will often add a smilie with the white/hidden text, partly just to let others know its there :cool:
smilies also look kinda weird when they're highlighted like this lol
12. What are these weird poll options I keep seeing like "Myrth", "Melkor", "Fris" and "Cog"?
Don't let these bother you as they generally have nothing to do with the poll in question. Myrth, Melkor (Unchained), Fris(beeteria) and Cog(itation) are mods here, and it's kind of customary to put them in some polls - on the whole not the serious polls, that is. Originally it was the mod Myrth who got all the poll options, but since he resigned and some posters got annoyed at the whole thing the other mods have been included in the more light-hearted polls. Some of us here would rather they were in the poll options, but you can't have everything... *shiftyeyes*
13. How do I make a poll?
There are two ways:
1. When you are making a new topic, scroll down the page and check the "Yes, post a poll with this thread" box, then click "submit thread."
Don't worry if you don't put enough options to begin with because you can add more at the next (poll creation) page.
The new thread will appear as a normal thread minus the poll until you submit the poll on the following page (so other posters can read your thread before the poll is up... hence the occasional "in before the poll" post you'll see). There is nothing you can do about this, other than write the poll really fast.
2. In a thread you've already started, go to the "thread tools" at the top right hand of the page, and from the drop down list select "add a poll to this thread". Then go through the same procedure as above.
Note that you can make a poll multiple choice, have it close at a certain date (relative to the time you posted it), and/or have it be a public poll (posters' usernames are displayed by the poll option they voted for). you can select these at the bottom of the poll creation page.
14. How do I review my posts or come back to topics I've posted on?
Go to the "profile" button at the top left hand of each page and you'll see all the threads you're subscribed to. Click the little yellow downward facing arrow to go to the last post you read in that topic (doesn't always work properly, mind).
If you want to see your individual posts you'll have to go to search and search for your own username, making sure you select "view results as posts" rather than as topics.
15. How do I post links?
Simply put tags around the link. For example www.nationstates.net[ /url], without the spaces, will give you [url]www.nationstates.net. You cannot post links to any sites that are:
* Illegal -- ought to be pretty obvious lol.
* Obscene -- also pretty obvious. This includes porn, goatse, tubgirl, and lots of other things you shouldn't ask about.
* Other games -- for some reason, the mods don't want you to post links to other online games here. I'm not sure why exactly, and have never bothered to find out.
* Defamatory -- links to sites that slander other people. Very bad.
16. How do I get to meet other posters?
A lot of people post introductory topics telling a little bit about themselves, i.e. "Hi everyone, I'm new here. My name is Czardas. I am an anteater from Michigan." and so on and so forth. However, Fris has said that he will move or lock any future topics like this, as they have grown into a fad (see above. Remember the rules shop?). Also, there are several socialization RPs going around, notably the Paradise Beach and Reject Royalty things here in General (I know nothing about this!!! Someone help!!!).
Or, just jump right into debate and start inflicting your personality on everyone. Believe me, you'll be noticed. It may take a while, but it'll happen. Hey, look at me and where I am right now.
17. The profiles don't work!
Yeah, that happens. Jolt (the host for these forums) is notorious for not working when you need it most. The Jolt admins managed to fix this, but at the cost of the profiles. (Note: that is what you view when you click on someone's name and go to "View name's Profile!") However, you can still subscribe to a thread using the "Thread Tools" drop-down menu on the top of every thread.
-----------------------------------------
So I hope that helps some new people out. I know when I was new here I didn't know what the hell was going on, and the help files were all a little clinical - they assumed a level of knowledge I just didn't have. hopefully this plain-english guide will help some people ease into posting here
Any additions would be most welcome & I'll edit them in.
If you have found this useful at all please post and let me know, thanks!
Also, feel free to post here and introduce yourself if you're new!
Idea (and much of text) stolen from Pure Metal.
Also significant contributions from Lord-General Drache.