Welcome to the SPF (summary)
After carefully reading all the posts in my research thread and some other threads, I made this summary. Of course most of what is said here can be already found in the stickies, by lurking, or is obvious, but I bet it can’t hurt to summarise that in some “guide”. Even if only one person finds some inspiration here, then I say it’s worth the effort.
Tips for how to be welcome on the SPF (not only for newcomers):
• [highlight]Introduction[/highlight] – obviously a thing that is good to do, this should be clear. Remember that the first impression can be important : ). As a newcomer, it would be a good idea to tell a little bit about your playing habits; how you play D2 and how you played D2 before joining the SPF. This can be especially important if you will be MP’ing or trading, that way people can more comfortably start building trust.
• [highlight]Posting into the IFT (Item Find Thread)[/highlight] – well no one can forbid a newcomer to post an Enigma as his first IFT post, but at the same time it can be a very unlucky beginning here. Starting by posting some other - a bit more common - nice/interesting items will result in better success. And if a newcomer does want to post some very high-end item such as an Enigma, it would be a good idea to explain it clearly that where he/she found the runes for it.
If you do HF rushing, you should be able to explain some details, because you did it. To say something like “I rushed a Jah, but I didn’t care to remember how long it took/how many rushes (even approximately) I did” *can* just sound suspicious.
Also to only claim “I did 10-20k LK runs and here I go with Infinity” can be a bit unlucky. Sure if someone aims for this weapon, then he/she doesn’t care so much about some lower runes, charms..., but on the other hand, to post couple of lower runes/nice items what you for sure found during Infinity hunting can be a good idea how to make your final result more trustworthy.
High runes are still rare (even though thanks to the prevalence of HF rushing and LK running not as much as they used to be), so many of us have a hard time to understand why to put dear HR without thinking into the first armor/weapon with the appropriate number of sockets.
Some of you want to try some uber RW that is generally out of reach. You know “What you do on your comp is your thing...as long as you don’t trade and MP”. That’s true. You can try it. But then don’t try to pretend here that you found/earned those runes, many people can read between the lines and not all of us like fairy-tales so this is not a good way how to gain respect quickly.
• [highlight]Self-presentation[/highlight] – big part of respect can be gained with nice and mature presentation here. To write a great build guide of course helps, but not all of us are capable of this. But great respect have also people who give good advice and game tips to others, write interesting mat/pat threads (and that doesn’t mean only characters with uber items), are visible in tournaments, are great fellows in MP games, make a character lvl 99
.....but also those who have a sense for empathy, give advice in OT threads or share RL stories, or just have nice posts.
Frankly, even grammar is in a way important. Not all of us are native speakers (including me) and to formulate thoughts into sentences so that it sounds as we intended, can be a task. But spending a bit more time with the right formulation of words can pay off.
• [highlight]Spamming[/highlight] – it is not recommended to spam. But truth is that some reasonable amount of spamming can be cute and funny and makes this place warm, some threads even desire spamming : ). But on the other hand, if a new member starts to post into every thread, 20 nonsense posts per day or can’t estimate where being kind ends and being a bootlicker starts, it can be annoying and ruin all respect.
• [highlight]Congratulating [/highlight]– congratulating someone for a good reason, for some nice item find for example is fitting and polite. Although it’s not a good idea to fill the IFT with congratulation posts, but in general, congratulating for a good reason is a nice thing.
Of course what qualifies as a good reason is relative; for someone who is just starting a new melee character with no items, finding a Cathan’s Seal ring can be a blessing, whereas for someone who has MF’d a lot and for a long time finding a mediocre roll Death’s Fathom for example isn’t anything special.
But there is another aspect of this subject, which should be at least considered. If a newcomer makes a post where he/she mentions how he/she has a sorceress with many absolute high end items (e.g. 2x Dream, Infinity, CtA, etc.), but in no way explains where from and how he/she acquired those items, and then in the same post tells how he/she found his/her first ever Oculus on SP, and tells what a great find it was, it’s maybe not a good idea to congratulate for that, because quite frankly, in such situation the legitimacy of the newcomer would be far from clear. In worst case, congratulating in such situation could encourage illegitimate gameplay.
It’s not a good idea to start flaming either. Instead, it would be good to politely point out that the find (Oculus vs. multiple high-end rune words) seems very contradicting considering the item wealth the person already has. Pointing that out politely can give the newcomer a chance to explain the circumstances a bit, that way possibly giving a better impression to the forum.
•[highlight] Asking/giving advice[/highlight] – many general tips can be found in the Sticky threads, read them : ). If you can’t find advice there, then try to create a question as clear as possible, with relevant title, to prevent others from being confused and having to guess what you are asking about (again good English can help).
If you ask for some game/character tips, it’s also good to mention your D2 wealth, so you can get the most effective and relevant reply. And vice versa, if you give advice, you should take this into account. Of course everyone theoretically can do 2k Meph runs and 10k Pindle runs and gain desirable items, but not everyone plays 24/7. Every high-end item has some cheaper equivalent.
• [highlight]Debatable post[/highlight] – like posts in IFT/mat/pat threads which look suspicious or flaming posts as reaction to them. Maybe the best idea is to not contribute here (no false congratulations, no more sarcastic and/or snide comments). If someone wants to just brag about something which you consider as false, don’t support that in any way, don’t feed his/her need for attention. If something is too much over the top, then I even don’t see any reason why to feel uncomfortable to use the report button. Its purpose is to protect this place.
Credits:
Smips, Andronicus, VoX Dei, stephan, amne, BobTheWarrior, Noodle, Low Key, Ipsilantee and many others (I merely listed members, whose posts inspired me to make some additions into my writing).
Special thanks to Denton for his patience with me and grammar correction (heh I’m not native speaker by any means).
After carefully reading all the posts in my research thread and some other threads, I made this summary. Of course most of what is said here can be already found in the stickies, by lurking, or is obvious, but I bet it can’t hurt to summarise that in some “guide”. Even if only one person finds some inspiration here, then I say it’s worth the effort.
Tips for how to be welcome on the SPF (not only for newcomers):
• [highlight]Introduction[/highlight] – obviously a thing that is good to do, this should be clear. Remember that the first impression can be important : ). As a newcomer, it would be a good idea to tell a little bit about your playing habits; how you play D2 and how you played D2 before joining the SPF. This can be especially important if you will be MP’ing or trading, that way people can more comfortably start building trust.
• [highlight]Posting into the IFT (Item Find Thread)[/highlight] – well no one can forbid a newcomer to post an Enigma as his first IFT post, but at the same time it can be a very unlucky beginning here. Starting by posting some other - a bit more common - nice/interesting items will result in better success. And if a newcomer does want to post some very high-end item such as an Enigma, it would be a good idea to explain it clearly that where he/she found the runes for it.
If you do HF rushing, you should be able to explain some details, because you did it. To say something like “I rushed a Jah, but I didn’t care to remember how long it took/how many rushes (even approximately) I did” *can* just sound suspicious.
Also to only claim “I did 10-20k LK runs and here I go with Infinity” can be a bit unlucky. Sure if someone aims for this weapon, then he/she doesn’t care so much about some lower runes, charms..., but on the other hand, to post couple of lower runes/nice items what you for sure found during Infinity hunting can be a good idea how to make your final result more trustworthy.
High runes are still rare (even though thanks to the prevalence of HF rushing and LK running not as much as they used to be), so many of us have a hard time to understand why to put dear HR without thinking into the first armor/weapon with the appropriate number of sockets.
Some of you want to try some uber RW that is generally out of reach. You know “What you do on your comp is your thing...as long as you don’t trade and MP”. That’s true. You can try it. But then don’t try to pretend here that you found/earned those runes, many people can read between the lines and not all of us like fairy-tales so this is not a good way how to gain respect quickly.
• [highlight]Self-presentation[/highlight] – big part of respect can be gained with nice and mature presentation here. To write a great build guide of course helps, but not all of us are capable of this. But great respect have also people who give good advice and game tips to others, write interesting mat/pat threads (and that doesn’t mean only characters with uber items), are visible in tournaments, are great fellows in MP games, make a character lvl 99
.....but also those who have a sense for empathy, give advice in OT threads or share RL stories, or just have nice posts. Frankly, even grammar is in a way important. Not all of us are native speakers (including me) and to formulate thoughts into sentences so that it sounds as we intended, can be a task. But spending a bit more time with the right formulation of words can pay off.
• [highlight]Spamming[/highlight] – it is not recommended to spam. But truth is that some reasonable amount of spamming can be cute and funny and makes this place warm, some threads even desire spamming : ). But on the other hand, if a new member starts to post into every thread, 20 nonsense posts per day or can’t estimate where being kind ends and being a bootlicker starts, it can be annoying and ruin all respect.
• [highlight]Congratulating [/highlight]– congratulating someone for a good reason, for some nice item find for example is fitting and polite. Although it’s not a good idea to fill the IFT with congratulation posts, but in general, congratulating for a good reason is a nice thing.
Of course what qualifies as a good reason is relative; for someone who is just starting a new melee character with no items, finding a Cathan’s Seal ring can be a blessing, whereas for someone who has MF’d a lot and for a long time finding a mediocre roll Death’s Fathom for example isn’t anything special.
But there is another aspect of this subject, which should be at least considered. If a newcomer makes a post where he/she mentions how he/she has a sorceress with many absolute high end items (e.g. 2x Dream, Infinity, CtA, etc.), but in no way explains where from and how he/she acquired those items, and then in the same post tells how he/she found his/her first ever Oculus on SP, and tells what a great find it was, it’s maybe not a good idea to congratulate for that, because quite frankly, in such situation the legitimacy of the newcomer would be far from clear. In worst case, congratulating in such situation could encourage illegitimate gameplay.
It’s not a good idea to start flaming either. Instead, it would be good to politely point out that the find (Oculus vs. multiple high-end rune words) seems very contradicting considering the item wealth the person already has. Pointing that out politely can give the newcomer a chance to explain the circumstances a bit, that way possibly giving a better impression to the forum.
•[highlight] Asking/giving advice[/highlight] – many general tips can be found in the Sticky threads, read them : ). If you can’t find advice there, then try to create a question as clear as possible, with relevant title, to prevent others from being confused and having to guess what you are asking about (again good English can help).
If you ask for some game/character tips, it’s also good to mention your D2 wealth, so you can get the most effective and relevant reply. And vice versa, if you give advice, you should take this into account. Of course everyone theoretically can do 2k Meph runs and 10k Pindle runs and gain desirable items, but not everyone plays 24/7. Every high-end item has some cheaper equivalent.
• [highlight]Debatable post[/highlight] – like posts in IFT/mat/pat threads which look suspicious or flaming posts as reaction to them. Maybe the best idea is to not contribute here (no false congratulations, no more sarcastic and/or snide comments). If someone wants to just brag about something which you consider as false, don’t support that in any way, don’t feed his/her need for attention. If something is too much over the top, then I even don’t see any reason why to feel uncomfortable to use the report button. Its purpose is to protect this place.
Credits:
Smips, Andronicus, VoX Dei, stephan, amne, BobTheWarrior, Noodle, Low Key, Ipsilantee and many others (I merely listed members, whose posts inspired me to make some additions into my writing).
Special thanks to Denton for his patience with me and grammar correction (heh I’m not native speaker by any means).
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they add another human element to your posts
)
