The internet is a wonderful tool, everyone uses it and having the power of information and communication at your fingertips should never be underestimated. Unfortunately it's obvious - especially modding a forum - that some things experienced interneters take for granted aren't really obvious for people new to this crazy phenomenon.
I thought it'd be good to create a thread where everyone can give their tips, sort of a "good ideas for a n00b to keep in mind" type list that can eventually be sorted and consolidated in to something useful. We can then use it to point people to if they're having trouble with things. Everything from how to search to forum etiquette should be common knowledge but instead of educating we usually let arrogance take control when someone asks a silly question or says something dumb. Having such a thread would help prevent flaming attacks over petty situations and give everyone something to contribute to as well as learn from.
I'll kick it off with finding information:
The mighty power of google
Have a look at Googles search guide, there's a lot to learn there and much of it will apply to other search engines too.
And as an example, this was pulled from another thread addressing the issue of Farkins search character limit:
You can search specific sites using Google.
For example, you can search by site by putting site:.au for all sites ending in .au (Australian), thus you can search the Farkin forums by putting site:.forums.farkin.net and it'll only give your results for Farkins forum.
If you're looking for information on a bike, you might punch the words Norco Six in to it.
So then you'd search for Norco Six, and still come back with all results for Norco and Six in the same post... That might be too many results, and many ont specific to what you want. To narrow that down, put the words you want together in quotation marks, "norco six" will only give results for those two words together.
To really sharpen your search, vary between "norco six 3" or "norco six three" or "norco six" three (don't use the number alone in the search, it'll bring back useless results).
So get to hit, punch this in to google:
"norco six three" site:.forums.farkin.net
or
"norco six" three site:.forums.farkin.net
etc etc.
You can also use boolean searches using +, -, quotations as per above, and if you really want to get specific use googles Advanced search features.
Once you master how to search for information you'll be amazed at how many simple questions can be answered just by searching. With a bit of practise it's easy to find almost any information you need providing it's online.
Next up is something that really should be mentioned:
Password security!
Far out, the amount of times people say "my msn got hacked" or similar blows my mind. Firstly, having someone guess your password isn't really "hacking", secondly...
YOUR PASSWORD SHOULD BE SECURE ENOUGH IT CAN'T BE GUESSED!
Nor should you ever have something simple enough it can be either guessed or discovered through simple methods.
A password should be a somewhat random collection of letters and numbers, something that means enough to you to remember properly but obscure enough to not allow it to be discovered by others. Having things like your name or date of birth in your password is plain dumb and you really do deserve the wrath of the internet coming down on you if you leave yourself open to having your email and forum accounts hijacked.
Another thing someone pointed out to me... when you sign up for email or whatever sometimes they ask you "reminder" questions like "what is your mothers maiden name" and other shit. Don't use them if you can avoid it, they're just another security risk. Funnily enough this person made note that there's seemingly innocent "personality quiz" questions on myspace and the like that'll ask you names of your first pet, city of birth or the like which are rather conveniently the same sort of questions you might have answered when signing up to an email account.
Be smart fellow internerds, your information can be used for all sorts of evil purposes so keep your cards close to your chest.
That's me done for now, there's plenty more handy snippets to be posted so contribute what you can and hopefully we'll have a great resource for everyone to tap in to.
I thought it'd be good to create a thread where everyone can give their tips, sort of a "good ideas for a n00b to keep in mind" type list that can eventually be sorted and consolidated in to something useful. We can then use it to point people to if they're having trouble with things. Everything from how to search to forum etiquette should be common knowledge but instead of educating we usually let arrogance take control when someone asks a silly question or says something dumb. Having such a thread would help prevent flaming attacks over petty situations and give everyone something to contribute to as well as learn from.
I'll kick it off with finding information:
The mighty power of google
Have a look at Googles search guide, there's a lot to learn there and much of it will apply to other search engines too.
And as an example, this was pulled from another thread addressing the issue of Farkins search character limit:
You can search specific sites using Google.
For example, you can search by site by putting site:.au for all sites ending in .au (Australian), thus you can search the Farkin forums by putting site:.forums.farkin.net and it'll only give your results for Farkins forum.
If you're looking for information on a bike, you might punch the words Norco Six in to it.
So then you'd search for Norco Six, and still come back with all results for Norco and Six in the same post... That might be too many results, and many ont specific to what you want. To narrow that down, put the words you want together in quotation marks, "norco six" will only give results for those two words together.
To really sharpen your search, vary between "norco six 3" or "norco six three" or "norco six" three (don't use the number alone in the search, it'll bring back useless results).
So get to hit, punch this in to google:
"norco six three" site:.forums.farkin.net
or
"norco six" three site:.forums.farkin.net
etc etc.
You can also use boolean searches using +, -, quotations as per above, and if you really want to get specific use googles Advanced search features.
Once you master how to search for information you'll be amazed at how many simple questions can be answered just by searching. With a bit of practise it's easy to find almost any information you need providing it's online.
Next up is something that really should be mentioned:
Password security!
Far out, the amount of times people say "my msn got hacked" or similar blows my mind. Firstly, having someone guess your password isn't really "hacking", secondly...
YOUR PASSWORD SHOULD BE SECURE ENOUGH IT CAN'T BE GUESSED!
Nor should you ever have something simple enough it can be either guessed or discovered through simple methods.
A password should be a somewhat random collection of letters and numbers, something that means enough to you to remember properly but obscure enough to not allow it to be discovered by others. Having things like your name or date of birth in your password is plain dumb and you really do deserve the wrath of the internet coming down on you if you leave yourself open to having your email and forum accounts hijacked.
Another thing someone pointed out to me... when you sign up for email or whatever sometimes they ask you "reminder" questions like "what is your mothers maiden name" and other shit. Don't use them if you can avoid it, they're just another security risk. Funnily enough this person made note that there's seemingly innocent "personality quiz" questions on myspace and the like that'll ask you names of your first pet, city of birth or the like which are rather conveniently the same sort of questions you might have answered when signing up to an email account.
Be smart fellow internerds, your information can be used for all sorts of evil purposes so keep your cards close to your chest.
That's me done for now, there's plenty more handy snippets to be posted so contribute what you can and hopefully we'll have a great resource for everyone to tap in to.