Useful information (and forum history) for Newbies

[Swamp]

I thought this might be a good place to layout any useful information for newcomers about the forums or any "forum culture" that has developed over time that forumites who have been around for a while may take for granted.  It could serve as an indirect FAQ.  Feel free to add helpful information or to ask questions.  Anyway here are a couple examples:

Q: Are there any forum rules?

A: Only two.  You may read about there here.

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Q: What do the titles of Autarch, Palmer, Lochage, etc. mean?  How are they assigned?

A: Steve Eley set these titles up when he created the forums.  They originated from Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

Here is the breakdown of how they are assigned:

Title       # of posts needed
Extern—0
Palmer—20
Peltast—80
Matross—160
Lochage—320
Hipparch—600

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Q: What is up with the acronyms TCoRN and N_sh

A: TCoRN stands for The Church of Russell Nash.  N_sh is a way of referring to the deity of this religion without using it in vain or swearing in a public forum.  One can commune with N_sh by sending him your prayers on the back of a $100 bill.  Below is the best explanation of its genesis:

Well.... the long version is buried in this thread here.   The short version is, someone tried to use beloved moderator, Russell Nash, as the deity of his own religion in a semi-Socratic thought experiment on faith.  It kind of backfired because the rest of us are a bunch of smart-assed nay-sayers with hyper-active imaginations (would you expect any less in a science fiction podcast forum?)... and the result has been a running inside joke.  As you can see by my sig and description, I tried to stake out territory as the supreme heretic, but others (such as Heradel) have posed their own (unorthodox) heretical positions, too.

This, in a nutshell, explains the existence of The Church of Russell Nash (aka TCoRN).  Yea, and verily, go now in peace.  (Or in pieces.)

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Q: Where can I pimp my writing/podcast?

A: The best place to promote your writing or update your writing status is under Progress Reports in the Writing Forum.  For a podcast, go to Podcast Pedantry.
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[Swamp]

Q:  What are IPU's?

A: Invisible pink unicorns.  These are the source of another religion.  Below are the words of its founder:

"Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them."
 - Steve Eley, circa 1995

I had a whole manifesto written up at one point, but the exact text has been lost to history and pre-Web Telnet-based BBS systems.  I remember there was a model of the expanding universe based on raisin bread.  I remember that IPUs were responsible for stealing your socks. 

I remember writing that mosquitoes don't actuallly bite people; rather, they flock around IPUs the way horseflies flock around horses.  The raised, itchy welt is the Invisible Pink Unicorn poking you with its horn for your sins.  Since you can't see the IPU, you blame the mosquito instead.

I also remember not wanting to be the High Priest.  HPs are figureheads, and the first against the all when the revolution comes.  I was Chief Advocate and Spokesguy instead, meaning I got to make up cool manifestos and nobody blamed me for what happened.

A friend of mine started the first schism by founding the Cult of the Very Stealthy Maroon Pegasi.  His branch didn't get very far, however.  How could it?  Maroon pegasi are ridiculous.

[stePH]

I thought we already had this thread.

[Heradel]

I thought we already had this thread.

Except that one never really got serious. This one appears to be so far, and so long as Swamp's ok with it I'll prune unserious replies and put them in that thread. I joined this forum in the second semester of college, I'm now in my second to last semester (hopefully). A lot of time has passed, and an easy in for newbies is a good idea. The forum needs to grow, and this should help.

[Swamp]

I thought we already had this thread.

I knew if I used the term FAQ, someone would bring up that old fun, but useless thread.

Except that one never really got serious. This one appears to be so far, and so long as Swamp's ok with it I'll prune unserious replies and put them in that thread. I joined this forum in the second semester of college, I'm now in my second to last semester (hopefully). A lot of time has passed, and an easy in for newbies is a good idea. The forum needs to grow, and this should help.

Thanks, Heradel, that would be great.  Yeah, it would be nice to make this a useful resource for new members.

[Swamp]

Q:  If I donate to one podcast, does that a) go to support the authors, costs, etc. for only that podcast, or b) does it go into a big Escape Artist grab bag to support all three podcasts?

A: 

The funding is not currently tracked. It all goes into the same pot.

I believe the original plan was to have the three podcasts functioning on separate funding, however that was several business plans and economic crises ago. I think changes affecting the apportionment of funding are on the backburner for now.

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Q:  If I need to, how do I cancel the $5 per month donations via paypal?

A: 

If you want to cancel a subscription:
1.  Log in  to your PayPal account.
2.  Click History at the top of the page.
3.  Find the subscription in your History.
4.  Click the Details link for the subscription.
5.  Click the Cancel Subscription button.

that's the instructions I get when I get emails telling me I just made an auto payment... however you ACTUALLY need to insert another step between 4 and 5
so...
4.5 click the "in reference to [insert long alphanumeric thing here] link, and at the bottom of THAT page it'll have the cancel subscription button.

[Jason M]

Q:  Can I get cool EA merchandise?

A:  For T-shitrts and collection CD's, go to  www.poddisc.com.  More may become available in the future.

Mod: updated

[Swamp]

Q:  Where can I comment on older episodes that do not have comment threads?  Why aren't they there?

A:  What are you talking abbout?  They have always been available.  Promise.

[whisper] Shhhhh.  No, Bdoomed, they don't need to know that.  Ok, Heradel, stop gloating. [/whisper]

[Ben Phillips]

Q: What do the titles of Autarch, Palmer, Lochage, etc. mean?

A: Steve Eley set these titles up when he created the forums.  The best unconfirmed theory of their origins is discussed here.

I can confirm the theory (if that wouldn't take all the fun out of it) -- the titles definitely came from Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

[Swamp]

Q:  Where can I download episodes that are no longer in the feed?

A:  EscapePod:  EscapeArchive.com is no longer updated, but you can still get episodes 1-175 and flash stories 1-25 from this directory.

     PodCastle:  None to my knowledge.

     Pseudopod:

A Pseudopod torrent:  http://www.mininova.org/tor/2083431

We don't currently have anyone officially on staff handling torrents for us, but thanks to the magic of Creative Commons licensing people are free to make and seed them to their hearts' content.  If you want to be officially in charge of such things, drop me a line and I'll be happy to declare you Torrentmaster Supreme or whatever you like, so everyone else can rest happily in the knowledge it's being handled.

[stePH]

Q:  Where can I download episodes that are no longer in the feed?

Escape Pod: http://escapepod.org/

Pseudopod: http://pseudopod.org/

Podcastle: http://podcastle.org/

[Swamp]

Q:  Where can I download episodes that are no longer in the feed?

Escape Pod: http://escapepod.org/

Pseudopod: http://pseudopod.org/

Podcastle: http://podcastle.org/

This is true.  You can right-click the Download link and select Save Target As.  Thanks for the correction, StePH.

[Alasdair5000]

Q.  How do I participate in the picture association thread?

A.  Easy, keep following the thread until you see a picture that puts you in mind of another one, then post it.  That being said, bear in mind a lot of people read this forum at their workplace so if the image isn't safe for work, please put a link to it instead of the image itself.

[stePH]

... bear in mind a lot of people read this forum at their workplace so if the image isn't safe for work, please put a link to it instead of the image itself.

You shouldn't be reading and posting from work, slacker.

[Bdoomed]

Q: Can I change the amount of money I donate monthly to Escape Artists?
A: At the moment, no. The amount for a monthly donation subscription is locked in at $5 per month.  You cannot choose to donate more or less on a subscription.  You can sign up for more than one subscription, and you can also subscribe to each podcast if you want to donate more, as they all go into the same Escape Artists account.

Q: Will this change? And when?
A: Maybe, we don't know.

[Bdoomed]

Q: Why is the "report to moderator" link broken?
A: It's not.  It's just buggy.  Click it once if you REALLY need to report the post, then just wait for it to "crash".  Don't worry, it will have been reported.

[Zorag]

Is there a time limit for resurrecting old threads?

[rodrigounda]

Is there a time limit for resurrecting old threads?

I hope not

[danooli]

There is not :-)

[Fenrix]

Is there a time limit for resurrecting old threads?

I hope not

I see what you did there