Shadowolf's Guide to Being a Newbie

[shâdowõlƒ]

Table of Contents

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1.) HWolf's Guide to Being a Newbie
2.) Shadowolf's Guide to Warriors
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[shâdowõlƒ]

Disclaimer: I agree, I am kind of a newbie myself, but, they always said how first person is the best way to give advice. People have called me a good newbie... advanced, with good grammar, good foruming... whatever... and I noticed how many people think there are no good newbs... I want to change that...

We Begin
First things first, you have to know your ranking. Newb/Newbie and N00b/Noob/Nub are different! A newbie is someone who is new to something (in this case, the WoS forums), and a n00b is someone who is usually annoying... or spammy...

First Impressions
Okay, first things first, no one is going to come first, you have to make the first impression. Make a well organized Greeting topic. Choose a good title. Don't choose something bland like:
• Hello
• Hi
• Yo
• Sup
Use your username and a quick line just nothing long because it's irritating. Something like "HWolf has arrived". Don't overdo it, if you can't do a good one, just use your username. But, if you are totally desperate, just use Hello...
Now that you have your topic line setup, now you need a good intro. Use good grammar and punctuation, that gets you points. Tell a little about yourself, and don't use Um, er, uh, you don't need to type what you are saying. That is a turn off. Don't get to in depth either. I don't need to know how was your breakfast and how many times you got laid.
After that, sit back and let the welcomes roll in.

Venturing out BEYOND the Newbie Heaven
Well, after your greeting post is posted, time to look around. A good way to find a topic to post in is with the View New Posts button!


Once you find a topic which you are interested in, read the last posts in it, read the topic, get to know whats going on before you jump in. If people are going off topic, than say that (in a good way) and get them back on topic. This is a turn on!

Example: Hey <insert username>, you're getting a bit off topic. Would you mind getting back on topic?

Do this in a few topics, find topics you like, visit them often, bookmark them. . . more info on how to post correctly later

Lookin' Good- Struttin the name!

1. Click on "My Assistant" (see green circle)
[blue]2. Click on "Modify Profile"[/blue] (see blue circle)
Okay, you want a good easy turn on? Get an avatar! An avatar is a small image that goes under your name to represent you. If you don't have one on the computer, you can always go into the huge default gallery WoS provides. Or, you can ask a personalizer to make a custom avatar for you. The best avatars have your name on them. Remember one thing, the size limit is harsh on these avatars! The biggest avatar you can have it 100 by 100 pixels. If you have a big image, Proboards will automatically resize it, but it looks crappy. Just ask the admin to resize it for you.

Another thing to note is that you must pick either a default avatar or an avatar link if you are going to have one at all.

There are two kinds of sigs. A picture sig is harder, but it can be a turn on. A text sig is easier, but you have to be a good talker.

PICTURE SIG- Now a signature. If you have a signature with your name on it that you are fond of, use that. To get your signature graphic online, it has to be in JPeg, Gif, or BMP (most recommended: JPG/JPEG). Go to www.imageshack.us, and click on BROWSE.
[image]

Find the signature you want (don't let it be too big, thats a turn off...), and then click Host it! Wait a bit for the sig to process, when the page loads, highlight all the stuff in the first box (The one that says [ IMG ]A link here[/ IMG ] without the spaces) and paste it in the box for the signature, and click submit. Ta-da! You now have a sig. Or, if you don't have one, but want one, either A. Go with the text sig, B. Ask for a graphixor to make you a sig, or C. Make your own.

TEXT SIG- A text signature is a bit easier. It can give be a turn on, if written well, or a major turn off, if written badly. Think of a quote, or make one of your own. For example, I used a quote from a game, "We must trust time to reveal all things. - Maiev Shadowsong". This is a good quote, and it adds zing because it goes with my username. This part is pretty self explanatory, just think. Then add the text to the signature box, and there you go! You can use UBBC code (bold, italics, etc as well.

Also, you can make a list of your cats with their stats. It's pretty useful, and it complements the Warriors theme.

How to post and how not to!
This is important. This can get you all the respect you will ever want, or can flush you down the toilet in a flame fest! Just follow my tips.

Do!
+Try to help as many fellow newbies as possible. Take your time helping them, and only help them if you now what you are doing
+Stay on topic! It is very easy to go off topic on this forum. One wrong post, and everyone might come following. This is a user turn off!
+Use correct grammar: Think of this as an essay to your teacher, would your teacher like (OMG!11 U R P0NED!11one!11 OMG! U RUl!), probably not! Spell things correctly, put periods, commas, question marks, exclamation points where necessary...
+It is okay to make mistakes: A few mistakes will never hurt you, but still read over your posts to make sure...
+Build relationships: Make your own, find out by yourself who is friend and who is foe...

don't!
-Spam: Spam translates into STUPID, POINTLESS, ANNOYING, MESSAGES! To avoid spamming, ask yourself the three questions!
--Am I only posting this to up my post count?
--Will people like this post?
--Is my post well structured?
-Flame: Flaming is bad. Doing it is a BIIIIIIIG turn off. Flaiming is pretty much a heated arguement caused by hatred or some other thing. . .
-Use chatspeak: i, c, u, r, 2 instead of to/too, all of this is disliked. DON'T DO IT!
-Use 1337 Speak: 0|\/|9, |_| |\ |>\/\/|\|493!! Was that easy to read? No! So don't do it!
-Make pointless topic: I will brush on this later, for now, just continue

Okay, you want to make a topic? A topic is something that you cant just make, it takes some time, if you want a good, flame free topic

First things first... Click on Search, this should lead to a page with check boxes and board names beside them.

Type your keywords in the keywords box (If your topic is about pollution, type in "pollution"). Make sure all boards are checked and then click "search ". You might get some results. If there are no results, go on ahead to the next part, if there are, take a look at them, if all the results are about month old, then go on ahead and make a new topic...

Okay, you chose your topic and did a search. Either there were no results or they all were a month or more old. If you're just posting to talk, do it in The Town.

Now that you have chosen where to post your topic will be, go into the forum and click on New Thread, on the top left of the topic list. This opens up a new page. Put a good topic title in. Since our topic is pollution, write "Pollution"! Simple, isn't it?!
Now in the body, write what you want to write about pollution, set the topic.
Now, don't make topics just for the fun of it, people will REALLY dislike you for that!
Now sit back and wait. If you made a good topic, people will post in it and get involved, if not, people might not post in it, this is good. Because if they post in it when they don't like it, don't excpect a party!

Karma
Upon registering on the forum, you get 0 karma. If you want to be liked, you shouldn't care about karma. It's just pointless, and if you care about it and think of it as a precious thing, consider yourself the least bit mature.
1. View your karma - Go to "My Assistant" or a thread you posted in. It'll show your total Karma.
2. To give Karma - Choose the person you want to give Karma. Under their location, there's an [Exalt] and [Smite].

-Do you approve of the person's actions? If you do, press Exalt; if you don't, press Smite.
3. Don't Karma people negatively just because you don't like them. This is very, very cruel!
4. Don't Karma people negatively just because you want to. Again, this is very mean!
5. Don't beg for Karma. This is very n00bish!
6. Don't offer people Karma for nothing.
7. Don't become a Karma sleeper, someone who is obsessed with Karma and. . . well, gives too much of it away, or takes too much

Post counts
Post counts are another bit of evil. I have said before, Quality over Quantity. Posting 1000 times doesn't make you a good member. Posting a good, educated, nice, decent, helpful, unn00bish post makes you a true member!
A few things for future reference:
-Don't go crazy over post count
-Making post topics unless you almost have 1ooo posts. Posting over 1oo is n00bish, and it's easy to achieve under a week if you are devoted enough.
--Before making a post topic, make sure you made 99% of those posts fair and square, and deserve to make this topic.
--It is a good idea to have a list of people you would like to acknowledge.
--It is a VERY good idea to PM a mod first (Shadowolf, Brokenspirit, Leafstar, and Mysticstar) about posting one. If they allow you to, just add the fact that you are allowed to do this in your new topic.
--Once again, Quality over Quantity, there is no prize for posting a thousand times

Final
You have learned the basics that will keep you a good newbie. Follow these rules the best you can and one day, you will be helping out newbies yourself. Remember this topic too! Direct people to newbies to this topic if you feel they could use some education...

-Thank you for reading,
HWolf and Shadowolf

[shâdowõlƒ]

Disclaimer: Some people love cats, but they never read the Warriors series. They might want to learn how to be part of the role play without asking for help. I remember searching for a role play like this. I want to help those people.

Introduction
First things first. We need to know about cats. That's one of the important parts of being in role play. In Warriors, cats don't talk. They meow like real cats do. Their words and meanings are simply translated for us to understand and comprehend.

Basic Cat Information
Gender
First, there are she-cats and toms. She-cats are our equivalent to females (women, girls). Toms are males (boys, men). Both don't have a specific personality as cats. In fact, they vary quite a lot.

Age
This is a factor of ranks within a clan. Kits are protected by their mothers and are between 0-5 months old. They're pretty much defenseless at that age, which is why the nursery is heavily guarded. No responsibilities chase these foolish young fellows yet, though.
When a kitten has reached 6 months, she or he is no longer a kit, but an apprentice. This is pretty much reaching teen in cat age. She/he learns to defend his/herself at this age. Otherwise, that cat would be the white meat of predators. They get a taste of being responsible or paying for not being so.
After a year after birth, an apprentice usually gains warrior status. This is about 16 human years, so a long career is ahead. She/he now is quite able to defend his/herself as well as the clan (any cat as far as that matters). A warrior must be very responsible at this part of his/her life.
Cats get old quicker than we wish they would. At about 10 years, they should retire as an elder. Because of stiffening muscles and frail bones, they can no longer perform their warrior duties and must rely on others to care for them. If threatened with his/her life, that cat could survive with a stroke of luck.

Breeds and Peltages
Every cat is different. Everyone should know that. One of the most varying factors is the pelt's pattern. Each breed has a different pattern. For example, a Maine Coon has a much different pelt than a Siamese. If you want to find out about a specific breed, go to Wikipedia.org or just click here.

Personality
An even more wide variety of personalities can describe a cat's behavior. Some cats are dead evil, others are living angels. Please, do try to make your cat have a different inner self. On another site, people are copying a cat named Touslepelt, a black hearted scallywag. It gets boring to accept cats with the same personality as Mistystar or Silvercreek. If you are so inclined to make your cat special, base its personality on yourself!

Eyes
The eyes of a cat are less numerous. However, they do show expression as well as the tail. Some eyes show wisdom. Others show hatred.

There are also different kinds of eyes. The more common ones that I know of are ice shards and round ones. There was a cat named Hawkfrost who was easily remembered for his icy blue gazes, usually threatening.

Clan Stats
Clans
At least 90% of the cats created are clan cats. There are other types of cats used in Warriors Role play, but we'll brush on that latter. Most sites use the traditional five clans. Some other sites use different clan names like "ColdClan", "FireClan", and "RainClan". Here are the ones used here at Watchers of StarClan:
. ThunderClan - A rather strong clan adapted to life in a forest. They're usually the protagonists of the book series, though there has been a traitor of the clan in the first series.
. RiverClan - RiverClan is rather greedy and ambitious (a very special word in Warriors). Even though they can swim in their river and fish for fishes, they have a tendancy to ally with the wrong cats. One of the cats was a rather nasty fellow, he was.
. [shadow=black,left,300]ShadowClan[/shadow] - ShadowClan is a very suspicious clan. They usually get the first blame when something goes wrong. Some say that the ice cold winds blow over their "black" hearts. Their territory is a wasteland marsh, devoid of prey.
. WindClan - They're allies of ThunderClan, and they're pretty fast too. The land they live on is a nice, green grassland in the spring, and a deadland in winter. These cats don't rely on lying to get what they want, and they are pretty truthful.
. [glow=FFFFFF,2,300]StarClan[/glow] - StarClan's a heaven composed of dead cat spirits who haven't done anything wrong like take over or try to destroy a clan. They give the clans prophecies of the future and send dreams with meanings to cats, usually medicine cats.

Positions
Every clan except StarClan is made up of each of the following:
. Leader - They make decisions that will affect the clan and council troubled cats. There can only be one of these. Receives signs from StarClan and attempts to interpret them.
. Deputy - Deputies are like lieutenants; they organize patrols, order some cats to do this, and of course, they must do their Warrior duties. There can only be one of these.
. Medicine Cat - Heals injured cats with herbs found in the wild. Trains an apprentice when near retirement. Receives signs from StarClan and attempts to interpret them. There can only be one of these.
. Medicine Cat Apprentice - Learns the way of the medicine cat. Helps with mentor's duties by hunting for herbs, applying their healing knowledge to casualties, and reciting what herb does what. There can only be one of these.
. Elder - Too old to do Warrior duties, they depend on others to care for them. They usually share stories and legends of the past. There may be one or more of these.
. Queen - Pregnant warrior she-cat. Since she has a kitten growing in her stomach (not true), she can't do her warrior duties. There may be one or more of these.
. Warrior - Hunts for food, as well as defends it, trains apprentices, patrols borders, escorts the leader, and flirts with other warriors. There may be one or more of these.
. Apprentice - Warrior in training. They have to do what a warrior has to do plus train with his/her mentor. There may be one or more of these.
. Kit - Plays with other kits in the nursery. Gets in trouble when found outside of the nursery. Guarded by mother. There may be one or more of these.

Here is a more descriptive article on Clan Rankings.
Leaders, Deputies, and Medicine Cat positions are quick to fill. Once those are full, people usually make apprentices and warriors, though the first is more commonly found after a few months. When a queen has given birth, you must post the kits' info in the Classified Advertisements board.

Naming
Clan cats use a strict guideline to naming cats based on their ranks. *Note: There isn't a space between the first name and the last name.
Kits - They have a varied first name and their last name is kit. Example: Dove = first name, kit = last name. Dove + kit = Dovekit.
Apprentices - They have a varied first name and their last name is paw. This inclued Medicine Cat Apprentices. Example: Amber = first name, paw = last name. Amber + paw = Amberpaw.
Warriors, Medicine Cats, Elders, Queens and Deputies - They have a varied first and last name. Example: Moon = first name, leaf = last name. Moon + leaf = Moonleaf.
Leaders - They have a varied first name and their last name is star. Example: Blue = first name, star = last name. Blue + star = Bluestar.

A more detailed guide can be found here.

Vocabulary
Warrior cats use a lot of different words for human, road, etc. Role playing wouldn't be complete without it!

Warrior Cat Terms
Sun-drown place - The ocean. Used in The New Prophecy.

Fresh-kill - Prey.

Crowfood - Rotting prey, also used to express the fact that you're in deep trouble.

Moonpool - The place where medicine cats meet with StarClan every half-moon. The Moonpool is a small pool.

Kittypet - A domesticated cat that lives with humans; also used as an insult to another clan cat.

Half-bridge - A dock.

Thunderpath - A road, more specifically a highway.

Twolegs - Humans.

Twoleg nest - A human house.

Greenleaf Twolegplace - A human house for rent by the lake in summer; a sailing center.

Horseplace - A ranch or stables.

Monster - A Car.

Twolegplace - A human neighborhood or farm.

Gathering - A time when all four Clans meet in peace every full moon. (Once a month.)

Cutter - Veterinarian

Deathberries - Yew berries

Whisker - A tiny bit. Example: "It didn't matter a whisker."

Sunhigh - Noon.

Moonhigh - Midnight.

Newleaf - Term for spring.

Greenleaf - Term for summer.

Leaffall - Term for autumn

Leafbare - Term for winter

Moon - Term for month

Quarter moon - Term for week

Mousebrain or Mousebrained - Insult, equivalent of idiot.

Fox-hearted - Insult, adjective for cruel.

Foxdung - Swear word for stupid or stupidity, exclamation (Example: Foxdung! Why would Dovefeather set a poisoned bit of fresh-kill in our territory?!?)

'Like a fox in a fit' - Simile (Example: Brambleclaw, you look like a fox in a fit. Seriously, you look like you're going to burst out in anger!)

How's the prey running? - Greeting, our equivalent to "How are you?" (Example: How's the prey running? I hear your clan's having trouble keeping its cats within the territory.)

Mousedung - Exclamation, swear word equivalent for stupidity (Example: "Mousedung! Bluestar wouldn't do that!"

Great StarClan - Used to show great shock or surprise; also used to show a lot of disgust.

StarClan save us - A prayer

StarClan help me/us - Another prayer

Kittypet Terms
Housefolk - Kitty-pet name for humans.

Workfolk - Kitty-pet name for construction workers.

Wild Cats - Kitty-pet name for Clan cats.

Loner Terms
Nofurs - Another name for Twolegs used by loners in the new territory.

Other Cats
There are other cats, of course. Some of them were born outside of the Warrior Code. Others left a clan, never to return again except in fights. These are rogues and loners. Neither want anything to do with clan cats. I prefer to define loners as male and rogues as female. There's another cat too - kittypets. These felines with with Twolegs. Think of your cat as a kittypet and you as a Twoleg.(if you have one. Otherwise, think of another person who has a cat). That's how it is in kittypet role play, except you're the kittypet.
Loners (the male ones, anyway) get to own territory when there is some left. That's where they hunt, sleep, mark their scent, etc. Sometimes, they share with a rogue (or female loner) as a mate. Rogues are what I call female loners. They cannot own land, so they must either wander away for their whole lives or live with another loner who owns territory. They would do anything to avoid contact with a clan cat. Sometimes they want to settle a dispute violently with a clan cat, so they go on to their buisness without being hindered by the Warrior Code. Also note that loners and rogues cannot go up to StarClan or pray to them (they probably don't want to anyways). That would be a disgrace to their souls.
Kittypets are much more different than rogues or loners. They live in a house with a person in it who takes care of him/her. A kittypet is nothing without his/her human servant (LoL). She/he depends on him/her for food, water, heat, pretty much everything. A domesticated cat can only visit the wild once, and this is the only time when she/he decides he/she needs a new life as a clan cat. This shouldn't happen often though. Most kittypets aren't that brave. To put things as simple as possible, just imagine yourself as a house cat and think of his/her daily doings.
Final
I hope you have a wonderful time role playing in Warriors! If there are anyone you think could be educated in the arts of the wild cat, please link this guide to them.

Thanks for reading,
Shadowolf

[GiomanchSgath]

ass4ss$$$$$$$$$4s

[//Cindy// l u n a]

. What do you mean?

[turtle]

it was very well written! i like it!

[GiomanchSgath]

shoot did i post that i was trying to post something ellse and had to leave. srry

[deathstar]

Thanks that was realy helpful.

[shâdowõlƒ]

No problem. Soon I'll have to update it. As soon as mom unbans me from the computer/goes to work on Friday.

[STREAMY ?!]

Wow, did you type all that by yourself? I wish it was up when I was a newbie...lol JK. You did a really good job on that!
Can I copy and paste this and put it on my site? I'll say it was made by you and not by me. In other words, I'll give you credit, of course, if you say yes.

[shâdowõlƒ]

Sure, but it's only part of it. I'll PM the code to you.

[Pet Ghost]

Nice, I already knew most of this stuff already but I'm sure people who have only read a few of the books would find this helpful.

[shâdowõlƒ]

Yeah, except I have to update this. It doesn't exactly follow everything here.