EvBoard can be a little scary, especially if you don't know the ropes. But we were all at one point in time, n00bs. So to make you feel a little more welcomed, this thread is for "older" evboard members to share their n00bish experiences with you and to give you a little advice on how to get by
I first start lurking around EvBoard in May of last year. My roommate was a member, so I used her name just to look around and check things out. At first, I was overwhelmed by all the rules and by how the mods seemed "so mean" since they were closing peoples threads left and right. The message board that I had posted on before seemed so much more laid back then EvBoard, so I wasn't use to it at all but everyone seemed so close and the people that weren't having their threads locked seemed to really enjoy being here, so I had to figure out a way to slowly ease myself in. I felt that EvBoard was more like a family. I knew that being the "n00b" I wouldn't be accepted right away, but that I would have to work into being "trusted"
In July 2003, I finally got the courage to join under my own name. For about a month, I continued to lurk and tried to figure out what made mods close people's threads and what didn't. I started to use the search function and read up on older threads. After a while, and a better understanding of how things worked around here, I started replying to other people's threads and within a few months, I had even started a thread or two of my own.
Things aren't really as evil here as they may seem sometimes. The mods have a tough jobs. There are only about 10 of them and 12,000 of us. That's almost 1200 people per mod (that is if all of those 12,000 actually posted). I would have to say that leadership-wise, this is one of the best board I have seen. Yeah, the mods may get snarky at times, but it's all in good fun. As you'll soon learn, we're a sarcastic bunch, but we really do love each other.
Just take your time, and get your feet wet a bit before you jump in to pool head first.
If you have any questions, about how the way things work around here, or if anything else pops up in your mind, feel free to PM one of the members of the Welcoming Committee and we'll try our best to help you out! Just click on the names below to PM
~Tracie
LittleFairydotORG also put together an excellent tutorial that will tell you everything you need to know about where to look, who to contact and lots of other EvBoard info. Check it out below