greetings newcomer! it seems as if you've stumbled across our little enclave on the interwebs. now, before you get started, there are a few things you should understand.
1) this isn't bb.com, MD, or whatever. get used to it. i'm sure you're used to a friendly and positive atmosphere on other sites where people can post whatever they like and not worry about getting flamed for it. if you're expecting that here, you're in for an unpleasant surprise. if you can't handle getting your balls busted, move along.
2) settle down, it ain't that serious. you're probably noticing that there's a hell of lot of serious negativity and it's probably hurting your feelings. you might even be wondering how these people can function in society when they're so hateful. well sit down and listen up, it's the internet. we say things just for shits and giggles, stop thinking we mean it deep down. if you're planning on taking every little thing everyone says to heart, you might want to move along.
3) don't try and bullshit us. a lot of people here have finely honed bullshit detectors and at the first sign of an exaggeration or an outright lie, you're gonna get called out on it. maybe you're used to boards where you can say you benched 495 for 10 reps and get congratulated for "a hell of a workout", or say that you made $500,000 in the stock market last quarter and people will just ask you for investment advice, but that won't fly around here. if you think you can pump up your ego by making shit up, plan on getting a whole lot of hell for it.
4) even if you're not bullshitting, plan on proving it. maybe you DID bench 495 for a set of 10 yesterday in your chest workout. well unless you have it on video it's probably in your best interest to just keep that quiet, because you're gonna get bombarded with claims of bullshit. if by some freak chance you're one of those guys that are 250 at 5% body fat with two phD's and an eight-figure income, unless you feel like proving it, you'd probably do best to just shut up or accept a reputation as a bullshitter.
5) if you're cool, we're cool. don't think people just get flamed for no good damn reason. even the more negative posters here are cool as long as you don't act the ass. so if you notice that the board as a whole seems to be turning against you, you might want to re-evaluate your behaviour.
6) if posts on the G&O offend you, stay out of the alphabet boards. really. you're not ready. just steer clear.
7) if you're in the middle of a post and notice you're talking about harming another poster physically, close the browser and go outside. let's say you decided to ignore everything i've said so far and are in a heated battle with one of getbig's more vicious attack dogs. you're furious, you're pounding away on your keyboard, you've got this awesome and scary threat about how if you ever met that dude in real life you'd cut off his arms and beat him with them. STOP. it's not going to scare anyone, and in the event that your chances of surviving the GB jungle weren't shot entirely, they will be if you submit that post. walk away from the computer.
8 ) do not cry to ron for anything other than someone burning your house down. yaroni's a busy guy, and crying to him just because someone hurt your feelings is going to both make you look like a pussball and likely get you even more shit once the offender gets a warning from ron himself. think of it like school. after you tell the teacher about the bully, he goes after you even worse. toughen up or sit at a different lunch table.
9) if you got made a fool of, don't come back with a gimmick. so someone really hurt your feelings and you flipped out, then got ron to delete a thread and now you want to start fresh. so you fire up a new gmail account and register a new name, thinking you'll REALLY show those bullies what's what. well don't. chances are if you're at that point, you're not bright enough to keep everyone from finding out who you are, and you'll look twice as stupid when everyone figures it out. either tough it out and stick around or just go away entirely.
10) if you have anything embarrassing on the internet, for the love of god don't register here with the same handle. there's this nifty thing called "google" now, and let's say you also have an account on "i-love-it-when-my-girlfriend-sticks-a-GI-Joe-up-my-ass.com". if you decide to register over there with "GIJoeMan55" and then do the same over here, guess what? that's right, someone's gonna dig it up and you'll flip out, ask ron to delete the thread, and then come back with a gimmick. bad news.
these are just a few little bits of advice that should aid you in your stay here. and if you decide to ignore these tips and find yourself flamed to oblivion, don't come crying to me, because frankly i don't give a shit.
happy posting!
