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The Internets is confusing and scary, please help!
EvreefingisZuul
SpaceDinoNinjaRobotDudeStuck in my headRegistered User regular
SpaceDinoNinjaRobotDudeStuck in my headRegistered User regular
The short of it is I missed the train that was the internet. I gave it a shot when it was first starting to sprout back in the late 90's but there wasn't much for me there. It seemed like this massive self indulgent void where free time was swallowed whole. This was before Twitter and Facebook, there were no Instas to gram and Reddit would have been nothing more than a typo. Over time the landscape seemed to get less inviting, and with ignorance often times making one a target, I was content with just dipping my toe in the water, always too afraid to try and swim.
Now it's 2015 and I'm starting to see there is good shit out there, you just have to dig beyond the gnarly crust. I've been unemployed for a few months, so armed with an abundance of free time I think I'm ready to be swallowed by the void. So are there any good swimmers out there to show me the ropes?
Now it's 2015 and I'm starting to see there is good shit out there, you just have to dig beyond the gnarly crust. I've been unemployed for a few months, so armed with an abundance of free time I think I'm ready to be swallowed by the void. So are there any good swimmers out there to show me the ropes?
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Are you looking for search engines, aggregate sites, anything with a specific interest in mind?
To most this would seem trivial but to someone on the outside it's extremely scary and daunting. From what I've seen when a person asks a question that is common knowledge for the collective, it is generally assumed they're just trying to get a reaction or they are ridiculed for being a "noob". I signed up for an account on here and it took me three weeks to get the courage to actually post. I guess I'm just asking for people who don't mind stupid questions, who can hold my hand so I don't get lost.
Do you want to watch videos? Youtube.com
Do you want to shop? Amazon.com
Do you want to listen to music? Pandora.com
Watch porn? Google it.
Places to avoid: 4chan or any site with Xchan in the name. Fox News and Infowars also apply.
The internet is like buying a hooker. Some are clean, others are disease ridden virus holes. Always use protection in the form of antivirus and firewall software like AVG.
Let's start locally: What is the purpose of the buttons at the bottom of posts? Flag I assume is used for reporting posts but what of the rest?
And a more general question: Why do people take and post so many pictures of their food?
The last one is for Jerry Seinfeld.
You're correct about Flag. Hit it and it'll open a window allowing you to tell the admin/mod team why you think a thread needs their attention.
Quote copies a post into your own (like I just did for this post). Useful for replying to older posts or carrying on a conversation on the forums in busier threads where other posters may post while you're typing a lengthy response.
Agree shows you agree with the post without having to quote it and say something inane like "Yup" or "Me too" or even just "I agree". Since posts like that don't contribute anything but extra posts to a discussion it's better to just have a nifty button for that. "Signal to noise ratio" and all that.
Awesome is pretty self explanatory. It shows you think a post or something in that post was awesome without having to quote it and say something like "That's awesome".
Shiny, Witness Me and Chrome are references to Mad Max: Fury Road. I'm not sure if they have a specific meaning or not. Chances are pretty good they'll go away soon, and be replaced by references to something else shortly after. Enjoy them while you can. Also, go see Mad Max: Fury Road if you haven't. It's a good movie.
You'll notice that there are no negative reaction buttons. This is by design.
As for the food thing. Sometimes you make something delicious or that looks delicious and you want to share it or the recipe like you would for any other accomplishment (speaking as a single guy who lives alone, cooking an appetizing meal is an accomplishment for me). And sharing information, even something so banal as "Here's what I had for dinner" is what the internet is for.
As for asking questions, ask away. Internet stuff changes and develops so fast it's hard to keep up even if you care enough to try. For those of us who don't have the time or desire to figure out what Twitter is, or how to Reddit or whatever, the latest and greatest can get away from us really easily.
This is comforting news. I was half worried I was going to get dragged into some hell of tweets and snaps for the rest of my life.
Thanks all! I'm going to hit the ground running with this just know that if I unleash horrible things onto the world (fan fiction of my cats) you'll all be held accountable.
On Youtube, and news websites and whatnot, don't read the comments.
Snopes.com is a good website to help you fact-check some of the more common stories or emails you'll see online that have dubious sourcing.
Any website that has a specific name for a "contrevorsial" thing (veganlifestylenow.org! Truthaboutvaccines.net, chocolateisSatan.com, stuff like that) is likely heavily biased, and often times will not use sources, or will source questionable material. Basically, if you see something online that seems like a pretty crazy claim, "eating raw fruit cured their cancer!"....feel free to take some time to research that stuff.
Something I see a lot of people new to the internet do is get caught up in that stuff, because it is often presented neatly and with compelling references, even if it's entirely wrong. Things that say "a recent study shows" may have been written by somebody who has no understanding of what the study was actually saying.
Just remember that absolutely anybody can create a website, even one that sounds fancy and official...so try to fact check things when you can if something seems overly amazing/awful/impressive.
And have fuuuuun!
Guess that was my mistake as I always read the comments. I don't think the logic is flawed, reading diverse opinions should lead to a better overall understanding, in practice it just seems like almost everyone is insane. So much so that I was wary of you all. Everyone was so friendly...too friendly, like you lure in naive men and harvest their juicy meats. Everybody knows I have the juiciest meat around so obviously I'd be a prime target. Proud and happy to report none of you are meat harvesters so I thank you.
Here is another one I need answered: What is the deal with emojis?
Sarcasm, something that is often very hard through text alone, is usually something like
And then theres just personal style. Sometimes you want the world to know that you :rotate: :crackle: :hydra: (this doesn't mean anything, but often people will just put a string of nonsensical emoji's together BECAUSE its nonsense)
I don't think you guys realize how strange the Internet looks from the outside. For months anytime anybody would show me something online there was always a cat involved so I was convinced, for a brief period of time that I needed a cat to be heard. Guess what Internet? Daddy got TWO cats now! I'M COMING AT YOU IN STEREO!!! (Explosions in the background that I'm slowly typing away from)
nobody thought to link the official internet FAQ?
shame on you all
slowclap.jpg
I had took look this one up and I'm sad I missed it all. I was all about Rick Astley back in the day, I listened to that tape every day to and from school. I even bought a second tape player and made a sweet remix of his stuff called Kickin' Ast. Way ahead of his time.
What other big stuff did I miss?
This comes in handy from time to time since I don't keep up with the current memes but invariably run across them.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
https://www.malwarebytes.org/
And yes, always treat all pop up ads claiming you have a virus and unexpected e-mails, especially if claiming to be from your bank, as scammy traps out to get you. Do not click accept or follow links in anything like that. There are fake websites imitating legit websites just to scam info out of people. Use your antivirus program to scan your computer, not flashy banner program. And call your bank (not using any phone# in the e-mail), if there is a problem customer service will know.
This is quite helpful thank you!
So I realize that this isn't the case for the majority but how is it there are people getting paid for posting videos of them playing games and such? The idea that people are out there making a living doing the stuff that got me bullied as a kid is so strange.
or go to wikipedia and lose hours in an instant. you decide to read some stuff about 'guam'. the next thing you know the sun is up and you're somehow on the page of 'centers of gravity in non-uniform fields'.
There is the odd website that earns it's Adblock exemption , I try to make sure I exempt the ones that make the effort to not be invasive ( Here for a major example)
Same reason people like different reality shows. People just like watching people. That said, there is some amazing content on YouTube.
Educational:
CrashCourse
CrashCourse is to YouTube what PBS is to TV. To the point that they're now actually partnered with PBS. Their history play lists are far and away the most popular but there's a ton of excellent content on there.
PBS Digital Studios
Incidentally, PBS also has their own channel dedicated to learning.
DidYouKnowGaming
Since you apparently are a bit interested in video games, DidYouKnowGaming talks about the history and various trivia about video games. There are a jillion other similar channels also loaded with great info this one's just my personal favorite.
CGP Grey
CGP Grey talks about stuff. No real single subject and it can range from voting methods to geography to a detailed breakdown of Lord of the Rings mythology.
Entertainment:
This is a good deal more subjective so I have just a couple here.
RocketJump
RocketJump is a production house that mainly makes action short films. One of their big hits though was a series called Video Game Highschool about, well, kids going to high school to get better at video games.
ZeFrank
ZeFrank is just a guy with a beautiful, beautiful voice who narrates a variety of hilarious sketches.
That said there is a massive variety of different and more importantly good content available on just YouTube alone. To the point that it can all fill up its own thread.
Meanwhile if you don't use one of the major streaming services, Netflix in particular, I'd highly recommend looking in to it.
Spoilered for shrinkage:
Never Read the Comment Section.
it's the most important rule of internet.
At least you're not getting into the internet during the godforsaken '90s.
Fonts. Flashing fonts. I still wake up in cold sweat sometimes.
It's free and easy! You can check your email from anywhere that you have access to a web browser.
And use as many different passwords as you can remember, if you use more than one thing that has passwords.
Oh, search-engines like Google care mostly about keywords. So "how fry rice", "translate kugelschreiber", "convert foot meter" or "final fantasy 2 weapons" are specific enough for most purposes. Parts of full titles or common abbreviations work, too. You don't need to compose a letter to ask Google a question.
And when you're looking for something about a specific phrase, you put "" around it in the text-bar, so that the engine knows that the words aren't just keywords.
Ctrl and F are useful on long pages and documents.
But the forums are a dedicated comments section...
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Alt-F4 and some ambien.
https://youtube.adblockplus.me/en/
Install Adblock plus, and then go to that page and select to block all YouTube annoyances.
When you get more advanced with the Internet, you'll soon realize that the way pages are meant to be displayed are not the way you have to consume them. Many pages are just optimized to distract you as much as possible. Overtime you can cut down pages to only focus on things you care about.
For example: I don't see most comment sections on major sites at all, they are are just gone. I also deleted away most side articles.
It's not a bug, it's a feature!