Liberalia Forum

From Liberalia Wiki

Revision as of 07:17, 10 April 2007

The Liberalia forum is where most of the action occurs. Many members only occasionally check into their nations on the nationstates website, but are logged into the forums for much of the day, the geeks.

Registering

During its life, the forums have had several cases of cyber attacks being attempted against it. Admins gone rogue have used accounts of other people, sensitive information was leaked and sometimes there was just plain vandalism.

To make sure this doesn't happen again and because the invisionsfree software requires it, users need to register before they can post and look at certain sections of the forum. So generally this is the first thing to do for a new member.

Once you have clicked "Register", choose a name (ideally, use the name of your nationstates nation) and a password (Never ever tell anyone your password. Ever.), and give an email address. It needs to be an address that actually exists, because you will receive a validation email.

Once you agree with the terms of service and clicked "Submit my registration", you will be sent a validation email. This is an automated process, so the mail should be there within a few minutes. If it isn't, contact Carops. Or someone.

In the email there will be a link. Once you clicked that link, the website will know that you are now a registered user, and you will be able to look at the forums and post there. Follow the prompts to get to the main page.

The "Arrivals" Section

Once you finished your registration, the first thing to do is start a thread in the "Introduction" section. Not only does this tell others who you are and what you're about, but it teaches you the basics of starting a thread and posting.

It is section right at the top. Once you click on the link there will be a set of links to "pinned" topics, that means threads which have been made to always stay at the top of the page and not move down as time progresses.

Ignore them for the time being (or, click on them and read what's written if you're so inclined) and find the button at the bottom that says "New Topic". There's a second button that says "New Poll" which does the same thing, but also allows you to create a poll in which other people can choose options you enter as you make the thread.

Once you're in the "start a new thread" screen, you must add a title and, if you want, a topic description. Then you write your message in the text box, add smileys to your heart's content and, when you're done, scroll down and find the "Post New Topic" button. Once you click that, your new thread will appear and other people will be able to see it and post in it.

So now you know how to post a thread. Posting a response to someone else's thread is basically the same thing: you find the right button, click it, write what you want, and click the "post" button.

What other sections are there?

At the moment there are seven sections in the forum. I will go through them one by one.

Arrivals

This is where new members post their "hello, world". Check in from time to time to say hi, because it's a nice thing to do. Plus, you may end up spending a depressingly large amount of time with these people, so you'll want to know when there's a newbie.

Apart from the "Introductions" section there is also the "Welcome Centre" which has useful hints for new people regarding all sorts of things.

Admin Discussions

As the name suggests, this is where the forum administrators talk about matters of importance in running the forum. This may well mean that you're not allowed to view the section or post in it. Their powers include closing threads, pinning and unpinning them, changing around the sections, moving threads and so on and so forth. It's not easy to be an admin and it's not easy to become one though.

The Newsroom

Many players in Liberalia like to write fake news articles to keep people up to date on what's happening in the region and their countries. Apart from the official news service (which is a blog outside the Liberalia forum website) there's the other news service which is not the first (also an external blog).

Perhaps more importantly, there's the Liberalia tabloid, which talks about regional politics, and the "National News" section, in which people post their countries' newspaper. Many people like to do this, so you're definitely invited to publish one yourself. Alternatively, you can read up on the history of events in Liberalia as well.

Liberalia Government

This is where the proverbial poo hits the fan. Apart from the various ministries (which generally either do what it says on them, or don't do very much at all) there are embassies from other regions in nationstates and the Liberalia Parliament.

In parliament people can pretend they're politicians. Even though what they decide usually doesn't really have any implications whatsoever, they like to argue about things according to a very defined protocol. When someone wants to pass a law they have to first propose a bill where it will be argued over for a bit, then put it up in the debating chamber, where it will be argued over for a bit longer. Then all the arguing is done and it goes into the voting lobby, where it's voted on by the members of Liberalia (or rather those members who actually happen to bother looking at the voting lobby from time to time).

If you fancy having a go, don't be shy and get involved.

Central Station

A lot of stuff goes on in the central station, so it's probably best to go over them one by one:

Bahia Esmeralda

This is the capital of Liberalia's roleplaying world. Nations build buildings there and write about stuff. It's also a collection of all the projects people started at some point and then got sick of, so you may want to change your "Showing topics" setting to "from the beginning".

Liberalia General

If you want to say anything at all, you can do it here. People talk about movies, abortion, websites they found and so on and so forth.

Liberalia Culture Festival

If you want to talk about Liberalia, this is the place. Everytime one of us feels patriotic, they'll write about how great this region is, what it has to offer etc.

University of Liberalia

If people feel all academic and want to impress others with their knowledge, they do so at the University, much like in real life. There's various faculties and occasionally there really is something there that's worthwhile to read, so have a look from time to time.

Encyclopedia Liberalia

Is a link to this wiki.

Future Time RP

This is a roleplaying universe set in the future. If you feel like fighting battles in space, you can do it here. Latagon is the man to talk to.

Roleplaying

Apart from regional politics, the other big thing is roleplaying. This is when people who really, really don't have anything better to do start writing stories about what's going on in their countries. They might go to war against each other, battle natural catastrophes, send spies to annoy each other, make trade agreements and so on and so forth.

At the Liberalian History you can find a summary of what has happened in the RP world so far, and as you can see, it's definitely not boring. So find yourself a spot on the map and start taking part. It's more fun than you think it is.

Political Parties Section

People who think alike in the Liberalian Parliament can come together and form political parties. Some are short-lived, others have been around for some time. They all may require you to become a member before you can view their threads and they may debate about how to vote among each other.

If you find one that suits you, by all means join it.

Archive

If an administrator thinks that a certain thread is worth preserving for the future, he or she may move it to the Archive section.