EPTAnd your first reply, moments later:
YOU DUMB F---S!!! WHAT DONT YOU GET ABOUT "NOTHING IN THIS GAME IS FINAL" THEY JUST BROUGHT F---ING CARRIERS BACK, REAVERS HAVE BEEN IN AND OUT AND WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE TO BE FOR A WHILE!!!
Your hopes go down in flames. Other posters leap upon your wounded thread, carrion feeders bent on getting their two cents in, without being flamed, the only way they can: by flaming you first. What did you do wrong? Your idea was so wonderful! How did you get torn to shreds so quickly? Well, you failed to understand the lay of the SC2 forum land. With this guide, you may survive your next textual encounter.
![[image loading]](http://i12.tinypic.com/63mvcpi.jpg)
Now, the first thing you must understand about SC2 prelaunch forums is that emotions run very high. The chance that any given poster will actually reply is much higher than in normal forums, where many people simply lurk. People feel that SC2's future is 'on the line', and that one wrong post could lead Blizzard to ruining the most important game ever created. There is also a wide range of people on these forums - much wider than normal. When these two properties coincide, you are virtually guaranteed to have conflict in almost every thread. This guide will help you survive that conflict, and come out looking smart. Or at least, not dumb.
There are several types of SC2 prelaunch forum posters.
1: The 'Nothing is final yet!' siren.
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![[image loading]](http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/O/R/bush_loudmouth.jpg)
The NIFY siren can't help but blare every single time an idea is posted that could be even slightly interpreted as negative towards SC2. NIFYs just cannot understand how or why people post 'as if they have already played the final version of SC2!!!' Nevermind that posters are simply discussing potentials; NIFYs are strict guardians of reality, and will begin screaming any time you use the slightest bit of imagination.
How can someone speak with such authority about something they've never touched and 3rd hand information!!!
2: IMHO idiots
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![[image loading]](http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/ILW/ILW501/ruggia0365c.jpg)
IMHO idiots have no idea what is happening in the rest of the thread. IMHO idiots have no idea just how badly they piss off the NIFY sirens. IMHOs don't read anything but the original post, and even then they ignore most of it. They spend most of their time replying with their 'humble opinion', which is, of course, completely stupid.
imho, archons dealing splash dmg is dumb. how can u hit air + ground at the same time??? wtf
IMHO idiots may be completely oblivious to the rest of the thread, but if you question their 'humble' idea, they will passive-aggressively flame you by asking why you're so mean, and why you brutally suppress all creative thought. They may even imply a Hitler relation, in which case the thread ends immediately.
3: Fact Police
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![[image loading]](http://www.rit.edu/%7Erfaite/big%20brother.jpg)
Fact Police are those posters who have watched every single SC2 video, read every interview and Q&A, attended blizzcon vicariously, and read every single post in every single SC2 forum ever. They take great offense at even the slightest posted misinformation, because they believe that you posting that immortals can hit air might somehow ruin enthusiasm of the fan base for SC2. Fact Police are great allies of the NIFY sirens, but mostly ignore IMHO idiots.
Don't be stupid. You posted that Stalkers cost 75 gas when they really cost 50. Ban this guy and delete this thread.
Any information not actually set in stone will cause Fact Police to demand a delay in discussion.
Wait for BlizzCon, moron!
4: C&C/WC3 Paranoids
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![[image loading]](http://www.edu.lahti.fi/~lloikkan/art/paranoid.jpg)
Paranoids are intensely afraid that Blizzard will draw terrible ideas from previous games that were also terrible. Any post, from anyone, that even slightly suggests something that could be somehow construed to be similar to an idea already made somewhere else will set Paranoids on the warpath. Paranoids tend to band together more than any other poster-type. They fail to realize that every new human creation is built on top of every creation before it. To Paranoids, if it isn't new, it's horrible. Paranoids sometimes ally with Fact Police, but hate IMHO idiots and NIFY sirens. To Paranoids, "it just better not turn out like game X that I hate!"
this is wc3 rip off
why the hell did blizz hire dustin browder who worked on C&c come on this guy should not be allowed anywhere near the game!!! NOT EVEN IN THE SAME BUILDING
5: the intelligent poster
This final poster type is rumored to exist somewhere. It's hard to tell if these open-minded, intelligent, creative people really exist, or if they're just one of the other four types in a 'latent' state. Flames tend to convert intelligent posters into a different, less appealing state.
How to handle the five types
Now that you know most of the player mentalities on your SC2 forum, you need to figure out how best to navigate the hazardous wasteland that your post will become.
1: Try to counter any negativity in your post with a quick positive follow-up, so as to pacify NIFY sirens.
2: Try to handle, in your original post, all alternatives, so that IMHO idiots will have a hard time throwing in their two cents.
3: Don't get anything wrong. Ever. Fact Police will completely nullify your post if you so much as misspell the name of a unit.
4: Choose the words you use carefully. If any word you use has a synonym in WC3 or the entire C&C series, Paranoids will tear you a new one and completely misrepresent your idea.
5: Don't depend on intelligent responses. You're not going to get them.
An example of a post that won't get flamed
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Karune's latest Q&A is up. (link)
No opinion, no imagination, nothing to do with C&C, and only one indisputable fact. Yes, the Q&A is up. Thank you, upstanding forum member!
Hopefully, you now understand why your first few posts were annihilated. I wish you luck. I will likely no longer be with you, as this guide will likely be the death of me. None of the four major types likes to be called on their status, and I can hear them massing even now for my destruction.
What a useless post! This isn't even funny. Stupid noob needs to die!
