Hello to all of the newcomers to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bronze Posting Board! We hope that you will feel welcome here and hope to help you find your niche.
Here is a list of questions addressed on this page. You can click the question to go straight to that answer or just scroll through the page to learn all the basics of the Bronze.
Safety Warning
Should I address my posts to someone? Who?
How often can I post?
How soon should I expect a response?
How can I find out if someone answered my post
after I left?
Why is no one talking about Buffy? Do I have to
talk about Buffy to post here?
Does anyone from the show post here? When will
they be here?
Do people here talk about upcoming episodes?
What should I do to mark a spoiler?
Is there any limit to the type of words I use?
Why are some of my words different from what I
typed (colored/hyphenated/changed spelling)
What are some of the basic netiquette
guidelines of this site?
What can I do if someone is harassing me or
posting offensive material?
How do I make my words small, large, bolded,
italicized...? How do I link to a site?
How can I get in touch with the cast of Buffy
the Vampire Slayer?
What are some other little helpful hints for
newcomers?
Other FAQs
Helpful links
Do not post your real name, address, or phone number anywhere on the posting board. You can never know who is reading the board and therefore you can never be sure that it is safe.
It is often best to post your messages directly to someone. That way, they will know who you are talking to and notice your post. Post to whomever you think will know the answer - you are welcome to post to any Bronze Welcome Wagon member. If you are posting in response to a topic, you may want to address it to whomever is involved in discussing the topic.
Posts are limited to four per hour. The reason for this is because near the end of the four-hour period, just before the board clears, the board gets really, really long and takes a while to load. If everyone posted as much as they wanted to, the board would take absolutely forever to load! In order to stick to this, many people will open a Notepad on their computer and write their posts on that, then copy and paste it into the Comments Box. If you would prefer a Chat Room, where you can talk as often as you would like, there is a Buffy chat room here.
Partly because of the four-post-per-hour limit, many posters will save up their responses for a little while before they post. It is customary to wait about 30 minutes or so before re-asking your question. This will give people time to read it and respond to you.
If you leave the Bronze without having your question answered, you may want to go to the Archives and do a Find for your name so that you can see if someone answered it after you left. To do a Find, go to "Edit" and choose "Find" or press the "Control" and "F" keys at the same time. If no one has answered your question, feel free to ask it again. Maybe no one who was on at the time you first posted it knew the answer!
As you may observe, not everybody talks about Buffy all the time in the Bronze. Especially if you are there during rerun season. We do, however, often talk about Buffy and encourage others to do so as well. Actually, one of the best ways to get noticed on the board is to respond to a Buffy topic - or several Buffy topics! The longer you stay in the Bronze, the more Bronzers you will know and sometimes all or part of a post will be off-topic. But if you want to get into really personal stuff or hold a conversation with someone, it is suggested that you take the conversation to email, ICQ, AIM, or a Chat Room. That way you can discuss your private life and not have it able to be read publicly by all Bronzers.
VIPs do occassionally post on the board. These are people who are connected to the show in one way or another. They post in color, which makes them easier to spot. There is no possible way for other posters to know when VIPs will show up or how long they will stay when they do come. Also, because VIPs visit the board so rarely, they are not the reason to post.
Anything about an upcoming episode is called a "Spoiler". Because many people don't want to know what is going to happen until they get a chance to see it for themselves, using Spoiler Warnings is highly advised. Also, some parts of Canada do not get the new eps until Saturday, so we continue to use the Spoiler Warnings for one week following the airing of a new episode. A recommended format for spoilers is this:
SPOILER FOR [NAME OF EP] BELOW
1
2
3
4
5
Spoilers Here
5
4
3
2
1
SPOILERS FOR [NAME OF EP] ABOVE
This is a PG-13 board. We would prefer that you keep your posts (fairly *grin*) clean and polite. There are youngsters who read this board and we'd rather we didn't have too much of a hand in corrupting them. Apollo does edit out some words that they have deemed offensive.
VIP's names are highlighted in a purply-blue color. The words "style" and "color" automatically have a hyphen added to them so that they can not be used in HTML tags - the HTML tags that include them can alter the board in ways that Apollo does not aprove of. Some of the words automatically have their spelling changed - this is so that (as discussed above) offensive words can be edited out. Unfortunately, some non-offensive words get caught in the trap, too. So, if you say that someone is "cocky", it will be posted as "****y". "Cocktails" are "****tails". "Dickens", "Dickenson" and several other innocent words are also edited. But the regulars at the Bronze will know what you meant to type, so don't worry about it!
These are basically the same here as anywhere else on the Internet, so if you're familiar with posting boards, you'll have no problem. The basics are: Posting in capital letters is equivalent to shouting; if you disagree with a post, make sure that you attack the post and not the poster; use Spoiler Warnings.
The best option is to ignore the problem poster and email Apollo about it. There is a link below the Comments Box on the Posting Board that says "Report a Bad Post". Click on that. In the email, include the poster's name, the time of post, and your complaint. They will take care of it. If you ignore the problem poster, they will most likely get bored and go away.
To do the special type, use the following HTML codes:
Bold: <b>your bolded text</b>
Italics: <i>your italicized text</i>
Underline: <u>your underlined text</u>
Center: <center>your centered text</center>
Strike Out: <s>your struck out text</s>
Small text: <small>your small text</small>
Large text: <font>your large text</font>
Link: <a href="http://www.URL.com">site name</a>
An example of a link: <a href="http://www.buffy.com">Official Buffy site</a>
How can I get in touch with the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Posters do not know the email addresses, private home addresses, or phone numbers of the cast.
To write to one of the stars, use this address:
Their Name
c/o Buffy the Vampire Slayer
c/o The Warner Brothers Television Network
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522
The easiest way to learn how the board operates and what the norms are, for most people, is to lurk for a while. You may want to read the Rules of Engagement by aardwolfe if you decide to partake in the debates. Other than that, just remember to always be polite and to simply remember that we are a group of fans that enjoy the show - nobody knows everything or has all the answers. Everyone does enjoy having newcomers; the "rules" for the board are not meant to limit anyone's personality or style, they simply help keep order. Many of the regulars post during the same time of day every day (the daytime crew, the evening crew, LOSERs, Coffee Clubbers, etc.) so it may be helpful if you post during the same time slot day after day - people who are on the board at that time will recognize your name after a while.
Friend or Foe's Newbie Welcome Committee
'stina's FAQ
Leather Jacket's New Poster Page
Newbie Information Gateway
Bookmarks of the Bronze -
Links to lots of sites with Buffy and PB-related information
PB Club List - a listing of
all the Bronze clubs, their purposes, and who to contact to join
AleXander's
Episode Transcripts - to help you catch
up on missed episodes
Domain
of the Slain - Including Episode
summaries, Buffy music information, quote lists, and the Written,
Not Scene section
PB Lingo - dictionary of some
of the common words/phrases used on the PB
Back to the Bronze (no frames, naturally!)
If there is a problem with the page, feel free to email Jade.
Thank you to everyone who has helped give suggestions for the page - they are much appreciated!
And a special Thank You to my fellow welcomers for being great people!