Pagan Centered Podcast™

When making a post to an occult forum, form a complete thought. An easy way to do this is to use a complete sentence for your post.

Seriously, don’t just post something random like “Crop Circles” and expect intellectual discussion to magically appear. The more likely result would be you being mocked for not posting a complete thought, or a word association game being started.

A simple piece of advice that can go a long way .

Speaking with a few who have substantial experience with posting to occult forums, I have come to the conclusion that you need to replace your BS meter with a GAS meter in order to fully enjoy occult forums.

What do I mean by that? Replace your bullshit (BS) meter with a give-a-shit (GAS) meter. Too often I find people posting to topics they really don’t care about just so they can call BS on someone. Or what about people that just go around posting to topics for the sole purpose of calling bullshit and bashing people (like, say, Sir Todd on MySpace).

Yes, people post downright unbelievable crap on forums. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored. I’m just saying that if you’re going to post to a thread, at least give a shit. That means, it’s tolerable to rip into someone for wearing fairy wings to a Pagan Pride Day, when you’re a Pagan Pride Day committee member and realize that Pagan Pride Day is all about social outreach and correcting misconceptions the general public has about Pagans and their practices.

Don’t rip into someone for the sake of just ripping into something. Well, okay, if you have a personal vendetta, go ahead – but that qualifies as giving a shit .

If you see your GAS meter being triggered all the time, ask yourself, do you really GAS? Sure, I may be annoyed about someone on some otherkin forum claiming to be some weird fairy-winged wolf or some crap like that. But what’s the point of calling BS? In my experience, all that does is make someone defensive and thus re-enforces their existing beliefs. If they are looking for attention, a lack of attention will scare them away.

That’s my two cents – and the first two cents I’ve had about occult forums in a long time.

This was discussed in Episode 56 of PCP. I am recycling discussions into blog posts until I can come up with ideas for new posts in this section.

Why is cross-posting a bad thing? Simple, many of the people on the forums you are on are likely to be be on these other forums as well. They simply don’t want to see the same thing over and over on multiple forums. As a result, you may wind up annoying many people by cross-posting.

I’m not saying to avoid cross-posting completely. However, there is a gentler way of doing it. Instead of posting the same exact thing everywhere all at once, post to one forum, wait for responses and only once that thread has been exhausted, if you need more feedback, continue to another forum. However, be sure to explain on this new forum that you previously posted this on another forum. Some forums have rules about giving the names of other forums as some forums tend to be run by rather egotistical folks that see other forums as “competition” or “threats.” Yeah, unfortunately such immaturity among forum leadership is the norm rather than the exception, not just with occult forums. Therefore, it is best not to name the forum unless someone asks in a response to your post (to avoid it being perceived as spam).

To summarize: don’t post the same exact thing everywhere at once; do feel welcome to gather input from one forum then present the result of that input to another forum for further input, being sure to note that you did post this previously on another forum without actually naming the forum you posted it on.

One thing I see often on forums is people being annoyed at partial answers. For example, someone may make a very long post asking several questions. Then a person on the forum sees the post and answers one or two of the questions as they are merely answering the questions they feel they can confidently and accurately answer.

Sometimes I will see the original poster completely flip out like “why didn’t you answer all of my questions?” First of all, remember, people use forums on their personal time. Be glad for any assistance you receive (goes back to How Not to Ask for Help). Secondly, some people may be able to answer some things accurately, but know their limits thus not attempt to answer the entire inquiry and thus don’t attempt to answer the portions they don’t know much about.

There is still vagueness among forum communities if this is acceptable. However, my personal take is that it should be acceptable. Here’s why: first, it encourages the sharing of what knowledge you know while discouraging talking out of your ass. If you are going to force people to post something, expect it to be low quality (if they post at all). Some people simply refuse to post about something they do not know very well, and I believe that is a good thing. It’s the quality of the responses that count, not the fact someone replied to every single tidbit of information in an inquiry.

If you were the person starting the thread, and people aren’t answering a specific question, wait a few days then start a thread with just that question and explain why it is important to you. The explanation is important as many will notice the re-post and you do not want to be accused of wasting space on a forum. If there’s an explanation, generally the moderators will not mind. Just try not to be emo about getting a response. If you get no responses, don’t bother to bump the thread, just let it sit or find another forum whose membership may be able to answer the question in a responsible fashion.

My advice is speak of what you are confident of or know very well. Don’t feel obligated to post about something you barely know about. I’m not saying not to post about something you don’t know much about, merely don’t feel obligated to do so. You can do it if you choose, but it should not be forced upon you in a typical forum thread.

I always love it when threads titled “How NOT to ask for help” crop up. Any forum that has been around for any decent amount of time is bound to have at least one of these. In fact, this is very likely to become a topic I re-visit occasionally. It’s just one of those things that crops up so often in so many different ways.

First up, the phrase “Just Fucking Google It” (which is also now a dot-com). If your question begins with “What is” or “Where is” or some other quest for facts, you should use Google, Wikipedia and similar resources – not a forum. With exception to academic environments, forums are for discussion, intellectual dialogue and opinion. They are not teaching environments. If you ask such a question about something easily found on Wikipedia or Google, then expect someone to post a snarky response to the effect of “just fucking Google it”. If it’s some obscure piece of knowledge that’s not easily found or you are seeking resources to look this stuff up yourself – only then a forum may not be a bad idea.

To summarize this point: don’t be lazy. Look something up yourself before asking on a forum. Remember, forums are for opinions and discussion – not teaching. Therefore, you may wish to begin your inquiry with “What’s your thoughts on …” or “What do you think about …”

My next tip is equally blunt: don’t be an insulting asshole or holier-than-thou when asking for help. People are helping you for free out of their own personal time. A quick way to be ignored or harassed is by insulting someone for helping you. Be civil, especially when you’re the one depending on someone else’s good will for help. We don’t care if you’re a level 3 high priestess of doom that serves Hecate. Ask your question politely, civilly and keep that attitude throughout the thread… even if you are “better” than everyone else. Forums are communities, integrate yourself into the community or get out (or be forced out by the forum moderators). If you find yourself in a community of all fluffs, then find a better forum to post on.

Just remember, when you’re the one asking the question, you’re the one at the mercy of everyone else.

Many forums (especially technical and science forums) have an unwritten policy that rather than replying to a thread that is over a year old, one should start a new thread. occult forums on the other hand almost as a whole prefer you simply resurrect that old thread. Please do resurrect old threads on occult forums.

The reason? On other forums, information provided over a year ago is likely to be inaccurate or woefully outdated. However, metaphysical and spiritual discussions are just as likely to be true today as they were a year ago, so the reasoning for starting new threads doesn’t apply. Just add a new post to that very old thread rather than starting a new thread. Long time forum members may enjoy reading over a thread they previously glanced over or revisiting memory lane. Sure, viewpoints held by individuals may have changed since that time – but the overall facts are likely to be the same. Some people may feel compelled to make new posts as well to modify their former opinion to more accurately reflect their current thoughts on the subject in that thread.

So how do you know if there’s an old thread covering the topic you want to discuss? Well most forums have a handy dandy search box you can use to find old threads on a topic. Instead of just blindly replying to an old thread, you may want to read it first. It may contain the answer or insight you are seeking. Note, MySpace forums do not have this functionality.

Another thing you may want to do is check the “sticky” posts. When you enter a forum, these will be the posts typically at the top with push pins near them. Not all forums have sticky posts, but many do. To find these sticky posts on a MySpace forum, simply click the “View All Topics” link above where you see the newest 5 posts when you first click onto a forum.