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How to Survive the Help Chat


by baby_beagle1991

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We’ve all been there. First time on the help boards. Overwhelmed? I was my first time as well. There is a lot going on at once. There are people there who do in fact need help while there are also spammers and pounding boards and just, well, nonsense boards. But that’s what makes it fun, no? Alright, so maybe fun is stretching it...

Prepare. Get yourself a hot cup of borovan. It’ll help you survive the madness. Or if Borovan isn’t on hand, some tea or highly sugarized lemonade will do.

What is the Help Chat? The help chat is basically another name for the Help Boards. This most obviously is found on the board index. (It’s the eighth one down.) Now there are 40 topics there which are all posted by different users. It is also referred to as the HC (Help Chat).

Help Chat? A lot of this stuff is just spam! I know, spam is a very dreadful thing and has plagued a majority of the boards there. But what you have to do as a newbie to the help chat is sift through what is spam and what is not. Now what you can do is click on different topics and see if they have any relevance. This is usually tedious and I do not recommend it. Start by looking at the title. If it says something like “MY HOTDOG IS ON FIRE!!!” it is most likely spam and you should probably just keep walking on.

There are a lot of pounding boards here... Yes, that is another controversy on the Help Chat. It seems that if you are planning on pounding a pet, the Help Chat is the place to be. From what I’ve seen, a good 50% of the boards deal with pounding a pet or looking to adopt. This is another thing you need to sift through if you are planning on looking for people who really need help.

So, now I know that... How about people who really need help? Well, most people who need help are fairly new to Neopets. Often times their accounts are younger than four months. Some people make boards saying things like ‘Need help? Come here!’ but the only problem is that the other players just make their own boards. So instead of spamming the boards, just look for topics that say things like ‘Help needed!’ or ‘Help!’ Those are most often the people who really need the help.

What if I can’t help someone? Simply tell them that you do not know and that you give them a free bump.

What does ‘Bump’ mean? The most common acronym for it is:

Boost

Up

My

Post

But it is simply a way for people to make sure that their board is seen by people and is at the top of the list. The only downside of this is that there are more posts on your board and people assume you have already been helped. So don’t overload on the Bumps.

Man, some of the people on the help boards are vicious! Yes, they can be a bit harsh at times. Some of the older members get rather annoyed by spammers and dumb questions. A lot of the ‘veteran HCers’ have older accounts and have been on a while. They’ve seen the ups and downs of Neopets and, well, may lose it once and a while. But you will find that there are very kind people on the HC boards.

I’ve seen some weird board on the HC and I’m not sure what they mean. Well, there are some boards which have been designated as having a home on the help boards. The Restock Help and Chat is usually always there. Those are people who are restocking and need something to do while they refresh. They are usually very kind and will help you if you come along with a question. There is also usually a Pound Surf board where people gather and ‘surf’ through the pound looking for painted pets and posting the names of pets they have seen, snagged, etc. These people can get a bit on the mean side until you get to know them, or so I’ve been told. Every time I get on one I’m shooed away. o.0 There is also usually a ‘Nightly Lab Waiting Room’ or some other type of waiting room. This is again a group of people waiting for something. On pet days when limited edition pets are released, there are often waiting rooms of people waiting to create one.

What is some of the slang on the HC?

HC: Help Chat

UFA: Up For Adoption

AA: Can mean Adoption Agency

TNT: The Neopets Team

LE: Limited Edition

App: Application. It means the owner requires an application for the pet.

We have *insert name of food*: A lot of boards try to attract people by saying they have food. It’s virtual food. No, not Neopets food either. It’s basically you saying, ‘Munches on a cookie’.

*text*/-text- : People use asterisks or hyphens when they are saying an action that they are doing. More often than not, they aren’t doing the action, simply saying that they are.

GUP: This one has rather recently invaded the HC. It stands for Green Uni Project. It’s just a bunch of people who adopt painted pets from the pound and morph them into green Unis. That’s all I’ll say about them for now.

N00b: A person who is annoying.

Newbie: Someone new to Neopets.

Spammer: One who puts useless information on the boards or posts the exact same thing multiple times.

Now, what can I report? You should probably read the rules posted so graciously by TNT. But the most common thing people report is Spamming.

What are ‘Report Happy’ people? This was a nick name given to people who report for nonsense things. But it has been taken to an extreme and is used as a derogatory word for those who report and the person being reported doesn’t thing they should be reported. Be careful when you report! You don’t want to report someone when they have done nothing wrong. You could get a warning from TNT for that! But if you see someone breaking the rules, you should report them!

What are ‘Locked Topics’? This was something created by TNT where board monitors and lock boards and make it so that no one else can post on them. It was basically a warning for all who made a board like it. They would be bright red in color and would usually have a small lock next to them. You don’t see those very often anymore.

Whew, that is a lot of information! There is still more, but you’ll probably figure it out as you go along.

What?!? You’re leaving me! I have to go out there on my own now!?! You’ll be fine. Not everyone there is as evil as Jhudora. Just a select few. –wink–

Whoops! It seems that the help boards still need saving! Have fun as you try to survive the Help Chat! Remember, keep it spam free! ~Baby_beagle1991

 
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