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How To Win Friends and Influence People On PT - again

7K views 72 replies 17 participants last post by  RH 
#1 · (Edited)
Been about two years since I last shamelessly self-bumped this thread so I decided it was time to do it again. We have aquired a lot of new members recently (as I was just reminded), and it is the middle of February, so...

Lots of new members seem to be popping up lately. Thought I'd help make their PT experience a more enjoyable and rewarding one by offering a few basic tips to help them ease into becoming regular PT participants.

* Don't post an introduction telling anyone about yourself.
Bonus Points: Post an introduction but only say, "Hi".

* Do make your first question be one about how much to charge for a specific job.
Bonus Points: Don't give too many details or provide any pictures.
Double Bonus Points: Make sure your question is about something that any professional painter should know within their first week on the job (hint: think DIY questions).
Triple Bonus Points: Be sure you wait until two hours before your bid is due to post your pricing question.

* When people do give you sincere and sound answers to your questions, make sure you argue with them about what they are telling you.
Bonus Points: Call them stupid no nothing losers. Be sure to point out that you make more in a month than they do in a year.

* Don't have a sense of humor.
Bonus Points: Get butt hurt easily and make sure you let everyone know that you're butt hurt. Tell everyone they are mean.

* Never use the thank you or like options. Those are strictly for losers.

* Don't ever use spell check (addendum - check your spell check to make sure IT didn't screw you over), paragraphs, or basic punctuation.
Bonus points: Write your posts so that anyone reading them has to do so at least three times before even having a clue as to what you are trying to say.

* Whatever you do, never, never, ever come back later and tell everyone how things turned out. After making the effort to give you lots of valuable advice concerning a specific situation, the last thing the members want is to know is if the problem was ever solved, and if so, how (or if not, why).
Bonus points: Don't ever thank anyone or ever post a follow up.

* Use PT as a way to advertise your business for free and violate site advertising rules while doing so (the mods so love it when new members start off that way).
Bonus Points: phrase your responses as lectures and your statements as undeniable fact (all the other members so love it when new members start off that way).


Follow these few simple tips when starting out and before you know it, you'll be hitting that magical 10,000 post mark and wondering where all your valuable time went. Oh, and don't bother to thank me - you're welcome! :yes:
 
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#5 ·
Time to bring back to life

"No, the ladder is not backwards, I may have put it back together wrong after I ran it over with my snowmobile last month".

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
 
#12 ·
I belong to a few other forums and everything in the OP goes for them too. To the point where a lot of the knowledgeable people with years of experience have actually stopped giving advice. Most wait for the new members to "prove" themselves concerning their attitudes.

That being said, it is kind of humorous to watch these type of people and their threads pan out. (Maybe because at a certain point one of the Mods will shut it down)
 
#13 · (Edited)
The beauty of social media, is that it allows an observer to witness the unraveling of a participant in a manner rarely offered before the Internet era. It really is like watching the proverbial train wreck. After observing several of these "train wrecks", you begin to recognize the trends.

It all starts with a cordial enough introduction by the new member. Then the next thing you know, they're helping themselves to food and drink from the company fridge as if they've been here all along. Once a comment is made about making themselves a little too at home, boom! Everything begins to unravel until they're either shown the door or they leave on their own accord kicking and cussing the site and its participants. It's really quite entertaining.
 
#15 ·
Sadly, although my op is meant to be tongue in cheek, all of it is based on actually situations that have come up. And not necessarily only with "new" members.
 
#62 ·
Most members know that the mods have their own section where they discuss goings on in the forum and such. But what most here don't know, is that beyond that is another, secret sub-forum where all of the mods, except WildBill and Briggs, can meet so we can discuss just those two. Then beyond that is a double secret mod forum where PWG, Dean, Wolf, and Schmidt meet to talk about Gough, Briggs, WB, and myself. In the next secret-secret-secret (that's three for you numerically challenged) level, Cricket and the rest of admin talk about all of us mods - except PWG. Why not him you ask? Because in the final, and ultimate secret sub-forum (level 4 - code name "Shadow"), only he has access and it's where he can talk to himself about all the rest of us - including admin. Yes it is lonely at the top.
 
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