NPF Protip Thread

[Hanuman]

Ok guys, this is basically a thread to share your interests, your career or past experiences in a way that is both practical and helpful to other NPF members.

Posts can be as simple as one-liners or as complex as full articles or guides either written specifically for NPF or transferred from one of your past sources.

Either way, the point is that if you have practical knowledge to be shared then share it! If people don't understand some things or have questions then then can respond and gain insight. It's kind of like a whole bunch of specific dead boards with 1-2 people on it rolled collectively into a single thread!

Feel free to make requests on topics (maybe in green?), but try to keep the requests fairly clean!

Current Topics:
-Jobhunting (1)
-Languages [Spanish] (1)

Current Topic Requests:
-Advanced 3.5 DMing Tips/Setups
-Drawing/Painting
-Face Paint
-Fencing
-Grappling
-Learning Languages [Ones you've learned]
-Lifeguard Testing / Skills
-Military Training
-Wilderness Outtripping Leadership

[Fenris]

NPF Protip: Add a tag to your thread when you make it.

(Seriously what tag do you want on this?)

[Meister]

Just to note: we have a fairly active (albeit in sporadic bursts) DMing thread in the Games forum already. Great idea otherwise, especially for subjects that usually wouldn't merit their own thread here.

[Odjn]

Originally Posted by Fenris

NPF Protip: Add a tag to your thread when you make it.

(Seriously what tag do you want on this?)

protip:

No one wants your tags! Away with ye!

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Don't assume, it makes an ass out of you and me

Assume.

Assume
Assume
Assume

This might seem trivial but I only figured it out sometime yesterday, at work no less.

[Nique]

Before calling tech support for almost ANYTHING do this exactly and patiently:

1)Unplug it from power for a minimum of 60 seconds.
Some things need to be powered off first. Other things should be left on while disconnecting power. Like, routers, cable boxes, phones,even some televisions - leave that stuff on and just unplug it, it will probably help the reset process. Anything more advanced than that you should probably turn off first. Just use discretion.

2)Tighten the connections
Anything else that is plugged into this thing, make sure it's connected properly. That either means twist it to the right to screw it on tighter, or push it in further. It doesn't matter if it 'seems tight' already, it's not something you can eyeball so just do it.

3)Plug it back in and wait 1-to-3 minutes
The device is probably going to take at least 30 seconds to come back on. Sometimes your settings will need to be adjusted after this but you should be able to tell if the issue is resolved within just a few minutes.

4)Doulbecheck the settings on any related device
The only clear example that I can think of here would be like making sure your tv is on the correct video input. If you don't know how to do something like this than you REALLY need to read the manual. A call to tech support isn't going to fix your ignorance.

[Hanuman]

Originally Posted by Meister

Just to note: we have a fairly active (albeit in sporadic bursts) DMing thread in the Games forum already. Great idea otherwise, especially for subjects that usually wouldn't merit their own thread here.

Yeah, the general concept is an interactive wiki, despite --- --- ------- ------- ---- ---- ------- ------ ----.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by Nique

Before calling tech support for almost ANYTHING do this exactly and patiently:

1)Unplug it from power for a minimum of 60 seconds.
Some things need to be powered off first. Other things should be left on while disconnecting power. Like, routers, cable boxes, phones,even some televisions - leave that stuff on and just unplug it, it will probably help the reset process. Anything more advanced than that you should probably turn off first. Just use discretion.

2)Tighten the connections
Anything else that is plugged into this thing, make sure it's connected properly. That either means twist it to the right to screw it on tighter, or push it in further. It doesn't matter if it 'seems tight' already, it's not something you can eyeball so just do it.

3)Plug it back in and wait 1-to-3 minutes
The device is probably going to take at least 30 seconds to come back on. Sometimes your settings will need to be adjusted after this but you should be able to tell if the issue is resolved within just a few minutes.

4)Doulbecheck the settings on any related device
The only clear example that I can think of here would be like making sure your tv is on the correct video input. If you don't know how to do something like this than you REALLY need to read the manual. A call to tech support isn't going to fix your ignorance.

This just reminds me of the tv show the IT Crowd where they don't do any work because they have an automated answering machine that goes "Hello. Have you tried switching it off and on again? *Pause* Have you checked that its plugged in? Thank you" and it solves everyone problems.

[Nique]

"Hello. Have you tried switching it off and on again? *Pause* Have you checked that its plugged in? Thank you" and it solves everyone problems.

Ugh. If only I could set something like that up. 70% of my calls are either tightening cables or tuning the tv to channel 3.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Lev

Learning Languages [Ones you've learned]

With Spanish, I find it much easier to learn words when I spend a day getting used to associating them with the English word and the object/idea/whatever. When it comes to sentence structure, you best memorize the basic structure because verb/noun/adjective placement is much different from English. All in all, you'll get Spanish down if you can just practice daily.