Glossary
From Underground Gamer
Contents |
General
Idle
Idling is a term used in IRC and other chat forums for sitting in the channel and not saying anything. Usually a user who idles just enters the channel and leaves their client on in the background so that they can keep tabs on what is going on.
There is nothing wrong with idling... Some might say that it is better to idle than not be in the channel at all!
Spam
Spamming is a phenomena in which a user creates posts which are off-topic or have nothing to do with the current subject. A post that doesn’t contribute to the thread whatsoever is also considered spam in some cases. A third form of Forum Spamming is when a person repeatedly posts about a certain subject in a manner that is unwanted by (and possibly annoying to) the general population of the forum. Lastly, there is also the case where a person posts messages solely for the purpose of increasing his or her ranking on the forum. In a broader sense, advertising on forums where it is not wanted is known as spamming and is generally seen as an annoyance.
Double Posting
Posting twice, consecutively in the same forum thread, no matter the time span between creating both posts. Generally it is considered a bad conduct, but it's not as heavily enforced on public forums as it is on private ones. It is better, however, to edit the first post, adding an additional tag before the new information (i.e. Edit:, Added on..., etc.)
The downside of this practice, however, is that the post edited will not be treated as a new one and therefore will not appear on any "new posts" lists the forum software and other forum users may employ.
Cross Posting
Posting the same thread, or virtually identical threads, in multiple forums on either one site or across multiple sites. Generally it is considered a bad conduct, but it's not as heavily enforced on public forums as it is on private ones. It is better, however, to pick which forum a thread best applies to, and post in just that one location. If a moderator disagrees with your choice, they can then correct the mistake.
The downside of cross posting on a single site is that a conversation is split across multiple locations, resulting in the same advice being repeated or participants missing parts of the dialog.
Site Terminology
Safe
A safe game is one that may be uploaded at UG
See also: Safe consoles list, Safe Year
Unsafe
An unsafe game is one that may not be uploaded at UG.
If you upload an unsafe game to UG, it will be deleted. You may receive a warning or a ban depending on the severity of the situation.
See also: Safe consoles list
Commercial Content
Commercial content is any work (such as drawings, music, video, etc) released without a license to freely redistribute, modify or alter, regardless of whether the work itself was distributed for profit by the copyright holder. If in doubt, ask in the Safe Content forum.
Filesharing
Image File
A CD image is a replica of the contents of a CD.
Release Date
The date a file was released to the public in the specified region.
Rip
A rip of a game is usually much smaller in size when compared to an image of the original game. This is because game rips usually have all of the its audio compressed and movies removed or compressed. Other parts of games might also be removed such as online features, bonus material, etc.
Rips are very common on The Sega Dreamcast due to its media being a GD-ROM which could contain more data than an ordinary CD-ROM.
Torrenting
Torrent
A torrent can mean either a .torrent metadata file or all files described by it, depending on context. The torrent file contains metadata about all the files it makes downloadable, including their names and sizes and checksums of all pieces in the torrent. It also contains the address of a tracker that coordinates communication between the peers in the swarm.
Inactive
Inactive is a torrent status.
Snatch
How many times the torrent has been fully downloaded
Site Features
Arcade
The arcade is a collection of Flash games that Underground Gamer users can play to have fun or waste time. Highscores are recorded and displayed for all members to see. To visit the arcade, click on the "Arcade" link under the "Fun Stuff" category in the left-hand navigation menu. To view the high scores, simply click the high scores links at the bottom of the Arcade page.
Avatar
An image that appears in a user's profile and under their username in forum posts and torrent comments.
Custom Title
Certain higher-status user groups have the option to insert a custom title. The customised title appears in brackets after the user name in the forums and other places.
Friend
The Friends section is great for Underground Gamer users to keep track of the friends that they make here on Undergreound Gamer. Users can add friends by clicking the "Add to friends" link in that users profile. To view your current friends, click on the "Friends" link in the "Personal" section of the left-hand navigation menu. Here you can view who is on your friends list, as well as who has you on their friends list. You can also remove someone from your friends by clicking the "Remove from Friends" link to the right of each member. There is a convinient "Send PM" link next to each user as well to make PMing just that much easier.
Karma
Karma is a "bonus/malus" system for posts of anybody. You can give positive Karma for good posts and negative posts for "bad" posts like spamming or flaming.
Note that abuse of Karma is a punishable offense.
News
An area on the main page that allows Global Moderators and above to inform the community of events on Underground Gamer.
Private Message
A message sent between two users that no one else has access to.
Ratio
Your ratio is calculated by:
Ratio = Total Amount Uploaded / Total Amount Downloaded
It is best to keep your ratio at about 1.0 or higher. Otherwise you will have delays on newer torrents, and you risk being banned.
Wiki
This wiki is where Underground Gamer's documentation will be stored and presented. It is a great way to organize everything and allow any user to contribute. We strongly encourage our users to write in the wiki wherever they feel it lacking, especially in the Fan Pages section. If you are interested in contributing, it is recommended that you read up on wiki markup. There is a quick guide at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Quick_guide and there is a more in depth article located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/Editing_Wikipedia
