Agreed!

Our community is the best thing about this whole project. I especially like how you all are so helpful to newcomers, because it's very difficult to jump right into a new system without any guidance.

And our Guru:Poontang ratio is better than any forum I've ever seen.

Yeah our recent brush with a not-so-helpful person really highlighted the value of we've got (I even sent email to Tom about it).

To be honest I tend not to help the newcomers who say they've read everything and then ask questions that mean they can't possibly have put out any effort. But I'm very happy to help anyone who is clearly making an honest try.

*brisk nodding* "Anyone who asks for the world on a silver platter should get a few poisoned scraps of meat instead. And maybe a bit of acid to wash it down."

Honestly, if you want help, is it not common sense to be nice to people? Look at all of the technical support places out there. If you flame them, you know what they'll do? Nothing! But that's ALL they'll do. They won't reply to you, won't help you at all! If someone can't take that as a hint that maybe you should be a little friendlier when talking to people when you want something, then who knows what'll happen when these people grow up. And if they're grown up already, I'll be very happy that they'll be long dead before I am =)

Speaking of help, it's really easy to obtain information nowadays. Read all the documentation, try to make sure you understand, then if you are certain you don't, go off and send a few emails and post a few messages.

When I started out, I didn't ask for any help at all. When I figured I knew it all enough to get started (a very wrong conclusion), I posted an extremely buggy snippet, which tipped me off that I wasn't doing something right. I then went through the docs, and when I still couldn't figure out what was wrong, asked Dantom nicely (as opposed to my frustrated replies to my snippet, which thankfully went down in antiquity, and understandably received no reply from Dantom). Turns out, I was referencing variables that didn't belong to the object (I was trying to access a variable that belonged to /obj/light_source, but declaring my variable as var/obj/O instead of var/obj/light_source/O). As soon as I got that cleared up, I got my first successful compile; all it took was a careful reading of the documentation, a failed attempt, and a small question to get me on my feet. And now if I get a bug I can usually fix it within 20 seconds.

I do understand what happens when you get frustrated and something you spend a lot of thought on doesn't do what you expected. After all, I've been there. But when you act all snotty, glance through the documentation as if it were in Russian, and then point out all the bad points instead of asking about the good, that's not frustration, that's being ornery.

There is a lot of help in the program, but it just doesn't match up to what I assume to be megabytes of information from the forum. If possible, I really would like the old forums to be converted into a giant digest, or simply archived.

(I always hoped I would use my version of the famous "silver platter" quote... now I got my chance =)

What's a poontang? Am I a poontang? It sounds like it should be some kind of ship crossing the South China Sea with a cargo of spices.

That's the kind of wiseacre remark that makes people spray their drinks out their noses. For shame! :)

You can learn the Poontang nature, if you have nothing better to do, which is pretty unlikely, in the General forum--see 7/1 and 7/14-15.

Hi Manifacae.

Thats true, although im VERY new here, thanks for directing me.

I dont know a single thread of coding, but i may get help somewhere along the way. thanks Manifacae, and im looking forward to helping you with DBZ, testing it, working on bugs, giving insight, tips, and suggestions.

DBZ is a game that many will enjoy.

Of particular interrest is the reference to Canadians and the reference to having this as a first name (below the Oxford English Definition).

Definition
____________________________________________
From the Oxford English Dictionary:

poontang, sb. U.S. slang. Also poon tang and with capital initial(s). [Prob.ad. Fr. putain prostitute.] Sexual intercourse, sex; women collectively, or a woman, regarded as a means of sexual gratification. Also attrib. Hence as v. intr., to copulate.
1929 T.WOLFE Look Homeward, Angel 343 A fellow's got to have a little Poon Tang. 1947 C. WILLINGHAM End at Man II. vii. 78 Poley looked out the window and saw a pretty Negro girl on the sidewalk... 'Eye that poon tang there,' he said. 1959 R. CONDON Manchurian Candidate ii. 21 Every now and then I think about you coming all the way to Korea from New Jersey to get your first piece of poontang. 1966 C. HINES Heat's On xv. 122 That ain't our racket. We just sells poontang here. 1968 E. J. GAINES Bloodline 144 Yesterday this time I was poon-tanging like a dog. 1970 D. DODGE Hatchetman x. 127 'Is it true what they say about good women?'..'I hear it changes youah luck, though. Like black poontang.' 1972 'T. COE' Don't lie to Me iv. 44 May be you're some kind of poontang sex maniac. 1972 Listener 22 June 845/2 Massa gonna smack yo black ass, nigger. You can't go chasing white poontang all night long. 1976 Honolulu Star-Bull. 21 Dec E-10/6 (Advt.), The other girls majored in home ec...but Debby majored in Poon-tang.

poon sb.1 Also 7 pone, 9 puhn, puna, poona, -ay [Singhalese puna, Tamil punnai.] One of several large East Indian trees of the genus Calophyllum, esp. C Inophyllum; also, the timber furnished by these trees, used for masts and spars, and for building purposes. Chiefly attrib., as poon-mast, -spar, -tree, -wood; poon-oil, a dark-green thick oil, having a strong and bitter taste, expressed from the seeds of C. Inophyllum (poon-seed), used in medicine and for burning in lamps.
1699 DAMPIER Voy. II. 1. 64 For Masting, the Fir and Pone Trees are the best. 1727 A. HAMILTON New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxii. 264 There is good Poon Masts, stronger, but heavier than Fir. 1840 Encycl. Brit. (ed.7) XXI. 300/2 Poon is also of two kinds, the dark and the light. It is a wood that answers very well for masts... The Malacca red poon is that of which masts and yards are made. 1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, Poon-wood, an Indian wood,.. used for ship-building, for planks, and also for spars. 1880 C. R. MARKHAM Peruv. Bark 377 The poon trees..are chiefly found in Coorg.

poon sb.2 slang (chiefly Austral.). [Origin obscure.] a. A simple or foolish person. b. A person living alone in the outback.
1940 M. MARPLES Public School Slang 60 Another considerable group of words in recent use has a definite trans-atlantic flavour, as, for example: boob..goof..mutt..poon (Dulwich, 1930 +). 1941 BAKER Dict. Austral. Slang 56 poon, a lonely, somewhat crazy dweller in the Outer Beyond... A simpleton or fool. 1945 --- Austral. Lang. v. 97 Another outback term for a person who lives alone is poon. 1972 G. MORLEY Jockey rides Honest Race 73 They don't look for the guts of a lecture; just the mistakes. Then they can get up and shoot their mouths off and everybody else nods wisely and tries to pick up the mistakes of the poon that's just said his piece. 1974 D. WILLIAMSON Jugglers Three in Three Plays 69 What possessed Keren to shack up with a poon like you?

poon sb.3 slang. Abbrev. of POONTANG sb.
1969 J. LEASOR They don't make them like that any More vi. 192 It's against my principles to pay for poon: if I can't get it for what is laughingly called love, then I'll do without. 1972 J. WAMBAUGH Blue Knight (1973) i.16 Watching all that young poon.

poon v. Austral. slang. [Origin obscure.] To dress up; esp. to dress flashily. Also in pa. pple. pooned up.
1943 BAKER Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 61 Poon up, to dress up, especially in a flashy fashion. 1945 --- Austral. Lang. 206 School slang...poon up, to dress up, especially with considerable care. 1951 D. STIVENS Jimmy Brockett 48 Some of 'em were young lairs, all pooned up to kill. 1972 A. CHIPPER Aussie Swearers Guide 48 Pooned up, dressed to impress, often with sexual success in view.



From A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Vol. II, by Eric Partridge. 1967:

poontang. Copulation, esp. with a coloured woman: Canadian: C. 20. Supposedly of Chinese origin, there being such variants as poong tai and poong kai. (Whence poontanger.) Common also among homosexuals for 'sexual relations' (The Lavender Lexicon).

poontanger. Penis: Canadian lumbermen's: C. 20. A logger's tool, more useful in town than in the woods.

poon, n. A lonely, loneliness-eccentric dweller in remote places: Australian: C. 20. B., 1942. Ex Aboriginal?-2. Hence (?), a simpleton; a fool; a gen. pejorative since ca. 1910. E.g. at Dulwich School since ca. 1930 (Marples).-3. A common shortening of poontang. Leechman.



From Dictionary of American Slang. Second Supplemented Edition, by Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner. 1975:

poon tang, poontang [taboo] n. The vagina of a Negress or mulatto woman considered sexually; sexual intercourse with a Negress or mulatto; a Negro piece. 1929: "A fellow's got to have a little Poon Tang." T. Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel, 343. 1947: "Poley looked out the window and saw a pretty Negro girl on the sidewalk. He rammed his elbow into Marquales' side. 'Eye that poon tang there,' he said." C. Willingham, End as a Man, 74. Traditionally considered a Negro use, but fairly common also among Southern whites. Prob. from the Fr. "putain" = prostitute, by way of New Orleans Creoles.



From A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Vol. I, by Eric Partridge. 1963:

poon. To prop (a piece of furniture) with a wedge: Winchester College (-1891). Wrench, Notions. Prob. ex L. ponere, to place. Imm. ex :- 2. V.i., to be unsteady: ibid.: ca. 1830-70. Wrench, 'Hence you wedged the leg that pooned.'



Here is a name analysis created by a mob called the Kabalarians, who assign a numeric value to letters in a name to define that person's characteristics. Go on, be a dickhead, name your son Poontang!

"Your first name of Poontang has given you creative ability, imagination along practical lines, and the patience to pay attention to detail for a while. Although you are attracted to technical, mechanical, scientific fields, you lack the patience to follow through with this interest. This name gives a certain amount of practicality to your thinking; but there is also a tendency to scatter your efforts for, although you want system and order and stability in your life, you are too apt to be distracted from the job you are doing and to become involved in spontaneous interests. You are good-natured, have a good sense of humour, and are fairly easy-going, making friends with those who enjoy a good time. A weakness of this name is a tendency to make promises which you have difficulty in keeping. You tend to be lavish in your tastes and to spend your money freely. You have a heart of gold and are always ready to give generously. Since your feelings are strong and you tend to be enthusiastic and boisterous, you burn up your energies quickly and indulge in quick-energy foods, sweets, and starches. This type of diet affects the functions of the liver, causing either suffering with gall stones, jaundice, or skin troubles."

"Yup, got a little poontang waiting for me by the dock... damn near cost me a year's salary, but she's a beaut!"

That's disgusting =)

On 7/19/00 9:23 pm Zilal wrote:

You'd think they'd never seen an oceangoing vessel before.

Or sea-men!

On 7/19/00 9:58 pm Tom H. wrote:

On 7/19/00 9:23 pm Zilal wrote:

You'd think they'd never seen an oceangoing vessel before.

Or sea-men!

To quote the Simpson's:

Sea men and women don't mix.