These are just my thoughts, observations and helpful advice I would give you about dance.net. I am sorry that this is a bit long.


When you need it, you will get tons of tenderness and support that comes from the very heart and soul of the participants. You will be offered help, get your questions answered, and maybe even be offered a completely different perspective. You will have a chance to be joyful, and cry together with people who you will never know, and could never expect to know, except through this site. You will be greatly rewarded if you take that chance!

Your emotions will sometimes be taken into unexpected places.

Checking out the forums that deal with forms of dance that do not currently interest you will be well worth the effort, I think. I feel there is so much to learn from dance.net!

You will soon recognize that you are not alone in recognizing your challenges in mastering dance is understood, appreciated and shared by many others. They seem to be always there to help, and to answer questions. Dancers will freely share their wisdom and sensitivity with you. Just ask!

You will appreciate the comments and support of dancers who may be much older or way younger than you, or who come from a culture radically different from yours.

You will be exposed to forms of dance and dance culture that you may have never known existed. If you are pure ballet, the world of hip hop dancing battles, disco competitions and many incredibly cute cozies, or incredibly beautiful Irish dance and dance costumes, just as examples, might seem to you that your just discovered a fascinating new planet!

Later, you will begin to see the names of certain people and you will automatically smile or think about how much you respect them even before you read what they have to say.

This site is very lively. It is hazardous to eat and drink here. If you try it, you will soon learn why not to! Something will snort through your nose, so you might want to skip the snacks while you are on this site. The voice of experience speaks here, believe me!

This site will help you understand the opposite sex a whole lot better, I think.

Chat groups are enormous fun. Occasionally, the ride will be exceptionally wild, joyful, and will bounce all over the place from topic to topic! It will seldom be slow and boring. Especially when certain people are on line, you wiil occasionally need to fasten your seatbelt! You will soon learn about the participants, and you will have enormous fun chatting with them.

Viewing this site might cause you to alter vacation or holiday plans a wee bit. New found interests in different dance forms may draw you into interesting places. For example, I will need to visit Stoke on Trent or many other places where dance competitions or dance festivals are held if I am traveling around there at the right time.

There are lots of non-dance Forums available on dance.net. Here are just a few examples: First photos, and photos of exciting personal attainments, like new comps trophies or stretches achieved, or new costumes are fun to view, and often you will feel their raw excitement. Pets will make you say awww, how incredibly cute! at times. Some of the sites intended for guys will make you think, and give you wonderful insights. Sites intended for teachers or for people much older or younger than you will help you understand the problems and issues they must face. If you are having a blah day, the Debate forum may boil your blood or raise your pulse. I think that you can learn a lot from hearing opposing views. The Emotions forum is joyous, and has a truly human face on it, without fail and all of the time. Poetry and Diary can inspire you, and possibly will draw you into offering helpful support.

If you want a quick view of what is really buzzing on this site at any time, you may wish to click on the choice that is labeled hot!

In your outside life, you will still get illnesses, cramps and upset stomach, but I think this site can guarantee you will never again be bored from staying home sick -- ever again!

Note: Unlike most of the outside world, beside the dance studio and maybe the military and some sports teams, this website demands you adhere to rules of acceptable speech and conduct. Some are written and obvious rules. Some are not written, but are implied. It is to your advantage to learn and comply with these rules. The site is well moderated. If you follow the rules, learn why they are there, and use them in the outside world, you will now know how to become respected and admired by those out there who will really count in your life. Some of the rules are:

1. Avoid using netspeak. That is where you use all the slangy abbreviations. They will confuse our foreign friends, who might not speak English as their first language. Also, the regular members will go absolutely crazy if you use netspeak. The same goes for typing in some phony dialect. Not only is it demeaning to some people, but it also would reflect on your poor judgment. You need to avoid these.

2. Check a few screens of past postings in a Forum before posting. This avoids repetitive questions and you already can have the answer to your question if you check first. Shoreliner23 said it best in a Sticky you can find under the category General --- Welcome. That Sticky gives some examples of questions that are asked repeatedly and only add to the clutter if you are one more of them.

3. Avoid typing in all capital letters LIKE THIS. That is called screaming and will penalize you. Also, it makes you look hysterical!

4. If you proofread what you do and take time to check spelling and grammar, it will be appreciated as a reflection that you care. I hope you do care. There are more good hints posted in a Stick by shoreliner23 in the posting Please don’t do this! under the category General --- Welcome. I suggest you read this Sticky. It will help.

5. if you want to get kicked off the site quickly and maybe permanently, start to use foul language.

6. The moderators here are just great, and help to keep this site as safe as possible. but they do have a short fuse, thank goodness! If you ignore their corrections repetedly, expect to feel their boot!

7. Kindness, courtesy and decency are not just nice here. They are expected!



I have two signs on my wall. One reads Dance is Life. The second one reads Dance As If Everyone Is Watching (it used to say Dance As if Nobody Is Watching, but I changed the sign). While I personally use them to focus on what dance is all about to me, I am now beginning to think these same sayings also apply to all the postings you make on this web site.

I hope you truly enjoy the experience of being on this web site.

We welcome you here!

Nice post -- that must have taken you so long to type

Theres not much to add -- all newbies read this & youll be fabulous members!

Karma for you!

-- lulu doll xx

Cool Post. Thanx for the Info!!!!!!

Hi, I'd just like to comment on how great that post is for all us new members. It is very informative and just what you need when you join as you are immediately confronted with lots of rules and regulations! Although, I am sure that they are all essential!

Thanks really cool post. And it is like super good to know.

That was an awesome post! I rated you up , I'm not a new member by any means but it was still a good read and must have taken a long time to write..truly heartfelt

Let's put the cart before the horse, the cart moves better that way...

I admit I've been using upper case in a lot of my sentences, and now that I've read this post, I would like to clarify something: Could one just put the words that they want to place emphasis on in caps without being penalized, e.g., say I wanted you to see which post I was working with, and I wanted to be specific about it: "Hey! Yo! THIS ONE! See? Over here! THATAWAY!" Or, for example, if I said something like, "And then, as we were walking onto the stage (this is actually a realistic excerpt), my darn skirt CAUGHT ON THE NAIL AND IT TORE ITSELF OFF -- !" I wouldn't consider that I am cussing, or screaming, or yelling loudly, but I'm putting the text into caps, so that people could see/witness the predicament that I am in, and maybe then, they could share in a giggle with me, which I can easily do now, since that horrifying moment is over.

I must admit, I have used upper case/caps quite regularly to place emphasis upon what I was writing, if this is frowned upon, I would gladly substitute any approved method to place emphasis on text. I guess, as I said in the beginning of this reply, I was merrily submitting replies before I read the entire R & R of the site.

Please advise.

Thanks. Shadow. =^-.-^=

Shadowsong, I think you brought up a good point. I can only speak for me, but I certainly do not mind from time to time seeing a few empasized words or brief pharases in all capital letters. I do that myself sometimes, mostly because using asterisks to emphasize an important word or phrase really was clumsy for me.

I for one feel the occasional important word or brief phrase in all caps is OK, since the person is unlikely to be portraying themself as as a non-serious screamer. I hope others agree.

thanks!

That was an awesome post! I am so glad you took the time to write it because I'm sure it will help a lot of people.

Great post!! It really sums up DDN. We needed that!! Karma for you!!

-Mimi

Hi. Thanks for the post. I am a new member and there are a couple of things that I do not understand. I do not know what a sticky is and I do not understand Karma. Could you either explain them to me or simply tell me where on the site I can get the info. It would help a bunch!

Very Nice!! That says it all. I nominate Cindy3 for moderator status, she has it all figured out

Irishdancemom

BalletBuff,

Look at the members page (far right at the top of the page), all the info you are asking about (and more!) is there

Welcome to DDN

Irishdancemom

Hello,
It is a great post. But I feel that you should change the title because I think some of your full members/old members need to read this not just newbies and new members. Especially about the kindness and respect!

Hi,
I'm a newbee, and I found your post very helpful.I am still trying to figure out this site. Could anyone tell me what forum I should use for discussion about SIs? My daughter has benn excepted to several, and I would like to know if others have attended and what they thought of the programs.
Thanks

Hi,
I'm a newbee, and I found your post very helpful.I am still trying to figure out this site. Could anyone tell me what forum I should use for discussion about SIs? My daughter has benn excepted to several, and I would like to know if others have attended and what they thought of the programs.
Thanks

thanks, it was great to join a website that has helpful hints for new members. so far i like what i have seen so thanks again

I like that...Dance as if everyone's watching...yeah!

Mandy

thank you so much for that post. i am currently a new member and reading through it really gave me a helpful hint in browsing through this site. again thank you

This post does help a lot. I'm a newbie not even a full member yet and it does give me an outlook of what to expect.

Thanks

Out of all these sort of things I think Dance.net is the best! Everyone is very understanding, nice and polite. Minutes ago I submitted a movie to Newgrounds and in a matter of seconds it was removed because everyone hated it! They replied very rudely, all swearing and saying that it deserved in a bin! However if I submit something on Dance.net and there is someting wrong with it people are polite and tell you what is wrong with it in a very sensitive way and also tell you how to improve on it.
If I could give karma to everyone who is polite I would!

thanks for the post it was really helpfull.

That was a nice post. Can someone tell me how to add a picture next to my screen name? I'm new to this site

Certainly! At the bottom of this screen is a choice called Frequently Asked Questions. click on it, and then on the question about avatars, about the 7th on the list, and it will tell you.

Kaybean316, I want to personally welcome you to dance.net! I think this site is the very best place on the whole Internet. Glad you are with us!