[Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go] KidCarter93:
Hey guys and girls, I've created this thread as a means to help out new members of our corner of the community, or XDA as a whole.

I've posted this in the hopes that it'll make a new users journey here begin nice and smoothly. Once you read this thread, you'll know the basics of how things run around this site, where to make sure you post in the correct section and how to avoid the people who will try to troll and flame you.

My aim is that after reading this, you'll have gained an advantage by reading and understanding this guide.

However, this guide isn't only for the new members of this sub-forum. This is for anyone who reads this, whether you're a new member, a senior member, a recognized contributor etc, as a lot of the "veteran" members seem to have lost their way, as of late. I hope that this will help transform you from a noob into a new user and that you'll give back to this community even part of the mass that you learn.

One thing you should remind yourself is that we were all noobs at some point. Maybe some weren't when they started XDA, but I guarantee you that they were at one point. But just because you're a noob on XDA, there's still no excuse for not following the Forum Rules.

The most important thing you'll need to do to get along well around here, is to search. If you have any kind of problem, first of all you should search. If you can't find anything, then you should try using different keywords to help you find your answer. If you find a similar thread then you can post your question in there instead. If however, your question hasn't been asked before and there's nothing around which is similar then you can post your question, but make sure you post it in the Q&A forum. QUESTIONS DO NOT BELONG IN GENERAL OR THE DEVELOPMENT FORUMS​

Before diving right in, let me overview the rules set by xda:

*Search Before Posting, Behave In A Nice And Friendly Manner, Make Sure You Make Your Titles And Threads Clear To Other Users, Use The English Language, Post A Message Only Once (Do Not Multi-Post), Do Not Post Warez​

(I'll explain what this means later) , Do Not Spam (again, more explanation to come regarding this) , No Requests For Donations (If People Want To Donate, They Will), Do Not Use Copyrighted Materials Or Anything That Does NOT Belong To You, Be Helpful To Others, Using The Work Of Others MUST Be Approved, Do NOT Create More Than One User Account, and Keep On Topic In Threads And With Your Posts.

For a full list and explanation of the rules of this site, please view the FORUM RULES.​

---Getting Started (With The Basics)---​

I figure that if you're reading this, you're already a registered member and have read the Forum Rules above. Below I'm going to recap the most important rules briefly, so they will be imprinted into your mind a bit more.​

1) Search, Read, Post

As I've already mentioned in this thread and as you'll hear a lot of times, searching and reading before you post is the most important thing you need to do around here. The first thing you should be reading when in this forum is the stickied threads. Those threads have been stuck to the top of the forum because they contain the must have information you'll need to learn everything you need to. Don't get mistaken and think that those threads are there for no reason. That's not the case. If you read them, should you have any of problems you'll be able to easily know how to solve it. Searching before you post is just as important as reading because if you search for your answer then you probably won't even need to post your question. This will save you time and save others time from needing to help you :) Even if there's not a thread for your problem, if there's a thread which is similar then post in there instead. Doing so will help to keep our forum as clean and tidy as possible, meaning it's easier for all of us to find the answers we need.

Of course, we are all here to help each other out but if you haven't tried to help yourself then why would others waste their time trying to help you? So do the searching and reading as mentioned, once you've done that you'll know exactly where to post to get the best answer for your problem.

2) Posting Protocol:

Over your time on XDA you'll either find yourself lurking (not posting a lot), or you'll find yourself making the most out of this site and posting quite a lot. However, you shouldn't be posting a load of rubbish simply to get your post count up. This is especially true for new members who have less than 10 posts and want to post in a development thread. Please take note of the Post count limit in developmental fora and remember that if you need something posted in a development thread then you can make use of the following thread -I Will Post Your Question In A Dev Thread IF.... That thread will allow you to get your question posted without getting in trouble for spamming.

Another must have when posting is to give as much information as possible. If, for example, your device has started rebooting itself randomly and you decide to ask why it's happening, you need to give all information possible. This means you should include what device you have, which ROM you are using, which kernel you are using, what you did just before the problem occurred, what you have done to try and fix it etc... The more information you can give, the better help others will be able to provide you with.

3) Don't BUMP Your Posts

Whenever you make a post on this site, whether it's a question, a general post or even a response to someone else, don't be impatient. You need to give people time to think about what you've posted and then respond to it. Also remember that the person may not be in the same part of the world as you, so just because it's morning for you it could be nighttime for someone else. Don't be in such a hurry that you BUMP (Bring Up My Post) your own post in an attempt to get a quicker response. Doing that can make people feel less inclined to help you because they feel forced and pressured into doing so. People will respond to you, you just need to give it time. The quickest way for you to know that someone has responded to you is to subscribe to the thread. This way, you'll receive an email notification as soon as someone replies.

4) Showing Appreciation Via The Thanks Button:

There's one feature of XDA which you'll all be aware of. That is indeed the Thanks button/meter. This was implemented into XDA a while back in an attempt to cut down on users making posts simply saying "Thanks". Also, if a post has thanks on it, you know it has been a useful post for others and you may be able to get some use from it aswell. Please be sure to utilize this feature. If you ask a question and somebody gives you the correct answer, click the thanks button on their post. Even if somebody doesn't have the right answer but has been trying to help you solve your problem, give them a thank because they've used there own time to help you when they could've just ignored your post. As you'll be able to see, underneath everyone's avatar is the Thanks meter. This allows you to see at a glance that this user has been really helpful with there answers. It's by no means a perfect system as some users (myself included) will use the button if I find a post funny or if I agree with someone's post. Because of that, it doesn't always indicate a users status or stature on XDA. It's a potentially wildly inaccurate measure of a members ability to answer your question correctly.

It is always best to hit that button though because it's good to feel appreciated. If you feel the need to actually post "Thank you" then follow it up with a click of that button aswell. Once you start helping out others by answering their questions and you receive a Thank from it, it may make you feel that your work/effort is truly being appreciated and that your time is being valued.

In order to be able to give another user Thanks, you must have one post. The best place to gain your first post is by using The "Say Hi" Thread and introducing yourself to XDA. You're limited to give 8 thanks per day and if you're using them right, you should use them all everyday.

Below is a breakdown of how many thanks you need to have for the bar on the Thanks Meter to increase.

Getting Thanks: You will see that everyone here has a "Thanks Meter" above their avatar. Here are the thanks counts needed to get to the next bar:

1st bar - 26

2nd bar - 51

3rd bar - 101

4th bar - 201

5th bar - 501 (There's a a bug here, never gets to 5 bars)

6th bar - 1001

7th bar - 2001

8th bar - 5001

9th bar - 8001

Maxed! - 10000​

5) Trolls And Flamers:

Trolls and flamers are a part of this community, whether we like it or not. I'll briefly explain them below in case you aren't aware of what I mean.

Trolls - Trolls are basically members who will attempt to make "fun" of you or something you post. But it's only a bit of fun. It's not meant to be serious and is not meant to be aggressive or upset you in any way. If someone tries to 'troll' you when you make a post and you don't like it, then be sure you don't respond to them. Leave them to it and they'll go elsewhere.

Flamers - Flamers are essentially more extreme trolls. They will make fun out of you but will take it too far and attack you. If you asked a question, which they felt was dumb, then they will have a go at you for being "so stupid" and "being a noob".

While some of you may have a sense of humour, others won't so you need to be careful about what you post. As posted above, the best option is generally to ignore any posts of that kind, as they can escalate quickly and you could find yourself getting in trouble aswell for responding in such a manner. If, however, you feel you can't ignore what's being said or you feel that someone has been overly aggressive and attacking, you can report the post to any of our moderators and they will look into it and take the appropriate action.

6) Warning About The Warez:

As you'll know by looking at the name of this site - xda-developers - you'll know that this site was primarily based around developers of modifications, apps, ROMs etc. That means that this site is based around their work and contributions, which they have spent a lot of time and work in making and may require that a payment be made for their work. That being said, it's against the rules to post anything which avoids paying for the software. There's zero tolerance in regards to people posting such things or even asking about it. Out of all of the rules, this is definitely the most important and you will probably be infracted or banned if you post about it anywhere on this site.

If you keep stealing a developers work then the developer is not making money from it which could mean that they can't keep releasing more work. This then affects all of us just because you were too selfish to pay for it.

7) Admission To The Development Section:

A load of new users seem to want to jump in head first and want access to post in the development section. The reality is, YOU CAN'T! This isn't to try and make you feel inferior to anyone else or to stop new users coming to this site. The reason is to stop a hell of a lot of spam and to stop people simply posting "Thanks" and thus making the development threads look like a mess. We want all parts of XDA to look as nice and tidy as possible so the same goes for the development sections. You will need to make 10 constructive posts before you're allowed access to the development fora. If you're unsure of how to get to 10 posts properly, then you should try helping out some people who have questions or queries in your devices forum and you'll soon find that your posts will climb quickly. If it is extremely urgent that you post in a development thread but don't have time to get to 10 posts, then you can either use the following thread - I Will Post Your Question In The Dev Thread IF... - or you can PM the developer and explain the problem to them. *NOTE* Only PM one of the developers if you've looked all through the thread and what you're reporting hasn't been mentioned before Here's a summarization of the 10 post rule by Fallen Spartan: "The 10 post rule was put in place to make new users think, and hopefully contribute and help others by making useful posts rather than the usual crap like "thanks", "kewl" etc or ask questions which have been asked countless times before. They still have access to dev forums, just cannot post in them. Its not a massive restriction and to provide 10 useful/helpful posts is not hard."

8) User Title's Explained:

You'll see that every member has a "title" under their avatar. If you've seen these and wondered how to get them, then read the following passage from juzz86: "I'll sum it up for you (or try, anyway!) There are Junior Members, Members, Senior Members first. These make up the vast majority of XDAs userbase. Recognised Contributors are nominated by other users and/or Mods/Developers. They are recognised for their contributions which are not specifically Development, such as detailed guides, one-click utilities and other tools/mods. Recognised Themers are also nominated by users/Mods/Developers, for their work themeing custom ROMs and providing standalone themes for flashing. Recognised Developers are nominated and approved by the Developer Committee, for their work in Development whether it be ROMs, Root methods, bootloader unlocks etc. Elite Recognised Developers are again assessed by the Developer Committee, and are deemed to have gone above-and-beyond in providing knowledge/hacks/tools/apps/ROMs for the XDA community. Forum Moderators are appointed by the Moderator Committee, after submitting an application (see the 'sticky' at the top of this forum - currently applications are not open). They are the first-line of keeping the forums tidy, friendly and orderly. Senior Moderators are the next step up the ladder, providing site-wide support for Forum Mods and looking after the nitty-gritty issues, as well as areas of XDA not policed by FSMs, such as the Marketplace. Administrators are next. There are several Admins - each look after a specific part of XDA such as the Portal, the Members and the User Experience of XDA as a whole. At the top is Mike Channon, who is overall Forum Administrator. Other titles you may come across:

Moderator Committee - sits on the Mod Committee Developer Committee - as above, but for Developer Committee XDA News writer - publishes articles for the Portal (front page) Retired xxxx - have since officially 'left' their XDA position

Hopefully that clears most of them up for you. Contrary to what a lot of people expect, the thanks-meter does not figure at all in determining a users tag."

0 to 29 posts - Member

30 to 99 posts - Junior Member

100 + posts - Senior Member​

9) Helpful Links:

Forum Rules

Postcount limit in developmental fora

Guide To Getting A Moderators Help

XDA New User Guide

Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries& Guides

[SOLA]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides

[ACRO S] Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides

[GO]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides

Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides

[P]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides

​

CREDITS: Apex_Strider for the permission to base this in his thread.

E.Cadro for letting me post this thread here.