The Newbie Tour around Elftown

by [peura]

I have previously made several more or less successful attempts to explain to newcomers how Elftown works. Now I'm trying a new approach: instead of telling you, I will try to show you.

How to Use this Tour

This tour contains a number of links with some descriptions. The links will be in bold green. When you follow the links you will get to other pages on Elftown. On these pages you may find links that you wish to investigate further. You can do that right away, or save it for later. You don't have to finish the tour at once (or even at all!).

If you don't want to get lost while taking the tour, I suggest that you use several browser windows, tabbed browsing (available in most Internet browsers) or something similar. Keep the tour in the one browser window and open the links in new windows, either by dragging them to a second browser window or opening them in a new window or tab. You can also just use the "back" button to come back to the tour after visiting a link.

Ready to get started? All right, here we go!

The First Stops: The Mission Statement and the FAQ

The first question many newcomers ask is "What is Elftown?". The answer to that question can be found at the first stop:

- The Elftown Mission Statement.

Answers to many other frequently asked questions can be found at the second stop:

- The FAQ.

Exploring the Wiki

As you may have noticed on this page and on the Elftown Mission Statement page, some pages on Elftown have a button labeled "Edit this page". These pages are a part of the Elftown Wiki. A wiki is a set of pages that anyone can edit. Learn more about the wiki at:

- The Wiki_Intro

Now that you know everything about the Wiki you should visit a few wiki pages to see what the wiki can be used for. A link to a wiki page consists of ordinary text and numbers, like this: newbie tour. Now to some wiki pages:

- The Wiki Games page.

- Tavern Street in the wiki community section.

- Ask-Lilo, Elftown's answer to Woodwork's Klimpen's Corner.

- The Elftown Academy, where you can learn from other Elftowners.

- The Unions page. Do you like or dislike something? Here you can find others that think the same!

These pages are just a small sample of the contents of the wiki. You can continue exploring the wiki after the tour. Just click on the button labeled "Wiki", and you'll get to the main wiki page where you can find links to the subsections of the wiki.

Continuing the Tour to the Forums

The forums are where you meet fellow Elftowners to discuss anything from your favourite authors to how to stop your siblings from borrowing your favourite clothes. There are several public forums, and an unknown number of "private" forums that are made by members.

A link to a forum doesn't look very nice, as you can see below. The best way to find the public forums is to click on the "Forums" button. When you go to a forum for the first time you must first join it. You will be asked how many old postings you want to read. Enter a number, for example 10, and click on "Show" to join the forum. In this tour, I would like to take you to three of my favourite forums:

- <URL:view_forum.html?forumnr=1> the Elftown, Newbie Quesitons forum, where you can ask anything about Elftown.

- <URL:view_forum.html?forumnr=10> the General Debate forum, where you can debate anything you like.

- <URL:view_forum.html?forumnr=11> the My Day forum, where you can tell everybody about your day.

Some of the private forums are open for anyone to join. The next tour stop is a wiki page where you can find a list of private forums that you can join:

- Private_Forums

Houses, Polls and Various Sights

Now that you know the wiki and the forums, you might want to know the other Elftowners. Each Elftowner has their own house, and so do you. Make the next stop a stop at your own house, and look closely at it, if you haven't already. Also try the previous/next/random member buttons at the top of your house. You can get to your house by clicking on the button labeled "Your House" or by clicking on this link:

- <URL:home.html>

At the bottom of a fellow Elftowner's house you can find a form for leaving them a message. Let's got to your mailbox and see if anyone has left you a message:

- <URL:view_messages.html>

Don't be sad if your mailbox is empty. Join forums and be active, and soon you will have busy correspondence with you new friends!

You have probably seen the poll on Main Street. Members can also make their own polls, which you can find in their houses and vote on. Let us stop by a poll in my house:

- <poll:1664>

Now for the second last stop of the tour: the Search page. Here you can go to search for members with special interests, from specific countries etc. Use the button at the top, or this link:

- <URL:seek_members.html>

Many people ask about the chat, so I decided to make the final stop at the wiki-page where you can find information about ElfChat. This is at the end of the tour because I very much recommend you to try the other features of Elftown first.

- ElfChat

End of Tour

You have now seen some of what Elftown has to offer. Now you should continue exploring on your own. There is still a lot more to see!

Need More Help?

More help can be found on the help wiki page. There you can also ask questions about Elftown. Please don't ask questions here unless they are directly related to this tour!



Go or return to:
-The wiki-index
-The list of Guided Tours
-Elftown - Help
-The help index