Alright, this will be a work in progress...

Welcome to the Negative World. I am Zero, the code monkey, etc. around here. If you ever have an issue with the site, want to report a bug, have a suggestion, etc. you should post it in this thread. If it is something that needs to be personally brought to my attention for one reason or another, you can always send me a private message. Sweet.

As a quick explanation, the Negative World is basically a site made by Nintendo fans for Nintendo fans. Though I do all the main programming, we tend to think of it as a group effort, and everyone has a voice. Essentially the site came about when we realized there was a large erm... lacking... in the quality of user on the average public Nintendo forum, and the forums suffered because of this. So we decided to create a forum where true Nintendo fans had a place to speak about Nintendo without worrying about constant haters and trolls. This doesn't mean everyone has to be constantly positive towards Nintendo all the time (believe me, we ALL hate friend codes,) but we want to keep the environment pretty positive overall. In the end, it makes for a pretty unique site, we think, though it is a shame that a site without Nintendo haters is actually a rare thing.

Onto the FAQ.

A. Your Profile, Etc.

Before you get started, you should probably go edit your profile. Fill in whatever you want, no one cares about you. KIDDING. Also, once you hit 15000 XP you can choose a new avatar so you don’t get stuck with an 8bit avatar. Otherwise you will look like a follower, when in reality you are a leader. But do NOT spam the forum to get XP!

B. Site Experience (XP), Levels, Etc.

You may notice in the menu bar above that you have a level and an XP score next to your username. XP is basically site experience. Pretty much every time you do anything, from clicking pages to making posts, playing online games if you unlocked them, etc. you get XP. How much XP do you get per what action? Well, that is up to you to find out. Here is a warning though... do not try to exploit the XP. All XP is tracked and anytime something seems a bit out of whack, we will take a look into it. If I find out someone is exploiting a loophole then BAM... MASSIVE XP DEDUCTION, BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Just don't do it, alright? However, we have no problem with people gaining massive XP by getting actively involved in the site, in fact that is the point. So don't hesitate to click around, make posts, etc. just don't spam or exploit.
The XP is then used to unlock features, such as private avatar, background user color, site skins...
You can check the current XP leaders here, and the XP unlocking guide here!

Levels are a bit different than XP. Do not assume that levels are related to your XP, they aren't. Levels are just a means of controlling access to the various functionality of the site. Most new users start somewhere from level -1 to level -3. Levels go downwards. Level -5 is considered a site administrator. Etc. There is no official way built into the site to move down a level... if we feel you deserve it, we will move you down. If you feel you deserve it, well... let me know. But don't cry if you get DENIED. Don't worry too much about levels, there really isn't a whole lot to be gained by moving down a few levels. The differences between the various levels will be explained later in this FAQ.

C. Posting on the Forum

As stated above, we happen to enjoy the fact that we have a Nintendo forum with an overall positive vibe, and we plan to keep it that way. Posting about other companies, posting off topic, disagreeing with Nintendo, etc. are perfectly fine (though you should probably get a feel for how the forum works before going nuts with that.) Flaming, trolling, etc. are not. Disagree, but disagree with respect for the others. As for content, we are pretty much completely open... discussions on modding, linking to other sites images, pictures of (legal aged) guys in Super Mario underoos, all of that is fine. Just make sure to include a NSFW label on anything that is NSFW so those who don’t want to see it will know not to click.

Our main forum is set up a bit differently than many, so it might be a tad bit confusing at first, but you will get the hang of it in no time. Actually it is our only forum. It is, however, controlled by levels. Users can post threads based on what level they are. For instance, a level -1 user can only post a level -1 thread, which everyone can see. A level -5 admin, however, can post a level -5 thread that only those level -5 or lower can view. On the main forum, you will see a “board view level” option. This allows lower level users, if they please, to filter the board to only view posts from certain levels. It’s really not as confusing as it might sound.

Our forum uses BBCode, which you can insert with form buttons. You can have more information about it if you click the question mark in the "edit a post" page, but on the whole it's easy to use. Just know you can resize posted images if they're wider than 740px, so it doesn't break the site layout, like this: (img=640x360), and that links must have text between the url tags. The forum also allows HTML, which means you can put embed videos in the site.

When posting a topic or reply, just fill in the big box at the top or bottom of the board / thread. Topic and message should be obvious. If you have alternate personas (more on that later) you can select what persona you want to post as. Admins have a few other options (more on that later as well.) Select the level you want the post to be (for the most part, we post -1 unless there is a really valid reason to not let the higher levels see a thread) and click the submit button. Sweet. You can also edit and delete any threads / replies made by you or one of your alternate personas. That is pretty self-explanatory so I won’t bother explaining how.

You can add a poll using the "create poll" link under the board heading in the menu bar above.

You can also send private messages to individual users. To do this, click on their username to view their profile, and then click on the "Send PM" link contained in their profile. If you have a new / unread private message a link to bring you to your private messages will appear next to your name on the top menu bar. However, you can view your private messages at any time by clicking the private message link under the board menu above.

D. Functionality of Levels

This is just a quick rundown of the various added functionality you can gain through moving down in the levels. There is probably a bit more not included below, if you have any questions about levels please send me a private message.

Level -3
-Upload new midis and upload new sprites on their respective pages.
-Add new games to the games database (using the upload form on top of the page.)
-Create a new persona which can be used to post. Fun to confuse people with (but don't try to TROLL with it, we can check on whose personas are whose pretty easily.)
-Create your own webcomic (ask me about this if interested.)

Level -5
-Post a news or rant to the public default page of the Negative World (just switch the "normal" option to news or rant when you make a new post on the forum.)
-Post a Top Ten list to the default page.
-various administrative functionality in the "admin" link up on the top menu bar.

Level -7
-Wouldn't you like to know?

Don't ask me what advantages levels -2, -4, and -6 have. Damned if I know.

E. The Neverending Experience Quest

One of the most loved things on the Negative World is the (newly dubbed) Neverending Experience Quest. Think of it as a sort of interactive "game" that takes place on the Negative World. Clues are given, and you have to solve each stage to move onto the next. Some stages you will be answering straight-forward game questions, others you will be forced to think outside the box, and still others you will be running all over the site like a headless chicken trying to figure out what to do. But it is all in good fun, and a very nice way to earn XP quickly as well.

F. Other Assorted Fun Stuff

Store your Nintendo Wii and DS codes here. Functionality is coming soon to be able to view others quickly and neatly.

Negative World has a pretty unique games list where you can not only add games to your collection, but rate various games and see how your scores stand next to the Negative World average. At the moment Super Metroid is our highest rated game... agree? Disagree? Go rate it! You can get a lot of experience quickly by rating games, so I'd suggest checking it out! If you don't see a game on our list, you can add it to the database using the submission form at the top of the page. Sweet!

Interested in getting Homebrew up and running on your Wii? Check out this thread for full details! Personally I haven't done this so I can't be too much help, so if you have any questions or need some help you should probably message Junkie_XL, our resident Homebrew expect.

Everyone likes game media right? Check out our video game midis and our video game sprites pages. And if you are level -3 or lower, you can upload new media!

If you are anything like me, you hate spending more money on games, consoles, and accessories than you have to. Check out our video game deals thread for tips on how to save money, and to post / read about current game deals. I have saved literally hundreds of dollars this way, and you can (and should) as well!

MORE COMING SOON.

URL to share (right click and copy)

Thanks! Working hard all the time to make it better and better.

Ok I switched around the default fonts and some table widths. So if anyone finds any pages with text not showing up (very likely, I did this quickly and don't have time to check every page right now) let me know where. Or if certain tables aren't lining up like they should either.

THANKS.

When I go to negativeworld.org, I sometimes go to the main board page, and other I go to the rant page. Not sure what dictates the difference, though. Also, the site seems really slow for the past few days, not sure if it's just a host/server problem.

Hmm, if you are signed in it is supposed to redirect you to the board, but if not then the "rant" page (default) is the home page. Have you been brought to that page when you are still signed in?!

The same thing happens to me. Sometimes I go straight to the board, other times I go the "rant" page. I'm using Firefox, if that makes a difference.

I'm using IE at work. Yes, I have been brought to both when I'm signed in, and because the drop down menus don't activate in IE, I can't get to the board until I actually type in http://negativeworld.org/board

Huh. I'll have to think about this one. In theory SOMETHING has to be different, because computer programming doesn't just randomly send you to various places.

I'm guessing in one case the session is still up, and the other it's not and it is going to the cookies or something like that.

Question, are you guys bookmarking the board itself? Or just the site without any specific pages bookmarked. It should just be the site http://www.negativeworld.org/ The board should work in theory, but I was having troubles getting the cookies to work that way, forget what the problem was.

I'm going to try to solve that IE menu thing soon too. It's near the top of the list, considering it basically breaks the site for a large portion of MISGUIDED MICROSOFT FANS WHO ARE STILL USING THAT BROKEN BROWSER!

I use Firefox at home, but am forced to use IE at work...so my slacking on the job is severely hindered...

Damn employers behind the times.

My boss runs an IT department and was actually confused when I suggested we should all be running Firefox instead of IE...

Also, when using IE, the drop down menu icons are all but unreadable, they look like whiteish grey boxes, with greyish white dots in them.

Hmm, apparently transparent .pngs don't work in IE 5 or 6. They should work in IE 7, if you can get ahold of that. I'll probably make them into .jpgs someday when I'm not being lazy though.

Oh yeah, and the drop-down menu bars should work in all IE now.

There's a problem in the header on like the XP rankings page. The link to email you is missing

When dropping the "ETC" menu, the boxes with User Name and "No Sticky" can be seen through the drop down. This may only be on IE.

Hmm, it works fine in IE 7 though I remember it being broke in IE 6.

Is there a way you can upgrade your IE? I'll try to fix it eventuallty but it seemed long a very convoluted fix from some forums I posted on.

On a side note I found this image recently.

Haha! It doesn't bother me, I use FF at home, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

Alright yeah, I'll try to get to it but IE sucks enough as it is getting things working in 7, and 5 and 6 are even worse.

I think you should create a network of site that help cross-promote each other. For example, on the front page of my site,(Video Game Virtues ) I have a section called, "Friends of Video Game Virtues" and have a link to "The Negative World", because I would like people with similar mid sets to myself to be aware of this community. I'm also sure that many people on this site have their own per projects that somehow mix well with each other. Just seems like a cool idea.

Good plan, I'll definitely try to get something like that up on the main page. HUM... my actual work work is kind of busy lately though, hence no real programming updates in the last week or so. And it seems like it might be busy for awhile yet.

Man I totally forgot about that. So many ideas.

Another thing I'm thinking about is "trophies" for profiles. Like say... made 100 posts, rated 100 games. Etc. To get people more actively involved.

Of course, when you do stuff with posts there is always the fear that people spam...