help the new guy

[newguy]

hello everyone.

i know you have a lot of helpful threads and posts for noobs and people new to AP. and i have read many of them, however i thought it might be a good idea to post this and try to kill two birds with one stone.
1) i couldnt find a FAQ list so if this post can serve as one then we can get it started to help me and anyone who might be too shy to ask.
2) this might give people a chance to share some new advice that is relevant to current events and basic knowledge stuff that might be changing or has recently changed that i might not have gotten from the other welcome posts.


though. i do not know all of the airsoft jargen and or the social markers in the co-culture, i am ready and willing to learn and be as good a member of the community as possible.

here are some FAQ i had that i would very much appreciate your help on.

1) there are a lot of acronyms (terms shortend to LETTERS) for example BDU, ACU, i get many but dont know what a lot of them mean

2) lingo, please provide me with a list of terms that are commonly used in airsoft that have a shortened lingo, please also tell me what they mean.

3)i have looked at the TEAMS area on AP but i dont know how to find out if teams are actively looking for new members, how would i find that out.

4) i am not super tech oriented and do not belong to any other forums, is there some basic info or tips about working the forums


if anyone else has FAQ or have had questions posed to them that they want to share along with the answer that would be great to add please do.

thank you for your help

[Tankwitch]

Welcome to AP, first off be precise but not that precise. We know what an acronym is, we thrive on them. A list of lingo would be nice. First off you need to know what group of lingo you want. We have ones for equipment, field, some borrowed from the military, and others. The only way to really learn them all is to be active both online and offline.

Some of the ones off the top of my head:

BDU = Battle dress uniform (An older army uniform cut)
ACU = Advanced combat uniform (Current cut for uniforms /also slang for universal camouflage pattern "UCP")
AEG = automatic electric gun
GBB = Gas blow back, slang for propane or other propellant powered smaller framed replicas (Pistols, SMG, etc)
GBBR = Gas blow back rifle, same as above but for rifles and carbines.
NBB = similar to above but does not have simulated recoil.
Version "X" gearbox: The name given to the various TM compliant or near compliant gearboxes. Commonly seen as V."X" or V"X"
V.1 Famas gearbox
V.2 Ar-15, MP5, G3 and others, known for being highly upgradable but may have reliability issues -Common-
V.3 AK-47, AK-74 and others, Known for being reliable, good upgrade ability -Common-
Other gearbox models are around in various levels of proprietary workings.
EBB = Electric blow back

Now that I have done some of your homework for you. I will bid you ado.

[newguy]

Hey thanks man...

[DanMcKinlay]

FNG = Friggin New Guy

[ogrejager]

i am in my mid 20s with no military experience. i am a professional communicator. i am a student of communications and am working towards my BA.

Welcome to AP! Since you're a communicator, you mind if I ask you a few questions? First, why can't you capitalize "I"? Second, why does your profile say you're 80 -something, yet you say you're in the mid 20's? Finally, are you a professional or a student? Just thought we should clear up these communications questions!

Welcome to AP,
AP's local communications nazi

[newguy]

FNG = Friggin New Guy

thank you so much, that was very helpful...

[newguy]

i am in my mid 20s with no military experience. i am a professional communicator. i am a student of communications and am working towards my BA.

Welcome to AP! Since you're a communicator, you mind if I ask you a few questions? First, why can't you capitalize "I"? Second, why does your profile say you're 80 -something, yet you say you're in the mid 20's? Finally, are you a professional or a student? Just thought we should clear up these communications questions!

Welcome to AP,
AP's local communications nazi

i dont mind at all if you ask a few questions, and to answer them:

the programs that i am use to using capitalize I for me, and after i had typed my message i realized that it did not hinder the meaning or the sending or receiving of the content. so it was more efficient, furthermore, i am a student of communication not rhetoric, with that said, i am a horrible speller and have bad grammar.

second, many programs and people hunt websites for personal info and raid profiles to gather info to sell or market to, so making me 80 years old, puts me out of most useful demographics for marketing info.

finally, i am a communications professional, as communication and my knowledge of its study is key in my job, but i do not yet have a degree, so i am also a student working towards a degree. you can be a professional in a field that you do not yet have a degree in, that is pretty common.


thank you so much for asking these trivial and nit picky questions

[Matt]

You can't view Airsoft Pacific profiles or email addresses without being logged in, so the malicious bots can't get at your data. We appreciate knowing the real ages of the people who participate here because people often buy and sell used gear in the classifieds. It's nice to know who you are really dealing with. Also, many of the games have age restrictions. Unfortunately we've had kids attempt to gain access to 18+ events by setting their age to some fictitious number. So I'm sure you can see why there are negative connotations around not setting your actual correct age. Still, it's your information and it's up to you. Just know that some people may be apprehensive as a result.

[ogrejager]

the programs that i am use to using capitalize I for me, and after i had typed my message i realized that it did not hinder the meaning or the sending or receiving of the content. so it was more efficient, furthermore, i am a student of communication not rhetoric, with that said, i am a horrible speller and have bad grammar.

....

thank you so much for asking these trivial and nit picky questions

Well, since you enjoy them, let's continue this. It's not often I get to discuss things with people twice my age.

So, I went and looked up communication and rhetoric in Webster.

Communication: the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else.

Rhetoric: the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people.

So, you're saying that since you're a communicator, you're not interested in writing "formally and EFFECTIVELY" (emphasis added)? Rather, you're interested in the process of using words to express your ideas to someone else? Further, you feel that this process is not hindered at all by poor grammar, spelling, and capitalization? Do I understand what you are saying correctly?

[Alien_Hunter]

So, you're saying that since you're a communicator, you're not interested in writing "formally and EFFECTIVELY" (emphasis added)? Rather, you're interested in the process of using words to express your ideas to someone else? Further, you feel that this process is not hindered at all by poor grammar, spelling, and capitalization? Do I understand what you are saying correctly?

He is probably social media communicator things like such as periods and such as capital and pronouns letters are already trivialized they are bringing life back into the english language one run-on sentence and emoticon at a time ok

EDIT: On a serious note, please remember not to use unnecessary commas, contractions (it's) and vague words (things, people, stuff). These basic errors have no place in formal writing!

[Cameron Zombie]

ACU = Advanced combat uniform (Current cut for uniforms /also slang for universal camouflage pattern "UCP")

Just a heads up, that's not what ACU stands for. ACU = Army Combat Uniform as it is the cut of their uniform and separate from other branches such as MCCUU for Marines. Also, ACU may incorrectly be used as slang for UCP, but ACU is also the cut for OCP.

[Jester316]

So you acknowledge to being lazy and being a lair.

Yup, you'll last a long time in this community that demands honor and truth in our participants...

[Airsoftee]

Hey y'all!

Couple of things, first off. Hello castortron, hope you get to fit in well around here.
Second, on a friendly note I'd advise you to change your age, it might make the natives less hostil.
Third, if you were to do a little work on your writing it might do the same.
Fourth, don't listen to me too carefully, I'm somewhere around a 100 degrees and I don't mean outside, but at the same time that doesn't mean I'm necessarily wrong…

Thank you,
Airsoftee

[newguy]

You can't view Airsoft Pacific profiles or email addresses without being logged in, so the malicious bots can't get at your data. We appreciate knowing the real ages of the people who participate here because people often buy and sell used gear in the classifieds. It's nice to know who you are really dealing with. Also, many of the games have age restrictions. Unfortunately we've had kids attempt to gain access to 18+ events by setting their age to some fictitious number. So I'm sure you can see why there are negative connotations around not setting your actual correct age. Still, it's your information and it's up to you. Just know that some people may be apprehensive as a result.

thanks Matt, that makes sense.

[newguy]

.

So, you're saying that since you're a communicator, you're not interested in writing "formally and EFFECTIVELY" (emphasis added)? Rather, you're interested in the process of using words to express your ideas to someone else? Further, you feel that this process is not hindered at all by poor grammar, spelling, and capitalization? Do I understand what you are saying correctly?

[/quote]


yes and no... this reminds me of a book titled Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, the title of the book refers to a joke among rhetoric scholars. it goes as follows, a panda walks into a bar, orders some food and while minding his own business, eats his food. when the panda is finished he gets up, pulls out a gun and shoots everyone in the bar, then he runs out the front door. later when the panda was arrested the police ask him why he did what he did. he pulls out a dictionary and opens to the page that panda is on. under Panda, and after the definition, a line says characteristics: eats, shoots, and leaves.

the joke is the poor grammar in the dictionary that should read Characteristics:
eats: shoots and leaves

the misplaced common indicates a list of things the panda does is eating, shooting, and leaving, where as the colon shows that what the panda eats is shoots and leaves.

this is a great example of how rhetoric is important in communication and how with poor rhetoric comes a breakdown in communication.

however, not capitalizing the pronoun "I" as it stands alone in a sentence, to refer to myself, does not cause a misunderstanding in the intended message, therefore a small rhetoric mistakes such as capitalization can (in my opinion) be overlooked in some channels of communication.