Every time I read one of your posts, I feel like I'm staring at my old SG Rookie self in the mirror. It's painful and it's cringe-y, but it makes me feel more sympathy for you than I might have if I hadn't made similar mistakes in the past that you're currently making.
Best piece of advice I can give to you right now is this (and I wish I had listened sooner when other people were giving me this same piece of advice): take a break and lurk around the forums A LOT more. You might say you're lurking now, but you're clearly not lurking enough before taking those keyboard warrior hands and bumping (and creating
) threads with willy-nilly "contributions" that do nothing to enrich the discussion of the thread at hand. I understand exactly where you're coming from, because I was fucking up in this exact same way when I first joined (except tbh, I was doing way worse than you are doing right now, which is why I'm hoping that this advice will
prevent the possibility of you going ahead and following in my footsteps even further), but I'm telling you, no one thinks it's cute, and it'll get less cute the more it happens.
So, lurk around. Read the resources (all of them), like Bingeonvogue mentioned and like FT has provided to you. Observe the ways in which other more-established members conduct themselves in this community. Hell, if you're feeling brave like I was, go participate in a private hazing chat. Whatever you have to do to learn to shape up is something you should go do, because I would hate for you to experience the same kind of (well-deserved, at that) backlash that I received when I reached peak-level embarrassment status.
I know what it's like to struggle in social situations. I struggle with that exact same thing every single day, which is the biggest thing that has allowed me to feel more empathy for you. But believe me when I say that it is absolutely
no excuse for continuing to embarrass yourself the way you are. It's quite simple, really: read the resources, take the feedback you get to heart (and don't let it just slip out the other ear), refrain from starting threads until you've lurked and searched, and don't self-pity. The sooner you follow my advice, the sooner you'll assimilate into the community and actually make some friends here. The longer you keep going on acting like this, the more trouble you'll get yourself into.
I have sympathy for you now, but the amount of deja vu I'm getting from watching you slip up is getting weirder and weirder for me, and soon, I might start hating you for reminding me so much of... well, me. I've been feeling extra PMS-y lately (which is another reason for why I've refrained from posting on the forums these past couple weeks), and I would honestly rather avoid having another "unfair bitch" moment towards you.
P.S. The inability to delete posts isn't to "reinforce" your embarrassment. It's so
@FashionThin can have examples around to show to new Runts when explaining what not to do as a new member of the community. This whole self-pity thing you've got going on right now is definitely the first thing you should kick, because it's going to be the first thing holding you back from actually improving yourself on here. Speaking from personal experience.