PNWfahren - Pacific Northwest Car Driver's Community Forum FAQ

The following user status have different colored usernames:

Administrators
Super Moderators
Moderators
special users

Multiple categories is not something we'll be doing here... at least not until there is a real and consistent demand for a new category to be created. The idea is to keep things simple and concise and to not split conversations and interactions up across multiple forums. Take a look at all of the new forums around (there are plenty). They all have tons of different categories with very few posts and almost no new threads in all but a couple of the more popular categories.

This is a regional community forum. This forum is not specifically meant to replace any other forum. You should still usually go elsewhere for technical help, discussing specific makes of cars, etc. This is a slightly more general and "off-topic" regional-specific place to call home, where you can still talk about cars and any related topics, but while keeping it local and while 'hanging out' with your friends. Thus the reason for the current structure of only one main forum.

Please contact an administrator or a super moderator if you would like your username to be changed. Include your reasoning for the change.

Custom user titles have been disabled. Early users who helped to beta test the site had the opportunity to change their user titles at that time. Other user titles will be changed automatically based on items defined by the forum software configuration. Some user titles may be changed at the discretion of the administrator.

These aren't usually capitalized on use in the forums, but you'll get the idea:

AFAIK - as far as I know
IIRC - if I recall correctly
WTF - what the ****
FTW - for the win
FWIW - for what it's worth
IDK - I don't know
NVM - never mind
NSFW - not safe for work
SFW - safe for work
ION - in other news
TTYL - talk to you later
RTFM - read the ****ing manual
LOL - laughing out loud
ROFL - rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO - rolling on the floor laughing my ass off
LMAO - laughing my ass off
YMMV - your mileage may vary
OP - original poster
AFK - away from keyboard
CYA - "see ya" or cover your ass
IBTL or IB4TL - in before the lock
IMO - in my opinion
IMHO - in my humble opinion
IMNSHO - in my not so humble opinion
QFT - quoted for truth
THX - "thanks"
NP - no problem
IRL - in real life
ASAP - as soon as possible
BTW - by the way
DIY - do it yourself
FS - for sale
WTB - want to buy
WTT - want to trade
FYI - for your information
GTG - get together (a gathering of people)
IDK - I don't know
IOW - in other words
LTNS - long time, no see
OIC - "oh, I see"
OMG - oh my god
OTOH - on the other hand
PITA - pain in the ass
TIA - thanks in advance
WTH - what the hell/what the heck
TLDR - too long, didn't read
PO - previous owner
LHBS - local home brew store
FLAPS - friendly local auto parts store

it's a bit of an odd thing.
Basically, you can gain reputation power based on factors such as post count and how long you've had an account here. What that translates to is how much you affect someone else's 'reputation level' (which is different than their reputation power) when you give someone's post positive or negative reputation (see the little gray 'star' icon at the bottom left of user posts). You also gain reputation power as more people give you positive reputation.

Voting a post up or down on reputation has nothing to do with whether you like someone. It's simply a 'like' or 'dislike' of a single post, or of a thread, if you like. If you like a post for whatever reason then vote positive reputation for it. If you don't like something about a post then give it negative reputation.

Your current reputation power is shown to the left of any of your posts. Click on the 'star' for one of your own posts to see what your current reputation points level is. With a reputation power of 10 a user has a much larger affect on someone's reputation level than a user with a reputation power of 1 has. Your reputation power will increase over time, as you post more, and as other people give you positive reputation. The higher your reputation points level is, the more affect you can have on someone else's reputation level.

All users start off with a reputation power of 0 and a reputation level of 10.

Users must have at least 10 posts before their reputation votes on posts count for anything. You must also give reputation (positive or negative) to five other people before going back to someone you've already voted up or down before. And you are also limited to five reputation votes on posts per day.

Here are factors that can help you gain reputation power, other than someone voting on a post of yours:
-For every 150 days, users gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.
-For every 500 posts, users gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.
-For every 20 points of reputation, users gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.

PNWfahren is a community driven site. We were started as a place for the northwest car enthusiast community to hang out and enjoy each other's company. This web site was not started with the intention of making money, however there are fixed monthly costs which are paid for completely by the site owner, so any contribution by you is hugely appreciated, and will go directly toward the cost of site operations (mostly server costs). Please see the financial dirt thread for details on site costs and any other related information. See PayPal's FAQ for information on how to stop a recurring donation.

Thread prefixes are a way to help separate or categorize forum threads without having to create multiple sub-forums. You can view only threads with a specific thread prefix by selecting the prefix under the "Thread Display Options" at the bottom of the forum page and clicking the 'Show Threads' button.

-Ongoing: use for ongoing topic threads. Good examples are the dope shizzz and home brew threads
-Project: use for project threads. A project can be anything you are working on (car, house, garage, yard, computer, furniture.. whatever). Don't use these threads for asking for help. That's what "Technical" threads are for.
-Technical: use for asking for help, advice, or opinions with any issue you are having. Most of these will be related to cars in some way. Forum rules exist to ensure that these threads will not go off topic until the issue has been resolved. (use the new technical subforum instead, now)
-NSFW: use for any 'Not Safe for Work' content. These will be less common, but are useful for helping to avoid running into rule violations on the site. Please review the forum rules carefully.
-EVENT PICS: use when posting photos from any gather or event.
-Official: this is for official site use only. Any unofficial threads created with this prefix will have the prefix removed.

User Titles are automatic and will change based on the amount of posts you have made. Custom user titles can be added or changed only by the forum Administrator. Contact the Administrator via IM if you would have a good reason to change your user title. Early users on the forum were able to change their own user titles. This feature was disabled before the site was made public. Specific User Titles in use include: advertiser moderator administrator Any other titles are custom and do not mean anything regarding the user's actual status.