Newbie's guide to surviving the Cornering Forum!
WELCOME...You may have just started riding, or may be a veteran with years of experience under your belt. In any case, if you are reading this, chances are, you are a "Newbie" to the Cornering Forum. Here are some pointers to make your stay here more enjoyable, and to bring you up to speed on things around here.
Register
You can't participate if you don't sign up. Registration is not instant, every registration is verified by a real person to keep the wackos out (at least those that would rather sell you a plastic rubber chicken than ride). There are a ton of spammers that would like to make our board their personal billboard. to prevent that from happening we review all the registrations.
It may take a day or two to get approved, if you really want to post now, fill out the registration, and then send an email with the name and email you registered under to DISCUSSIONBOARD at SUPERBIKESCHOOL dot COM or call the office during normal business hours. Otherwise sit tight and you will get approved typically within 24 hours.
Introducing yourself
If you are just lurking here, STOP IT! Go ahead and say hello to the community in the Newbies section. Go on. No one will bite you. (Unless of course, you are into that kind of thing)
Searching the forum
Chances are, your questions have already been asked and answered many times before, so do a search on the topic first. Things like which what is the difference between a one day and two day school, if short riders can use a school bike, GP shift patterns, how not to crash (don't ask Mike), which oil to use (silkolene), how to wash the bike (don't ask Will), how to clean the chain (don't ask James), etc., have been discussed many times before. Search for them first using the link found around the top-right of the page. But don't be afraid to ask anything, that is why the forum is here.
Post count under a user's name
It doesn't mean they are any good at motorcycling, or know what they are talking about. But it does mean that they have been around here long enough to know who is who, know the inside jokes, and are probably willing to help if they racked up that many posts.
Treating other members
The school's motorcycling world closer than you may realize. You are bound to run into someone sooner or later. You may be stock somewhere in the middle of nowhere and a person you just met yesterday at a school may come to your rescue. Treat everyone on this board like you are going to see them tomorrow standing next to your riding coach.
Ongoing jokes - don't get offended until you are sure it is meant to offend you
As a new member, you may find things that don't make sense or are not what they seem, there are some ongoing inside jokes that may come as a surprise to an outsider or a new comer. These jokes are part of the forum's fun nature, and nothing more should be read into them.
Do not take it personally.
Signatures
Please use your head...basically, no large signtures, and no quotes from other users in your signature without first checking with them and receiving their permission.
Using Private Messaging (PM) and emails
Many new users, when setting their Options, choose to hide their email, or choose to set "Enable Private Messaging?" to No. Suggestion: leave the PM option ON, even if you want to hide your email.
Also, modify your settings such that when you receive a PM, an email is automatically sent to you (by the system, not the user) to notify you that you have a PM. This is a great option that is a must. To view your PMs, click on the UserCP link on top of the page, then click on Private Messages link.
SPAM
People here do not like spammers at all. Even though you may feel like you are offering people some amazing deals on goods or services, if it comes across as SPAM, people won't like it, and SPAM posts are usually deleted right away. If you have a business you want to promote, or you have means of providing a service and making money from it, you are best to contact the school to see what it takes to become a school sponsor and promote your business through the school properly.
An area that may be of interest to you...
Keith's Article Forum: where Keith posts articles between books
http://forums.superbikeschool.com/forum/18-articles-by-keith/
Hope this helps.