The INQ guide to Hermit's Kave

HERMIT'S CAVE is an independent message forum loosely associated with The INQUIRER. It is where one ends up as a result of clicking the "Message Board" button on the left, or the "Discuss on our forum" link at the bottom of every article.

The Cave (or Kave) is a fairly unorthodox forum by design. It is for this reason we are abusing The INQUIRER's generosity have asked the INQUIRER to allow us to publish this "Cave primer".

First and foremost, almost anyone* may join the Cave. Anonymous guests are welcome to read forum messages. In order to participate actively, one must register an account. The process is realtively painless and your registration information is kept private. We highly rekommend reading the FAQ/Rules page.

As a first timer, we suggest something simple such as posting a comment about an INQUIRER article in the "Kolumns'R'Us" folder. Be sure to include the title of the article and/or a link back to it, otherwise we will have no clue what you are on about.

Then the replies will start flooding in and the ensuing discussion will ebb and flow magically and there will be much enlightenment...

Well, not quite. This is where the 'unorthodox' bit comes in. Typically what happens is the first two or three replies will be loosely related to the first post. After that the discussion will wander into other unrelated topics. Do not get all bothered by this. While other forums militarily keep threads on topic, we could care less about such things. Think of the Kave as a pub or bar, where someone randomly blurts a statement, a couple other people sympathetically respond, and the discussion quickly changes to something else... It's sorta like that.

With that out of the way, feel free to browse the other folders and threads. Find a discussion which seems interesting and dive on in. A few things to keep in mind:

* - Do not take anything personally. Almost everything posted in the Cave is oozing with gay badinage, light sarcasm, lumpen irony or psychotic hatred... Or at least we hope that is what that odd coloured sticky stuff is.

* - There is more to life than IT. The Cave is populated with seasoned IT professionals who would rather discuss books, cars, and music than the latest OS exploits or graphics card excitement.

* - Like The INQUIRER, the Kave is run by and mostly populated with people claiming to be of the British persuasion. Brit grammar, humour, quantity, and spelling rules apply. But remember that that the letter K is interchangeable with the letter C, for reasons that no one can quite remember.

* - Author responses to article comments are not guaranteed in the Cave. Some INQUIRER writers lurk the forum, but some do not - Internet access is restricted in some mental institutions. If a direct response concerning an INQ article is desired, it is best to send a message directly to the author by clicking directly on their name or direct attention to the bottom of the article and using the "Flame Author" link as directed. You will then be assured of being ignored and/or abused personally.

* - Oh yeah, about that "almost anyone" bit. If your only intention is to advertise on the Cave, leave now. Any post that resembles advertising will be ridiculed mercilessly and may result in permanent bannage from the Kave.

Finally, if the forum gets boring, check us out on Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Click the IRC link on the top navigation bar in the forum for more information.

Happy Kaving!!