A Guide to NSA
Note:
Hey there! Welcome to NSA! I hope you’re ready for the iNSAnity you’re about to read (don’t worry…I think you can handle it ;) )
The following tips are from NSAer’s of old (however, the information has been slightly updated since we’ve transferred to Microsoft Teams/Outlook). If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Welcome Committee or the Student Council!
Be careful out there, fellow NSA-ers! *bolts off in search of a quest*
Step 1 - People
Everyone looks crazy and insane here. But remember, the internet deceives. So, thou shalt not be warded off by crazy seeming people.
Students at NSA come from many different countries all over the world. They're all different, but I'm sure once you talk a bit here and there you'll get the hang of it!
If you need help with anything on NSA/Teams/Outlook, you can contact a Student Council member or someone on the Welcome Committee (check out the Meet the Welcome Committee document in here). We would love to help you! Don't hesitate to email or IM (Instant Message) us!
Step 2 - Talking
Most important thing: You can't see if people are joking or not. You can't see people's reactions. Take everything negative as a joke just in case.
You should just be yourself when chatting with others! We've all been newbies once and had to take a leap of faith to talk to someone. But with over 1,600 students at NSA, you're sure to make friends in no time!
So, starting off, try introducing yourself in this channel by filling out this form and then posting it in a new thread:
- Name:
- Nickname (or name you would prefer to be called):
- Age:
- Grade:
- Gender:
- Location:
- Hobbies:
- Siblings:
- Would you like an NSA Sibling?:
- Favorite Bible verse (if you have one):
- Optional: Add a picture of yourself:)
Then I suggest checking out the Channels in your Teams desktop!
Step 3 - Channels
The best way to make a friend on NSA is to start a thread in the Student Channels or to add them to a Teams chat.
The Student Teams/Channels are places for the students to get together and enjoy themselves. Some Teams you can find at NSA include the elementary school (grades 4-5), middle school (grades 6-8), high school (grades 9-12), as well as individual grade teams. You can post anything in there from the latest event in your life, something super random, or adventure threads! Adventure threads are threads that can get a bit unrealistic and wild but are very fun.
For example, each Team has channels where you can find other kids who share the same interests with you.
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Some interest channels you might enjoy include: Bulletin Board Debate Art/Photography Reading Sports Technology TCK Adventures Music Navigator (School Newspaper) Creative Writing The Mage’s Guild* Noble and Ancient Thread (NaAT)* Restitutional New Age Thread (RNAT)*
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Note on Spam:
Spam is sending too many unnecessary e-mails, or chat messages. This is not tolerated by NSA, and can result in disciplinary action, so we advise you not to do that! Also, zapping someone is sending someone way too many chat messages.
Step 4 - Ok, so how?
Sooner or later you'd want to take a little dive into the technicalities of Outlook.
Setting a default font
On your desktop, go to "Settings" (“preferences” for Mac), then search for “font” (“format” for web clients), and set your font, color, and font size for New Mail and Replies/Forwards. General rule of thumb on fonts is it shouldn't be much bigger than pt. 14 and you should be able to read it easily without squinting or highlighting it. Don't forget to save it!
Setting a signature
On your desktop, "Settings" (“preferences” for Mac), then search for “signature”. In the white box, enter what you'd like to set your signature as. Don't forget to click Apply, and you're done!
Step 5 - :P
NSAers use a lot of emoticons to express emotion.
Emotions, as most of you know, are basically facial expressions. Since this is an online school, and you cannot exactly tell emotions over the Internet, we use emoticons. Read on to see the common expressions we use here at NorthStar.
The most used faces are xD, :P, :O, Dx, :D, D:
xD is like a laughing face, or a really happy face. It's used after most funny comments.
P is a face in which you're sticking out your tongue. It's not intended to be rude though.
O is a surprised face.
Dx is the opposite of xD it's more of an unhappy face.
D is a regular smiley face either that, or :)
D: is again the opposite of :D and is usually an unhappy face.
Read more in depth about acronyms, faces, and asterisks on the Acronyms, Faces, and Asterisks Explained page!
Asterisks
Students of NSA will use ** around action words such as *runs away* to tell that they are doing that action. Articles [a, an, the] are optional. Generally, this is in the first-person, but names are used if it applies to someone other than you. ("I have a sword now! *pulls out shining sword and points it at Bob*" or "*Bob trips over a branch*)
Balance of powers:
Originally from the role-playing games that used to be on NSA, the term balance of powers comes from the mutual respect of power that two people must have when fighting using **. This basically means you can't just guarantee yourself a win or dictate someone else's actions, the people fighting ALL have to adhere to the balance of powers to have a fair fight. see Balance of Powers
Terms
Here are a few of the basic terms commonly used around NSA and by NSA students.
Elbow pic - Not exactly a 'term,' as much as it is a tradition. When two NSA students by the names of Christe Bout and Raegan Allinder met up in the physical world, there was a picture they took in which Christe was awkwardly touching Raegan's elbow. Since then, it has been a tradition (aka, requirement U_U) for two NSAers who meet to take an elbow picture, in which they touch each others' elbows, touch elbows together, etc., just anything featuring elbows, really.
Glowing - If someone is glowing, it means they're multitasking (doing something else and chatting at the same time) and might not reply right away. Another term for this is "flickering."
iNSAne - an extremely clever pun playing off of the words insane and NSA.
Newbie - The word for a student who is new on NSA, and typically doesn't quite know their way around Teams/Outlook yet.
Newb/noob/n00b/etc. - The word used for a student (who is not necessarily new, but often is), often does not know his/her way around either, the difference between a newbie lies in being while newbies are ignorant of how a lot of things work, they are open to learning, while noobs do not respect authority (or people in general, sometimes), are not willing to learn, and act on what they do know, without seeing the whole picture.
Note: The definitions for newbie and newb are not set in stone, they are my definitions and the definitions I use when saying those words. As a result, many other people have taken up using these definitions as well, but the meanings will vary. So please don't be immediately insulted if someone calls you a noob or something... they might not mean what I would mean xD
NSA Sibling - Also called "older sibling." They're not your blood relation, of course, but a more experienced NSAer who acts like an older sibling to a newbie, helps them learn the ropes, and teaches them about stuff they don't understand. They're like a guide. If you don't know who your sibling is, or if you want one, please post!
Post - To email a public folder.
Signature (abbr. 'Sig') - the section of text that is automatically added into your new emails.
Spam - 1. Excessive, unwanted, seemingly purposeless emails. 2. Random emails without a real subject, the good kind of spam us NSAers love.
(The) Game - The game is a game that everyone in the world is playing, willingly or not. The rules are simple, if you think about the game, then you've lost the game. It is, in essence, impossible to win.
Thread - a group of emails all on the same topic and same subject line (e.g. a thread of emails)
Note: This is NOT a complete guide for a few reasons. Firstly, because we didn't make it like that. xD It's meant to be a general guide. Secondly, because the language is almost constantly changing, new acronyms are becoming common, new terms, new faces, etc. As such, if you think anything should be added to this guide, please email me (Shalom Cross), we wanna keep up with the times, after all. :P
Updates:
Version 1.0
12/1/2012
~ Initial guide posted
Version 1.4
12/2/2012
+ Added to the acronyms section
+ Added "Terms" section
~ Corrected wording on "CRTN"
~ Corrected minor grammar errors on asterisks and face sections
Version 1.5
12/3/2012
~ Further correction to asterisks section
Version 1.6
12/5/2012
+ Added cheerleader face and description
Version 1.9
1/10/2013
+ Added AFAE acronym
+ Added iNSAne to terms
+ Added Thread to terms
Version 2.0
1/17/2013
+ Added Sig to terms
Version 2.1
1/22/2013
+ Added The Game (you just lost it, btw) to terms
Version 2.3
3/13/2013
+ Added Binoculars face to faces
~ Capitalized the E in the title
Version 2.4
3/28/2013
+ Added Elbow Pics to terms
Version 2.6
3/30/2013
+ Added Newbie to terms
+ Added Newb/noob/n00b to terms
+ Added a note on the previous definitions to terms
Version 2.7
8/28/2013
+ Added NSA Sibling term
~ Changed document title
Version 2.8
2/8/2014
+ Added DIAFOGL to Acronyms
Version 2.9
4/4/2014
+ Added "._." and ".-." to faces.
+ Put spaces in between in the "Version" section. *hack*
Version 3.0
08/13/2019
~ Removed references to FirstClass to apply to Teams/Outlook
Version 3.1
08/16/2019
~ Removed more references to FirstClass
+ Added \OoO/ to surprised face variations
+ Added Xd to laughing face variations
9/9/2023
! Added to the wiki website, moved "Acronyms, Faces, and Asterisks Explained *^_^*" to its own page, and formatted the page