For information on setting up IM and Track features click here:
IM and Track Tutorial
Greetings soldier. Welcome to the TWiT Army Canteen basic training. Here you will find all the training you need to be a bona fide recruit of the TWiT Army. I am your drill instructor... @thefrogman
During the duration of this boot camp you will do what I say when I say it. Quick...drop and give me 20 mouse clicks.
That was pathetic. Do you call that a mouse click? I've seen monkeys click things better than you.
Now some of you fresh recruits may not know what this site is and how it works. Here are some things you need to know. The TWiT Army canteen is a Twitter style microblog. If you have something to say, you get 140 characters to do so. That is called a mu...or this thing...
Some of you may be tempted to call your post a "tweet". WELL DON'T! This ain't Twitter and we ain't gonna be using no sissy terms to talk about our posts. Understand soldier!?
So, why a mu?
1. Because I said so.
2. I like going moooooo. Cows are neat and tasty and I like making cow noises. You got a problem with that?
3. In the science world "mu" = "micro" in SI units. And since this is a microblog and you only get 140 characters to yap about stuff...using a micro version of the word micro which is a micro micro version of microblog...seemed apt in this situation. Makes perfect sense. And if you disagree I'll make you spit shine my tiny little frog boots until you don't have any more saliva.
Next, if you want to reply or get someone's attention just put an @ before their name or hit the green reply arrow at the end of one of their messages. Make sure you spell it right or they might not see it. Bad spelling will be punished with latrine cleaning for a week.
You can also tag topics on the TWiT Army. By tagging topics you can more easily find posts about those topics via search or the tag cloud. The most popular items will be the largest in the cloud. To tag a topic, simply place a # before the word. Do not put spaces or punctuation after the # or it might not tag properly. So, if you wanted to tag the charming song and dance man, Tony Danza (star of the delightful "Who's the Boss" television program) you would put #tonydanza or just #danza . If you do #tony danza, only the word "tony" will be tagged. If you end a sentence with a tag and add a period, it will include the period, making the tag incorrect. So don't do that. Got it? Or do I have to explain it again so your tiny brain can understand?
The TWiT Army offers a direct messaging feature. To do this, you must be subscribed to whomever you wish to message, and they must be subscribed to you as well. If you ARE cross-subscribed, then in the user's profile page, under their avatar, a "send message" option will appear. Your messages will end up in your inbox and outbox respectively.
Another 20 mouse clicks. GO!
Better, but if the enemy was bearing down on you and you started clicking like that, well, you might as well kiss your butt goodbye soldier.
One thing you ought to know is that the Canteen is a family friendly zone. No cussing, no spitting, no biting, no dirty talk, no links to neked pictures and NO SPAMMING.
This ain't the John C. Dvorak Army and we are still vulnerable to spam. So if I catch you spamming I'll have you polishing forks in the mess for a month. And when you have those forks shiny enough to see my pretty face in them...I'll smudge them up and make you polish them again.
Oh...and we don't take kindly to trolls either.
Another thing you might notice is that some of the troops are wearing TWiT Army helmets and alternative headgear. These helmets are optional but if you would like a protector for your useless noggin you can find all the files you need at TWiT headgear on Flickr
There you will find all of the below options to cover your cranium.
Or you can take matters into your own hands and create your own helmet like this guy.
Maybe you want to helmet yourself, but aren't sure how to do it. First you should download the helmet files mentioned above. Once you have done that you can watch this handy instructional video to learn how to properly helmetize yourself.
Click here to see the video in HD.
720p Version
The Frogman's Guide to Helmetization from Ben Grelle on Vimeo.
Now if for some reason you do not have the training to apply your headgear yourself, you can submit an equipment request to, @thefrogman. Make sure the original image is big enough to work with, and the picture is taken at an angle somewhat suitable for helmetization.
After helmetization is complete your photo will be posted on the official TWiT Army Helmetization progress page here.
http://bullfroggerblog.net/helmetization.html
AND
Flickr Helmetization Page
If you have made your own helmet avatar, please let me know so I can place you in the helmetization page.
Now we've come to the section of all the other ways you can post on the TWiT Army Canteen. If you don't want to look at my spectacular graphics and Mongo's genius coding on the website...you can use the below options to post your mu's. These apps add functionality, auto refresh, sound notifications, built in url shortening, and a very clean organized interface to view the public timeline. Great for when you are working and still want to keep track of the army's happenings.
Below are the basics to get Twhirl up and running. For a more in depth explanation of Twhirl and its features please see our Official Physicist and Twhirl Instructor @kiwinerd. Her training can be found here.
http://kiwi.to/twit/howto-twhirl.html
To mu via Twhirl yer gonna need the following.
Adobe Air
And Twhirl
Once you've installed Twhirl, open'er up and click this swirly lookin' thing.
Select "laconi.ca" from the drop-down list.
Type in (yourusername)@army.twit.tv and hit enter
So, if your username is "tonydanza" then you would put "tonydanza@army.twit.tv" followed by enter or hitting that "+" thingy.
Then just select the account above and hit connect.
You are now ready to Twhirlerizate. Twhirlereet? MuTwhirl?
LaTwit is an iPhone micro-blogging client that lets you read and send posts on Twitter or any Laconi.ca based social networking site. To see all the details go to http://latwit.mac65.com
First go to the app store and download the LaTwit application by @mac65. Search for "latwit" or click below.
To setup LaTwit simply enter into the settings
army.twit.tv/api
along with your username and password.
Twit Army Ping.fm Bridge
Twit Army iGoogle Gadget
Twit Army Ubiquity Script
URL shortners:
http://dfl8.me/ (created by our own @developit)
http://dfl8.me/Bookmarklet/
http://www.snipurl.com/
http://is.gd/
is.gd firefox extension