Hello. I'm not an admin or anyone important at all, but I am a lifelong student
of the human condition. I can share some advice from my brief experience with
telehack, you can take it for what it is or completely ignore it.
Be cool.
That's the single guiding principle you should keep in mind at all times with
the telehack community. People with no chill get banned.
In the short time I was on telehack, I observed a pattern. Newer users,
especially younger people, approach it like a game they purchased. They often
have a sense of entitlement, feeling the developers and admins owe them
attention. Telehack itself is dense and full of complicated subjects, it's
understandable how a user with this mindset would run into problems and
questions and want some support to work through those problems. These users will
often pester people, begging for or even demanding help with every question they
have.
However, telehack is not a game in this sense. The developers, admins and
creator of telehack aren't running a game studio, they're not trying to win
awards or get positive reviews to bolster the sales of their next game. As far
as I know, they don't get anything at all except the satisfaction of having
built the thing to enjoy with their friends. All the admins have day jobs and
telehack is a hobby for their own edification, it just happens to be open for
other people to enjoy. If they make new friends along the way, that's a bonus.
The admins seem glad to help people, in the same sense as a college professor.
They're not going to lead you through all of your questions and concerns like a
child, they're going to point you in the right direction so you can learn for
yourself. But you have to show your work, you have to demonstrate effort. If you
don't put in this effort, you'll be ignored. If you continue pestering them, you
get "expelled" as it were.
But begging for help isn't the only thing to get a user in hot water. Keeping in
mind this is a small community of people just chilling out, some people bust in
out of nowhere and act like they're immediately part of the "in" crowd just for
being there. They'll argue with people, or vent a lot of personal drama and just
kill the "vibe". It's like if you sat down at a table of people you don't know
and just started being a jerk. You're going to get shunned.
And this is just from generally well-intentioned users. Take into account,
because of the hacking subject matter, telehack attracts attention from actual
assholes from all over the world. The admins are probably dealing with real
hacking attempts on a daily basis.
With the general stress and annoyance all of this causes, the admins are a
little... touchy at times. Some of them more than others. And rightly so, I
wouldn't volunteer myself for such responsibility, it seems like a nightmare
honestly.
In short, if you're going to use telehack approach it like you're a guest in
someone's house. Don't track mud through the door, don't piss on their toilet
seat, say please and thank you when you ask for something. Don't hit on their
daughter, don't start arguments about politics, don't act like they owe you
anything. They're letting you in their home, you have to be cool about it.
