How do YOU use the Cellar?
 

You see, it's just that it's so . . . BIG.

I want to read everything. Every . . . single . . . word . . .

But, I have a life.

So, I go to the IotD first and foremost. That's what got me here and I love it.

Then what?

I get involved in a thread, but if it doesn't stay in the top I forget about it.

What's your plan of approach?

New posts, then I scroll through the ones I was previously reading, get them under control and if I have time flip through the rest.

Not very effective, because of the "dont judge a thread by its title".

I use the Cellar for whatever I need at the time....

To learn something new
To find out what's going on
To see what other people think
To learn about somebody
To help somebody
To get some help with something
To piss and moan and pretend my opinion actually matters
To crack a joke
To crack a head
To restore some order
To wreak some havoc
To jack my post count :-)
To make fun of Lumberjim :-)
But, mostly, to stay sharp.

I mostly hang out in the corner smoking a cigarette and like the idea that I can step out of the shadows and get involved whenever I want without feeling any pressure to do so. What I've learned to do is pick and choose my entry and exit points. Its like being at a very interesting party and being able to turn invisible or visible at will.

The Cellar is many things: A news source, an art gallery, a novel, a soap opera, a kangaroo court, a debate you observe or engage, a soap box, a history lesson, an evolving and slightly unstable social structure, a helping hand, a pity party, a confession line, an open-mic night, a talent show, defender of truth, an advice line, a support group.

In the end, the Cellar is the truth.

The stay sharp bit is dead on. I've had a few occasions where the cellar became my argument cheat sheet. You can see exactly where folks are going so you bomb a couple bridges and you're all set.

I read *almost* everything these days. This is what I do:

Use tabbed browsing, which is in any web browser except IE6. Set it up so new tabs load in the background. (This may be default behavior nowadays)

Click on the New Posts button.

From the list of threads that have been updated, ctrl-click on the new posts button http://cellar.org/images/buttons/firstnew.gif for each thread you are in or that you think you'll like. Now you have a set of tabs with all the new messages.

Hit ctrl-W to close each tab when you're done reading it, and you move to the next thread.

:::fucking dumbfounded at this board technique:::
 

Welp, I was all excited about this tab browsing of which you speak. Guess what? IE6 :mad:

ctrl w closed my browser completely. Darny darn damn

Probably shouldn't download that to my work computer, should I?

Only if you want to be more productive.

Productive? Say that again, that was funny. :p

Ask your net Gestapo if you can download IE 7 (since they're probably married to MS). It has tabbed browsing, although I haven't used it much, yet.

UT you totally rock - I have firefox and that is, without question, the best way to read and look at multiple threads all at once.
UT You da' man!! (literally and figuratively)

Or in IE6 you can right click the http://cellar.org/images/buttons/firstnew.gif button and choose open in new window which'll give you the new post threads in a pile of erm windows (well, that's what it's called dammit!) :3eye: .

I do the same as UT, but instead of ctrl-clicking to open a new tab, I click with the scroll wheel of my mouse. Can type one handed that way. :p

I like the ctrl-w tip to close the tabs. That speeds things up.