This post is for all the new people just joining the DEV community. It's about navigating your way through the neighborhood.
Welcome to DEV
Your first introduction to DEV is usually through one of the Welcome threads. There, you are encouraged to contribute a little something about yourself as an introduction to the rest of the community.
For all of us, it can be a little scary opening yourself up to a large group.
- What should I write?
- Who will see this?
- How do things work around here?
These are common thoughts we have all experienced. For those who take the first step, you might see a response like:
Hi
Or the classic:
Hello, World!
Others might even write a full sentence or two about how they found this site or even what kind of coding they are interested in.
Whatever you write, just know that you have not created a Post, you made a Comment. (Even though your browser made an HTTP POST to get that comment to the DEV server.)
- A Post is the initial message written by an author (in this case, the dev.to staff).
- A Comment is a response to a post.
- A Thread contains one post and zero or more comments.
Some people after making their first entry, go off and look around at other pages. At some point you look at the page with the latest posts and scroll down looking for your entry. What's going on? I don't see my entry. It's not here. Did I do it right?
Some of those will get back to the Welcome Thread and re-enter what they had written the first time unaware that they have just written another comment.
If that is you, don't worry about it. I have a secret to tell you. I made that same mistake! Really. If you search for "Welcome Thread - v44" you will see two comments by a once clueless me.
If you're still not sure you wrote something, or you can't find your comment, click on your profile picture in the upper right hand corner and select your user name (it starts with the @ sign). On that page, just below your profile box, you'll see a list of links to all the comments you ever made. When you begin writing posts, they will show up there as well.
It's all just a part of finding your way around a new neighborhood. If you get lost, just ask by leaving a comment (you can leave it here and I'll do my best to help). Or, see that big button at the top of this page that says "WRITE A POST"? Press it and ask the entire community. One piece of advice before you actually press that scary looking button, read up on Markdown. It will explain how you can format your post to look nice and even add all those emojis 😄.
If you have already pressed it, at the bottom of the page is a ? button that will also guide you.
Hearts
One more important topic is hearts ❤️. Every post and comment has a heart symbol associated with it. Use these hearts to tell the author that you like what was written. Whenever I read an interesting post or comment, I always press the ❤️. It lets the author know that someone actually read it.
For myself, I love to receive hearts. It encourages me to write some more. In fact, this post was done because so many people gave me a ❤️ to a comment I wrote in the current Welcome Thread. I do my best when someone hearts me to heart them back. It's my way of letting them know that I appreciate the gesture.
The Mysterious Unicorn
Now, you might ask yourself, if the heart indicates I like it, what is that unicorn for? I have been asked this question before and the truth is "I don't know".
There have been several posts like this one below that have discussed the meaning.
For me, I press it when I really like the post. Maybe we are each meant to leave it to our own interpretation? But at least now you know if you get a unicorn from me, you made an awesome post.
finally {
Environment.Exit(0);
}
I hope this post has been helpful.
If it has, let me know by leaving me a ❤️.
Even better, leave a comment, or the best thing to do is to pick a topic you like and write your own first post. When I read it, you'll get my ❤️!
Top comments (49)
I tend to use the unicorn if I learned something interesting from the post. I mean, it can be a great post, but cover stuff I'm familiar with - then I'll "heart" it.
Wow! A comment from a Fab 5'er. I feel honored that you took the time to respond Ben. 😊 Thanks for your support.
Good post, im new here with scare of write something, but i hope that this fear disapear.
Hey Reynaldo, pick a topic that you enjoy and write something about it. It doesn't have to be that long a post, just something you feel passionate about. Tell us what excites you about the topic you pick.
I look forward to reading your first post.
Thank you for this useful introduction. I would use the unicorn for a post that answer a question I have been researching for quite a long time or some piece of information that would make my coding easier and more effective. 😊
Sounds like a good use for the mysterious unicorn. Thanks for your input Nathan.
Yes, that is what I thought when I first saw it! A unicorn is sth you have been looking for long and kind of loose hope and one day it just cross your road😅
Thanks Katie for this short introduction!
As for the hearts and unicorns: I like your suggestion on using them. This will be my first guideline when starting my dev-to journey and I will see where it will lead me to.
And giving feedback is really important. Any writer can only learn from the readers feedback.
Cheers and a happy new year 2020,
Daniel
Happy New Year to you too Daniel. I look forward to seeing your first post.
Great warm introduction, unofficial DEV cheerleader Katie :)
About the unicorn, I would think it represents a "hidden gem" of a post, something that you feel you've been looking for forever or that you think would help something click for everyone. Maybe it would help a post come out of obscurity, I dunno.
On a sidenote, it's kinda hard to casually drop normal emotes in these comments with the markdown changing it, lol. I'll have to revise the markdown support on Dev.
Thanks Mugtaba
Thanks Katie for this informative intro.
Very informative! Especially about this little unicorn down here.
As I am new here, I'll tend to heart it when it is great and unicorn it when I've gained new knowledge from it.
Well, I'm starting from this great intro that helped me from commenting five times the welcoming post.
Now you can write your own post and see how many hearts and unicorns you can get!
Are you sure? It should add it. Check your reading list (you might have to refresh the page to see it). For me, under the logo on the top left, press the icon that looks like a can (database symbol). There you should find a menu with a link to your list. If you press that Reading List icon from the post again, it should remove it from your list.
Hope this helps Krsiak.
I've just been randomly clicking the unicorn for articles that I like, haha. I was curious what it was actually intended for. Thanks for the explanation, and the ideas on how to use it!
Yup, sounds like we are in sync! Thanks for your input John.
That's so nice of you Sina. Thank you for your support.
Nice intro to the community :) like you, I tend to use the unicorn when the heart just won’t quite cut it!
Another Fab 5'er! So happy you commented Dan. Thanks and Happy Holidays.
Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.