Hello Cadet, and congratulations in being accepted into the Federation Academy.  I am the first of 3 instructors that you will have while you are here.  Our aim will be to give you basic posting skills so you know what you are doing when you get assigned to a starship.  My job is to show you the basics of posting, and how to write a simple post.  When writing my own comments in my introductorily post I'll put them in brackets.

USE OF THE STAR DATE
When writing a post, it is customary to put the star date at the top. The star date is very simple to do and looks like this: 

SD: 50301.20 (Reading this is very simple.) 

Here is how it is made up:

        The 5 is just for show.
        03 represents the year, 2003. 
        01 is the month, January in this case. 
        And the number after the . is the date, in this case 20th. 

So you would read this as January 20, 2003. that is the day in which the post was written/started. 

OUT OF CHARACTER (OOC)

In some posts, a person may want to say something that is outside of the story, or out of character. You do this here after the Star date and so we all know that it's out of character, you put OOC: in front of your comment. 

OOC: I'm going out of town for 4 days, so I won't be able to post. (That's all that's needed to tell your CO that you'll be away for 4 days) 

LOCATION MARKER
Next you want to put your location. This is essential in a post so that way everyone will know exactly where you are. We use symbols to signify what race is in control of your location. There is one for each of the major races, but the only one you need to know is the Federation one. It looks like this: =/\=

It is made my an equal sign ' = ' followed by both front and backslash ' / ', and  ' \ ', then another equal sign ' = '

Then write your location first by the ship/planet/station you are on, followed by the exact location:

=/\= Deep Space 13: Instructors office =/\= 

WRITING YOUR POST

Now that your basic setup is complete, you can write your post. A post is from the first person and always in present tense. So always speak as if you are the character, because you are supposed to be. Also, your post is written as if you were actually doing the things mentioned in your post as your writing it. I will now write a bit of my post

Looking over some of the new cadets, I am pleased that we have such a promising group that are willing to become officers. Going over my list on my screen, I saw many promising cadets. I figured that most of them would graduate from the academy after going through the training.
 
As you can see, my post focuses on my thoughts. That's what a post should have, your own personal thoughts.
 
I noticed one name in particular. A new cadet who had just enrolled in the academy that showed much promise. I wanted to speak with him in person. 

USE OF THE +TAPS+ FUNCTION

Now we come to the next part of the lesson. Communications within the ship/station/planet you are on. To distinguish between normal conversation and communication, we put +TAPS+ into each sentence.

+TAPS+ "Steele to Ens. O'Conner." I said as I tapped my communicator  (Notice how I put words my character actually says aloud in quotes, just like in books)

+TAPS+ "Steele to Ens. O'Conner." I said as I tapped my communicator (Notice how I put words my character actually says aloud in quotes, just like in books) 

+TAPS+ "This is Ens. O'Conner." (A character who is not a real person and does not play the game is called an NPC and you write what they say, as I'm doing in this case) 

+TAPS+  "Ens. Please have our new cadet report to me immediately." 

++TAPS+ "Understood sir. O'Conner out" 

PASSAGE OF TIME
This next part will display how to show that time has passed. To show that a time has passed that you don't sim, do this: ::5 minutes later:: 
::5 minutes later:: Now everyone knows that it's been 5 minutes since my last words. 

The chime went off for my door panel. "Come in." I said. 
A young brash Cadet walked through the doors. 

"Hello cadet, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said standing up.
 
TAGGING ANOTHER PLAYER

Next up is what we call a tag. This is a place where a person indicates they want someone to speak. they do this by placing arrow heads << and >> in between the name of the person. 

<< Cadet >>(Now you know that it's your turn to speak) 
I shook the cadet's hand. "Please have a seat." 
<< Cadet >> 
"Now then, I understand that you just started. I want to hear a little about yourself." 
<< Cadet R and C>>

 
What I just put is short for respond and continue. Basically I'm handing the control of the conversation over to you. 

If your post is not entirely finished i.e. you are in a conversation and it's not over, you place TBC, or To Be Continued at the end of you writing as in:

TBC 

SIGNING OFF

Next, so we know exactly who's posting, you must sign your name. Now then, Since you are just a cadet and do not hold a position on a starship your signature will be simple. What you do is state your rank and name in the First line, your Position in the second line, your ship/station in the third line. I am the Commanding Officer of the Gateway, so my signature looks like this 

Adm Nathan Steele

Commanding Officer
Gateway
 
Since you only have a rank, your signature should only have the first line. When you are assigned to a ship you are expected to have at least those 3 lines. 

For my purposes as Training instructor, my signature will be different then the one above:

Adm Nathan Steele

Academy Instructor
1st lesson