Grimm, most of them are unwritten, but the Guardians Of Behavior (GOBs) will let you know when you are in violation.
I wrote that as a joke, then I remembered that one of the dirty secrets of AH is that this position really exists. The people who man it are faceless, but the authority they wield is real. If you receive an order from one of these GOBs, obey it.
As for rules, here are some standard ones:
A. When HT comes on in Blue (God mode), it's QA time. Otherwise, don't acknowledge his existence, not even for a six call.
B. Obscenities are frowned upon, but the more creative they are, the less so. Also, if you've earned a certain status in the community as a mature individual (which I haven't), you can probably get away with a little more.
C. Feel free to say hi to everybody on whatever channel you like. But remember that in some cultures, it's considered less than polite not to acknowledge someone who says hello. Consider changing your callsign to something extremely difficult to type, especially on a non-US keyboard, so when a very good pilot from such a culture logs on, the following exchange occurs:
1: ACE: HI ARENA
1: ~!*\+=M: HI ACE
... time passes...
1: ACE: HI `!%^H^H^H~*^H^H*\+=M
This way, you can keep 'em on the ground longer. your friends will thank you.
D. You can say hello to individuals, but keep your private conversations (especially arguments) off of channel 1. Channel 1 is for taunts, whines, and clueless newbies only.
E. Players can squelch you, and they can squelch just about any channel, except 2. So if you are going to get an annoying buffer-spam argument going, do it on channel 2.
F. Whenever someone asks for help trying to fly AH, give it, but bear in mind your responsibility. If you must answer the question "Which plane is best?" with anything but disdain, please make your answer as complicated as possible, or just downright wrong. Better yet, get into an argument with someone else about it. The Leather underWear crowd are ideal sparring partners.
Furthermore, if someone asks a specific performance question (which plane is fastest), give as equivocal an answer as possible (at what alt? or if they ask "at 12000 feet", respond "High or Low blower?"). Eventually, they will find the link on the clipboard to the performance pages.
In addition, if they ask how to bail out, do tell them, but wait for them to inquire about the "open chute" key. DO NOT VOLUNTEER THIS INFORMATION.
G. If you fly LW, do your best to turn every discussion to the performance of LW planes. If HT shows up in blue (or better yet, if he's just there), bug him about when he's gonna model the Salamander or something.
H. After a good fight, you can <S>alute the other dude. Actually, this is one of the more touchy issues. Most people just salute either way. If you think you know the guy, or if you know the guy to be a sane individual, feel free to <S>alute.
In general, however, the defeated player should be the one to salute first. For if the attacker does it, it might be seen as the act of an ackstar runstang ackdragging warprolling stick-stirring gang-banging A%%hole rubbing salt into the wound. Or you could be saluting an Ace who has just broken his stick in frustration at flying like an idiot. In that case, you have confirmed to the Ace that you are incompetent and unable to figure out the mistake of the other guy.
The only exception to this is when the gangbangee kicks so much bellybutton it takes half the airforce to shoot him out of the sky, and the body count is something fierce. For in that case, the loser didn't really lose.
Remember, Snoopy salutes the Red Baron when he's shot down. The Red Baron salutes _afterwards_.
So don't be offended if you <S>alute the guy you just dragged over the city and got his plane blown out of the sky, and he comes back with a healthy <F>inger.
I. "It was a good fight until the other guy showed up" means "I would have beaten you if I knew something about wingman tactics; but I'm an idiot, so I lost".
J. Six months? Two years? As long as people see you as some AW dude, you don't have a chance to be a GOB and get access to the unwritten rules. So stop asking already. That's unwritten rule #1.
[ 11-17-2001: Message edited by: Dinger ]
