Welcome to Rachel's Haven, the home for anything and everything TF and TG on the web. As a new member, there is a lot to take in, and it can be kind of overwhelming. However with a few bits of knowledge you can be cruising around the site like a veteran and be a valued member of this community in no time.
Rules and PoliciesFirst and foremost, you should check out the
Community Policies section. In there you will find all the do's and don'ts of the site. You'll find out what you need to do to gain access to the Gallery, how you can get your own trading folder, what kind of content is acceptable for captions and what you need to know before joining a role play. You should read and understand all of the information there, ignorance of the rules will not be an excuse for breaking them.
Where can I post?One of the most questioned policies is the posting requirement to view the Gallery. There tens of thousands of captions in the Gallery and it is a pretty amazing place. We feel that it is a small price to pay to make 50 worthwhile comments or 10 captions to have access to all of that great work. Now for some new people it is a bit confusing about where they can make comments. Well there are a few places to start.
Most people come here to look at captioned pictures. There's no better place to find those than the
You Cap Me, I Cap You folder. Just
go there and click on any random name that you see. Inside you will find anywhere between 1 and 30+ pages of captions that people have given to a member here. Read and caption and comment on it. If you look through a few folders you're sure to find someone who has similar tastes in captions to you and you'll have lots to comment on. Explore and have fun. (One thing to note, the You Cap Me, I Cap You section is broken into Trading "Galleries." Those are different from the main caption Gallery. It is a bit confusing, but it is OK, you can post comments there.) One great side effect of posting captions in the Trading Area is that most captioner love comments and commenters. If you comment on an artist's captions, she is very likely to remember you and very likely to cap you when you get a trading folder of your own. So it is in your best interest to comment often.
If Role Playing is more your style, head over to the
Roleplay Section. There is a
Discussion Board which describes all of the current active games. If you find one that sounds intriguing, post a comment asking if you can join. Most times you'll be welcomed with open arms and encouraged to post. On a few occasions, such as a game that has been going on for some time already with established characters or a semi-private game, you may not be allowed to join. If this happens, don't be discouraged, it isn't personal. Look through the other games and find another one that fits you. If you can't find one that fits you, feel free to post a comment in the
Discussion Area advertising your idea and asking for participants. If you aren't sure about the way that games are played, check out the current active games in the
Gender Transformation section or any of the RP's in the
Closed or Inactive Roleplays section. Just remember that you should not post in any active RP without first posting in the relevant discussion thread.
Finally, if you don't want to comment on captions or join in a role play, there are plenty of other places to express yourself. There is the super popular
You Make the Call area where you have to make a choice between two interesting options for your life and explain your decision. There's the
Library and the related
Library Discussion section where you can read stories and give feedback to the authors. There's the
Grab Bag where you can talk about anything that you find interesting.
How can I get captions?If you want to get captions for yourself, you need to follow the
rules for getting a trading folder. Those basically boil down to this: show that you are willing to trade by making a caption for a member and then
posting a request for a trading folder. Now you may be saying, "I'm not an artist, I don't know how to use Photoshop, I'll never be able to do that." Well most of the members here never knew how to use an image manipulation program before coming here, but they figured it out, and you will too. In fact it isn't that hard to make a caption. There are many programs (some of which are free) that let you make caps quickly and easily. Some of the members here have even put together some great instructions, called
Rachel's Toolbox, for creating captions with many of the popular programs. In the
Toolbox you'll find the basic steps for creating a cap in Comic Life, Gimp, Paint.net. Photoshop and even Power Point. Once you try it, you'll be surprised at how fun and easy it is.
Now, once you have given out your first cap you will be eligible for a trading folder of your own. There are a couple things to keep in mind once you have your own folder. First is that you should comment on every caption that someone gives you. If someone looks in your folder and sees a bunch of caps without comments on them or no comments from you, they are going to be inclined to think that you aren't active and caption someone else. Also as was mentioned before, caption creators love feedback, give it to them when they do a caption for you. Not only will it make their day, it is just common courtesy. There are a few more things that the new captioner needs to be aware of, and the lovely Bren has made
very helpful guide explaining them.
The next thing you need to do is make some preferences. Be specific with your preferences. If you like red-heads, make sure you put that in your preferences. If you like latex, make sure you put that in your preferences. If you don't like bondage, make sure you put that in your preferences. Also be sure to put a rating level in your prefs. If you don't want to see any nakedness you need to let people know that. If you are fine with sexual activity, you need to let people know that. Remember people are trying to fulfill
your fantasies when they make a caption for you. The more information you can give them, the closer they will get to what you like. All that being said, you need to be flexible as well. None of us are able to set up a photo studio and hire models to pose in the exact way that we would like so we need to work with the images we can find. It's great that you like red-heads, but if you only want caps with red-heads then you are going to be missing out on a lot of potential trading.
Finally, when someone gives you a caption, make sure you caption her back. Nothing will stop members from capping you faster than a person who only receives and never gives. This isn't to say that if you get 5 captions in a day that you have to stay up all night and make 5 return captions. We all understand that everyone has different real life time constraints. Just be sure to return caps in a timely manner. If you won't be able to return a cap for lengthy period of time, post a message in your trading folder or send a PM to the people you owe to let them know. Everyone is very understanding and no one will be mad if they have to wait for a return.
How do I make friends here?To new members, all the friendships and "in jokes" that go on here may seem a bit overwhelming at first. Well there are some simple ways to be part of things that are going on here. First and foremost is to comment. If you never comment, no one will ever know what you find interesting or funny. Second is to
post an introduction. Say hi and tell people what you like, where you are generally located, how you found the site, and anything else you want to share. Third is to read up on some of the overarching caption stories/events that have been posted here. There are dozens if not hundreds of that people have posted through the years, just check out the sticky topics in the
Trading Folders to find them. Do some exploration and make some comments. Some of these series get referenced quite often and you could maybe end up as part of them if you check them out and comment.
The main rule is to participate. If you are active and friendly to people, they will be friendly to you.
If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask a member of
The Staff or any of the veteran members of the site. We are all friendly and try to help out as much as we can.
Enjoy your time here,
Rachel's Haven Staff and Members
