• Pre-Merge: Roughly the first half of the game. The tribes compete against each other twice each episode. First for a reward, and second for tribal immunity. Tribes that fail the immunity challenge will be forced to vote one of their own members out at the end of the episode.
  
  
• Post-Merge: The tribes are merged together. Players are now playing for individual immunity and all players will participate in voting out a player from the tribe.
  
  
• Endgame: Once 5-7 players or so remain, the show reaches the End game phase. Usually the very strong core alliances are shaken up here as people try to reach the end or placate the jury. The last nine players voted out before the final tribal council will join a Jury that will decide who will win of the final three (sometimes two) players.

• Rob has a Podcast: Available on iTunes or their website. He does a few podcasts a week discussing the latest episodes events, interviewing the player who was voted out that episode, and provides theories about strategy. This podcast provides insight into the game that was not aired on the show. It is heavily referenced in this thread.
  
  
• Twitter: Survivors poo poo on each other, shill for their crap, and every once in a while tweet something that's actually amusing.
  
  
• YouTube: The Official YouTube Channel occasionally puts Ponderosa videos and bonus scenes on their channel but other times they're trying to draw traffic to their CBS All-Access app so they'll put them there instead. Worst case, just search for "Ponderosa [jury member]" and you'll find someone else uploaded it so you don't have to figure that out.

• Blindside: When a tribal council seems to be set up so one or one of two possible players are getting eliminated, but somehow either a secret coalition or a surprising idol play makes it so someone else is voted out instead.
  
  
• "The Edit": Survivor is a show to entertain. It is produced and edited in a way to give players a streamlined personality and to create as much tension before Tribal Council as possible.
  
  
• Goat: A useless, awful, or crazy person that is not being voted out of the game specifically so a player can look like a more desirable final survivor to the jury compared to the goat.
  
  
• HII: Hidden Immunity Idol. They are hidden around the island. Clues will be given that could reveal their location. One-use item that a player can use after the votes are cast (but before they are read) at Tribal Council to nullify votes against that person. They can't be used at Final Four player or later.
  
  
• Mactor: Portmanteau of "Model/Actor". A player who doesn't know the game very well and are just using it to further their career.
  
  
• Pagonged: Going into post-merge, it's the act of voting out the former members of your opposing tribe before voting out the former members of your original tribe. It's the reason it's important to win tribal immunity pre-merge so that you outnumber the opposing tribe members in post-merge.
  
  
• Pony/Poison: After the new season's cast is announced, thread members will pick a "Pony" (someone they think is awesome and will win) and a "Poison" (someone they think will suck and/or be an annoying rear end in a top hat they hope will lose or just simply suffer)
  
  
• Purple Rocks: In the event of a tie at Tribal Council, there is a revote, with only the people receiving the most votes being eligible to receive votes during that revote. If the revote also ends in a tie, Survivors draw rocks. Whichever player draws the differently colored rock is eliminated from the game.
  
  
• Splitting the vote/Flushing the Idol: An alliance that splits its votes between two members to counter a potential idol play. If one of those two players plays a Hidden Immunity Idol, there will still be enough players voting for the other guy to vote them out. This strategy can be risky.

Zesty fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Sep 18, 2019

Zesty fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Sep 26, 2019

Zesty fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Sep 20, 2019