Hitchhiking: the basics

Of course, everyone knows the hitchhiking symbols of "thumbs up" and people standing next to the road, spending hours in the rain while hoping someone might possibly stop.

I even heard a story of Barry (also known as B), a friend of mine. With his house mate, Jeroen, he wanted to go to Paris. So they took one of the last trains at night to head for the southern Netherlands, walked to the highway when they arrived, and stood there. In the dark, late at night, at the entrance of a highway. After a long time - and no lifts - they decided to build their tent and pass the night just beside the highway, to try their luck in the morning. But Jeroen did only bring the inner part of the tent with him, so they got in their sleeping bags, and tried to sleep without a tent. That night, it started to rain. Softly, gently, but terribly - so no sleep at all...
Next morning, 4:00 am they left to walk to the station and take the first train back to Amsterdam.

So. Now I will tell you HOW to hitchhike and how to do it NOT, because I am VERY EXPERIENCED, hitchhiked ALL MY LIFE, and you all have to LISTEN TO ME.
Not.
I only hitchhiked three times at the moment - but that will be more soon.
One was a success.
One not.
There are some very simple basics, which I don't know of myself. Mostly, I got them from other people who hitchhiked themselves. Some of them I learned by experience.

Lesson 1: don't start your travel in the evening.
Not because it's dangerous, but because people find it to be dangerous. People are less willingly to take hitchhikers with them at night, and you have no time to decide to stop your journey somewhat earlier because of the disappointment with hitchhiking this day. Just don't do it. Start as early as you can (maybe the people driving to the factory can take you with them?)
Lesson 2a: try to get to the highway as soon as you can.
And highway means: a gas station at the highway. Sure, your first hitchhike you'll have to be lucky, but once you are on the highway, all people are moving in your direction. The people at the gas station did already stop, they have to get out of their car (to pay or fuel), and so on.
Lesson 2b: If you don't have a map, buy a map of the country you're traveling in, and the country you're traveling to. You don't want to take a lift in the wrong direction, or miss a lift because you don't know in which direction a town is.
Lesson 2a brings us to lesson 3: At the gas station, ASK PEOPLE!!!
Don't be afraid of people. Don't be afraid to break their privacy when asking for a lift. Just step unto that man just getting out of his car, and ask for a lift. Of course, 4/5 of the people will deny - some of them with excuses "I'll get off the highway next exit point", some of them just clearly deny - but if you ask no-one, you will get no lift. And don't suspect you'll know who will take you and who won't before you asked them.
Thumbs up is a nice story and looks beautiful, but is so slow.. When I hitchhiked the first time, I was kind of shy - just stepping unto someone and asking him for a lift seemed brutal or so - but that's rubbish. I think it took us six or seven hours to travel from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. Sometimes I stood long beside the entrance of the highway (NEVER do that), or at the gas station not daring to ask people, just standing there with my thumb up while the people were driving along.
lesson 4: Try to be selective
You don't have to take every lift. But make up a balance: when you get off the first car and can get in the next directly, even if he would only take you 30 km further - it's fast, even if it's only a short distance! Especially when the next gas station (always drop off at a gas station) is after a next highway interchange, or after a next city - this will filter out people heading in other directions. On the other hand, if you move on taking short lifts - you will be slow.
Lesson 5: trucks, trucks, trucks??
Not, I would say. However they drive longer distances, however they may take you a long way, they drive much slower than other vehicles. 80 kph compared to 120 is 40 km an hour difference. That means when a driver brings you 120 km further, the truck will be 30 minutes slower - so you have 30 minutes to find another lift before the truck passes by. And in 30 minutes, you can ask a lot of people.
Lesson 6: don't listen to me
Ok, some of the things I told you above are true. Maybe all of them are. But whatever - hitchhiking is not something you must read of, you can't study it, you'll have to do it.

Of course, comments are welcome - did I forget to discuss things about hitchhiking, wonderful experiences and so on...? Tell me!