This thread was created with the intent to answer many basic questions about forum usage that may not be so easy to understand for first time users. While some of this information can be applied to various other bulletin board software, some of this information is exclusive to this forum. Before posting a thread in this forum, take the time to read this guide and all of its contents to make sure that your question hasn't been answered. If you still can't figure it out, then send me a PM. Also, if you ever see this thread title in bold when you search for new posts, it means that an adequate amount of information has been added, removed, or edited. You should check out what changes have been made by viewing the log at the end of this guide.
SEARCHING THIS THREAD: Below, you will see the title of various articles covered in this guide. To quickly find the article you want to read, press Ctrl and F on your keyboard, and search for the number on the title (i.e. [0001])
Index of what will be covered in chronological order:
How to insert a signature. [0001]
Setting an avatar. [0002]
An explanation of BB Code and how to use it. [0003]
Image hosting. [0004]
How to make a thread, post. [0005]
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Article One - How to Insert a Signature [0001] (Related Articles: Image Hosting , How to Use the User CP and Explanations of Various Buttons)
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This is an issue that pops up on the forum a lot. Some people may or may not know exactly how to insert a signature. Well, for one thing, a signature can be placed simple by going into the User CP, located on the top of every page, and clicking edit signature. Some of you also may want to know how to edit a signature, and I will tell you. First off, you want to find the Universal Resource Locater (URL, for short) of the image. You can find this by finding the image you would like in your signature, and right clicking on the image. From there, you want to hover all the way down until you find a tab called "Properties". Then, you will see a box that contains a bunch of info. What you are looking for is one that says Address (URL): and then you will see an address like this:
hhttps://2img.net/h/i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt247/350bigblock/myweapon.jpg. Copy the URL by left clicking and highlighting all of the URL and right clicking and pressing copy. Then, go to the edit signature tab and paste the URL into the field. IMPORTANT: You also need to add tags around the URL, so it looks like this [img]
[/img]. After that, you will then need to save your signature, and there you go.
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- Find the image that you want.
- Right click on it, scroll down to "Properties"
- Copy the URL by highlighting the URL and right clicking and click copy
- Go into the "Edit Signature" tab under the User CP and then paste the URL into the field
- Add tags around the URL like so [img]
[/img]
- Click "Save Signature"
Article Two - Setting an Avatar [0002] (Related Articles: How to use the User CP and Explanations of Various Buttons , Image Hosting)
Expanded Version-
So many of you may not know how to set an avatar and signature, or just don't know the terminology. First off, an avatar is a small image (80 x 80) that is displayed next to your name. An avatar can be almost anything you want, as long as it abides by forum rules. To set an avatar, you first need an image (presuming you don't want to use one from the avatar gallery in the forum). Places to find images is one of the "Image Hosting" links that I posted in an earlier article. Anyway, you will need to right click on an image and click the button called properties. Then, you should find the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (URL), and copy it. Then just go into the User CP and copy the URL into the appropriate section, then click "Save Avatar". If you did it right, you should then see the image.
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- Find the image you want to use.
- Right click ==> Properties
- Copy the URL
- Go to the User CP
- Click the tab called "Edit Avatar"
- Paste the avatar URL in the correct field.
- Click "Save Avatar"
Article Three - An Explanation of BB Code and How to Use it [0003] (Related Articles: None)
Helpful Links-
List of vB Code, BB Code
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BB Code can also be called vB code, but BB Code is more formal seeing as it can be used on most "Bulletin Board" software, hence the name. BB Code is loosely based of HTML, so if you have some experience in that, then BB Code should not be that hard to learn. Most of the code that you may need to know is probably formatting code, but there are several others out there as well. Anyway, BB Code is pretty easy to learn, and you should be able to get the basics down in just a few minutes. So anyways, you can use BB code in a lot of ways. You can use code buttons, that automatically insert the tags, which is available in WYSIWYG editor interfaces, which is available in the User CP under "Edit Options". To use it, simply click one of the Code buttons like this one: and type in your text. When you are done, click the button again to stop typing using that code. If you are more experienced, then you can insert the code yourself like this
Cheat Masters ROCKS!!!, and that will turn into TROO ROCKS!!! when you submit your reply.
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- To use BB Code, click one of the code buttons, like this one: , and start typing. When you are done, click the button again to stop typing in that code.
- If you are more experienced with BB Code, you can type the code in manually, like this
Cheat Masters ROCKS!!!, and it will yield TROO ROCKS!!! when you submit your reply.
Article Four - Image Hosting [0004] (Related Articles: None)
Helpful Links-
www.photobucket.comwww.imageshack.uswww.tinypic.comExpanded Version-
Image hosting is helpful in a lot of ways. It can help you to upload and share pictures on the internet, it is helpful for signatures for forums and many other things. There are several tools now that come available with image hosting that can help you get things done. The links above are all popular image hosting sites, and they are all free to use. So if you need to host an image from your computer on the internet for others to see, you can't beat image hosting.
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None
Article Five - How to Make a Thread, Post [0005] (Related Articles: Explanation of Various Pages in the Forum)
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For some people that are new to forum communities, you may not exactly know everything about it. Everyone was a newbie at sometime, and everyone had to learn how. Making a thread is no exception either. The new thread button is sort of hidden as well, so you may not be able to find it as easily as other things. But don't fear, because I am here to help. Making a thread has a lot of advantages, because it can spark a lot of conversations. They can be informational, like this thread, they can be discussions or other things as well. No matter which way you look at it threads make a forum prosper. To make a thread, simply click on the name of a forum [i.e. Forum Games], and you will then see a list of threads in that forum and possibly sub-forums as well. Anyway, on this page you will see a button called new thread on the right side of the page. Click it and there you go, you will be taken to a new page where you may start a thread.
Posts are just as important as threads. They are good for feedback, but they also keep a conversation moving. To make a post, simply go into a thread and at the bottom you will see a button that says "Post Reply". Press that and you will then be taken to a page where you can post your reply.
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- Click on the name of a forum [i.e. General Boards]
- You will then see a button called "New Thread"
- Click that button, and then you will be on your way to making a new thread
-To make a post, simply view a thread and at the bottom you will see a button called "Post Reply" click it, and you will then be taken to the page where you may then type your message.
