| FAQ Table of Contents (FAQ written by poetscientistdrinker) |
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 So, what's with all this registering then? |
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Due to legal reasons we have to get people to register, and it also allows us to stop people from abusing the system… All we need is a Username (real or invented), a password (to stop anyone else pretending to be you) and a valid email address. Just like all the best things in life, registering is quick, free and easy.
We have a policy of not selling the information on to any outside agency, so you shouldn’t receive any spam as a result of registering. If you believe that anyone is using the information to target you with spam, let us know immediately. |
| So, how do I post, then? |
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The forum is actually divided into several smaller forums, and then into threads. Each thread is (vaguely) like a conversation. There are several ways to add your own contribution, and which one you use depends on what you want to do. The first method is the simplest – use the quick reply box at the bottom. This is quick and easy, but if you want to do anything fancy it can be a bit fiddly.
If you want to use smilies or do anything fancy, the best option is to click on ‘reply to this thread’. This will take you to a neat little form that has all the code you’ll need to make your message nice and flashy. If you want to quote somebody, the best thing to do is to click on the little icon at the head of the post you want to quote that shows a little purple arrow over a page. This will then take you to the posting form with the quote already inserted. You can edit this quote down if you only want to use a little bit of it. |
| Go on then, how do I do all the fancy stuff? |
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The forum uses something called BB Code, which is something like HTML but simpler. It works by using little ‘tags’ that surround the words you want to format. The easiest way to use it is to click on the buttons on the posting form, which will insert the formatting tags for you. Clicking on the icon for ‘bold’ will produce this: [b][/b]. Anything that you type between these two tags will then appear bold.
The same sort of thing allows you to write in different colours and sizes, amongst other things. You can also nest tags, so that text can be bold and italic, for example.
[b][i]this text is bold and italic[/i][/b]
After a while of using these tags you’ll learn some of them off by heart. BB Code is much more user friendly than HTML in that the tags are more obviously related to what they do.
The posting form also allows you to produce smilies. These are little faces used to brighten up messages and to communicate mood. We like them so much that we’ve got just under 150. Just like the tags, smilies are inserted with a series of characters that the computer converts to an image, so a smiley face is [:)].
The smilies appear by the side of the posting box, and to use one you just need to click on it. If you want to edit the list down, then click on ‘edit smilies’, and then check the boxes next to those you want to see. If you’ve got an edited list and there’s a smilie you want to use that isn’t on it, click ‘show entire smile list’ and a box will pop up with all of them. Again you can just click on the one you want to use.
If you want to see all the code that you can use, it’s available here in the Original FAQ |
| ARGH! I’ve made a mistake! |
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If you’ve made a mistake in a post, or you want to edit it, click on the pencil and paper icon at the top of the post. This will allow you to change the contents of it (note that as you point at it with a mouse a little tag tells you what the button does – this applies to most icons throughout the forum). If it’s really bad you can even bin it…
There are a couple of handy features to help avoid mistakes that are worth pointing out here. On the posting form there’s a neat little spellchecker icon, that will open a preview of your message with spelling mistakes highlighted, and there’s also a ‘preview reply’ button. This is particularly useful for checking any formatting you used. The spellchecker is only basic, I’m afraid, although we have taken the precaution of teaching it “Ptolemaic Terrascope”. |
| What if I want to put an image in? |
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Images are inserted using the [img][/img] tag. Between the two tags you need to put the location of the image as a url like this:
[img]http://www.notarealwebsite.com/phoneyfolder/isthisanimage.gif[/img]
To find this information for an image on another website, right click on the photo you want to use and then click on ‘properties’ and it should be listed there. This may be different for your browser though. Be warned that some images don’t show up as the servers won’t allow us to link to it. This is perfectly understandable as we’re technically stealing their bandwidth… |
| How do you do the really nifty hyperlinks? |
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If you want to put a link to another website or an email, use the [url][/url] tag and put the link inside it like this:
[url]http://phoneylink.com[/url] [url]fakeemail@someweirdplace.com[/url]
If you want to be flash, and do a link like this then it’s a little more fiddly:
[url=”http://thisiswhereitpoints.com”]This is what I want it to say[/url]
If you want to be really flash, you can create an image that links somewhere when you click on it by putting an image tag in like this:
[url=”http:/notarealwebsite.com”][img]http://falseimagesource.com/fake.gif[/img][/url] |
| What’s with the profiles? |
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Your profile is a space to tell others about yourself. Clicking on somebody’s username takes you to their profile. If you want to edit your profile, you can either click on the Profile link, or click on your username to get to your profile, and then click on it again to edit it. Just like with posting, the options tend to do what they say on the tin. Empty boxes don’t show when people look at your profile, so don’t worry about leaving blank spaces. |
| How do I put a message at the bottom of my posts? |
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If you want to put a signature on, the place to edit it is in your profile. |
| How do I get those groovy pictures next to my posts? |
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Those groovy pictures are known as avatars, and we’ve got a selection of them available for use. To use them, go to your profile, and click on ‘our avatars’ – or enter the location of an image in the ‘new avatar’ box provided. A word of caution for avatars from somewhere else: the forum tends to stretch or squash images that aren’t square, so if you want to use an image from another website it may get distorted. |
| I want to contact somebody on the forum – how can I do it? |
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The forum now supports private messaging - a sort of internal email system, so you can send messages directly to people. To message someone, go to their profile by clicking on their username (or by clicking on the little icon with a head on it) and then click on ‘private message’. Private messages can be formatted in exactly the same way as regular posts – as usual the system is pretty simple and self-explanatory. You’ll notice PM Inbox towards the top of the page. Clicking here takes you to your own inbox so you can read messages. If you have a new message waiting it will also say at the top of the page, so you can keep an eye on it as you browse the site. If you’d rather send an email to someone, then there’s also that option – just click on the appropriate icon or link. This brings up a pop-up box that you can type the message in. Emailing is useful for people who rarely log in to the forums, or for when a message is slightly more urgent. |
| I’ve lost my password! |
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No problem – click on the ‘lost password’ link and it will be mailed to you without letting anyone know. So we won’t be sniggering at you. |
| Moderators and Administrators? |
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Mods and Admin are the people who keep this place neat and tidy. They volunteer for nothing, so feed them with beer and/or chocolate at every opportunity, If you’d like to volunteer as a moderator, let us know and we’ll see if there’s a space for you on the team. |
| Can I attach files? |
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For security reasons you can’t upload files. However if there’s something that desperately needs to be put on our servers, email it to a moderator and they can arrange it. Or tell you to bugger off, obviously. |
| Nice calendar! |
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Thank you. Click on ‘event calendar’ to get to add your own events to it – we want people using it as much as possible so that people can be kept up to date with everything going on… |
| Nice forum – where can I get one? |
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Here: Snitz Communications |
| Still stuck? |
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I’ve got a really pressing question and poetscietistdrinker didn’t answer it when he wrote this! Well, contact Admin – forum_admin – and we’ll get an answer for you. We may even add the answer to the FAQ for everyone to see. |
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