Message Board FAQ

[Administrator]

The basics...

How to register an account:
Click on the link.
Agree to the Terms of Use
Choose a username and password, and enter your e-mail address (so that the system can automatically send you a welcome message with a copy of the password you chose).
At the bottom of the registration form, the system will ask you to confirm your registration by entering in a security code. This is so that it knows you are actually a human instead of an automated computer program.
Once you are done registering, return to the board index and log in.



How to log-in:
The log-in field looks like this:
Simply enter the username and password that you chose when you registered.






How to post a message in any section of the message board:
Once you are in the correct area for your message, check the list of topics in that section to see if someone has already started a discussion on your topic. If so, then click on it to read what they have written, and then click on the button to add your own comment or question to that discussion.
If you do not see a discussion already for the topic that you want to talk about, then click on the button to create a discussion for your new topic.


Regardless of whether you are replying to an existing topic or creating a new discussion, the area where you will write your message will look like this:


Inside that area, you can simply enter text inside the white box and ignore everything else around it. In other words, you don't have to worry about any of the choices at the top or side of the text box, if you don't want to. Any text you write inside the white text box will automatically appear as black, plain text once you submit it.
Remember to click on the button directly underneath the text box when you are done writing your message!








If you need any help either registering or using this message board...
please use the Help section at the bottom of the message board

and create a to ask for help!


*You don't have to register an account to post a message in the Help section!*




If you would like to practice the process of posting a message...
feel free to test creating a inside that same Help section as well.






Have fun!
If you wish, you can use this message board by only sticking to the basic instructions above.

But for those of you who are feeling brave, keep reading!
Instructions to help you be able to have even more fun on this message board are below!

[Administrator]

Fancier basics...

Two little extras:
To give your message a special title in the upper left side above your name (for example, where I wrote "Having fun with text" in this message), enter it in the "Subject" field above the text box.
The area you want looks like this:


To make a little icon (star, heart, etc.) appear alongside the title of your message, choose the one you want in the area next to where it says "Post Icon".
The field where you can make this choice looks like this:



To alter the appearance of your text:
Making text bold, italic, underlined, or colored is similar to how you would do it in a Word document.
To make a word bold, first write it, then highlight it, then click on the button at the top of the text box. The program will enter the correct code around the word for you.
To make a word italic, first write it, then highlight it, then click on the button at the top of the text box. The program will enter the correct code around the word for you.
To make a word underlined, first write it, then highlight it, then click on the button at the top of the text box. The program will enter the correct code around the word for you.
To change the color of a word, first write it, then highlight it, then click on the button at the top of the text box and choose the shade you would like. The program will enter the correct code around the word for you.

Changing the size of your text is a little different than on a Word document, but is just as easy as the alterations above. To make your text look bigger or smaller, first write it, then highlight it, then use the pull down menu that looks like this at the top of the text box and choose the size that you want your text to look. The program will then enter the correct code into your message for you.

If you'd like to center any of your text,
simply highlight it and then click on the button at the top of the text box.
The program will enter the correct code around the words for you.

To create a link to another website:
First write the website address inside your message, then highlight it, then click on the button at the top of the text box. The program will enter the correct code into your message to turn the address from simple words into an actual link.



To quote something someone else wrote:
If it was in a post on this message board, then click on the button at the top of that particular post. The system will automatically enter the entire post inside of your new message, the name of who wrote it, and the correct code to make the quote appear inside a gray quote box when you submit your message. To make sure that your reply doesn't also appear inside the gray quote box, be sure to write your new text either before the [quote ] code or after the [/quote ] code that the system has automatically created in your text box (the system will have created one of those codes at the very beginning of the quote, the other at the very end of the quote).

If it's a quote from a different source, first write your message, then highlight only the quote, and then click on the button at the top of the text box. The program will enter the correct code to make only the quote appear inside a gray quote box within your message.

Example of what a quote will look like within your message:

Example of what a quote will look like

What about the other choices at the top of my text box?
Those are commands that I don't think will be used much by our members. But feel free to experiment with them!
The first is the Code button. Since the program automatically interprets any codes entered inside the text box, the Code button is used to make actual codes visible.
The next ones, are the List, List=, and * buttons. All 3 of these are used to make your words appear in list format.
After those three, is the Img button. This is involved in creating direct links for images and that can sometimes be tricky and/or illegal. So instead of using this button, just follow the directions in the "All about images" section below.
The last choice is the Flash button. This is used if you want to include an Adobe Flash file in your message.

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[Administrator]

Some terminology...

Basic terminology
Forum = message board
Thread = a topic that someone created when they clicked the “New Topic” button
Post = (noun) a message created when someone clicks on the “Post Reply” button inside a thread
Post = (verb) the action of leaving a message by clicking on the “Post Reply” button inside a thread
Smiley/Emoticon = a small picture or symbol used inside a post to either convey emotion or as decoration
Avatar = the little picture that a member can choose to have appear above their name as an secondary identifier of them.
Sticky = a thread that the administrator has permanently stuck to the top of a page. It does not matter how frequently the thread is posted on, it will always stay at the top so that it is easy to find.
Locked thread = a thread that can be read by members but can not be posted in.

Common abbreviations
LOL = Laughing Out Loud
ROTFL = Rolling On The Floor Laughing
LMAO = Laughing My A** Off
BTW = By The Way
IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
OMG = Oh My Gosh!
SO = Significant Other

How threads are arranged on a forum:
A thread will move higher and higher up on the list of topics, based on the number of posts it recieves, how recent the last post was, and how recently the thread itself was started.


Further in depth explanations of message board basics can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum


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[Administrator]

All about images...

How do I insert a smiley face into my message?
There are two methods you can use - either use one of this board's smilies or use a smiley from another website.

To use one of the smilies already on this board: When writing a message, look to the right of the text box and you will see the following smilies To insert any of them into your message, simply click your mouse on top of the one you want. The system will automatically insert the correct code into your message for you!
A note to proofreaders: In almost every case, the code will look like a colon followed by either a word or symbol.


OR


To use a smiley from another website: First find a smiley website that gives you [ img] codes. Two popular ones are http://www.mysmilies.com/smileys/Genres/ and http://www.deephousepage.com/smilies.htm Find a smiley you want, copy the code they give you, and simply paste it into your message wherever you want the smiley to appear.
For example, here is a sentence with this smiley from mysmilies.com
To create the sentence above I wrote this:

Code: Select all

For example, here is a sentence with this smiley [img]http://smilies.vidahost.com/kao/otn/pgridstars.gif[/img] from mysmilies.com

Here is another example, using this smiley from the same website
To create the above sentence, I wrote

Code: Select all

Here is another example, using this smiley [img]http://smilies.vidahost.com/kao/otn/phearts.gif[/img] from the same website

and for this sentence that uses a smiley from deephousepage.com
I wrote

Code: Select all

and for this sentence [IMG]http://deephousepage.com/smilies/bananalama.gif[/IMG] that uses a smiley from deephousepage.com

How do I make a picture always appear over my name on the side of my messages?
A picture that always appears next to your name on a message board is called an avatar. It is a way for others to quickly recognize your posts. You can set your avatar by hosting a picture on an image hosting website.
First save the image that you want to your computer. Avatars are designed to be small, so that they don’t take up much computer memory. This forum’s system will not accept any avatars that are larger than 100 x 100 pixels. If you need to shrink your image, you can do so using Photoshop, IrfanView, or most other image software programs on your computer. If you need help doing that, please ask for help here. If you don’t want to worry about resizing an image, then do a Google search for “animal avatars” and it will give you many animal themed avatars that are already the correct size. You can also search for pre-sized non-animal themed avatars the same way. To save an image from the internet to your computer, simply right click on top of it and choose “Save Image As” (Firefox) or “Save Picture As” (Internet Explorer).

Once you have an avatar of the correct size saved to your computer, you need to upload it to the internet so that this message board can link to it. You will need to do this step even if you have just saved the image from the internet! Trying to skip this step by linking directly to an image on a stranger’s website is considered theft, since it will cost that stranger money (You can learn more about that at http://altlab.com/hotlinking.html). The easiest way to upload an avatar from your computer to the internet is to use a free image hosting website, such as Photobucket or Flickr. http://photobucket.com/ or http://flickr.com/ or search for other free image hosting sites by using Google. Create a free account on one of those websites and then follow their easy steps to upload the image from your computer.

Once your avatar has been uploaded to a free image hosting website, they will give you a code to use. For your avatar, you do not want to use any with a bracket or “img” code around it. On Photobucket, the correct code will be labeled “Direct Link - Layout Pages”. Copy the image code you are given.

Now, within this message board, click on “User Control Panel” in the upper left-hand corner. Then click on the tab labeled “Profile”. Then click on “Edit Avatar”. Paste your image code into the box to the right of where it says “Link off-site: Enter the URL of the location containing the avatar image you wish to link to.”

To prevent your avatar from accidentally looking wonky, you might also want to enter the exact dimensions of your image into the box underneath.
Remember to hit Submit when you are done!
Congratulations! Your avatar should now appear above your name whenever you post a message!



I followed all the steps above, but my avatar won’t show up!
First, make sure that your avatar is no larger than 100 x 100 pixels. You can check the width and height of any image while on the internet by right clicking on it and choosing “Properties”.
Or to check the size of an image not on the internet:
in Photoshop go to “Image” and choose “Image Size”
in IrfanView go to”Image” and choose “Information”
for other image software, refer to that software’s help area for directions.

If your avatar is 100x100 pixels or smaller, then check to make sure you are entering the correct code. The code that you are pasting should start with http:// It should not start with a < or [ symbol.

If you have double checked those steps and are still having trouble, ask for help and I will be happy to try to solve the problem.






How do I insert a photo inside my message?
First you will need a free image hosting account on a website such as Photobucket or Flickr. http://photobucket.com/ or http://flickr.com/
You will then need to upload the image from your computer to the account. It should be easy and straightforward to do this, but if it’s not, then refer to that image hosting website’s Help section for instructions.
Once your image has been uploaded, Photobucket or Flickr (or other hosting website) will give you a code that begins with a bracket. On Photobucket, it is the code labelled “IMG Code - Forums & Bulletin Boards”. The correct code will look something like this:

Code: Select all

[IMG]http://nameofhostingwebsite/ y31/nameofyourimageaccount/nameofimage.jpg[/IMG]

When you write your message, simply insert your code into your message wherever you want the image to appear.

For example,
to make this picture appear

I entered this code

Code: Select all

[img]http://www.myspacenow.com/myspace/movieposter26.jpg[/img]

And to make this picture appear

I entered this code

Code: Select all

[img]http://images.deepbox.com/media/funny_pictures/ce5140df15d046a66883807d18d0264b.jpg[/img]

Feel free to use those two pictures to practice inserting codes into your own message. They are from websites that provide pictures for use on MySpace (i.e. they allow free, unlimited linking).
I've created a thread for you to practice inside of, in this Help Section.

[Administrator]

Key to forum icons

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This folder contains new posts you have not yet read!


Sticky you have read everything inside
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Locked Topic you have read everything inside
Announcement you have read everything inside


Sticky contains new posts you have not yet read!
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Locked Topic contains new posts you have not yet read!
Annoucement contains new posts you have not yet read!




Small symbols that can appear on top of the above icons
This is "your" topic. You either started it or were the last person to comment inside it.
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