Author Topic: FORUM FAQ  (Read 29808 times)

Knightmare

  • BattleTech Developer
  • System Admin
  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 553
  • Wrench'in it
    • BattleTech.com
FORUM FAQ
« on: 15 October 2014, 08:52:51 »
1. How to Post
When a user registers and logs into a forum, they may want to make some posts. Posting is a fairly easy process.

Starting a New Topic
Go to the board where you wish to post and click on the New Topic button (positioned by default at both the top and the bottom of the board), which will take you to the Start New Topic screen. While this presents a number of options, the two most important are the Subject field and main text area for the message itself. Enter your subject and start typing (or paste) your message in the main text area. Once you are happy with your message, you can post it by clicking the Post button and/or preview it first by using the Preview button.

(New members will find a security CAPTCHA feature for the first five posts. This is a temporary security measure for new members.)

Replying to a Topic or Poll
To post a message in an existing topic, click on the Reply button which is located both at the top and bottom of the topic. When replying to a topic it is not necessary to enter anything in the subject field unless you wish to change what is already there. To vote in a poll, you simply have to select your chosen option(s) and then click on Submit Vote. You may also be able to do other things with the post, such as attaching a file.

There is also a 'Quick Reply', which is a simple Reply field after the posts on a page, but you will have to type your Bulletin Board Code and Smileys manually if you choose to use them.

Standard Posting Options
Message icon - This drop-down menu allows users to change the default icon for the subject line to something matching the mood or purpose of the post.

Bulletin Board code - Bulletin Board Code (or BBC) is the essential tool for formatting and changing the appearance of posts. While it affects the plain text in much the same way as the formatting tools in any word processor, the main message field does not behave in a WYSIWYG manner, so users should preview their messages if they need to see what the post will look like when posted.

Additional Options
The following options are contained within the expanding/collapsing panel:

Notify me of replies - Users should check this to subscribe to e-mail notification of replies to the topic.

Return to this topic - Users should check this to return to the topic (instead of the message index) after posting.

Don't use smileys - Users should check this to prevent certain character combinations in their posts from being parsed and rendered as smileys.

Attachments - Allows users to attach files to their posts in the same way as most e-mail clients. Users simply have to browse to the relevant files on their computer before selecting Post. Multiple attachments can be added to a single post by selecting the Additional Attachments link. Users can delete their attachments or add more by modifying their posts.


Starting a Poll
A poll is basically a topic with an added question and voting options, started by selecting New Poll instead of New Topic as described above. To post a poll, it is necessary to fill out the Question field and at least two of the Options fields, in addition to the Subject and Message fields required by a standard topic. The user then fills in additional options to suit their own needs. Please note that only the message can be seen when previewing the poll.

To offer more than five choices in a poll, users should simply select Add Option as many times as desired.

Poll Options
When adding or modifying polls, users have a lot of options available to suit their needs.

Maximum votes per user - Under the Options field, the users will notice the Poll Option field, with the

Maximum votes per user line. If the user would like voters to be able to vote more than once in a poll, they need to add the desired number of maximum votes per user.

Run the poll for X days - If the user would like the poll to end or expire in a certain amount of days, they need to enter an integer in the Run the poll for X days field. If they leave this field blank, there will be no limit to how long the poll will run.

Allow users to change vote - This option should be checked if the user would like to allow voters to change their votes. If this option is left unchecked, voters will not be allowed to change their votes.

Show the poll's results to anyone - A user should select this option if they want anyone (members/guests) to be able to view the poll results.

Only show the results after someone has voted - Users should select this option to show the poll's results only after a member has voted. Only registered members may vote in polls.

Only show the results after the poll has expired - Users should select this option if they want to show the poll's results only after the poll has expired. For this option to be available, they must have changed the Run the poll for X days field to a number above zero.

Reset Vote Count - Users should check this if they want to reset all vote counts to zero.

Preview - Just as when a user wishes to post, they have the option of previewing their poll's changes before saving them.

All board moderators can modify polls and do the above actions, as well as view the results of the poll at any time while the poll is running. Moderators can also remove polls and lock voting.

Quoting a Post
There are two ways of replying to a post by quoting it. The first option is to click on the Quote button on the top right-hand side of the relevant post. The second option is to select the Reply button which will take you to the Post reply screen. On this page you can quote a post from the Topic Summary located below the message editor. Simply click on Insert Quote next to the relevant post.

Both of the above options add a link to the original post showing the name of the poster and the date and time of the post. This information is added by attributes in the opening quote tag (author=, link=topic=, date=). The plain Bulletin Board Code quote tag simply quotes the relevant post without any additional information.

You can retain or add the 'author' attribute independently of the full quote function.

Modifying
To modify a post, select the Modify link and make your changes. Members can only modify their own posts. The BattleTech forum is also configured to show the date and time of the last edit.


2. How to Send Personal Messages - My Messages
Upon clicking the My Messages link on the Main menu you will be lead to a page that lists all of the personal messages sent to you. This is your inbox as you can see from the navigation at the top, the default page loaded for personal messages.

At the top of the page you will see something that looks similar to what you would see on the message index of a board. You will see a listing of your personal messages. The first column where you see a speech bubble lets you know if you have replied to the PM. An arrow on the image means that you have replied to the PM; no arrow means that you have not. The second column is for the date the personal message was sent. Next to that is the subject of the message. To the right of that is the display name of the member that sent it. The final column has check boxes where you can select the ones you want to delete and then push the Delete Selected button located under the list of messages. You can sort personal messages by date, subject, or sender.

Upon clicking on a personal message, the page scrolls down to the actual written message. This will look just like a typical post in a topic. Next to each message you will see links on the top right to: quote the message in a reply by clicking Quote, reply to the message by clicking Reply, and delete the message by clicking Remove. Also, you can report abusive personal messages to the administrator by clicking the Report to Admin link at the bottom right of the message, providing that this function has been enabled by the administrator. The checkboxes located farthest to the top right are also used to delete messages upon clicking the Delete Selected button below the messages.

(There is a CAPTCHA security feature to send certain posts based on Post Count and number of recipients. It is a temporary security feature for new members.)

To view sent messages, select "Sent Items" under "Messages" in the button menu or left side panel. A message is saved to "Sent Items" only if the option Save a copy in my outbox is selected when sending a message. This option can be set as default in the Personal Message Options section of the Profile.


Forum Profile
In addition to basic account settings members also have the option of filling in additional, more personal information. None of these fields are required, and users often choose to leave some or all of them blank:

Avatar - An avatar is a small picture or graphic associated with a member. Members are allowed to upload or link to external avatars. Uploaded and linked Avatars are limited in size to 160 x 224 pixels, and may be a JPEG, PNG or GIF. Avatars appear below the Display name in posts.

Personal Text - The personal text is usually displayed directly underneath a member's avatar when they post.

Birthdate - When a member provides their full birthdate, their age is calculated and displayed on their profile.

Location - A member may choose to give a general idea of their location.

Gender - If desired, a member may have their gender displayed. Selecting the blank line will prevent any gender from being displayed.

Messengers - Members may provide their various messenger usernames or numbers for clients such as ICQ, AIM, MSN, and YIM.

Signature - If provided, a member's signature is attached to the bottom of each of their posts. You may only have one image in your signature, that image may not pass 640 pixels in width. You are allowed 112px total height for your signature image AND text.

Website - A member may advertise their own web site by providing its URL and a title.
« Last Edit: 15 October 2014, 14:33:40 by Knightmare »
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Bedwyr

  • A Sticky Wicket
  • Global Moderator
  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 10181
  • RIP. Again. And again. And again.
Re: FORUM FAQ
« Reply #1 on: 07 February 2020, 15:02:29 »
Just an update from the moderation team that this is still helpful information and will be kept at the top of the forum.
Alas poor Photobucket. I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.

 

Register