giles-guthrie.com Forums: Introduction and Help
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Introduction:
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How
it works:
The first thing you need to do is register. This
will create an account, which you can personalise with extra bits of information.
The forums engine uses your account to keep track of who you are, and which
posts have been contributed by yourself. As you post to the forums, the account
keeps track of your level of contribution, and rewards you with extra features
along the way.
It also serves as a form of security - only yourself or a moderator can edit your posts, for example.
Once
you've registered, the whole forums site becomes available to you. You'll see
that it's divided up by topics, and each topic contains a number of 'conversations',
known as threads. These threads keep posts on the same subject together, so
once a thread has been contributed, all replies are shown in the same place.
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Community:
You can attach properties to your account, like a small 'Personal History',
or your location, job, interests etc. This information can be viewed by others
if they click on the "Profile"
button under your username in your posts. Don't worry about this, you can opt
to show or hide information, or just not fill out the fields. It's not compulsory,
but people are interested. As you post more messages, further profile fields
will become available, such as the highly desirable "Custom
Status" field.
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Registration:
The registration form looks quite daunting, but
it's not at all. Each request for information is accompanied by a small explanation,
and an indication of what information will be available for other users to see.
You can change this in the User Options, but
Only a username, password and e-mail address are compulsory, as these are needed to authorise your access, and in case the site's administrators need to contact you.
All
information, apart from your username, can be changed through the registration
form. If you wish to change your details, log into the site, and choose "Change
your user profile" from the index. This will take you to the
User
Properties Control Panel. If you wish to change your username,
you will need to use the link in the Control Panel to contact the webmaster.
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User
Options:
Coupled with the information you specified when you registered, the options
make up your profile on the site. use the options and the registration information
to control how you appear. The options all make sense after you've registered.
You will be given a default set of user options when you register, but you can
change them at any time using the "Change
your User Options" link in the forum index.
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Avatars:
You are allowed to have a 100x100 pixel image that resides under your username
on all your posts. This must be an image, and Shockwave Flash images are not
allowed. The image must not be offensive in any way, and must be less than 35KB
in size.
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Starting
a New Thread:
If you wish to talk about something not currently being discussed, simply use
the "New Thread"
button in the forum's Thread List. Please try and place your threads in the
correct forum! Once you've created your message, the thread will be visible
to all, and other visitors can respond to your message. See "Creating
Messages" for guidance on how to use the message forms.
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Replying
to a Thread:
Replies are what turn articles into conversations. Read through a thread, and
if you have something to say, hit the "Reply"
button and type away! See "Creating Messages"
for guidance on how to use the message forms.
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Creating
Messages:
Using the "New Thread"
or "Post Reply"
buttons brings up the Post Form.
This senses who you are and fills out your author details for you. It invites
you to add a subject and message text, and then to post the message. The subject
is optional, unless it is a new thread.
Use the buttons to the left of the message area to control how your text looks. There is guidance on the form, but the general rule is that if you wish your text to be italicised, then click "Italics On", type the text you want in italics, then click "Italics Off" to terminate italicisation. The buttons insert code into the message: without this code the formatting will not work, so alter it at your peril!
If you wish to refer to something someone else has written, just use the "Quote" button. This is the same as the "Post Reply" button, but it will include the other message as a quoted item.
If
you wish to change your message, hit the "Edit"
button.
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Forum
Rules:
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Forum
Member Privacy:
It is extremely important to
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Contact
the Webmaster:
If you have questions, please post them in the Suggestions and Feedback forum.
Alternatively, if this is not comfortable, or you wish something to be answered
before registering, please click
here to mail the forums administrator.
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