Forum Tips

[TroyHepfner]

I'm starting this thread so that we can share tips on how to use our forum. This forum has a lot of features built into it, and I'm still learning how to use it too. I know some of you have probably never used a forum before, so maybe these tips will help.

The first feature I would like to cover is the User Control Panel. Near the top of each forum page is a peach-colored bar with various options on it. The first option (for registered users) says "User CP". Clicking this will take you to the User Control Panel. The User Control Panel allows you to:

• Change your password or update your e-mail address
• Edit your user profile
• Set options like privacy and display settings
• Select an avatar (a picture to represent you, like the picture of Dirk that you see at the top of all my posts)
• Send/receive private messages to/from other forum members
• Add other forum members to your Buddy list

As you can see, there's a lot of stuff you can do with the User Control Panel. Have fun with it!

[Duchess]

Thanks so much for this information, it is very helpful. I am new to this format as well.

[TroyHepfner]

Here's the next feature I'd like to cover: there's an On-line Indicator next to my name (and next to the name of anyone else who has posted a comment on this forum) that tells you whether or not the person is currently on-line. It looks like this:

= User is not logged in
= User is currently logged in

This is a handy little feature. If I'm currently on-line, that means you can send me a private message or an e-mail (via the User Control Panel that we talked about last time), and I'll probably get it right away. The same is true for any other member, so you'll always know if your friends are on the forum or not. Cool, huh?

[Duchess]

How cool is that??? That is also a great feature, and I'm glad you are taking the time to give all of us all the forum options.

[eviemurong]

Hi, I'm glad there are forums now. The Fashion Cents avatars are supercute

[Sherry]

If I'm online, why doesn't is display a green light that I am currently logged in?

[TroyHepfner]

Good question. It shows green for me when other members are on-line. I also logged in as a regular non-admin user (using a temporary account I set up for testing), and the green indicator worked there too.

I'm not sure why it didn't work for you, but then I'm still new to this too. Did you maybe view a thread before you logged in? Maybe you were looking at a page that was already cached on your computer...?

[TroyHepfner]

Hi, I'm glad there are forums now. The Fashion Cents avatars are supercute

Thanks, eviemurong! Welcome to the forum!

[TroyHepfner]

Next tip: when you want to reply to a post from another user, there are several red buttons that allow you to respond in different ways:

Post Reply. this is the big red button that shows up at the top of the page and again after the most recent post in the thread. It's like a super reply, allowing you to add smilies and add all kinds of fancy formatting to what you type.

Reply. this is the right-most red button at the bottom of each post. It activates the Quick Reply field at the bottom of the page. Use this to type in a quick or short reply.

Quote. select this button to automatically quote the person you are responding to. This lets other users see exactly who you are answering or responding to.

Multiquote. If you want to respond to multiple posts, click this button on for each post you want to quote. Then click the Reply or Post Reply buttons.

Hopefully this helps. If it is still confusing, try experimenting with each one. You'll quickly learn what each one does.

[Sherry]

I wondered what was different about each option, and now I know! Thanks.