Post by Jo Pearson on Dec 27, 2007 1:12:35 GMT
Forum FAQ.
As the forum admin, I'm always getting PMs and other messages from people who are having problems figuring out how to do things here. In an effort to try and cut down on the number of those messages, I've put together this list of frequently asked questions, and the solutions to the problems encountered by people. As new questions are posed, or problems encountered, I will add them to this list as solutions are found.
How do I edit the details in my profile?
To edit your profile, you need to click on "Profile" at the top of the page, just underneath the forum header. This takes you to your profile page. Once there, click on "Modify Profile", and this will take you to the page where you can edit your details. Once you've finished modifying your profile, click on the "save" button at the bottom of the page.
How do I add an avatar or signature to my posts?
To add an avatar at the side of your forum posts, or a signature to the bottom of them, you need to go to the "Modify Profile" page as described above. But, before you do this, you need to upload any images you wish to use to a third-party image hosting service such as Photobucket.com, Imageshack.com or
Imagevenue.com. On the "Modify Profile" page, you'll see a box where you can enter the URL of the avatar image you wish to use, plus two additional boxes that allow you to set the image size. If you find that your avatar image seems to be displaying at less than full size, enter the actual image size (no more than 100 pixels square, please.) into these boxes. Another larger box on the "Modify Profile" page allows you to create and edit your signature. Before entering anything here, please read the forum rules for details of what is acceptable as a signature. To get images to display in your signature, you must use the tags around the image URL (see below).
How do I post pictures into my messages or PMs?
To get pictures to appear in your posts to the forum, the image must first be uploaded to a third-party image host, or you must obtain the URL of the actual image (not the page containing the image) from the website where it appears. This should begin with "http", and end with usually either ".jpg" or ".gif". Paste this URL into your message, and then wrap it in the tags. To do this, first select (highlight) the URL. Then move your mouse pointer up to the two rows of square buttons above the row of smilies. If you place your mouse pointer over the fourth button from the left on the bottom row, you should see some text appear which says "Insert Image". Click on this button, and it will automatically wrap the correct tags around the URL.
If you have hosted your image(s) on a site such as Photobucket, Imageshack or Imagevenue, these actually give you the correct code, complete with tags, which you can just copy and paste straight into your message. On Photobucket, this is the lowest of the four boxes of code underneath the image - simply copy the entire contents of this box and paste it into your message. However, please bear in mind the fact that this image will display at full size, and so Photobucket should only be used for images no larger than 600 by 600 pixels. For larger images, please use either Imageshack or Imagevenue. When you upload an image to either of these hosts, they will also give you the correct code, but in this case for a clickable thumbnail rather than a full-sized image. Simply copy the code from the box labelled something like "code for clickable thumbnails for posting on forums" and paste it into your message. The correct code should start with , and if you find that your images do not display correctly, it probably means that you have used the wrong code - in this case, simply replace the code you have used with the one from the alternative box.
Before posting, please preview your message to make sure that the images display correctly and do not run off the side of the screen and stretch the board. (If this happens, and you don't correct it yourself, then expect to find your post edited by either myself or one of the mods to rearrange the pictures!) If you find that the images are not displaying correctly, check to see that you have correctly entered the URL(s) and used the correct tags. All three of the recommended image hosts (Photobucket, Imageshack and Imagevenue) have been tested here and confirmed as working OK. If you find that your images are not displaying correctly, the chances are that you have not used the correct code or have made an error with the image URL.
What's the "Mischa Barton Army", and how do I join?
The Mischa Barton Army is a group of fans based here who are dedicated to defending Mischa from bashers and bad publicity wherever we find it on the Internet. All you need to do in order to join the Mischa Barton Army is help out with this by posting in defence of Mischa in the "comments" section of blogs and other websites where they have posted negative articles about her. Once you have started to do this, you automatically become a member of the Mischa Barton Army, and can request a personalised Mischa Barton Army banner to place in your signature.
However, when posting in the blogs and on the websites, please bear in mind that it has become a kind of rule that we NEVER make any mention of the Mischa Barton Army, or reveal that we are members of the same. Our efforts to defend Mischa are far more effective if it seems that we are just a bunch of unconnected fans with no centralised organisation or link.
How do I change the size of the font in my posts?
To control the size of the font in your posts, select the text you wish to resize, and click on the button with the capital "A" and double-ended vertical arrow on it. This will insert the font size tag into your message, with the default size of "2". To reduce the size of the font, edit this to a value of "1". To increase the size, edit the size value to a number greater than 2.
How do I get e-mail notification of new posts in a thread I'm interested in?
To receive e-mail notification of a new reply in a thread, you must first "Bookmark" the thread in question. Once you have done that, go to your profile, and click on "Bookmarks". This takes you to the "Bookmarks" page, where you will see a list of all the threads you have bookmarked, and a link that says "Manage Bookmarks". If you click on this, it will take you to another page where you will find a pop-down list of options, including one to receive e-mail notification of new replies in a bookmarked thread. Select this option, save the page, and you should then begin to receive e-mail notifications of new replies in your bookmarked threads.
How do I get access to restricted sections of the forum?
Although much of the forum is viewable by anyone, only registered members may post. Also, some sections of the forum can only be viewed by registered members. If you want to see these parts of the forum, you must sign up to become a registered member. However, some sections of the forum require that members must meet additional qualifications in order to gain access. If you wish to view these restricted sections of the forum, please PM me. I will review your membership and, if you meet the requirements, I will then give you the password you need in order to gain access.
Can I post embedded YouTube videos here?
Yes, you can. When writing your post, click on the "YouTube" button to get the [yt] tags. All you need to post between these tags is the portion of the clip's URL following the "?v=". There is, however, a maximum limit of no more than five embedded videos per page of 15 posts.
What's this "Karma" thing?
"Karma" is like the "Reputaion Points" system on the old forum, and shows how much (or little) respect your fellow forum members have for you and your posts. The higher the number, the more respect you've earned... If you really like someone's posts, and you want to give them extra "good karma", simply click on the "Exalt" link in their mini-profile next to the message. However, if you think they're being a complete idiot and want to send them some "bad karma", they you click on the "Smite" link instead...
As the forum admin, I'm always getting PMs and other messages from people who are having problems figuring out how to do things here. In an effort to try and cut down on the number of those messages, I've put together this list of frequently asked questions, and the solutions to the problems encountered by people. As new questions are posed, or problems encountered, I will add them to this list as solutions are found.
How do I edit the details in my profile?
To edit your profile, you need to click on "Profile" at the top of the page, just underneath the forum header. This takes you to your profile page. Once there, click on "Modify Profile", and this will take you to the page where you can edit your details. Once you've finished modifying your profile, click on the "save" button at the bottom of the page.
How do I add an avatar or signature to my posts?
To add an avatar at the side of your forum posts, or a signature to the bottom of them, you need to go to the "Modify Profile" page as described above. But, before you do this, you need to upload any images you wish to use to a third-party image hosting service such as Photobucket.com, Imageshack.com or
Imagevenue.com. On the "Modify Profile" page, you'll see a box where you can enter the URL of the avatar image you wish to use, plus two additional boxes that allow you to set the image size. If you find that your avatar image seems to be displaying at less than full size, enter the actual image size (no more than 100 pixels square, please.) into these boxes. Another larger box on the "Modify Profile" page allows you to create and edit your signature. Before entering anything here, please read the forum rules for details of what is acceptable as a signature. To get images to display in your signature, you must use the tags around the image URL (see below).
How do I post pictures into my messages or PMs?
To get pictures to appear in your posts to the forum, the image must first be uploaded to a third-party image host, or you must obtain the URL of the actual image (not the page containing the image) from the website where it appears. This should begin with "http", and end with usually either ".jpg" or ".gif". Paste this URL into your message, and then wrap it in the tags. To do this, first select (highlight) the URL. Then move your mouse pointer up to the two rows of square buttons above the row of smilies. If you place your mouse pointer over the fourth button from the left on the bottom row, you should see some text appear which says "Insert Image". Click on this button, and it will automatically wrap the correct tags around the URL.
If you have hosted your image(s) on a site such as Photobucket, Imageshack or Imagevenue, these actually give you the correct code, complete with tags, which you can just copy and paste straight into your message. On Photobucket, this is the lowest of the four boxes of code underneath the image - simply copy the entire contents of this box and paste it into your message. However, please bear in mind the fact that this image will display at full size, and so Photobucket should only be used for images no larger than 600 by 600 pixels. For larger images, please use either Imageshack or Imagevenue. When you upload an image to either of these hosts, they will also give you the correct code, but in this case for a clickable thumbnail rather than a full-sized image. Simply copy the code from the box labelled something like "code for clickable thumbnails for posting on forums" and paste it into your message. The correct code should start with , and if you find that your images do not display correctly, it probably means that you have used the wrong code - in this case, simply replace the code you have used with the one from the alternative box.
Before posting, please preview your message to make sure that the images display correctly and do not run off the side of the screen and stretch the board. (If this happens, and you don't correct it yourself, then expect to find your post edited by either myself or one of the mods to rearrange the pictures!) If you find that the images are not displaying correctly, check to see that you have correctly entered the URL(s) and used the correct tags. All three of the recommended image hosts (Photobucket, Imageshack and Imagevenue) have been tested here and confirmed as working OK. If you find that your images are not displaying correctly, the chances are that you have not used the correct code or have made an error with the image URL.
What's the "Mischa Barton Army", and how do I join?
The Mischa Barton Army is a group of fans based here who are dedicated to defending Mischa from bashers and bad publicity wherever we find it on the Internet. All you need to do in order to join the Mischa Barton Army is help out with this by posting in defence of Mischa in the "comments" section of blogs and other websites where they have posted negative articles about her. Once you have started to do this, you automatically become a member of the Mischa Barton Army, and can request a personalised Mischa Barton Army banner to place in your signature.
However, when posting in the blogs and on the websites, please bear in mind that it has become a kind of rule that we NEVER make any mention of the Mischa Barton Army, or reveal that we are members of the same. Our efforts to defend Mischa are far more effective if it seems that we are just a bunch of unconnected fans with no centralised organisation or link.
How do I change the size of the font in my posts?
To control the size of the font in your posts, select the text you wish to resize, and click on the button with the capital "A" and double-ended vertical arrow on it. This will insert the font size tag into your message, with the default size of "2". To reduce the size of the font, edit this to a value of "1". To increase the size, edit the size value to a number greater than 2.
How do I get e-mail notification of new posts in a thread I'm interested in?
To receive e-mail notification of a new reply in a thread, you must first "Bookmark" the thread in question. Once you have done that, go to your profile, and click on "Bookmarks". This takes you to the "Bookmarks" page, where you will see a list of all the threads you have bookmarked, and a link that says "Manage Bookmarks". If you click on this, it will take you to another page where you will find a pop-down list of options, including one to receive e-mail notification of new replies in a bookmarked thread. Select this option, save the page, and you should then begin to receive e-mail notifications of new replies in your bookmarked threads.
How do I get access to restricted sections of the forum?
Although much of the forum is viewable by anyone, only registered members may post. Also, some sections of the forum can only be viewed by registered members. If you want to see these parts of the forum, you must sign up to become a registered member. However, some sections of the forum require that members must meet additional qualifications in order to gain access. If you wish to view these restricted sections of the forum, please PM me. I will review your membership and, if you meet the requirements, I will then give you the password you need in order to gain access.
Can I post embedded YouTube videos here?
Yes, you can. When writing your post, click on the "YouTube" button to get the [yt] tags. All you need to post between these tags is the portion of the clip's URL following the "?v=". There is, however, a maximum limit of no more than five embedded videos per page of 15 posts.
What's this "Karma" thing?
"Karma" is like the "Reputaion Points" system on the old forum, and shows how much (or little) respect your fellow forum members have for you and your posts. The higher the number, the more respect you've earned... If you really like someone's posts, and you want to give them extra "good karma", simply click on the "Exalt" link in their mini-profile next to the message. However, if you think they're being a complete idiot and want to send them some "bad karma", they you click on the "Smite" link instead...