Introduction

When you read this article you will be able to reply to existing posts as well as make new posts.  You will know how to format your text, make links, add images and videos and much more.  We’re not going to teach you how to use every little button or forum feature but rather provide you sufficient knowledge to feel comfortable enough to be involved in the forum.  After that, you can do experiment on your own to learn more.

Registration

The first thing to do is register on our website, first click on create a new account, just above this article and follow the instructions remember to write down your username and password as you will need these to log back in to our website. You need to be registerd and logged in to the web site before you can reply or start any new topics or edit your online profile.

 Editing Your Profile 

Reply to an existing topic

So, you have been looking at the forum for a while reading every post and getting to know everyone.  You have just read someone’s post and you have decided to reply and contribute your own thoughts.  This is done by pressing one of the “reply” buttons.

• Quick Reply - brings up a small text area (without reloading the webpage) where you can quickly type a short reply.  Press Submit when you have typed your response.  If you decide not to submit your message to the forum, you can press Cancel and nothing will be posted whether you typed anything or not.

• Reply - is the standard method in which you should reply when you want to reply primarily to the most recent post.  The subject line of your reply will autofill with the subject of the post from which you are replying.  You can change the subject.  You are looking at what is called a “text editor”; it is like a trimmed-down version of a word processor (such as Microsoft Word) in which you can format your text, add links, images, “smileys”, etc.  More on how to format your post later.  For now, type your response and press the Preview button at the bottom of the page if you wish to view your post prior to submitting it.  When you are done editing and are satisfied your post is ready, press the Submit button.

• Quote - If you wish to quote someone’s post (whether in whole or in part) you simply press the Quote button located beside the Reply button underneath each post.  This can be useful if you wish to make comment or expand upon a prior post.  The Quote feature copies the entire post (“wrapped” in [quote] [/quote] tags) that you can edit if you wish.  Once you press the Quote button you are brought into the same editing environment that you use to edit or create any other post.  At this point, you type directly into the text editor.  When you are finished composing your message, press the Submit button.

• Reply Topic - This button functions the same as the Reply button except that your subject line will autofill with the subject of the original post (OP).  This may come in handy if you replying to a long topic whose subjects may have changed over time but you want to reply to the OP.  When you are done replying, press the Submit button.

Create a new post of your own

To create your own topic (perhaps to tell us a little about yourself) you should go to the category index to see the list of all of the existing topics.  At the top of the list is a button labelled New Topic.  Click that button to start your own topic.  You are placed at the same text editor that you used earlier when replying to posts.  Simply type your message and press Submit.  Now you have your own new topic in the list.

Images

There are three ways to place an image on the forums the first method is to upload as an attachment the maximum file size is 150 kb, second method you first need to upload the image to photobucket or some similer photo sharing site and copy and paste the image url into your forum post, the third method is to left click on the small square green box in the editor just above your post and a model box will open with a placement to insert the image url click submit or preview your post and your there.

Videos

Embedding a video in your post is a feature of the forum and makes use of many video sharing websites on the web.  This allows people to embed their videos with the means to play them in the forum.  Once you have a video that you want to post you need to find the unique identifier in the URL to that video.

It’s difficult to provide detailed instructions or examples here, so this will be basic.  Understand that each video sharing website uses a unique identifier for each video.  For example, this video from YouTube whose URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJE5TH5jhc.  You need to know the video’s unique identifier (which differs depending on what site you visit); in this example, the unique identifier is bqJE5TH5jhc.  Once you know what that unique identifier is you can embed that video in our forum by selecting the video hosting website from the “video” drop-down list in the editor tools or by typing the following:

[video type=] [/video]

If you were embedding a video from YouTube, for example, the bbcode would end up looking like this:

[video type=youtube] <insert_unique_identifier_here> [/video]

for example

[video type=youtube] bqJE5TH5jhc [/video]

It's a good idea to preview your post to make sure the video is visible before submitting your completed post.

Subscriptions and favourite topics

Now that you have settled into your new community and everyone has met you, you want to be able to keep up with your favourite posts without checking in every five minutes to see if something new has posted.  There a couple of ways that you can do that.

Subscribe

At the top and the bottom of every topic you will find a Subscribe button.  Pressing this button subscribes you to that topic so that any responses to that topic will generate an email notification to your email address stating that a new post has been made along with a link directly to said post for your convenience.  You will notice the button now reads “unsubscribe” indicating that you are subscribed and pressing the button again will remove your subscription to that thread.  Remember that you can also manage your subscriptions in your profile.  There is also a category Subscribe button that will send you email notifications of any post made in any topic in that category.

Favourite topics

Another way of highlighting topics that wish to keep an eye on is to use the Favorite button.  This will place an obvious indicator, such as a star, beside the topic name on the category index so that it will stand out in the list of topics.  You will notice the button now reads “unfavorite” indicating that the topic is already one of your favourites; pressing the button again will remove it from your favourites.  This is a great way to maintain your interest on certain topics without using the subscription feature.  Remember that you can also manage your favourites in your profile.