Are there any special codes/tags I can use
to mark-up my posts?
For the most part, your posts
will contain plain text, but on occasions, you may want to
emphasize certain words or phrases by making them (for example)
bold or italic.
Depending on the rules
of the board, you may use HTML code to produce these effects.
However, more often than not, the administrator will have
disabled HTML code, and opted instead to use blah Code:
BCode (or Blah Code/BC) is a system much like
html that lets you do things that HTML Code would do, but they
are encased within brackets ([]) rather than a less than and
greater than signs (<>)
To use BCode, simply press the buttons on top
of the Message part of the Posting Screen (For changing text
colour, links and such, select the part you want made a
link/colour-change). Eventually you will get used it and learn
it quickly.
You may also find that the administrator has
enabled Smilies, which allow you to use small icons to
convey emotion, and the [img] code, which allows you to
add pictures to your message.
Code Buttons and
Clickable Smilies
These controls allow you
to quickly and easily enter blahcode into your posts and
messages. To use them, simply click the appropriate
buttons or select items from the lists to enter
blahcode.
There are two modes
available: normal and enhanced mode.
When using normal mode,
pressing a button will pop-up a dialog for you to fill
with text. It will then enter the text with the
appropriate blah Code tags at the end of your message.
When using enhanced mode,
pressing a button will insert the appropriate STARTING
tag for the code, leaving you to enter text into the
message area. When you have finished the text and want
to close the tag, simply press the Close Current Tag
button (alt+c). You may also nest tags in enhanced mode,
and then use the Close All Tags button (alt+x) to
close all open mark-up. Please note that the 'close tag'
buttons only close tags that have been entered using the
code buttons.
To use the clickable Smilies, simply
click the smiley that you want to insert into your
message, or click the Get More link (if
available) to access the full list of Smilies.
Smilies are small
graphical icons which you can insert into your messages
to convey an emotion or feeling, such as a joke or
embarrassment. For example, if you entered a sarcastic
comment, rather than type 'that was a joke', you could
simply insert the 'wink' smilie.
If you have used email or internet chat
systems, you will probably be familiar with the concept
of Smilies already. Certain combinations of text
characters are converted into Smilies. For example,:)
is converted into a smiling face. To understand
smilie codes, tilt your head to the left and look at the
text: you will see that :) represents two eyes
and a smiling mouth.
On occasions, you may want to prevent
the text in your message being converted into Smilies.
You will see a checkbox which you can select when you
make a new post, which will allow you to 'Disable
Smilies'.
If you post a new thread, or reply
to an existing thread, you can choose to be notified by email when
someone else replies to that thread. You can also choose to receive
email notifications of new posts in a thread without posting in that
thread, by clicking the 'Receive updates to this thread' link
displayed in the thread page.
If you choose
to stop receiving email notifications from a thread, you can turn
off the option by either editing your post, or by unsubscribing from
the thread here.
Only registered users may receive email
notification, and they can set whether they want to receive email
notification by default by editing their options.
Email notification is also referred to as 'Thread
Subscription'.
You may notice that some threads on
this board also include a section where you can vote on an issue or
question. These threads are called 'polls' and this is how to create
them:
Creating a new poll
When you post a new thread, you may have the
option to also create a poll.
This function allows you to ask a question and
specify a number of possible responses. Other members will then be
able to vote for the response they wish, and the results of the
voting will be displayed in the thread.
An example poll might be:
What is your favourite colour?
Red
Blue
Yellow
Green
Sky-blue pink with yellow spots
To create a poll when you post a new thread,
simply click the 'Yes! post a poll' checkbox at the bottom of the
page, and set the number of possible responses you want to include.
When you click the submit button, you will be
taken to the poll creation page, where you can specify the question
and the list of responses you want to include.
You may also want to specify a time limit for the
poll, so that (for example) it only stays open for voting for a
week.
Voting in and viewing a poll
To vote in a poll, simply select which option you
want to vote for, and click the [Vote!] button. You may view the
current results for a poll before you vote by clicking the 'View
Results' link. Voting in a poll is entirely optional. You may vote
for any of the available options, or cast no vote at all.
Generally, once you have voted in a poll, you will
not be able to change your vote later, so place your vote carefully!
The administrator may allow you to
use the attachment feature of this board, which gives you the
ability to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could
be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. There will be a limit
to the file size of any attachments you make, as the board should
not be used as an extension of your hard disk!
To attach a file to a new post, simply click the
[Browse] button at the bottom of the post composition page, and
locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive.
Only certain types of files may be attached: these
are the valid file extensions for files to be attached to this
board: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg pdf php.
After posting, the attachment will show up in the
body of your message. To view the contents of the attachment (if it
is not already displayed) simply click the filename link that
appears next to the attachment.
The administrator may have enabled
message icons for new threads, posts and private messages. Message
icons allow you to specify a small icon to accompany your posting,
which is used to convey the emotion or content of a post at a
glance. If you do not see a list of message icons when you are
composing your message or post, the administrator has disabled the
option.
If you have registered, you will be
able to edit and delete your posts. Note that the administrator can
disable this ability as he desires. Your ability to edit your posts
may also be time-limited, depending on how the administrator has set
up the board.
To edit or delete your posts,
click the
button by the post you want to edit. If your post was the first in
the thread, then deleting the post may result in the removal of the
entire thread.
After you have made your modifications, a note may
appear, which notifies other users that you have edited your post.
Administrators and moderators may also edit your messages but this
note may not appear when they do so.
Moderators oversee specific forums.
They generally have the ability to edit and delete posts, move
threads, and perform other manipulations. Becoming a moderator for a
specific forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly
helpful and knowledgeable in the subject of the forum they are
moderating.
button by the post you want to edit. If your post was the first in
the thread, then deleting the post may result in the removal of the
entire thread.