Forum FAQ documentation: How do I...? [Archive]

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David Bailey

28th-November-2006, 12:16 PM

<h2>How do I...?</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="#howtoreply">How do I post a reply?</a>
<li><a href="#startathread">How do I start a thread?</a>
<li><a href="#startapoll">How do I start a poll?</a>
<li><a href="#howtoquote">How do I use quotes in my posts?</a>
<li><a href="#postalink">How do I post a link to another post?</a>
<li><a href="#whatisrep">What is "rep"?</a>
<li><a href="#whatispower">What is "power"?</a>
<li><a href="#giverep">How do I give rep?</a>
</ul>

<a name="howtoreply"></a>
How do I post a reply?
To post a standard reply, click the "ADD NEW REPLY" button at the bottom of the page, to make a blank editor box appear. Enter your reply, then click the Submit Reply button – you can click the Preview Post button beforehand to see what your reply will look like.

Alternatively, to post a Quick Reply, click the “QUICK REPLY” button at the bottom right of any post, then a blank text box appears. To put emoticons, quotes or other special features in your text, you can either use tags, or click the "go advanced" button to take you to the normal editor as described above.

Note: We strongly recommend you make use of the Preview button, especially if you are new to forum posting - it's very useful for checking that your post looks the way you want it to.

<a name="howtoquote"></a>
How do I use quotes in my posts?
If you click the "QUOTE" button to the bottom right of a post, the standard reply editor will open, with the whole post quoted for you. For more advanced use of quotes within your post, you can:

<ul>
<li>Only quote a bit of text 
 Just delete the text you don't want. Try not to take stuff out of context and when doing this, you may want to use ~snip~ or ... to indicate that text has been removed. Please, do not quote all of a long post again in your reply: trim it down to a few relevant lines - assume people have already read it.
<li>Create manual quotes
 The forum "recognizes" quotes as any body of text between a 
 tag and a tag - so all you need to do is put relevant text between tags like that and you are quoting.
<li>Split a quote
 To reply to a bit of a post, then another bit; just add an end [/quote] tag, type in your reply, and start the quote again with a [quote] tag.
<li>Quote from multiple posts
 The " symbol between the QUOTE and the QUICK REPLY buttons allows you to quote multiple posts in a single reply - simply click on that symbol for each relevant post you want to quote, then click on the ADD NEW REPLY button as normal - the selected posts will then be placed in your reply automatically as quotes.
</ul>

<a name="startathread"></a>
How do I start a thread?
It's simple to start a thread: go to the area of the forum you think the post is relevant to (for example, “Let’s Talk About Dance > Beginner’s Corner”) then click the "CREATE NEW THREAD" button.

Remember that the "Title" appears when people are browsing, so give good summaries.

You can also attach an icon to the post to give a quick visual clue as to the nature of it.

<a name="startapoll"></a>
How do I start a poll?
To start a poll, you will find an option at the bottom of a new thread post alongside a numerical field for how many choices you want. Type in the main body of your text, tick this box and click "submit new thread" - you will be taken to a page with the multiple choice options and other tic boxes to control the poll’s behaviour.

Note 1: once the post has been submitted, you cannot change the text of your options, add/remove any other options, or change it from a ‘public poll’ to a ‘private poll’: so be careful!

Note 2: You should always set an expiry date for polls, especially for those relating to specific events. Otherwise, people voting on those polls years later can resurrect the thread without adding useful content to it.

<a name="postalink"></a>
How do I post a link to another post?
You can link to any post or web site, by copying the site address (CTRL+C), then simply copying that address into your post – it will be automatically converted into a link when you submit that post.

To link to a specific post within a thread, add “&p={number}” to the end of the address – for example, &p=8888. The easiest way to find this number is to hover over a link or button at the bottom of the post that refers to it:

The rate link (scales), the report link (warning triangle), the QUOTE button and the QUICK REPLY button all link to this number.

<a name="whatisrep"></a>
What is “rep”? 
When you look under everyone's name/avatar there are green 'pips' - hover over them and it will say something like "forum member has a magnificent glow about them".

These pips are based on an accumulation of reputation (“rep”) points, as is the pop-up description. Everyone starts at one pip; you get more pip when you accumulate more reputation. Everyone starts with 10 points of rep.

<a name="whatispower"></a>
What is “power”? 
Power defines how many “rep” points you can give (see “How do I give rep”).

Power values are based on an arcane and frequently-changed formula ("forumula") determined by Franck (don't try to figure it out, as he'll change it if you do), but values depend on your current reputation, the number of posts you have posted and the length of time you have been a member of the forum. Everyone starts with power 0, and gains 1 point after the first 10 posts.

<a name="giverep"></a>
How do I give rep?
To gain / lose reputation, anyone can click on the little scales (or cabbage) icon to the left of the post (beside the on-line green light) and post a comment with an "I approve" or "I disapprove" tag.

To see your current rep, click the "User Control Panel" link at the top of the page and it appears: Thread/post title (linked to specific post), Good (green), bad (red) rep, Date, and Comment. A grey rep button means there is no rep gain associated with that comment.

Most people add a comment like "good post - I know where you're coming from. {Gadget}" or "What are you talking about; sheer nonsense - {Gadget}"
Note the names on the end. You don't have to put your name, and if you subscribe you can tell who the rep is from, but otherwise you may not know who has complimented / dissed you.

Note: For some forum areas (such as "forum suggestions" or "Let's talk about dance"), your rep given will increase - this reflects the additional value that these areas are seen to have over areas such as "chit chat". Think "double clubcard points".

David Bailey

28th-November-2006, 12:17 PM

... and rest.

Thanks again to Gadget :clap:

Again, any comments?

Gadget

29th-November-2006, 02:13 PM

Again, any comments?
Rep needs to be expanded to indicate that the value of rep given depends on where you post and that there's an arcane ritual for working out how much power you are worth and it's generally too much bother to work out because it changes every so often.

I think you/we also need a "How do I find a post?" entry for working with the search facility.

and "How do I chat to people currently on-line?" to give an introduction to the chat system and PMs

And "How do I insert an attachment?" entry. (introduce photo gallery as well)

... I'm sure I'll think on more...

DavidY

30th-November-2006, 01:52 PM

In "How do I start a poll?", I think it would be helpful to mention the option to set an expiry date for a poll.

IMO you should almost always set an expiry date whenever you create a poll.

Otherwise the poll is open for ever and threads can get resurrected years later with a vote. While I think it's valid to add new comments to an old topic by posting a reply, any late votes are pretty meaningless because whatever limited statistical validity these polls have :rolleyes: is eroded even more if some votes are recent and some date from years ago.

David Bailey

30th-November-2006, 02:15 PM

David Bailey

30th-November-2006, 02:32 PM

Rep needs to be expanded to indicate that the value of rep given depends on where you post and that there's an arcane ritual for working out how much power you are worth and it's generally too much bother to work out because it changes every so often.
Done - good suggestion.

I think you/we also need a "How do I find a post?" entry for working with the search facility.
Probably, but I can't face the task of describing the usage of search engine at the moment :sick:

and "How do I chat to people currently on-line?" to give an introduction to the chat system and PMs

And "How do I insert an attachment?" entry. (introduce photo gallery as well)
Weeellll, I think these are fairly intuitive - and I'd rather not turn the FAQ into a marketing document, it's to help with problems rather than promote new functions I think.

Gadget

30th-November-2006, 02:59 PM

Weeellll, I think these are fairly intuitive - and I'd rather not turn the FAQ into a marketing document, it's to help with problems rather than promote new functions I think.

I thought the "Chat" entry might reduce the amount of it in threads... one can always hope :rolleyes:

The insert attachments is simply because I've read a couple of people asking.

David Franklin

3rd-December-2006, 11:47 AM

I think the fact that every
needs to have a matching needs emphasizing - I think a lot of newcomers get confused by this and sometimes you end up with a real mess. Don't know if you want to be more general and say that the same thing holds for all the other tags ([b], , [size] etc.)

I also think you should suggest that people use the preview option - it's the easiest way to catch mistakes in formatting.

Finally, you might want to use the [noparse] option so you can put the actual codes for the tags in the FAQ (i.e. [quote] instead of [ quote ]).

I don't know if it's worth mentioning the [noparse] tag (or the [i] trick) as ways of stopping the forum parsing bits you don't want it to. (e.g. the example of how to put a close bracket immediately after a smiley).

David Bailey

3rd-December-2006, 01:12 PM

{ stuff }
I agree it's a common mistake, but I reckon the best suggestion is to recommend the preview option rather than describe tag-closing - the latter is a bit arcane if you're not used to coding.

As for the other suggestions - they all sound good, but they're a bit complex for the normal users. Maybe there's a case for a new "hints and tips" FAQ, giving this sort of advice...

DavidY

3rd-December-2006, 01:23 PM

Where did it all go? All I can see is:
How do I...?
[list] How do I post a reply? How do I start a thread? How do I start a poll? How do I use quotes in my posts? How do I post a link to another post? What is

Are you middle of changing it around, DJ?

David Franklin

3rd-December-2006, 01:36 PM

As for the other suggestions - they all sound good, but they're a bit complex for the normal users. Maybe there's a case for a new "hints and tips" FAQ, giving this sort of advice...I think you misunderstood at least one of them. I'm saying that the author(s) of the FAQ should use the [noparse] option so that the FAQ can correctly describe the tags - I occasionally find it confusing when someone refers to "[ b ]" instead of "[b]" etc, so I'm sure many other people do as well.

As for previewing posts - you might want to look at the FAQ itself at the top of this thread! It seems something nasty has happened during your last edit...

David Bailey

3rd-December-2006, 08:38 PM

Where did it all go? All I can see is:

Are you middle of changing it around, DJ?
Errr.... ooops.

Dunno what happened there, but I'll blame the forum software.

I'll see if I can retrieve it... :sick:

David

David Bailey

3rd-December-2006, 09:25 PM

I think I've covered all the points, but I'd appreciate another once-over, if you can bear it? Thanks.

DavidY

3rd-December-2006, 11:08 PM

I'd appreciate another once-overOK then.. There's a stray "[/list]" at the end of the Note: in "How do I post a reply" In the bullet point "Create multiple quotes" - would it be clearer if it said "Create quotes from multiple posts" to stress the multi-post nature of that feature? In the bit about creating links to other posts - a worthwhile tip is that if you want text other than the URL to appear, you can type that text first, then select it before you press the relevant button (ie the "globe-and-chain" button) to put the URL in. This may belong in Hints and Tips if you're creating one, I guess..
HTH

ducasi

4th-December-2006, 12:29 AM

I don't know if it's worth mentioning the tag (or the trick) as ways of stopping the forum parsing bits you don't want it to. (e.g. the example of how to put a close bracket immediately after a smiley). FYI, this is no longer necessary since vBulletin 3.5 or 3.6 (can't remember which) – it parses smilies in the correct order, so you only need this trick if you are using a non-existent smiley.

(not needed here :nice:)

(needed twice here... :oops:)

David Bailey

4th-December-2006, 08:56 AM

David Franklin's provided a fixed version with a nice example, so I've put that up there instead now - thanks David :cheers:

OK then.. There's a stray "[/list]" at the end of the Note: in "How do I post a reply"
In the bullet point "Create multiple quotes" - would it be clearer if it said "Create quotes from multiple posts" to stress the multi-post nature of that feature?
Done, thanks.

In the bit about creating links to other posts - a worthwhile tip is that if you want text other than the URL to appear, you can type that text first, then select it before you press the relevant button (ie the "globe-and-chain" button) to put the URL in. This may belong in Hints and Tips if you're creating one, I guess..
HTH
Yeah, I think a Hints and Tips would be better - in fact, a lot of that link information may be better in there, but I can't be bothered to move it out at the moment.