Getting started on forums
6 Jun 2005 10:30:26 UTC
Topic 189295
(moderation:
hi, this thread is an answer to Michael, who in another thread said:
hmm, i never tryed a forum before, im more used to IM on online games, any explanitions on how it works?
This is a very good question, and we need some advice for newcomers about using threads. Is there a FAQ on using forums? If so could someone post a link? If not, anyone fancy starting one?
~~gravywavy
Getting started on forums
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hmm, i never tryed a forum before, im more used to IM on online games, any explanitions on how it works?
Forums work differently to live chat in that people dip back to the threads weeks or months later to read the stuff again, or sometimes even to re-start a thread.
So it helps if we keep stuff in the board that it belongs to, and it helps if within that board we try to keep to the topic of a thread.
What that means is that when you reply to this posting, it appears somewhere below this posting, and the two live together. Sometime in the future, when someone else has the same question it is easy to find your question, and easy for them to find the ansswers we gave this time. This saves us the bother of typing the same stuff all over again; and saves them the wait for a reply.
We don't allways get it right. All of us stray off the point at times. It isn't a cardinal sin, it is just something to keep in hand please.
When you reply, you can reply to the thread or to a particualr posting. Either way the reply goes right at the foot of the page for some readers, and right at the top of the page for others - each of us sets up their preferences and you choose whether to see the forums in oldest first or most recent first order.
That means it is quite helpful to quote what it is you are replying to. When you reply to a post, the edit box comes up with that post already "quoted" in html. For your first few posts you can simply add your reply underneath and it will look fine.
If you want to experiment with deleting bits of the quoted text, try it out first in the cafe, where people won't mind if you get it wrong: don't try it out here where we will mind. Same with all experiments on using the forums. The cafe has a double purpose: it is just for fun, but also it is the practice and playzone.
~~gravywavy
and two: what are
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and two: what are signatures?
At the foot of all my posts, you will see my name. I am too lazy to type it every time, so it is set up as my "signature" in my preferences, also known as my "sig".
If you notice some people like to include little pictures or links to their homepage or their current BOINC stats in the same way: to do this you'd need to figure how to get that effect in HTML and type that the HTML into your sig in the preferences page. Some HTML tags work here, some don't.
You can always find out how someone else's sig works by looking at it in your browser, and using "View Page SOurce" or whatever the equivalent is in your browser. In my browser pressing Ctrl-U will bring up the page source, it works in some others so you might like to try it.
If your sig is too long it will distract people. Look at a few sigs before doing one of your own: you will get a feel for what the longest typical sig is.
Myself, I prefer a minimalist sig, but within the norms set by those who post regularly, feel free to develop your own style.
Now, here is an exercise: set up a sig, make a posting in the cafe somewhere, see what you think of it, and if you like it keep it.
Good Luck!
~~gravywavy