About a discussion forum...

[Sensei Zogstar (Admin)]

What is a discussion forum?
A discussion forum is an online discussion site. It's sometimes also called a 'board'. It contains several categories, consisting of forums, threads and individual posts.

How is all this structured?
The discussion forum as a whole contains various categories (broad subject areas), which themselves contain forums (more specific subject areas) which contain topics (conversations about a specific subject) which are made up of individual posts (where a user writes something).
The forum home page has a list of categories and forums, with basic statistics for each - including the number of topics and posts, and which member posted the most recent message.

How do I find my way around?
When you click on a forum's name, you are taken to the list of topics it contains. It will default to the list of topics with activity within the last month. A topic is a conversation between members. Each topic starts out as a single post and grows as more individual posts are added by different users.
To start a new topics simply click on the 'new topic' button Post New Topic.
The topic with the most recent activity will appear at the top.

How do I read a thread?
To read a thread, click on its title. Each post in a topic is created by a member . You'll see some brief information about the member who created the thread to the left of the main post message.
To post a reply to an existing thread, click on the 'Post Reply' Reply to Thread button. If the 'Post Reply' button does not appear, it could mean you do not have permission to reply, or that the thread has been closed to new replies.

Is there a faster way to get to forums?
If you know which forum you want to go to, you can use the 'Forum Jump' control, which appears at the bottom of many pages within the board.

How do I find out more about members?
To view information about a particular member, click on the 'View Profile'  button. This will take you to their public profile page.

Searching Forums and Topics
How do I search for something?
To quickly find a thread or post of interest anywhere on the discussion forum, click on the 'Search'  button in at the top of most forum pages. Then, type in the keyword or phrase you wish to search for, and select whether to search 'Topics Subject', 'Message Body' or 'Author Name' to view the results. By selecting posts, you will be shown only the actual post in which the search word appears.

How do I search a specific forum?
If you are browsing a forum, you can quickly search for a thread or post within it by clicking click on the 'Search'  button in at the top of the page.

Announcements
What are announcements?
Announcements are special messages posted by the administrator or moderators. They are a simple one-way communication with the users and you can't reply. If you wish to discuss announcements, you will have to create a new thread in the forum.
Announcement threads are displayed at the top of forum listing pages, above regular and sticky threads.

Viewing New Posts or Today's Posts
How can I see the latest posts?
The 'Latest Forum Posts' section at the bottom of the forum home page will list the six most recently updated posts. To see topics with recent posts, click on the 'Active Topics'  button on main navigation bar at the top of the forum home page.

Can I receive email notifications when there is a new post?
When you create a new topic or reply to an existing one, there is an option to have replies emailed to you. Also, you can "subscribe" to any forum by going to the discussion forums home page, then click the checkbox near the forum name and submit the form. Any new posts in that forum will be emailed to you.

Members List
What is the Members List?
The members list shows the registered members of the board. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date they joined, or by the number of posts they have made.
To view the members list, click on the 'Members'  button on main navigation bar at the top of the page.
To quickly find a particular member, type a username (or partial username) into the 'Member Search' box.

[Samie323]

I have a question about posting in the Original Artwork thread. There is not a topic that I can post in and I was wondering if I should create a topic titled Miscellaneous or something.

[Sensei Zogstar (Admin)]

Yes. Please feel free to create it...

[Tsuwamon124]

This may be an idiotic question, but how do you upload pictures onto threads?

[Samie323]

There will be a little picture button when you go to make a topic. You must send it and when its's loaded you can click send again and that will paste the url it created into the message box. When you are done with te message it should be there. If you need additional instructions, I would be happy to take step by step screen shots.

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