Users Guide: How to Use the Board - Updated

[JustAskJulie]

Basics:

This should cover the basics of how to use this forum.

1. You do not need to be registered in order to post here. However, registering will give you full access to post in all forums and reply to others posts.

2. Once you register you will still need to validate your email address before you are fully registered. You should recieve instructions in your email to tell you how to do this. Some email services will block our emails as spam, so please check your spam filter for these instructions.

3. You may reply to posts in a couple of different ways...
1. At the bottom of each post there are several buttons. Clicking the "reply" button will take you to the "quick reply" box at the bottom of the page where you can enter your reply. You will also find this "reply" button at the top and bottom of the thread.
2. Just scroll to the bottom of the thread and you will see the 'quick reply' box. Enter your reply to the thread there.
3. If you wish to quote someone else's post you may do so by either clicking the "Quote" button underneath their thread. This will copy their entire post into the reply box. Please be sure to edit the quoted post to only quote the portion you are replying to.


3. To start a new topic, Find the most appropriate forum (if you aren't sure which forum you should post in, post your question in General Swingers forum.
Once you find the appropriate forum, look at the top or bottom left of the page for the "new" button. Click that button and it will open the screen where you can add your new thread.

When you start a new thread, you will be asked to choose a title for that thread, please choose a title that best represents what your thread is about.

[JustAskJulie]

Please remember that this is not a "hook up" board. While you may contact other users of the board privately, offensive or suggestive emails are not permitted and any user receiving emails or PM's that they find offensive via the board should forward them directly to JustAskJulie (via PM) or julie@swingersboard.com (via email).

Private Messages are similiar to emails in that they allow you to communicate with another user directly and privately. These are sent and stored on this website and you can access your PM's via your User CP. To send a Private Messenges to another user, click on their name in their post and select the "send private message to this user" option from the drop down menu.

Email - To send an email to another user on the board (if they have the option enabled) click on their name next to their post and select "email this user" from the drop down list.

You may also email or PM someone from their profile.

If a user has included their Instant Messenger (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo) information in their profile you can also contact them that way by clicking the icon in their post bit (the info listed next to their post) or via their profile.

[JustAskJulie]

You may enable the option to have private messages by clicking "User CP" and then "Edit Profile". Once you have enabled private messages you can then choose how to be notified if you have any new private messages.

You can enable a popup that will popup on screen and notify you of a new private message when you login or if you are logged in already it will notify you when the new message is recieved. You can also enable the system to notify you by email of new private messages.

You an always see your private message stats (including how many you have and how many new messages are waiting) from the top right hand side of the navigation bar in the Welcome block.

[JustAskJulie]

Some forums are enabled for you to post images within your posts.

To include an image with your post, after entering the text for your post scroll down to the "manage attachments" button. Click the button and it will open a new window. In that window click the "browse" button and find the image/file you wish to share. Once selected click the upload button.

You may add up to 5 files per post.

Attachments are not allowed in all forums and may require moderation in others. If you do not see your attachment posted immediately assume it is awaiting moderation. And images should not be beyond R rated (no exposed genitals). Please keep in mind that this board is open to all.

[JustAskJulie]

If you have less than 10 posts you will not be allowed to use a signature. Once you have the minimum of 10 posts you can then add a signature that will show up on every post.

To add a signature click "User CP" on the top menu and then "Edit Signature".
Please keep in mind that signatures are limited to 3 lines and images are not allowed in signatures.

[JustAskJulie]

Any user can choose an avatar. An avatar is a small image that appears to the left side of your posts along with your information. This is a visual representation of who you are and other users will associate your avatar with you and recognize your posts by your avatar.

Users with less than 10 posts are only allowed to choose an avatar from those provided.

Once you have the minimum of 10 posts you can then upload a custom avatar (an image of your choosing).

For users with less than 100 posts, this image must be no larger than 75x75 pixels.

For users with at least 100 posts, this image can be up to 100x100 pixels.


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To use a Custom Avatar:

First you'll need to prepare your custom avatar and save it. Custom avatars must be 75x75 pixels or smaller.

Go to your User CP and click on "edit avatar."

At the bottom of the page that comes up, click "Use custom avatar."

Then click "browse." Find the image you want to use and click "Open."

At the bottom, click "save changes."

[JustAskJulie]

With this latest upgrade the User Cp has changed quite a bit and in many ways is much easier to navigate.

When you initially access your User Cp you will be taken to a page that displays the new posts in any threads you have subscribed to. On the left you will see your User CP options.

Edit Signature - your signature is the line of information that will show up after every post you make. This is limited to 300 characters.

Edit Email & Password - This is where you will need to go to change your username or your email address.

Edit Profile - in this area you can change basic information about yourself.

Edit Options - here you can change your message board options, such as setting yourself in "invisible mode", private messaging options, timezone, etc.

Edit Avatar - change the image that displays with your user info next to your posts.

Edit Profile Picture - add an image to your profile - no larger than 400x400 pixels.

Private Messages -clicking the arrow to the left of "Private Messages" will give you a drop down list of all the folders you have (typically inbox and sent).

List Messages - will list all private messages in your "inbox".
Send New Message - will bring up the form to initiate a new private message.
Track Messages - allows you to track whether or not a user you have sent a PM to have read it yet.
Edit Folders - allows you to create folders in which to save your private messages (or delete folders you have created)


Subscribed Threads
- List Subscriptions - This will list all threads that you are subscribed to.
- Allows you to create/delete folders in which to sort your subscribed threads.


Miscellanious

Event Reminders - if you have signed up to be reminded of an event on one of the calendars (swinger events/ birthdays/ anniversaries) those events will be listed here.

Group Memberships - shows any groups you are a member of. We don't have many groups here.

Buddy / Ignore Lists - allows you to quickly view who you have added to your buddy list and ignore list.

Attachments - allows you to view all attachments you have posted and easily delete them if you so desire.

[JustAskJulie]

If you have friends on the board that you communicate with often via PM, you may want to add them to your buddy list.

To do this go to "User CP" then scroll down on and the left side click "Buddy/Ignore Lists".

This will display anyone who is already in your buddy list and give you an option to add users to your buddy list.

To easily access your buddy list and send PMs to your friends, click "Quick Links" on the navigation menu then "open buddy list". this will open your buddy list in a popup window where you can then select the buddies you wish to send a message to. You can also easily see from there which of your buddies is currently on the site.

[JustAskJulie]

If there is a user that tends to get on your bad side and who it may be best that you not view the posts of. Or if the user is bothering you via PM and you wish to prevent them from doing so, you may add them to your ignore list.

Adding a user to your ignore list will prevent them from sending you PM's and will also cause their posts to be invisible to you.

To add a user to your ignore list you can either -

1. Add them directly: Open your User CP, click the "buddy/ ignore list" option. Under where it says "Ignore List' you will see several boxes (some may have names in them already if you have previously added people to your ignore list). Type in the username of the person you wish to ignore and then click the update button.

2. Click the users name in their postbit (next to their post) and from the drop down list, select "view users profile". On their profile click the "Add user to ignore list" option.


You can not add a moderator or admin to your ignore list.

[JustAskJulie]

If you just want to include a link to another page from your post all you have to do is type the URL in your post. It will be automatically converted to a link once you post is submitted.

If you wish to name the link like this: Swingers Board...

Just type the text you wish to link (in the above example it would be Swingers Board highlight that text, then click the button above the text box. This will open a popup window and as you for the URL. You can either type in the URL or paste it.

If you aren't sure what the URL is, go to the page you wish to link to and look at the top of your browser. You will see some text that starts with http:// click in that text box to highlight the text then right click and select copy. You can then paste this text into the URL field to add your link.

[JustAskJulie]

There are quite a few options for Searching the forums and doing so is much faster and simpler than ever before.. You can not only search the entire board or a forum but you can search strictly within a single thread.

To Search the Entire Board:

For a simple search - click the Search Button from the navigation bar and type in the word(s) you are searching for in the drop down box and click search.

For an advanced Search, click search then click "Advanced Search" from underneath the text box. This will open a new page that gives you many options for searching.

You can either search by keyword or by username (find all posts by a specific user). If you are using the advanced search you can narrow your search down by date (when was the post made), or by replies (find only threads with x# of replies).

[JustAskJulie]

When you come across particularly offensive posts or spam posts you should report these posts to a moderator using the "report this post" option.

To report a post simply look for the icon underneath a users username/avatar and click it. This will bring up a text box in which you should type what the problem with the post was so that when the moderator recieves the report they know what to look for.

[JustAskJulie]

User Titles (the text below your username and above your avatar) is automatically assigned based on the number of posts you have/ your user group.

Users with at least 100 posts can enter their own custom title from the "user profile" section of their User Cp.

[JustAskJulie]

When referring to a post in a different thread (or even back a ways in the same thread - if it's really long), you can now easily link directly to a specific post.

Above each post you will see a number. If you look at the top right of this post you will see #1, as it is the first post in this thread. If you click it, it will take you to a new page with only this post displayed.

Simply copy the URL from your browser's address bar, and where you wish to link to this post, click the button and enter whatever text you want displayed (like Julie's post on Linking directly to a post) and then on the next screen paste the URL that you copied earlier.


Alternatively*, you can just right-click on the post number. When the right-click sub-menu appears, you'll see that one of the options is 'copy shortcut'. Selecting that option will copy the post's URL onto your clipboard: you can now paste the URL into another post wherever you choose.

(* - PC users. Not sure what the equivalent is for the Mac crowd.)

[JustAskJulie]

From User CP/ Edit Options you can change many things about how the site looks and works for you.

Use Invisible Mode - if you prefer to browse the board without people knowing you are online, you may want to check this box. This is mostly for people who find that they have lots of friends who like to say hi when they are on the site.

Allow VCard Download - if you want to allow other users to be able to download your vcard with your username and email address to their address books, check this option.

Recieve Email - you can choose whether or not you want to recieve email from the administrators of this site or from other users.

Default Thread Subscription Mode - If you want to be automatically notified when threads you participate in have new posts, you can set this option here.

Private Messaging - Enable/ Disable Private messaging and set options for how you wish to be notified of new private messages. You may also elect to only recieve private messages from those who you have added to your buddy list.

Thread Display Options
You may select to not view avatars/ signatures / or other images within posts.


Thread Display Mode:
By Default threads are shown with posts in order from oldest to newest (the first post you see in a thread was the first post made to the thread). You can change the option to show you the newest posts first.

Number of Posts to Show Per Page - you can select the number of posts you want to see on a page before you have to click the next button to view more posts.

Default Thread Age Cut-Off - the default for the system varies from forum to forum. But you can change this to show you threads as far back as you wish to go, or have the system only show you threads that have been active in the last day or week.

Date & Time Options - be sure to set this so that the time you see is in relation to YOUR time zone.

Message Editor Interface - allows you to see which message editor you see (the one with or the one without extra options).

Forum Skin - if you don't like the way the forums look, change it. There are several skins to choose from. To change your skin and have it saved so that it is the skin you always see when you come to the site, change it here.