General Forum Tips

[raybond25]

THANKS and MARK AS INSTALLED buttons:



The box outlined in red to the right is where you find your “Thank the Author” and “Mark as Installed” buttons on releases. These two buttons are crucial for giving the authors credit for their posts and acknowledging their efforts, which is the very least you can do. On posts that are helpful but are themes or support posts in a thread there is the thanks button that can be found underneath said post (view picture below).



Coding Links:
Just recently we implemented a policy and it is now mandatory that all external links must be coded (not direct links). Links to other location within SPJ do not need to be coded.



Above is an example of a correctly coded link. To achieve this you can type [code ] before and [/ code] (minus spaces) after the url or you can click the code tool located above the response box (highlighted in red below) while you have the URL selected.



Youtube videos:
To include a Youtube video in your post, you need to either add the tags [youtube ] and [/youtube ] (without spaces) at the beginning and end of the youtube video ID. You can do this by either typing those codes (square brackets and all) or clicking on the youtube tool above the response box (see above picture highlighted in yellow).The video ID is found inside the URL for your Youtube video. For example
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGxh1yqWQr8&feature=PlayList&p=9A7377D11F0 47397&index=3&playnext=4&playnext_from=PL”
The text inside the URL in bold is the video ID.

You may post any youtube videos you want to share in the youtube video section, or if you have a video relevant to a release you may ask to have it added to the first post if you think it would be helpful.

Attaching Files:


When posting via the quick reply box, you can’t add attachments or use most of the simple tagging tools (code tag tool, youtube tag tool, etc.) So if you use these tools often it’s a good idea to click on the “Quote” responding option rather than quick reply, this will take you directly to the advanced response window. Once you “Go Advanced” under the advanced reply box you can see a box titled “Additional Options” in there, there’s a box called “Attach Files” clicking on the “Manage Attachments” button will open this window.



In general it’s best to download whatever file you want to attach and upload it from your computer by clicking browse and going to the location you had the file saved, then clicking upload. Also it is a good idea to include a mirror download link from an external site such as megaupload, mediafire, etc. This is just in case our server is down and needs to be restored from the last backup which might not include those attachments. You can also upload pictures in attachments, but if you want them to show previews (preferable so we don’t have to download them to view), they have to be saved as .JPEG.

Recommended Way to do Pictures:
If you plan on uploading more than a couple pictures it’s requested that rather than placing all the pictures on our server you get a free account at an image hosting site (photobucket is the most common one). Once you have your account, you can then upload pictures to it at your discretion. To have a picture show mid-post you can go to photobucket, find your uploaded picture and when you hover your mouse over it, it will give you 4 options.



Our board uses the IMG code feature, so you copy/paste the text in the box beside “IMG Code” and put that wherever you want in your post and you’ll be good.
Secondly, if the picture is something you found through google images or some other image search and is already hosted somewhere, then you can just add [IMG ] before the URL and [/IMG ] after it (minus the spaces) and it will have the same effect. Once again, rather than having to type those tags out we can go to the handy tools above our advanced reply box, the tool highlighted in purple will allow you to insert a link for an external site where an image is hosted.



When you click on that image tool, the box shown below will pop up, copy the URL to the image you had in that box and it’ll wrap said link in img tags for you.



Editing Your Signature:


First step is to go into your User CP. Next look in your menu on the left hand side, find the section named “Settings & Options”



Select “Edit Signature” (obviously). From here you may use the methods of inserting pictures that were mentioned before to insert pictures and you can do text, or hyperlinks to threads that you think may be helpful to other members on the site (internal links only please)

Hyperlinks:
Type out the text you wish to accompany your hyperlink, outlining what the link will take you to, then select the text you want your hyperlink to be in, and click the insert link button.



Click insert link and copy/paste the URL of the thread/page you were linking to (as mentioned before internal links only please).

Reporting Posts:
Although we cut down largely on spamming by prohibiting anyone with less than five posts to post live links, there’s still a small amount of spam. We would like to ask if any members see spam to please report the post containing it to bring it to our attention. Also if you see abusive (harassing, rude, racial) posts, feel free to report them as well and the staff will look into it.



The icon outlined in red is the report post tool. It is located at the top right of every post. When you press this tool, it will take you to a window where you may explain why you are reporting this post.

Marking Forums Read:
Has SPJ been telling you that you that you’ve got 892057151235 unread posts since you joined? Want to clean that up so you actually get the recent posts?



If you click on the “Quick Links” bar near the top of your screen, the second option is to “Mark Forums Read”. This will mark all the posts that you are being told are unread as read and you will start to see the actual number of posts that have been made since the last time you visited.


Searching:

For tips on searching read the [Only the registered members can see the link click here to register]


IF YOU FOUND THIS TUTORIAL USEFUL PLEASE PRESS THE THANKS BUTTON

[puertoblack2003]

this is outstanding bro...nicely done and put together....congrats

[TweetyBear]

good work ray. i got an advanced copy from him lol i'm special

[TweetyBear]

WHOA! why does this keep happening to me? :-(

[D/\SH]

what did ray do to deserve that tweety? and ray i was looking through this at the same time you posted than when i went to reply the site was sown.... what are you doing bugging your tutorials? hahaha just messing and very nicely and professionally put together!! great job!!

[CYBER WEESJE]

+2 On that nice work bro AND I AM ADDING THIS TO MY SIG


GRTZ WEESJE
MODERATOR@SPJ

[TweetyBear]

what did ray do to deserve that tweety? and ray i was looking through this at the same time you posted than when i went to reply the site was sown.... what are you doing bugging your tutorials? hahaha just messing and very nicely and professionally put together!! great job!!

i didn't do it! lol dunno why that happens to me every once in a while. i guess i'll erase the post heh

[D/\SH]

i didn't do it! lol dunno why that happens to me every once in a while. i guess i'll erase the post heh

hahahahahahaha just had to give you a hard time babe....... you know its all in fun :) (poke poke like you said by accident earlier today hahah)

[jr5416]

Man great work ray +100 on that lol

[BiG JeW]

Great job ray.... adding to my Noob Guide... Very very very very nice..... just as i expected. Great work!