How to use the World Designs forum

[petercom]

Are you new to this BBS or are you an old hand getting frustrated using a BBS?

Well, here is a short guide that might help you navigate around it a little more smoothly.

Firstly there is a FAQ icon at the top of the BBS Home page. In it are FAQs about the BB itself, like how to add a signature to your posts and what BB code is. It may answer some of the questions you have.

Logging in.

You can automatically login each time you visit the BBS. Doing so will not only speedup access for posting but will also enable some shortcut links for viewing the latest posts.

Firstly you need to register, click the link 'Register’ in the top right hand corner of the screen, when you have completed registration you can login.

To automatically login, ensure that your web browser can accept cookies from the BBS. If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer v6 or greater you can enable cookies on an individual web site basis. Click the ‘Login’ link in the top right hand corner of the screen. Enter your user name and password, check the box labeled “Remember me” Then click ‘Login’. The BBS will place a cookie on your local hard drive that will be used to note when you last visited the BBS.

When you have done the above there is no need to logout of the BBS, simply navigate to another web site or just close your browser down.

Seeing the new posts.

You will see the BBS is split into Forum conferences, like the World Designs Forum, the DIY Projects forum and so on. When a new post is made in any of the forums the icon next to the forum title changes to a yellow center with a new note tacked to the board and the latest poster is listed on the right hand side of the screen on the same line, clicking the little blue arrow will take you directly to that post. However that is not very useful as there may have been other posts in the same forum that you have not seen yet.

To see all the new posts click on the link in the top menu bar called “New Posts”. You will then be presented with a list of all the subjects and posts in all forums that have been posted since your last visit. Again clicking on the little blue arrow will take you to the latest post in that thread. When you have read the post you can click the web browser back button to return to the latest post list.

You can also view all your own posts and all unanswered posts in the same manner.

I hope it goes without saying that you can click on the forum title which will list all the posts new and old regardless of when you last visited.

You can also quickly jump to any forum from whatever post you are reading by using the Forum Jump drop down box at the bottom right of each window.

Threads

Posts are organised into Threads which, as their name suggests, keep all the posts on one subject in a line of sequence. If you have a new subject you want to discuss in one of the Forum conferences click New Thread in the left hand corner above the Forum title. You can then enter a new post for that subject.

To respond to someone else's post click the Quick Reply icon, which is the note with a quill on it, at the bottom left of the posted message. If you click on the Quote icon then your post will include their message for reference. This can sometimes be useful if you are replying to a post much earlier in the thread, or if you want to draw attention to something said in the previous post. It you do want to use the Quote option it can be helpful to delete the parts of the message which are not relevant to your post to keep it short and to the point (but don't take things out of context).

If you make a mistake in your post you have a limited amount of time to edit it after it has been posted to the BB, so check it carefully.