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Elfpack Forums Help

The forums can be somewhat intimidating and confusing at first, but stay calm, and I'll guide you through them.

Joining

First, you will want to join a forum to be able to read posts and write replies. To do this, first click the
button. Then you will see a table of forums. In the left column (Unread), there will be a message saying "Not Member." To join the forum, follow these steps:

1. Click

2. Enter the number in the text box of how many postings you want to read now. Default number is 100.

3. If you wish to add the page in your notes, you may do so.

4. Click the "Show" button.

Congrats, you have joined a forum.

Now, click on the
button in your navigation bar, and you will see the diference. What you will see is a new set of buttons.


takes you to that forum.

will "unjoin" you from that forum. Don't worry, if you click this by mistake, you can rejoin.

lets you view the forum by topic.

Prio/Check Prio Forums

What is prio?

Prio is short for priority.

Change Prio

When you join multiple forums, which one do you wish to appear at the top of the list? If you want the forum "General Debate" to be at the top of the list, then type in "1." If you want the forum, "Elftown, Bugs" to appear second on the list (directly under "General Debate"), then type "2" in that prio.

Check prio-forums

If you are a member of many forums, but you don't have much time to read every post and comment, then press this button: 


This will let you check the forums with the highest assigned prio (whether by default or your assignment)

Viewing the forums - Method 1: By Topic

The first way you can view the forums is by topic. When you choose this option, you will be able to view the first posting of every thread before deciding you want to read the whole thread.

To see older topics, press this button: 

Viewing the forums - Method 2: Go right to the forum (i.e. Using this button
)

This is a slightly different view of the forums. 

"Total number of postings in this forum" denotes the total number of postings in that current forum.

"Number of postings to reread in this forum" allows you to reread the last 10 postings (if you enter the number 10) by clicking this button: 

This button
allows you to skip over ALL the posts in the forum if you do not want to read all 1641 posts.

This button
allows you to reread ALL the posts in the forum. Use this button with caution!!

I will use an example to explain the table that appears directly under these buttons.

Example:

Let's take this hypothetical thread in this forum:

Post one: 
Author: Xithemonas
Post: I found a spelling error in the help page.

Post two:
Author: Hedda
Post: Where is it? What word is it?

Now, if you are looking at the table, you might see something like this:

89795 | R | C | More nitpicking from Xithemonas | Xithemonas
89796 | R | C | More nitpicking from Xithemonas | Hedda

The numbers (89795 and 89796) are the post numbers. An "R" means the post has been read by you. A "C" means that someone has commented on that particular post. "More nitpicking from Xithemonas" is the subject.

Clicking on "More nitpicking from Xithemonas" that corresonds with Hedda will bring you to Hedda's post (Post Two).

Deciphering the components of a post

A post consists of three green rectangular boxes. A box on top, the middle box, and the box on the bottom.

The top box will contain this information the information given here is an example):

Elftown, Bugs (in bold, it is the forum you are in)

Post nr: 89795 (the number of this post)

Thread: [ 89508 ] (what thread this post is in-you can click on the number in the brackets to see the first post of the thread)

Author: Hedda (the person who wrote the post you are currently looking at-click on the name to see the person's house)

Posted: 2004-01-07 13:29:32 (date and time this post was posted)

Comment to: 89794 by Nita (this means that the post you are reading is in reply to post 89794, written by Nita. If you rest your cursor over the number, you will see the text of post 89794. Click on the name to see the person's house)

Subject: More nitpicking from Xithemonas

The middle box is the actual post (what the person wrote)

The bottom box MIGHT have something like this (Comment in 89798, 89983). If so, then that means that Post 89798 and Post 89983 are replies to the post you are looking at. Again, you can hold your cursor over the numbers to see the text of that particular post. 

Posting a new topic

1. Scroll down to the bottom of a page in a forum (look for the gray box).

2. Type the subject (like: Hi, I'm new)

3. Type the text of your post (anything you want)

4. Press this button: 

Replying to a post

1. Find what post you wish to send a reply to.

2. A little bit under that post, there is a blank text box. The subject and "place reply in forum..." will be already filled out. Write your reply in the text box.

3. Press this button 
to send in your reply.

Editing or deleting a post

1. Find the post you want to edit. You have to have written the post to edit it.

2. DELETING or EDITING:

DELETING:

Directly under that post, there is a button. Press this button if you want to delete your entire post.

EDITING:

Directly under that post, there is a text box that contains your exact post, as you had written before. In this box, type in your new text

3. Press this button: 

Private Forums

1. Go to the main forums page by clicking this button: 


2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see a section for creating a private forum:

Name: Name your forum (e.g. Fencing)

Description: Write what your forum is about (e.g. Discussions about fencing - techniques, tips, jokes, anything fencing-related is welcome)

Password: Only use a password if you want to let members ADD THEMSELVES to the forum. If you only want yourself to be able to add people to a forum, then leave this space blank.

Dictatorship or anarchy?: With a dictatorship, you are the forum owner, and you can kick people out of the forum if they misbehave. In an anarchy, you do not have this control. Anyone in the forum has "power."

3. Now, click this button to create your forum: 

Changing forums

Usage: You are already in the forums, but you want to change to a specific forum. 

In the upper right hand corner you should see something like this:

Change to forum: (-6) -506 -421 -319 -169 -258 1 -177 2 5 -165
6 16 13 22 3 4 15 -312 -255 -44 9 14 11 21 -168 24 30 10 -225

Clicking on a number will bring you directly to that forum. If you hover your cursor over one of the numbers, it will display the name of the forum, such as "Elftown, Suggestions."

The number in parenthesis is the forum you are currently in. The numbers in bold are the forums where there are unread posts.


 

Navigation through the forums

The best way I can think of to explain how to get through the forums is to tell you what each button does. These are the buttons you will use to move through the forums.

Here they are!





When you are finished reading all the postings in a forum, go to the first unread posting in another forum.



This button will bring you to the next comment in the thread.



This button will take you to the next thread in a forum.


This button denotes that you have read every posting in every forum.



This will mark all comments in a thread as read


This will mark all subject-alike postings in the thread as read




And of course the best way to get to know the forums and get used to their setup is to go play in them.



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