Nude_IHB
New member
Welcome to the new "How-to" thread for the current forums, or as Eva calls it... "Nude Tech Support". There are quite a few new features in these forums, some new ways to do old things, and some things that have to be learned all over again. I'll start with some basic tutorials, with pictures as needed, covering things like posting pictures, adding avatars, attaching files to messages and forum posts, etc. I will get email when this thread gets new posts, so any questions will get answered pretty quickly. However, sometimes the answer is going to be "I don't know, let me check into it" or "Send a PM to zovall, maybe he can answer that for you". While I have worked with this style of software as a moderator and user before, some things have to be added manually by zovall. If I refer your question to him it will usually be something that isn't yet possible. Furthermore, I don't work for IHB or the company that wrote this software; I'm just trying to help people get used to things again, so don't feel ignored by IHB if I don't respond as quickly as you would like.
Feel free to post questions on any topic not covered in those post titles or anything else about the forums that you don't quite understand.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">Your Control Panel</span></strong></u>
One of the nicer features of these forums is the control panel. It allows you to add a little flavor to your profile, customize what you see in the forums, add links to your email/IM/website, and provides access to your "private" messages. I'm going to give a brief explanation of each of the settings, with pictures as needed.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Your Account Statistics</span></u>
This section shows the current email address you have registered with IHB (not visible to other members), the date you joined, when you last visited, and your posting stats in the forums and/or blog. This information, except your email address, also appears as part of your profile. Unless you are adding entries to the blog, those fields are going to be empty.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Personal Settings</span></strong></u>
This area contains most of the custom choices users can make.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Profile</span></u>
URL: Add in your own, or your favorite, website to the URL and it will show up as a "www" button on your profile.
Birthday: Don't worry ladies, you can just select the month and day and keep the year secret.
Location, Occupation, Interests: Put in whatever you want or nothing at all.
AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, and MSN: Supposedly, you can put in your user name and anyone can then click on the link to chat with you via the selected client (in a new window/tab) but after the Great Transexual Disaster of '97 I haven't had an IM account, so I can't test it.
Bio: You can put anything you want in here, except image tags. I strongly caution you to consider what information you make public about yourself, as the world will be reading it.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Signature</span></u>
At this time, regular members do not have signatures available to them. This may change in the future, but judging by the couple of moderators using them, you aren't missing anything.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Avatar & Edit Photo</span></u>
<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/2018/#47677">Covered in this post</a>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Email Settings</span></u>
This is where you can change the email address that IHB has for you, as well as set email permissions and the defaults that appear when you send PMs or post to the forums. You only need to put in your password if you are changing your email address. "Smart Notifications" means that you will only get one email notifying you of a reply, regardless of how many follow from that point, until you visit the thread again.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Username and Password</span></u>
I hate this option, but forewarned is forearmed, so: You now have the option to change your user name AND your screen name. Tired of being "#1Idiot" on the boards? Just choose a new screen name. Just be aware, your screen name might be taken by someone else and you CANNOT get it back while it is occupied. Also, it is common courtesy to announce the change to the rest of the users in a post, and leave a "formerly known as" line in your profile to avoid confusion.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Preferences</span></u>
Tired of seeing the blinking, twisting, rolling avatars on the boards? Turn them off here. Same for signatures. If you want to block ALL PM's from being sent to you, uncheck the box.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Localization Settings</span></u>
Need to change your time zone? Would you like to see the time in a European format? This is where you can make those changes.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Utilities</span></strong></u>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">View Subscriptions</span></u>
When you click on a thread, in the upper right hand corner there is a link to "Subscribe to this thread", which will notify you of any replies to the thread. When you do click on that link in the thread, it changes to an unsubscribe option. This section shows any threads to which you have subscribed, and if you have any, allows you to unsubscribe from them en masse or individually.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Manage Ignore List</span></u>
Use this to collapse any posts by another member. Once ignored, you will only see a line of text letting you know that there is a post by that person and give you the option to read it or un-ignore the person altogether. This section lists the people you are ignoring and allows you to remove them from that list.
<strong><u><span style="font-size: 14px;">Private Messages</span></u></strong>
A word of caution, 'private' means that other regular members can't read it. But PM's can be read by the site operators, so if it is really sensitive information, stick with regular email. PM's are best used as a replacement for the "whispers" of the old forums.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Bulletin Board</span></u>
If the moderators or admins wish to send a message out to a select group or specific members, they can use the bulletin board. This isn't like a PM as you can't save it, edit it, or reply to it.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Compose New Message</span></u>
Sending a private message is almost identical to replying to a thread post. Since I have already covered most of the features <a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/2018/#47678">in this thread</a> I am going to focus on the differences between a forum post and a PM.
Let's Begin with a list of things you <u>cannot</u> do in a PM.
You can't post pictures into the PM itself, but you can still send them as an attachment. However, attachments will not be saved on the server forever; they get deleted from the message at some point after you read it and this happens automatically.
You can't embed any video.
The character limit is 6,000 rather than the 10,000 in a forum post.
To start writing a PM, you can either click on the "PM" button under the member's name, or click on the "Private Messages" link at the top of the page and select "Compose New Message" from the menu on the left. If you clicked on the PM button, you will see the persons name in the "Recipient" field. If you clicked "Compose", just begin typing in the members name and an autocomplete prompt will populate a list for you to choose from. You can add other names to the CC list, if you wish. Both fields have a magnifying glass next to them. If you click on it, you can search for member names if you suffer from CRS like me.
You <u><strong>MUST</strong></u> put something in the subject line. You can not save a draft or send a PM without a subject.
Once you have finished formating your message and checked the spelling, you have two options available to you: Save a copy in your sent email box and hide the CC's from the addressee. This is perfect for telling off that jerk that just won't quit flirting with you and letting all your girlfriends read along without the jerk any the wiser, leading you and your friends to a feeling of true superiority and confident in your place in society. Or something.
One last difference between posts and PM's: No editing. So when you hit that send button, there is NO way to go back and edit 'Snowflake' into 'Cuddles'. So I strongly recommend that you preview before you send, capice?
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Inbox, Sent, Custom Folders, and Trash</span></u>
You can add new folders, move old PM's to the trashcan for later deletion or to other folders as you see fit. If you elect to save copies of sent PM's, they will stay in your Sent folder until you delete them.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Message Folders</span></u>
This is where you can rename or create new folders for your private messages. Be very careful when changing folder names, as leaving a name blank will delete that folder and all of it's messages.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Buddy List</span></u>
This acts like a quick address list, simply clicking on a name in your buddy list starts a PM to them.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Blocked List</span></u>
Any name you add to this list will be blocked from sending you any PM. This works well when you are getting harrassed and have not yet gotten the attention of a moderator.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">Extras</span></strong></u>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Notepad</span></u>
So far, this is the only "Extra". It is a nifty little feature though. It simply retains what ever you type into it, until you change it. The "Notepad Size" refers to the length of the visible form, not the number of characters allowed. Just hit update when you are done adding to it and you should see anything in it whenever you come back.
Feel free to post questions on any topic not covered in those post titles or anything else about the forums that you don't quite understand.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">Your Control Panel</span></strong></u>
One of the nicer features of these forums is the control panel. It allows you to add a little flavor to your profile, customize what you see in the forums, add links to your email/IM/website, and provides access to your "private" messages. I'm going to give a brief explanation of each of the settings, with pictures as needed.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Your Account Statistics</span></u>
This section shows the current email address you have registered with IHB (not visible to other members), the date you joined, when you last visited, and your posting stats in the forums and/or blog. This information, except your email address, also appears as part of your profile. Unless you are adding entries to the blog, those fields are going to be empty.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Personal Settings</span></strong></u>
This area contains most of the custom choices users can make.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Profile</span></u>
URL: Add in your own, or your favorite, website to the URL and it will show up as a "www" button on your profile.
Birthday: Don't worry ladies, you can just select the month and day and keep the year secret.
Location, Occupation, Interests: Put in whatever you want or nothing at all.
AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, and MSN: Supposedly, you can put in your user name and anyone can then click on the link to chat with you via the selected client (in a new window/tab) but after the Great Transexual Disaster of '97 I haven't had an IM account, so I can't test it.
Bio: You can put anything you want in here, except image tags. I strongly caution you to consider what information you make public about yourself, as the world will be reading it.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Signature</span></u>
At this time, regular members do not have signatures available to them. This may change in the future, but judging by the couple of moderators using them, you aren't missing anything.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Avatar & Edit Photo</span></u>
<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/2018/#47677">Covered in this post</a>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Email Settings</span></u>
This is where you can change the email address that IHB has for you, as well as set email permissions and the defaults that appear when you send PMs or post to the forums. You only need to put in your password if you are changing your email address. "Smart Notifications" means that you will only get one email notifying you of a reply, regardless of how many follow from that point, until you visit the thread again.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Username and Password</span></u>
I hate this option, but forewarned is forearmed, so: You now have the option to change your user name AND your screen name. Tired of being "#1Idiot" on the boards? Just choose a new screen name. Just be aware, your screen name might be taken by someone else and you CANNOT get it back while it is occupied. Also, it is common courtesy to announce the change to the rest of the users in a post, and leave a "formerly known as" line in your profile to avoid confusion.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Preferences</span></u>
Tired of seeing the blinking, twisting, rolling avatars on the boards? Turn them off here. Same for signatures. If you want to block ALL PM's from being sent to you, uncheck the box.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Localization Settings</span></u>
Need to change your time zone? Would you like to see the time in a European format? This is where you can make those changes.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Utilities</span></strong></u>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">View Subscriptions</span></u>
When you click on a thread, in the upper right hand corner there is a link to "Subscribe to this thread", which will notify you of any replies to the thread. When you do click on that link in the thread, it changes to an unsubscribe option. This section shows any threads to which you have subscribed, and if you have any, allows you to unsubscribe from them en masse or individually.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Manage Ignore List</span></u>
Use this to collapse any posts by another member. Once ignored, you will only see a line of text letting you know that there is a post by that person and give you the option to read it or un-ignore the person altogether. This section lists the people you are ignoring and allows you to remove them from that list.
<strong><u><span style="font-size: 14px;">Private Messages</span></u></strong>
A word of caution, 'private' means that other regular members can't read it. But PM's can be read by the site operators, so if it is really sensitive information, stick with regular email. PM's are best used as a replacement for the "whispers" of the old forums.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Bulletin Board</span></u>
If the moderators or admins wish to send a message out to a select group or specific members, they can use the bulletin board. This isn't like a PM as you can't save it, edit it, or reply to it.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Compose New Message</span></u>
Sending a private message is almost identical to replying to a thread post. Since I have already covered most of the features <a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/2018/#47678">in this thread</a> I am going to focus on the differences between a forum post and a PM.
Let's Begin with a list of things you <u>cannot</u> do in a PM.
You can't post pictures into the PM itself, but you can still send them as an attachment. However, attachments will not be saved on the server forever; they get deleted from the message at some point after you read it and this happens automatically.
You can't embed any video.
The character limit is 6,000 rather than the 10,000 in a forum post.
To start writing a PM, you can either click on the "PM" button under the member's name, or click on the "Private Messages" link at the top of the page and select "Compose New Message" from the menu on the left. If you clicked on the PM button, you will see the persons name in the "Recipient" field. If you clicked "Compose", just begin typing in the members name and an autocomplete prompt will populate a list for you to choose from. You can add other names to the CC list, if you wish. Both fields have a magnifying glass next to them. If you click on it, you can search for member names if you suffer from CRS like me.
You <u><strong>MUST</strong></u> put something in the subject line. You can not save a draft or send a PM without a subject.
Once you have finished formating your message and checked the spelling, you have two options available to you: Save a copy in your sent email box and hide the CC's from the addressee. This is perfect for telling off that jerk that just won't quit flirting with you and letting all your girlfriends read along without the jerk any the wiser, leading you and your friends to a feeling of true superiority and confident in your place in society. Or something.
One last difference between posts and PM's: No editing. So when you hit that send button, there is NO way to go back and edit 'Snowflake' into 'Cuddles'. So I strongly recommend that you preview before you send, capice?
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Inbox, Sent, Custom Folders, and Trash</span></u>
You can add new folders, move old PM's to the trashcan for later deletion or to other folders as you see fit. If you elect to save copies of sent PM's, they will stay in your Sent folder until you delete them.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Edit Message Folders</span></u>
This is where you can rename or create new folders for your private messages. Be very careful when changing folder names, as leaving a name blank will delete that folder and all of it's messages.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Buddy List</span></u>
This acts like a quick address list, simply clicking on a name in your buddy list starts a PM to them.
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Blocked List</span></u>
Any name you add to this list will be blocked from sending you any PM. This works well when you are getting harrassed and have not yet gotten the attention of a moderator.
<u><strong><span style="font-size: 15px;">Extras</span></strong></u>
<u><span style="font-size: 13px;">Notepad</span></u>
So far, this is the only "Extra". It is a nifty little feature though. It simply retains what ever you type into it, until you change it. The "Notepad Size" refers to the length of the visible form, not the number of characters allowed. Just hit update when you are done adding to it and you should see anything in it whenever you come back.