How Does This Forum Work? - A List of HowTos for Nooboos

[MrsFlynn]

How Does This Forum Work? - A List of HowTos for Nooboos

Updated May 2020

In this thread, you'll find some helpful forum howtos. Please reference the index below.

This list goes along with the New Member FAQ thread. If you have any forum howto's you'd like added to this list, please send me a PM.

Thank you for all the positive feedback and help!!

MrsFlynn


~ How To: Edit Your Profile/Upload an Avatar to the Forum

~ Forum Account Settings

~ Forum Email Notifications

~ Checking New Posts/New Replies

~ Where do I post an Introduction?

~ Where to post new topic?

~ Posting a Message/Topic or Reply in the Forum

~ Attach and Insert Photos/Files to Posts

~ How To: Create Links on the Forum and with text.

~ Sharing Photos on the Forum

~ Where did my post go and why was it moved?!

~ Viewing only relevant posts?

~ Mention/Tag System

~ Personal Messages - Settings

~ How to: Send/Read/Reply to a PM (Private Message)

~ Creating a Poll - This gives a summery of how to create a poll.

~ How To: Hide Sections in the Forum

~ My Bookmarks

~ How To: Block Members

[MrsFlynn]

How To: Edit Your Profile/Upload an Avatar to the Forum

In the Home Menu, Mouse over the word Profile and Forum Profile, from the drop down list.

From here, you should be able to edit some profile settings, like adding an avatar, your website link and other options. You can also click your username to be taken to your profile page.

*Note: Please understand that members with less that 5 posts can't edit or see their profile page.

If you need help editing anything in your Profile/Account Settings, please ask a staff member for help. Howto PM someone

To Change Your Avatar:
Under Personalize Picture - select Upload an Avatar.
Click the Browse button and navigate to where you have your photo you want to upload. Click Open for it upload to the forum.


If you need to change your email address. You should be able to do that.
Go to: Home Menu > mouse over the word Profile and select Account Settings. From here you can change your email address.

If this option isn't available for you and you want to change your email address. Please ask a staff member.


--- Signature Line:

You are allowed to add most anything to your signature line. Like Youtube, blog or website links. As long as they are family friendly - No adult situations, violence, or foul language.

** Signatures need to remain a reasonable size so that they don't take up too much space on a page.

Signature Guidelines:
Max characters: 800; Images in your signature must be no greater than 720x80 pixels

In the Home Menu, Mouse over the word Profile and select Forum Profile, from the drop down list. This will allow you to modify your profile. Look for the word Signature and add your link there.

Click Change Profile, at the bottom of page, when finished.

[MrsFlynn]

Forum Account Settings

In the Home Menu, Mouse over the word Profile and select Account Settings from the drop down list.

On this page, you'll be able to change your email address, password and a few other options. Click Change Profile at bottom of page when finished.

** Note: ** If you want to change your Username or displayed name for the forum, please pm MrsFlynn or Carl for assistance.


Account Settings Tips:

-- Read posts from newest to oldest

In the Home Menu, mouse over the word Profile and select Forum Profile. Then mouse over the words - Modify Profile and select Look and Layout and checkmark - Show most recent posts at the top. Click Change Profile at the lower right hand part of the screen when finished.


-- Show Board Descriptions

There's a feature of the forum (Show Board Descriptions) that might help know what board is what. It describes the function of the boards. You can find this feature by going to Look and Layout via your Profile.

---> Home Menu > Profile > Account Settings > Modify Profile > Look and Layout. Checkmark - Show board descriptions inside boards.

[MrsFlynn]

Forum Email Notifications

In the Home Menu, Mouse over the word Profile and and select Account Settings from the drop down list.
- Click the images to see larger view



Mouse over Modify Profile and choose Notifications.



Here you can review what notifications you have set.

When you want to be notified by email of any posts you make, click the word Notify up near the subject line of a forum thread.



This option is great for if you want to keep up with your favorite stories on our forum!!

You can also be notified of any posts on a specific forum board, by going to the board and clicking the word Notify up by the subject/started by line.



** Friendly Reminder - These are the forum threads you will get notified about via email. If you find you don't want to be notified any longer of a specific thread you can unsubscribe from the specific thread at any time via the email that gets sent or by checking your notifications via your profile.

[MrsFlynn]

How To: Send/Read/Reply to a PM (Private Message)

How To: Send a PM
How To: Attach Photos to a PM
How To: Read a PM
How To: Reply to a PM
How To: Delete a PM


How To: Send a PM (Private Message)

1. In the Home Menu, go to: My Messages > Send a Message
2. In the To field, enter the name of the person or people your trying to contact.

----  For example: Carl and Metropolis Man. When you enter their names, they may show up on a list. Pick the first Carl that comes up on the list, as that's the Carl for this example. Click the name to select it. Do the same for anyone else you want to send a PM to.

** Alternatively, you can click the thought bubble under the username of the person you're trying to contact.

3. Enter a subject and message.

4. Click Send Message, when finished.

When you receive a message, you will see a number (1) up in the Home Menu, by My Messages.

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How To: Attach Photos to a PM (Private Messages)

Photos or files cannot be attached to private messages. Our forum software (Simple Machines Forums) does not support this feature.

However, you can upload photos to Imgur or any other photo image host and copy/paste the image url into the message. A howto is linked below.

Photo Sharing Using Imgur.com
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=30847.msg492876#msg492876

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How To: Read a PM (Private Messages)

In My Messages, when you want to read pms, click on the pm's subject link to read it. -- The same goes for any saved Sent Items.

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How To: Reply to a PM (Private Message)

While in My Messages Click on the subject link of the PM you're wanting to reply to.

You can either click the reply button or the Quote button. The quote button will give a quote of the message you are replying to and you can either type your message up above the quote or under it.

Replying to a PM is without the quoted message.

Click Send Message, when finished.

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How To: Delete a PM (Private Message)

To delete a pm, click the box at the right hand of the screen. Then click the Remove Selected button at the bottom of list.

[MrsFlynn]

Personal Messages - Settings

In the Home Menu, Click My Messages. Mouse over the word Preferences and select Change Settings from the drop down list.

This will help you control the pms you receive and send. -- Click Change Profile at bottom of page when finished.


** While in My Messages, you can change your preferences to save sent mail.

Mouse over the word Preferences and select Change Settings and checkmark Save a copy of each personal message in my sent items by default.

Then if you need/want to check for a sent message, mouse over the word Messages and select Sent Items.

[MrsFlynn]

Posting a Message/Topic or Reply in the Forum

Go to the board that you want to post a message in.

In my example given I will be using the Sims 4 Gameplay Help Board.
(Sims 4 - Gameplay Help, Building, and Addon Packs Discussion)

1. At that forum index page, or homepage, click on the words Sims 4 Gameplay Help

2. Scroll down past the Child Boards just above the stickied topics there is a Green highlighted New Topic Button.

3. Click the New Topic button to create a new message. (The new messages will show up under the stickied topics)

4. Enter your subject and a message. Click Preview to look it over and then post when finished.

 --- When posting a new message or reply, look above the message box to see what board your posting in to make sure you're posting in the correct board.

If you are here to share/post stories, a good rule of thumb is to keep the same story in the same thread by replying to your own posts for each chapter or part to the story.

If you are posting photos, please have your screenshots in jpg format.

If you would like to learn more about comparison between png vs jpg format, please see the post below:

Screenshots: Only Use JPEG Format
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29606.msg476855#msg476855

Click either link below to learn how to share links and photos in the forum.

How To: Create Links on the Forum and with text

Attaching Files to Posts

Sharing Photos on the Forum

How To: Edit Photos - Basics using Paint.net


** An Important Note About Posting Messages:

For readability, try not to go overboard and make your posts too noisy with large characters and loud colors. This is important as we have a certain look we like to maintain.

The guideline is that all fonts should be black and no larger than 12pt for the body of the post and 18pt for any headings.  Use of bold, underline and italics is fine, but please do not use anything else, including all capitals, as it is considered yelling in the internet world.  Also, be sure to use only the default font type and left alignment for all text. Avoid textspeak and web acronyms - spell it out!  Excessive use of punctuation and smilies makes a post look noisy.

We're trying to keep the Forum tidy and consistent.  This means no glow, and no marquee text.  Also, please do not make the font smaller than the default 10pt. 

It's best to create a new topic instead of necor'ing or posting to an older thread. It is considered rude and in bad taste to bump or necro older posts and may cause problems in trying to help solve whatever the issue might be.

Please listen to the staff if they tell you that you're going overboard.

[MrsFlynn]

Mention/Tag System

Mention/Tag System - Important Note
What Is the Mention/Tag System?
How to Use the System
How Does it Work?
Deleting/Removing Mentions
Mentions Aren't Being Removed?!
@Mentions Idea Implemented


Mention/Tag System - Important Note:

Members may be unaware of this, but the mention/tag system here works different from Facebook and other social media platforms. Each time you use the mention system an email is sent out. - It will still send notifications via the forum regardless if you turn off the email notifications.

It sends an email and notifications via the forum to that member every single time the tagging system is used. So if you tag a member multiple times per day, they are getting notifications about these responses when they may not be urgent.

Given we live in a time when most people have smartphones, a person's phone going off multiple times in a day with emails from us via you tagging them could possibly be distracting or annoying.

This type of tagging is meant to be used when a person may miss something of importance or, in a thread where a person has requested help or a response from you, in order to notify them that you have responded. Not all responses are so time sensitive.

The tags/mentions can not be turned on/off by individual users. It's a mod that's been added to the forum and is an all-on or all-off type of system. The mod has not been updated for quite some time and there isn't a known alternative mod available that will work with our forum.

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What is a Mention/Tag System?:

It's a tool that allows members to "tag" one another via @<username>. It's a feature of the forum that is kind of buggy at times.

Mentions/Tags are setup to send email notifications by default. If you don't want this. You need to uncheck this feature to turn off the notifications.

Do this by going to the Home Menu > Profile > Mentions
Click on the Email mentions notifications box to stop getting email notifications of the mentions/tags.

Note: The mention system will still show notifications up by the word Profile when you log into the forum when you've been mentioned. - This is by default and cannot be turned off.

Using the Mentions/Tags are meant to be used sparingly. For example it can be used when a person may have missed something of importance or, in a thread where a person has requested help or a response from you, in order to notify them that you have responded.

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How to Use the System:

Type @ username - without the space between the at sign and the username of the member you are trying to tag. (Example: @MrsFlynn) --Or--

Start by typing the @ sign, and username together. Pick the person's username from the list that pops up. For example: For example: @MrsFlynn -- The mention should show up as a green link when active, after you have posted your message. ** This may not work the same way on tablets and/or phones. **

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How Does it Work?:

When someone mentions your username in a post, you'll see a number in brackets for example [2] in the Home Menu by the word Profile. To check the mentions, mouse over the word Profile and select the word Mentions from the drop down list. Click the subject link to see what the mention is about.

If a # sign is used, the mention system won't work correctly, and won't send out a notice of the mention.

In the Mentions area is where you can checkmark if you want the mentions emailed to you or not. - In the lower right hand corner of the page.

To get notifications of a mention new members must have 5 posts in the forum.

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Deleting/Removing Mentions:

Unfortunately there is no way to deleted them yourself. However, to get rid of the number [2] up by the word profile try refresh the page. If that doesn't help try logging out of the forum and clear the browser cache. How To: Clear Browser Cache The mentions message usually stay in the Mentions area for 3-days to a week then deleted.

** If clearing browser cache doesn't work either, trying using Ccleaner. -- PC / Mac (Standard Edition is Free)

-- This helps clean up temporary files, internet cache files and other files that are left behind that are no longer being used.

How to use CCleaner to fix PC issues

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Mentions Aren't Being Removed?!:

The Mentions System has a task that runs daily at a set time each day, that is scheduled to clear the notices and messages within a few or so days. When mentions have been seen, the system is supposed to remove the notification. The mod author most likely did it this way in order to conserve resources, since real-time removal would involve a lot of processing.

If you are having problems, please PM Carl to see if he'll manually reset the system.

[MrsFlynn]

My Bookmarks

What the are and how to use the bookmark feature.

What they are: Links to threads you may want to check on in the future.

How to use: Say for example, you want to keep an eye on a story in the forum. Go to the story thread and either up at the top of the thread or bottom (by the Reply button), you'll find the Add Bookmark Button. Click that, and the link to the story or thread will be saved in your Bookmarks.

Click the subject link to view the thread.

To delete the bookmark, click the box at the right hand of the screen. Then click the Delete Selected Bookmarks button at the bottom of list.

[MrsFlynn]

Where did my post go and why was it moved?!

This is a highly moderated forum. Threads and posts get moved or merged a lot, sometimes without notice. This is mostly due to the post being placed on the wrong board. Posts may get merged in with ones that have similar topics that have been already answered.

We may split, merge or delete any topics that are asking about the same issue or question multiple times. So please be mindful of that and ask about your issue or question once.

Posts and threads may be moved to a different board to get better help on the issue. As we have specific boards for specific questions.

Posts maybe edited if the subject line doesn't have an adequate description. Good topic descriptions helps give a better idea of the question or topic being asked about.

For example, Sims 4 gameplay questions will be moved to Sims 4 Gameplay Help board. Questions or issues with Sims 4 mods/cc will be move to it's board Sims 4 Mods and Custom Content

If you would like to learn where to post new topics, please see the post linked below:

Where to post new topic?
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26451.msg441471#msg441471


To find your posts - Go to the Home Menu, which is a little under your username at the top left of the forum. Look for the word Profile, click it. This will take you to your Summery Page. Under your username and/or Profile it has a link to Show Posts. Click that to show your posts. The most current post will be on top of the list.

Alternatively, you could click on your username down at the bottom left of the forum, under Users Online. This will also take you to your Summery Page. -- Members with less that 5 posts can't edit or see their profile page.


Note:

Please understand moving/merging posts is almost a daily thing. We do it automatically, as we're trying to keep the forum organized. Please don't take it personally if your post gets moved. It has nothing to do with you personally.

[MrsFlynn]

Checking New Posts/New Replies

After you log in, you can check new posts and/or new replies. These can be found in the links below your avatar or username. (up in the left hand corner of the screen)

Show unread posts since last visit. - This will give you a list of new topics.
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?action=unread

Show new replies to your posts. - This will give you a list of new replies to your posts.
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?action=unreadreplies

[MrsFlynn]

How To: Hide Sections in the Forum

If you're only a Sims 4 player and want to hide say the Sims 3 section, for example. All you have to do to "hide" it. Go to the right side of the section - over by where it says Unread Posts and click the minus sign. -- It will stay hidden until you decide to unhide it.

If you'd like to unhide a section, go again to the right side of the section and click the plus sign to unhide the section.

This should help make the forum more manageable.

[MrsFlynn]

How To: Block Members

If a member pms you asking odd questions, makes you feel uncomfortable, or asks for help with something not Sims related it is best to let them know up front you will not answer or help with anything that is not Sims related. This is to help not escalate the situation.

If they continue to be problematic, you can block them from pming you:
Go to the Home Menu > Profile > Account Settings > Mouse over Modify Profile and select Buddies/Ignore List > Select Edit Ignore List. Add the member's username to that list to block them.

Note: Adding members to these lists will, among other things, help control mail and PM traffic, depending on your preferences. ++ It will not show that you've blocked them.

Also, make sure Hide messages posted by members on my ignore list is checkmarked.

Do this by going to > Home > Profile > Account Settings > Modify Profile > Look and Layout
Look for the option - Hide messages posted by members on my ignore list. Make sure it's checkmarked.
This will help the system not show posts made members on your ignore list.

*Note:* If the member continues to be problematic, please be sure to pm Carl or any of the staff to let them know of the situation and to ask for help. As we have no tolerance policy for members harassing staff or other members. They will be automatically banned for harassment, permanently.

[MrsFlynn]

Attach and Insert Photos/Files to Posts

In your New Topic or a reply to a thread under the message box look for the word Attach. Click Browse to navigate to where the photo or file is and either double click on the file or click Open to attach it to your post.

If you'd like to see an example of how to insert a photo into your post, please see the link below:

How to Insert a Photo Into a Post
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26583.msg443688#msg443688

You can add more attachments by clicking (more attachments) under the browse button.

Please note: Allowed file types are: sims3pack, zip, rar, jpg, jpeg, png, gif, and bmp
Restrictions: 25 per post, maximum total size 100000KB, maximum individual size 100000KB