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So hopefully you've noticed the slight facelift our website has received (let me know if you desperately don't like green and we may be able to settle on a different colour). Don't worry about the fact that it says "Campbell County", that's just the name of the theme we're using. But that's not the real reason I'm here.
One factor that probably contributes to the level of inactivity experienced by this website is that no-one has really bothered to see what you can do here and find out how everything works. Well if you're one of those lazy people, then fear not because here's a tutorial that explains it all just for you
Let's start at the top and work out way down from there...
Hopefully your toolbar has a different user name at the end, but everyone should more-or-less have this toolbar at the top of every page. Moving left to right we have:
Ok, so that's the obvious stuff out of the way. Let's continue down the homepage a little more and see what we run in to.
Why look, it's the Chatbox. This is something that gets an unusual amount of neglect. If you're to lazy to post something, or just feel like being a bit random and spammy, then just pop into the Chatbox and share what's on your mind. Excellent for open conversations. You'll notice however that you need to log into this Chatbox. A minor inconvenience, but it also allows the chatbox to be blocked out of your view should you not desire to be a part of the heated discussion that may be taking place in there. Clicking on "Log in" reveals the following view:
It might appear small, but I've shrunk it to allow for better a better screenshot. To vary the height of the chatbox, just grab hold of those black diagonal lines at the bottom left and pull the base of the box either up or down. Now you might notice that there's hardly anything of interest in the chatbox at the moment, but you can see what's been said in the distant past by clicking on the "Archives" link at the top, which will reveal all past content of the chatbox:
I recommend having the "Auto refresh" button ticked if you are intending to follow along in a running conversation. Otherwise, you can simply just press the "Refresh" button if you think that something new has been said (real men prefer manual over auto
).
So that's enough about the chatbox. Let's see what else we can find. All the familiar sections should be there. Let's head into a thread and see what an individual post looks like...
Congratulations MrShur1ken, you've just become famous! Each post contains the topic title, followed by the name of the member posting and the time at which they posted. Underneath obviously comes the post body. Over to the right we see a variety of other options to be played with. If you wish to quote many different posts in a reply, then you can use the "citation multiple" button (hopefully to be soon changed to something a little more intuitive, such as "multi-quote"). Just click on the "citation multiple" button on each post that you'd like to quote in your reply, and then click the "post reply" button at either the top or bottom of the page. On the other hand, if you only want to quote a single person, then just click the "Quote" button and you will automatically taken to a reply post containing a quote of the desired post.
This is where some variation will occur. You can click an "Edit" button that will allow you to edit your previous posts in case you'd like to change something. As an Administrators, Rob and I are able to edit other member's posts including our own. The next button is a cross, indicating that you may delete a post should you wish it removed. You cannot delete other member's posts (Rob and I again being an exception). The final button is a question mark, and I believe that lowly members such as yourselves probably do not have this button, so I won't go into explaining it's devious purposes
. Over to the far right would normally be a banner that indicates that the current member is online. However, since I am currently the only person here, you'll just have to use your imagination on that part.
Now if we move down slightly (but still at the far right of the post), we can see something that's a little but uncertain. Hopefully this will be improved in the near future, but that small "+" and "-", with a dividing line in between, constitute the "Fame" system. If you feel a member should be thanked for the post they have made, you can click either the "+" to fame the member, or the "-" to defame them. Once you have done one these options, you can no longer cast any thanks on that post and you will be able to see that you have already thanked that post (the "+" and "-" will be replaced by a coloured bar indicating your level of approval). The fame system is anonymous, which means the famed member cannot tell who has famed/defamed them (so please do not abuse this feature).
Moving onto the left of the post we see the display image chosen by a member to represent them self. Underneath is their member name, and the member rank to which they belong. The ranks are currently all MapleStory monsters that increase in monster level as you increase your post count. Currently MrShur1ken is the only Shroom among us, a testament to his level of activity on this forum. With a little more involvement, you could find yourself rising the ranks of MapleStory monsters. See if you can overpower your friends! Underneath this you can find a summary of the members credentials.
Well that's about it for now. If there's any other features of the site that you're unsure about, then by all means post them in here and we'll try to shed some light on their purpose and operation. And don't forget to test everything out (to make sure I haven't lied to you all about what everything does
)
- Sharky.
One factor that probably contributes to the level of inactivity experienced by this website is that no-one has really bothered to see what you can do here and find out how everything works. Well if you're one of those lazy people, then fear not because here's a tutorial that explains it all just for you
Let's start at the top and work out way down from there...
Hopefully your toolbar has a different user name at the end, but everyone should more-or-less have this toolbar at the top of every page. Moving left to right we have:
- Home: Returns you to the homepage of the Maple Australia forums
- Portal: Returns you to the Maple Australia front-page portal (displays the latest announcement threads and topic posts, along with a few other statistics)
- Calendar: Got an important date that you'd like to earmark? Why not use our calendar so no-one forgets that significant event. Member birthdays are automatically entered into the calendar (assuming you gave your correct birthday in your member profile)
- Gallery: In the past you may have taken advantage of our sub-forum entitled "Photos". This section has been replaced with the new and improved Gallery that can satisfy all your photogenic needs. There's already an album ready for you to upload a member photo (currently empty, please get snapping!) or you can just create your own albums and shows us your creations.
- FAQ: The board's Frequently Asked Questions (just a polite way of saying Troubleshooting). If you have any technical problems or queries about the board you can delve into here, otherwise feel free to ask someone in our "Site Related" sub-forum.
- Search: Lost that thread you were so desperately looking for? (You'd have to be Houdini to lose something on a site like this!) Why not use the Search feature to find out exactly what's located where.
- Memberlist: Up for some stalking? Then check out the member list. Currently displaying all 36 members of the forum (hopefully to be growing shortly), you can examine the join date of other members, find out when they last stopped by, see exactly how many posts they've made, send them a Private Message, or find out their own brand of humour. Able to be sorted by almost any conceivable criteria. (Clicking on a member's username will also direct you to their member profile).
- Usergroups: Ever felt that being a simple "member" isn't exciting enough for you? Perhaps you'd like to become a moderator? Follow this link to get some more information on the user groups that are available to you.
- Profile: Directs you to the nuts and bolts behind your member profile. Here you can set up all the details you need to define an identity for yourself. Notice that just below the tabs is a link that reads "See my profile". This allows you to view your member profile as you would normally view another member's (but you could also have done this through the "Memberlist" described two points above).
- Inbox: Now it's true that it doesn't actually say this (rather, "You have no new messages"), but that's what this is. Clicking this link will take you to the inbox of your own personal messaging system. Feel like communicating covertly with another member? Need to ask a question directly of a staff member without drawing attention? The PM system has many uses.
- Log out: We'd rather you not use this button (please don't leave
) but if you have to, this still log you out of your account so you can view the board as a guest. As a guest, this button is replaced by a similar one entitled "Log in". In addition will be another button called "Register", which you can use to make an account on our website.
Ok, so that's the obvious stuff out of the way. Let's continue down the homepage a little more and see what we run in to.
Why look, it's the Chatbox. This is something that gets an unusual amount of neglect. If you're to lazy to post something, or just feel like being a bit random and spammy, then just pop into the Chatbox and share what's on your mind. Excellent for open conversations. You'll notice however that you need to log into this Chatbox. A minor inconvenience, but it also allows the chatbox to be blocked out of your view should you not desire to be a part of the heated discussion that may be taking place in there. Clicking on "Log in" reveals the following view:
It might appear small, but I've shrunk it to allow for better a better screenshot. To vary the height of the chatbox, just grab hold of those black diagonal lines at the bottom left and pull the base of the box either up or down. Now you might notice that there's hardly anything of interest in the chatbox at the moment, but you can see what's been said in the distant past by clicking on the "Archives" link at the top, which will reveal all past content of the chatbox:
I recommend having the "Auto refresh" button ticked if you are intending to follow along in a running conversation. Otherwise, you can simply just press the "Refresh" button if you think that something new has been said (real men prefer manual over auto
).So that's enough about the chatbox. Let's see what else we can find. All the familiar sections should be there. Let's head into a thread and see what an individual post looks like...
Congratulations MrShur1ken, you've just become famous! Each post contains the topic title, followed by the name of the member posting and the time at which they posted. Underneath obviously comes the post body. Over to the right we see a variety of other options to be played with. If you wish to quote many different posts in a reply, then you can use the "citation multiple" button (hopefully to be soon changed to something a little more intuitive, such as "multi-quote"). Just click on the "citation multiple" button on each post that you'd like to quote in your reply, and then click the "post reply" button at either the top or bottom of the page. On the other hand, if you only want to quote a single person, then just click the "Quote" button and you will automatically taken to a reply post containing a quote of the desired post.
This is where some variation will occur. You can click an "Edit" button that will allow you to edit your previous posts in case you'd like to change something. As an Administrators, Rob and I are able to edit other member's posts including our own. The next button is a cross, indicating that you may delete a post should you wish it removed. You cannot delete other member's posts (Rob and I again being an exception). The final button is a question mark, and I believe that lowly members such as yourselves probably do not have this button, so I won't go into explaining it's devious purposes
. Over to the far right would normally be a banner that indicates that the current member is online. However, since I am currently the only person here, you'll just have to use your imagination on that part.Now if we move down slightly (but still at the far right of the post), we can see something that's a little but uncertain. Hopefully this will be improved in the near future, but that small "+" and "-", with a dividing line in between, constitute the "Fame" system. If you feel a member should be thanked for the post they have made, you can click either the "+" to fame the member, or the "-" to defame them. Once you have done one these options, you can no longer cast any thanks on that post and you will be able to see that you have already thanked that post (the "+" and "-" will be replaced by a coloured bar indicating your level of approval). The fame system is anonymous, which means the famed member cannot tell who has famed/defamed them (so please do not abuse this feature).
Moving onto the left of the post we see the display image chosen by a member to represent them self. Underneath is their member name, and the member rank to which they belong. The ranks are currently all MapleStory monsters that increase in monster level as you increase your post count. Currently MrShur1ken is the only Shroom among us, a testament to his level of activity on this forum. With a little more involvement, you could find yourself rising the ranks of MapleStory monsters. See if you can overpower your friends! Underneath this you can find a summary of the members credentials.
Well that's about it for now. If there's any other features of the site that you're unsure about, then by all means post them in here and we'll try to shed some light on their purpose and operation. And don't forget to test everything out (to make sure I haven't lied to you all about what everything does
)- Sharky.
Last edited by xVnClericx on Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:09 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : I realise that the pictures I have included came our very small. While I can't immediately see how to fix this problem, I have instead made each picture a hyperlink. Just click on a picture to view it full size in another window.)
