How to Use the Forums

The forums offer the ability to conduct threaded conversations, take surveys/vote, and make announcements. To use the Discussion Forums, you need to register for an account on the site. If you already have an account, keep reading for information on using Forums.

Reply The most common thing you will do in a Discussion Forum is reply to an existing topic. When you want to reply to a post, click on the white "reply" tab. This tab can be found in the center of the page and is one of two options in the fourth horizontal navigation level.

Delete The other option available is "delete". Delete will eliminate the entire thread. This function should only be used to clean out unused threads, when a thread was accidentally created, or by a moderator in the unlikely event an inappropriate thread was started.

Post New Item To add a new threaded conversation, navigate to the Discussion forum you want to join (if there are multiple forums). Notice the white navigation bar with five options. "Post New Item" is the third horizontal navigation level on the page. Much of the functionality is rarely needed except the option to "post new item". The "post new item" tab will give you three options: Topic, Poll, Announcement.

Changing your preferences for the forum

You can modify your preferences for the forum in order to better suit your desired interface.

Changing how you view the forum

You can change the visual presentation of the forums while you are using them (continue reading) or set your preferences so that they display a certain way (see below). When you are at the forum's main page, you can click on the "view mode" button (near the top of the page, next to "post new item"). This will allow you to change between options:

• a "flat" view (where you see the thread title and the first line of text, and also the title and first line of text for the last response), and the option for
• a "threaded" view (you will see the title and first line of the thread and then a list of the responses, with their dates).

You can also change the view mode for a particular topic (thread). While viewing the content of a particular topic, you can click on the "view mode" button and choose:

• "flat" (the messages are displayed in full down the page)
• "nested" (the messages are displayed in full down the page, but indented under the message they are a response to)
• "thread" (on the main page, messages are all displayed and responses to each are listed below it; if you click on one message you will see one message at a time, with a list of messages that are a response to this one)
• "full thread" (all views are threaded, you will see one message at a time with a list of responses)

Setting your preferences for the forums

Your preferences control how your identification information (including signatures) is presented in the forums and can also control the visual interface for you. To get to your preferences, click the "my preferences" button (in the blue horizontal bar under the main navigation), and then click on the "Forum preferences" link.

The first area on this page allows you to control the information about you shown on the posts you leave (for example, whether or not to show your full name) and how you see the forums (visual organization - see the notes above and date organization).

In the following areas, you can set your contact informations, location details, and signatures, if you wish to use these.