58 How can I quickly determine who has quoted my post(s)?
Registering
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nfc mail, arcade, user gallery, bookmarks and more. Registration is free, and you are not required to post your real name.
You are required to post your actual email address, however, as you will be sent an e-mail throughout the registration process.
Note that you must be 13 years or older before you can register. In addition, you must understand and accept the rules
of the board before you can post messages.
How do I post?
Before you can post messages to this board, you must be registered. Once you have registered, you might want to login before you post a message.
That will prevent you from typing username/password everytime you post. After you login, simply use the "Post Reply" or "New Topic" buttons.
In order for the login to work, you MUST have "cookies" enabled in your browser. These are usually enabled per default. See the question on cookies for more info.
Note: You must have been registered for at least 3 days before you can post a message on the board.
Smilies
Please check the list of smilies here.
Using HTML and/or UBB Code
You can only use UBB Code in your posts (no HTML). UBB Code is similar to HTML, but offers just a few basic functions, such as hyperlinking, image display, bolding and italicizing. A complete list of current UBB Codes are listed here.
Moderators
Moderators control individual forums. They can edit or delete any posts in their forums. If you have a question about a particular forum, you should direct it to your forum moderator.
Moderators can also ban users and perform other functions related to the administration of the board.
Changing Your Profile
You may easily change any info stored in your registration profile, using the "user profile" link located near the top of each page. Simply identify yourself by typing your username and password and all of your profile information will appear on screen. You may change any items, except your username.
You are, however, allowed to have one username change. Send an nfc mail to the administrator, "RH", with a request. Be sure to mention what username you want instead.
Cookies
This bulletin board uses cookies to store information, such as your username and password. This information will be stored after you have logged in. If you don't login, you need to type your username/password when posting messages and doing other tasks, related to your profile.
Editing Your Posts
You may edit your own posts at any time. Just go to the topic where the post to be edited is located and you will see an edit icon that looks like
this: 
on the line that begins "posted ..." Click on this icon to edit. No one else can edit your post, except for moderators. A note is generated at the bottom of each post that is edited so that every one knows when a post has been edited.
However, if you edit your post within three minutes from submitting it, users will not be able to see that you have edited it. You cannot delete your post.
Editing The Topic
You may edit the topic of a thread you have posted, provided that you edit it within three minutes from posting the thread.
To edit the topic, simply click the edit icon, as you do when editing your message, and you will
also be able to modify the topic as well as the message. This only works if you edit the first message if the thread, of course.
Moderators have the ability to edit topics of any thread in a forum they moderate.
Adding Signatures
You may use a signature (commonly used in email messages) on your posts. If you click on the profile link at the top of most bulletin board pages, you will be able to edit your profile, including your standard signature. Once you have a signature stored, it will automatically be appended to all messages you post. You may also change your signature at any time by changing your profile, or removing it.
Note: You may use UBB Code (except for the UBB Code Image tag) in your signature.
Attaching Files
For security reasons, you may not attach files to any posts. You may cut and paste text into your post, however, or use UBB Code to provide hyperlinks to outside documents or websites.
Searching For Specific Posts
Click the link "search" to search for posts, usernames, threads etc.
Announcements
Announcements are used to inform everyone of important matters related to the board. They can be found (if there are any) in the top of the forum pages.
Censoring Posts
No posts/words are censored, except for certain websites that have been blocked out for various reasons. Posts/threads may be deleted, however, if they are against the rules.
Lost User Name and/or Password
Retrieving your username and password is simple. All of the pages that require you to identify yourself with your username and password carry a "lost password" link that you can use to have your username and password emailed instantly to your email address of record.
Alternatively, use the following links:
Change your password.
How many posts can I make?
You can make up to 100 posts per day (within 24 hours) per forum. Note, however, that your quota is decreased if you get warnings.
If you have one warning you can make 50 posts. If you have two warnings you can make 30 posts and if you have three warnings you
can make 20 posts per day per forum. Four warnings automatically result in a three-week ban (which also resets your warnings so you
won't have any when you return from the ban).
A warning automatically expires 2 months after it has been set.
How many threads (new topics) can I make?
You can currently post up to 5 threads per day. Also note that forums have limits as to how many threads can be posted in
it within an hour.
What is the buddy list?
You can add users to your buddy list in a number of different ways. The easiest way is to click on "user profile" and then the
link entitled "Maintain your Buddy List". You can find that link here as well.
This feature will also enable you to remove users from your buddy list again.
When you have someone on your buddy list, you can send an nfc mail more easily to that user by clicking on the "write to buddy"
link. Then you don't have to type in the username manually. This also allows you to nfc mail everyone on your buddy list by checking
the box on the compose nfc mail page.
You can also use the buddy list in the search option. Click the "find posts by buddy" link.
What are bookmarks?
You can bookmark a specific post to easily refer to it later. If you are viewing a thread, click the post icon to bookmark it.
It is the icon just before the "posted ..." text with the date of the post. To view your bookmarked posts, click on the
"bookmarks" link in the upper right corner of the forum pages, where the other common links are.
Why can't I edit my birthdate or gender?
You can only enter your birthdate and your gender once. Since this info doesn't change, there's no reason for you to be
able to edit it again.
What is a custom title?
The custom title is a short title you can have under your name which will appear in all the posts you make. It will say
"Member" (or "New user") if you have no custom title, otherwise the custom title will be displayed in that spot instead.
Note that you cannot set a custom title if you are a new user (if you have made less than 50 posts).
When do I change from "New user" to "Member"?
When you have made 50 posts.
What is nfc mail?
nfc mail is a message system that registered users of the board can utilize to send eachother short messages. It is like e-mail,
except it only works 'inside' this message board. Thus, you cannot receive nfc mail per e-mail and there is no way to send
someone an nfc mail from outside of this message board. Click on the "nfc mail" link (or here)
to see your inbox, and the options you have available: view outbox, compose new message or write to buddy.
Note that you must have been registered for at least 3 days before you can send and receive nfc mail. Currently, you are
allowed to store up to 1000 nfc mails in your inbox. You cannot send nfc mails to users that have blocked you or disabled
the nfc mail feature, or users that are banned. In addition, you cannot send nfc mails while banned yourself. If you don't
wish to receive nfc mails, you can disable the feature in your user profile.
When you are viewing your nfc mail inbox, the messages are sorted by date per default (newest messages are listed first).
If you would like to instead sort the messages by subject, sender, date or reply status click the respective links in the
columns named "Subject", "From", "Sent date" and "Reply", respectively. Clicking the same link again will reverse the sort
order from ascending to descending or vice versa. You can also search for specific messages if you use the search links listed
in the upper right section of the screen, where the other links are. You can search by topic, sender (including people on buddy
list) or date. In clicking these links, you will see a simple form that you can fill out to perform the search.
If you want to delete several nfc mails at once, check the "Del" box next to the messages you want to delete. Then, click
the "delete selected" link near the lower right corner. You can also use the "select all" link to select all the messages
listed on the current page of the inbox. Finally, you can specify how many headers you want to have displayed per page (15, 30 or 50).
What is the arcade?
The arcade is a collection of games you can play online at the discussion board website. This requires that you have
Macromedia Flash installed. If you don't, when trying to run a game, you should be prompted to download and install it.
The arcade allows you to compete with other users for highscores. The 30 best scores are listed for each game. When you
have played a game, your score will be saved, if it is higher than what you've scored previously for this game. To play
a game, click the name of the game or the picture under the name.
What is the gallery?
The gallery contains pictures of hundreds of the message board users. You can upload your own picture to the gallery
(which will automatically be associated with your username) by going here. Note that the
image must be in the jpg format and the file cannot exceed half a megabyte. Also, you must have been registered for at
least a month before you can add your picture to the gallery. You can view the gallery here.
List of members
You can find a list of registered users here.
Top 50 posts or threads?
To see the users who have made the most posts and threads, respectively, follow these links:
Top 50 of users with most threads
Jumping to newest post since last visit
If you want to jump directly to the most recent post made in a thread since your last visit to
the board, open the thread and then look in the top. You should see this arrow: 
. Clicking it
will bring you to the first new message in the thread. Note that this function only works if you, upon
returning to the board, go to the main page of the board first. Thus, when you finish using
the board on Monday, for example, and return Tuesday then you should go to the main page first. Only after
that should you begin browsing threads - and you can use the arrow. If there has been no new posts in the
thread since your last visit, the arrow will not be shown inside the thread.
Jumping to latest post you've made yourself in a thread
If you have made a post in a thread, or created the thread yourself, you should see this arrow: 
both
inside the actual thread and on the topic display pages. Clicking this arrow will bring you to the most
recent post you've made in the thread.
How do I reply to/quote a specific post in a thread?
To reply to a specific post made by a user inside a thread, click the quote icon above the post. It looks like this: 
Then, in the reply form, you will see the quoted post inside the message area where you can reply to it and include the
original message in your reply. You can also edit the original message to only reply to parts of it. Everything inside the [quote] [/quote]
tags is the message you are replying to.
Can I reply to more posts at once?
Yes. In a thread, find the posts you want to reply to, and then check the "Quote" box next to them. It is located on the line with
the post date, the icons, etc. next to the "Report :: Warn :: IP" links. When you have checked at least two boxes, scroll to the bottom
of the thread and click on "Quote Posts". That will bring you to the normal page for writing a reply, but the original messages
you have selected will appear inside the text area where you can quote them as you'd quote a single post. You can quote up to 15 posts at once.
Replying to a message board post by nfc mail
If you'd like to send a reply to a post by private nfc mail instead of a 'public' reply in the thread, you may click the
icon that looks like this: 
You can find this icon above the actual post where the other icons are.
Upon clicking it, you will find the familiar form to compose an nfc mail. However, in your message, the post in question will be quoted
and the nfc mail recipient will be the author of the message board post.
Note: You can also send the user a "blank" nfc mail by clicking this icon: 
which is found above posts, if the
user has nfc mail enabled.
Length of post
When you make a post in a thread, it may not exceed 15,000 characters. In addition, you may not post HTML tags in your message.
Instead, you can use UBB codes. Also, you may not have more than 100 linebreaks in your message.
Finally, you cannot have words exceeding 80 characters in your message. This does not include long URLs. Just make sure that
there is a space around the [URL] tag when you insert it.
Length of signature
Your profile signature may not exceed 700 characters nor include more than 15 linebreaks. Further, you may not have words
that exceed 80 characters in your signature.
Length of thread
Currently, no more than 1000 posts are allowed in a thread.
Approval of threads
In the Nirvana and Here We Are Now forums, all new topics have to be approved by a moderator. Thus, when you
have submitted your thread, it will not show up in the forum right away. It will first have to be verified by a moderator
and, if accepted, only then will it appear on the board. This process should usually not take longer than 24 hours. If your
thread is denied you will receive an nfc mail explaining why it was not approved. In the other forums, when you post a new
thread, it will be visible immediately on the public board. Read more about our approval policy here.
Note: As of August 24, 2005, only users with at least 100 posts will be able to post new topics/threads in the Nirvana forum.
Replying to old threads
To avoid a user 'bumping' a thread for no reason - in the Nirvana and Born in a Junkyard forums
you may not reply to a thread that hasn't been updated for a month or more. Thus, if no new replies have been
made to a topic for a month, you cannot add a reply to it and it will effectively be locked. You can still read it, however.
How many smilies and images can I put in a post?
There is a maximum of 5 smilies and 5 images per post. Thus, you cannot post more than 5 images or more than 5 smilies within one post.
Images and signatures in posts
If you don't want to view every user's signature when reading a thread, you can disable them in your user profile. Similarly,
you can disable images so that no images will show up in a thread even if a user has posted them. Both of these options are
available in your user profile.
Can I post from two different Internet providers?
For security reasons, you are not allowed to post messages using two different Internet providers within a timeframe of one hour.
So, for example, if you are a student and you post a message from a computer at your campus - you will have to wait at least an
hour before you can post a message from a computer at home. Similarly, you cannot login with two different Internet providers and
post messages using both of them within an hour.
Report post to moderator?
If you come across a post that you believe is in violation of the forum rules you may want to report it
to a moderator. Simply find the post and click the "Report" link. Then, fill out a reason for reporting the post and you're set.
What's with the links to close topic, move topic, delete topic, delete posts and sticky/unsticky?
Some options can only be used by moderators. These include, but are not limited to, closing a thread; moving a thread; deleting
posts; deleting a thread and making a thread sticky. Also, only moderators can check the IP address of a user and give a user a
warning for a post. The "del" box next to a post is thus used by moderators to delete a post.
What is a sticky thread?
If a thread is "sticky" it will be shown in the top section of the forum display pages. If there's only one sticky thread,
that thread will be on top with a space separating it from the other threads. There can be more than one sticky thread. Then,
they will also be listed separately in the top part of the forum display pages. Sometimes, an important thread is made sticky
to ensure that more people see it. Sticky threads are different from announcements in that, usually, users can reply to the
sticky threads. Announcements are static messages that one cannot reply to directly.
What is a random thread?
For the hell of it, if you're bored, you can view a random thread. Click the "View random thread" link in a forum and a thread
from the board will open for you. It is random what the thread will be.
Posts displayed per page in a thread?
Per default, 30 posts are shown per page when you view a thread. You can change this to 15, 30, 50, 100 or 200 if you want
to alter how many posts are shown per page for a thread. To change this option, click on the user profile link.
What is a ban?
Moderators have the ability to ban users that do not follow the forum rules. Depending on how severely the user violated said
rules, the ban ranges from 1 day to 8 weeks. In extreme cases where a user has repeatedly ignored the rules or posted something
that was deemed to be absolutely inappropriate, the administrator can ban the user permanently. This option is also exercised if
a person is found to be registering more than one username.
Email Notification
When you post a new thread, you can check the box "E-mail notification" and you will receive an e-mail when someone first replies to your thread.
What are archives?
Archives are placed here. You may search in the archive by using the online
search option.
What are icons?
You can associate an icon with each post that you make. There are currently 20 icons, each expressing a different emotion or identification. These icons range from a simple note to sadness to warning. These icons appear next to each topic in a forum listing and on each post.
How do I link someone to a specific post in a thread?
Look in a thread, and notice for each post the line with the icons that begins "posted ..." and then lists the date. If you right-click
on the word "posted" you should be able to copy the link or the shortcut to this specific post. Or, you can click directly on it, to have
the URL to the post in your browser's address bar.
What is the "reply with quote" option in nfc mail?
When you usually reply to an nfc mail, using the 
reply icon, you cannot see
the original message in the textarea - the box where you type your reply. If you'd like to see the original message in the box,
so that you are able to quote specific parts of it, click the "reply with quote" link instead of the regular reply button.
What are custom folders in nfc mail? How do I manage them?
You can create a custom folder under nfc mail if you don't want certain messages stored in the inbox. If you have a good friend
on the board, for example, you can create a folder for all nfc mails from him or her. To create a custom folder, click on the
'manage' link on the nfc mail page. You can reach the same page by clicking here.
To create a new folder - simply enter the name of it in the top of this page and click the Create button. After you've created
a custom folder, you can return to this page (the 'manage' link) to use any of the following options: rename an existing folder,
delete an existing folder, move all nfc mails from a user/buddy into a custom folder, create rule for incoming mail (and delete
rule if you already have one or more). All of these options should be fairly self-explanatory and the manage page contains more
information on what info to enter and how the functions work.
Note: The Search option within nfc mail currently extends to the Inbox only.
What is an avatar? How do I use avatars? Can I upload my own?
An avatar is an icon, image, or figure that you can use to represent yourself on the discussion board. If you have an avatar,
the image will be displayed under your username when you make a post. To add your own avatar to the board you must upload it.
Click on user profile and then follow the link to upload a
new avatar. Note that you must have been registered for a year before you can upload your own avatar.
Once you have uploaded it, it needs to be approved by an administrator. If it is approved it will automatically be associated
with your profile and shown with your posts. If you wish to disable this or delete the avatar, you can also do this in your profile.
What is the preview button for?
When you post a new thread or reply to an existing thread, or even edit a post, you can preview the post first. Simply click
the "preview message" button. This is useful to check your post for spelling errors, incorrectly applied ubb codes, bad links,
images, smilies and so forth. It also checks for standard errors that might be found in post - e.g. too many linebreaks, too
many smilies, etc. This is a good way to validate your message before it is public on the board where others can respond to it.
Even if you discover an error in your post after you've submitted it, you can of course still edit it. But if a user manages
to quote your post before you get to edit it, the original message will be in the quote.
The preview feature also applies to nfc mail. Simply click the 'Preview' button while you're composing your message and it will
check for the same type of errors as when you make a post on the board. This is in particular useful since, once you've sent an
nfc mail, you can't go back and fix any potential errors in it. So if it's a long message, using the preview button is highly recommended.
What is a 'draft' in nfc mail?
When you compose an nfc mail message, you can save a draft by clicking the 'Save Draft' button. This is mostly useful when you
write a long message. Then you can periodically click the 'save draft' button to save the message on the server, and have an
extra backup, in case you accidentally close your browser or if it closes for some other reason. You can also save a draft and
then return to the message later to continue it, so you don't have to type the whole thing at once.
To access a previously saved draft, go to the page where you compose an nfc mail, and click on the link to insert a draft. Note
that only one draft can be saved at a time, so when you click this link, the most recent draft you saved will always be used. Upon
clicking the link, the message (your saved draft) will be inserted into the text area.
How can I quickly determine who has quoted my post(s)?
On March 10, 2006 a new feature was introduced which allows you to quickly find posts that quote a post you have made in a thread.
To use this option, click on a thread and look out for the quote gif: in the top of the thread (where
it says "Registered users can post replies. View random thread" and so forth.) Note you must be logged in for this function to work.
If you don't see this image, the thread contains no posts that quote you - or the post quoting you was made prior to March 10, 2006.
If you do see the quote gif: then you can click it to open the posts that quote something you've written,
and only those. This is in particular useful if the thread has many replies.
To see a list of all the threads in which posts by you have been quoted, for a particular forum, click the "View new quotes" link
on the forum browse pages (next to "Registered users can start new topics") close to the top of the page. Then, any threads containing
posts that quote you will be listed. Only threads containing posts made since your last visit to the board's main page will be shown.