Greetings, Forum!
Here are some tips & tricks on using the forum efficiently. Hopefully, you will find at least some of these features helpful.
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New Posts
I'm surprised as to how seldom this feature is used, even though this is the fastest and easiest way to check for new posts and the link is conveniently located near the middle of the navigation bar (the static blue bar with white text links on top of each page). The
[Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register] link is basically a simple search, which finds and lists all topic updated since your last visit.
Today's Posts
This feature, that is located under the Quick Links menu (see image above) ignores your last visit, and simply lists all topics updated within the last 24 hours. This is useful if you accidentally visit the forum and then stay inactive for 15 minutes without checking for new posts, and your last visit is updated to the most recent one, hence you will not find topics updated before that time in the New Posts page.
Topic Subscriptions
To get the most out of the forum consider using thread subscriptions. It makes following your favorite topics easy.
Subscriptions are a way of keeping track of different threads or forums. You can choose how you are notified about updates - for example by having them listed in your User CP and receiving email updates for each one.
To subscribe to a thread, click the 'Thread Tools' link at the top of the list of posts then click 'Subscribe to Thread'. You can then choose the subscription mode that you wish to use for that thread.
Here's an FAQ item about thread subscriptions:
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Similar Threads
Scroll down after the Quick Reply form on any topic and you will see a list of 5 similar topics. This list is automatically selected by forum software based on titles and keywords used in the text. This can help you find more posts on the same or similar subject.
Image Albums / Video Directory / Social Groups
There are three extensions to this forum that are not frequently used.
In the order of popularity they are:
- Video directory (accessible through a relevant link on the navigation bar)
- Image albums (the Albums link on the navigation bar)
- Social Groups (link located in the Community dropdown menu on the navigation bar)
Check them out if you haven't yet.
Experience points system
This feature is an attempt to evaluate your participation at the forum. To put it simply, the orange line under your nickname shows how much you have contributed to the forum taking into account posts / topics / thanks and much more. The green line indicates how active you were in the forum lately. More about the Experience system in its own topic:
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That's it for now, Forum. I will update this topic once in a while with more tips & tricks. Please share your own tips here as well.