XenForo User Guide

[Mike]

In an effort to help new and seasoned users alike, I will be posting some instructions on how to use the various features and functions available to you. I get a lot of members asking me how to do simple things, like starting a new thread or replying to a thread. I figure if I'm getting that many questions, there are many, many more members who are too embarrassed to ask. Remember, the forum staff members are always here to help you, and that admonishment about the unasked question being the only stupid question is really true.

But maybe this thread will help you out, as well. Of course, it is going to require you taking the time to look through it for possible answers.

 

[Mike]

Starting A New Thread

The first thing is to click on the appropriate forum for your post. Once your are viewing that forum, look in the upper-right corner, directly under the Navigation Bar (NavBar), for the button marked Post New Thread.

Click on that button and you will be taken to a new page -

You will need to enter a title for your new thread, which can really help others out, if you can be descriptive. If you are wanting to know how to change your air filter, then that question would be a good thread title. "How Do I Change My Air Filter" will get more attention that a thread titled, "Help!"

Once you have entered a title, use the text entry area to enter the text of your new thread. Below the text entry area are some buttons. Create Thread will submit your new thread, so others will be able to read it. Upload a File will allow you to upload a file to help explain the content of your post. When you are asking for help on a problem, a picture can often be worth more than a thousand words. Preview will allow you to preview your post before you submit it, to make sure everything is laid out correctly and words are spelled correctly.

If you are trying to create a Poll thread, all of the poll options are located at the bottom of the page.

When creating a new thread, remember our members are expected to use what is considered to be "normal" writing. Remembering to capitalize the first letter in a sentence and using the appropriate punctuation to close it will really make your post easier to read. At the end of the day, we all make mistakes, but nearly all browsers have spell-check, so making the suggested corrections can help the reader. All keyboards have Caps Lock keys, SO THERE IS NO NEED TO POST IN ALL CAPS. And we don't use l33t spe4k tr4n5l4+or5, so please avoid the leet speak.

 

[Mike]

Replying To A Thread

There are a couple different ways to reply to a thread. You can simply add your thoughts and comments by scrolling to the bottom of the page and using the post reply module. Enter your text in the text entry area, the same as you would when creating a new thread. You will notice a different button, More Options... Clicking on the More Options... button will take you to a page with the same complete text editor as you see when posting a new thread.

There are times where a thread may have multiple posts and you want to reply to a particular user's post. In the lower-right corner of each post, there is a Reply link. Clicking on that link will copy the content of that post into the post reply module, placing it inside the appropriate quote tags, to properly format the quoted text. The tags will look like the following (without the spaces I've added) - [ quote ]Quoted Text Here[ / quote ] You can delete the text you do not care to quote, as long as you remember to keep the quote tags intact. If the user you are quoting made multiple comments you want to quote, you can simply type in the quote tags at the beginning and end of each block you want to quote (remembering to leave out those spaces.

If you want to quote multiple posts into your reply, it is as simple as clicking on the Reply link in each post you want to quote.

Add your reply below the quoted text, click Post Reply and you are finished.

 

[Mike]

Like A Post

There may be times when you like what another member has posted, but it doesn't really warrant a reply.

In the bottom right of posts submitted by others, you will see a Like link. Clicking on that link will indicate your approval/agreement/enjoyment of that user's post. When they next log into the forum, they will see a number appearing at the Alerts link next to their username on the NavBar. Clicking on that link will show them you Liked that post. Click on a members avatar to open their profile card and you will see how many Likes they have received. You can also see how many Likes you have received by visiting your user profile page.

Report A Post

The forum staff take a lot of measures to keep spammers off this site, but every now and then you might find one of them has successfully slipped through and has posted to the forum. Or perhaps a forum member has failed to read, or has forgotten the forum rules and guidelines, and has posted something that is not appropriate. We have a policy of discouraging members from replying to these types of posts, but you do have a way to let forum staff members know there is a problem.

In the lower-left corner of other member's posts, you will see a Report link. (Yes, the above example shows some additional links, but those links only appear for forum staff members.) Click on the Report link and you will be taken to a page where you can explain why you feel the post is inappropriate. This will create an alert for the forum staff members and we will be able to review the reported post and determine how best to deal with it.

 

[Mike]

Searching For New Posts & Threads

When you log into the forum, you will have a couple ways to quickly find the threads and posts submitted since your last visit.

One method is to look on the left side of the NavBar for the What's New link. Clicking on that link will show you a page with all the updated threads. Clicking on a thread will take you to that thread and to the first unread post in the thread.

There are also visual clues you can use.

When viewing the forum home, or index, page, you will see the icons at the left of each forum. The red icons indicate forums with new threads and/or posts in them, whilst the silver icons indicate forums with no updates since your last visit.

When you are viewing an individual forum, threads with new posts in them will have a small, blue indicator to the left of the post name. Threads with new posts will also show the thread title in bold text. Threads without these indicators contain no updates since your last visit.

 

[Mike]

Using The Search Function

There are different methods you can use to search the forums for specific keywords. There are some restrictions within the database which will require you to be creative in your search techniques. For instance, you cannot search for words of three letters or less. But thinking about other possible words that might be used, you can generally find what you're looking for.

In the upper-right corner of the NavBar, you will see the search field. Click to place your cursor in that Search... field.

If you are searching from the forum home, or index, page, you will see the above search menu. You can select searching only thread titles for your keywords, you can search for all posts by a particular member and you can search for keywords in posts after a particular date.

If you are searching from the forum view, you will see the options to search only the forum you are viewing and to display results on your keywords as threads.

 

[Mike]

Your Forum Profile

You have a lot of flexibility in setting up your own forum account to do the things you want it to do.

Hover your mouse over the down-arrow located next you your username, on the right side of the NavBar and you'll see the following menu. From there, you can start customizing your account.

Clicking on Your Profile Page will take you to that page. There you will be able to see a lot of information, such as -

Your most recent status update
The time of your last activity on the forums
Join Date
Message Counts
Like Counts
Warning Point Counts
People you are Following
People who are Following you
Personal data you have opted to share
Profile posts others have left for you
Recent activity on the forums
Recent posts submitted to the forums

Clicking on Personal Details will take you to a page where you can submit details you want to share with others about yourself and where you can change your avatar.

Clicking on Signature will allow you to create or edit your forum signature line, which appears below the content of all your posts.

Clicking on Contact Details will allow you to edit your contact details, such as e-mail, IM addresses, Skype address, Facebook address, Twitter address, etc. You can also customize how you wish to receive mailing from this site.

Clicking on Privacy will allow you to edit how you wish your personal data to be displayed to others.

Clicking on Preferences will allow you to set up how you view the forums. Which forum style you want to use, what time zone you're in, what text editor you prefer to use, etc.

Clicking on Alert Preferences will allow you to edit the events that will trigger alerts for you.

Clicking on Avatar is another place you can edit your avatar.

Clicking on Facebook Integration will integrate your forum account with your Facebook account.

Clicking on Password will take you to a page where you can change your password. I strongly urge you to use strong passwords and to change them on a regular basis. I have taken great pains to make this site as secure as possible, but there are new security breaches being designed every day. Create a password with at least 8 characters and be sure to mix upper case letters, lower case letters and numbers into it.

Clicking on your News Feed will show you what has been posted by the people you've chosen to Follow.

Clicking on Your Alerts will show you all of your recent Alerts.

Clicking on Watched Threads will show you a menu of all the threads you've opted to Watch, or subscribe to.

Clicking on Likes You've Received is pretty self-explanatory.

Clicking on Your Content will show you a menu of the content you've submitted to the forums.

Clicking on People You Follow is self-explanatory.

Clicking on People You Ignore is self-explanatory.

You will also note clicking on any of these links will take you to pages that also have these same links in a left-hand column.

 

[Mike]

Adding And Editing Your Avatar

Avatars are the small images displayed alongside your username, in forum posts, on your profile card and on your profile page. Many people use the same avatar on every forum they participate on, so their friends can easily recognize them. Some people like to pick an avatar and stick with it, whilst others might change avatars on a regular basis. The forum is set up with some default avatars for people who choose not to use them.

If you see an avatar that is a question mark, that person opted to not reveal his or her gender during registration. If gender was specified, then the default avatar will be a generic male or female icon.

If you want to use an avatar, or edit the one you are currently using, follow the instructions in the above post. Hover over your username in the NavBar and select Avatar in the drop-down menu.

Once this menu appears, you will be able to make your changes. If you want to use a custom avatar for this site, tick the button in the upper panel, then Browse to where you have the image stored on your computer. Open the image and it will be uploaded.

If you have a Gravatar account, simply enter the e-mail address associated with that account, click Test and your Gravatar will be loaded in. Tick to use that image and the change will be made.

If you no longer wish to use an avatar, tick the Delete current avatar option, click Okay and your avatar will be removed.

As a note, the menu recommends a 200 pixel by 200 pixel image be used. An image that large will be resized in many locations and may crop important details, so be aware of that possibility. I typically use an image in the 100 pixel X 100 pixel range, instead.

 

[Mike]

Personal Conversations

If you need to privately communicate with another forum member you can use the Personal Conversation function for that purpose. You can include multiple members in your Personal Conversations (PCs) and replies made to the initial message will appear the same as replies to forum posts appear on the open forums.

On the right side of the NavBar you will see an Inbox link. This is where you will access your PCs. If someone has sent you a PC, there will be an alert displayed at that link. You can simply hover your mouse over the link and all new PC titles and authors will be displayed in a drop-down menu.

Creating, reading and replying to PCs works the same as forum posts.

 

[Mike]

Forgot Your Password?

In this day and age of Personal Identification Numbers and Passwords, it can be easy to forget what password you might have used on a particular site. Not to worry, there are ways to get yourself logged back in the forums.

When you click on the button to log into these forums, you see the following menu appear -

If you've forgotten your password, it is as simple as clicking on the indicated link - Forgot your password?, to have a temporary password e-mailed to you. But there are some things you will need to be aware of.

1. Check your Contact Details, to be sure you have a current, working e-mail address entered there. Now. Go do that right now, because it is critical to make sure that contact detail is correct. If you forget your password, the forum is going to send a temporary password to the e-mail address associated with your forum account. If you've changed Internet service providers six times since you registered, that old e-mail address is not going to work. And that temporary password e-mail is just going to bounce back into one of my own Inboxes. Of course, there's naught I can do about it, because I don't have your contact details, either. All I am going to do is visit your account in the Admin Control Panel and change your Privacy settings, so the forum software will send you no more e-mails.

2. Once you click on that link, don't run away. The forum software is going to e-mail you a temporary password, which you should receive in a matter of minutes (if not seconds). That password is temporary and will expire, so you need to grab the password, use it to log into the forums and then get your password changed immediately.

3. I get complaints from members who have requested a temporary password that they cannot get the new password to work. Remember, usernames and passwords are case-sensitive, so you must enter all upper-case letters in upper-case. There is a very simple solution to inserting the temporary password and it will work every time. Simply copy the new password from the e-mail to your operating system's clipboard, then paste it into the forum password field. Place your mouse over the left character in the password, hold down the left mouse button and drag your mouse to the right-most character, which will highlight the password text. Press Ctrl-c on a Windows keyboard or control-c on an Apple keyboard to copy that highlighted text. Or you can right-click your mouse and select Copy from the menu. Get back to the forum log-in and place your cursor in the password field. Press Ctrl-v on an Windows keyboard or control-v on an Apple keyboard to paste that copied text into the field. Or, right-click and select Paste. Then you have no doubts or questions about whether you got the password entered correctly.

4. Don't bother asking me to tell you what your password is. Because I do not know. Nor can I find out. XenForo uses SHA1 and SHA256 to create a salted double hash of your password. As an example of what the encryption is like, SHA1(The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog)=de9f2c7f d25e1b3a fad3e85a 0bd17d9b 100db4b3 That result is then salted with another number that is also hashed, so there is no way anyone can look at the database and determine your password. SHA256 creates an even longer string.

5. If you simply cannot sort how to use the copy-n-paste method to insert the temporary password, contact me via the Contact Us link, at the bottom of every page. Tell me your forum username and explain you cannot get the temporary password to to work. I can edit passwords, so I will change your password to a simple word you can use to get logged in. It will then be your responsibility to change your password to something only you will be able to remember. Please be warned - use this as a last-ditch effort. Send me a change request when I'm not sitting in the office and you are going to have to wait until I am back in here to check my e-mails. I offer no guarantees on how long that might take, so do try to resolve the issue on your own, to save time. Please be aware, if your forum account has an outdated e-mail address or an e-mail address that is different from the one you are using in the Contact Us form, I can't move forward without your forum username. That seems pretty simple and basic to most of us, but you would be surprised to see how often it happens. If you lost or forgot your password, don't leave me searching to try to get you logged back in. Give me the information I need to quickly access your account, so the process is as painless as possible for both of us.

6. When you enter a new password, make it something that cannot be cracked easily. Passwords like "password", "qwerty" and "12345" are the ones every crack-kiddie uses first. A minimum of 8 characters is a good idea. Mix it up with upper-case and lower-case letters and numbers. I know some of you want to use a pet's name or a significant others name, but you need to add something to the name. If I had to use a name, I would use something like pOINDEXTER070712. I changed the case structure in the name and used 070712 to remind me that password needs to be changed on the 7 July 2012. And quite frankly, that is still a pretty risky password. Use a the first letters from a phrase you are likely to remember, like, "I really enjoy visiting the Grand Canyon" and salt it with the date of your last visit to get a password like iREVTgc060712. Once again, I've changed case structure, but now I've used letters from a sentence only I would know and salted it with numbers. There are password generators available to create passwords for you, but be aware MD5 generators should be avoided, as that hash algorithm has been broken. In the last 24 hours, actually, as some 6.46 million LinkedIn customers can attest. The safest password is one you are changing on a regular basis.