Beginner's Guide to Posting on Martial Arts Planet

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by Simon, Jun 12, 2016.

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  1. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    Welcome to Martial Arts Planet. You want to get straight on with posting, but how do you go about it? This article will tell all.

    Making a New Thread

    Before you make a new thread take some time to find out where similar threads have been posted. When you think you are in the right forum area and ready to make a new thread, you should see this button at the top and bottom of the thread list.

    0239.jpg


    Click this button and you will be taken to a screen like this:


    New Thread.jpg

    The top box is the title box. Try to choose a title that describes the thread or your question.
    The big blank box in the centre of the screen is where you type the main body of your thread. If you want to insert a smiley, click on the smiley in the box to the right of the main post box.

    To submit your new thread, simply click on the Submit New Thread button below the Post Icons box.
    Congratulations, you have just posted your first thread!

    Posting a Reply to a Thread

    The quickest is the Quick Reply function. You will notice this at the bottom of the page.

    Reply.jpg

    To post your quick-reply, click Post Quick Reply, or to go to the Advanced reply, click Go Advanced.

    The Quick Reply function is handy if you just want to add a quick note (hence the name), but sometimes you may want to add some formatting, such as different size, colour or font text, or add some smilies. The formatting controls are discussed in the article Advanced Posting

    The second way to reply to a thread is by using the Post Reply button at the top and bottom of each page.
    You will be taken to a screen like this that looks almost the same as the Post Thread page, and indeed it works in the same way.

    Again, to post your reply click Submit Reply, or to view how your post will look in the thread, click Preview Post.

    After clicking either Post Quick Reply or Submit Reply, you will be taken back to the thread you are posting on, with your post at the bottom of the page.

    Additional Thread Options

    When you are posting a thread, you may have noticed a box below the main text area titled Additional Options.

    additional options.jpg

    This is where you can set up polls, attach files and set up thread notifications.

    Miscellaneous Options

    The first part of the Additional Options area contains two Miscellaneous Options. The first, Automatically parse links in text is checked by default and simply formats anything beginning http:// or www. as a hyperlink. To turn this off, un-check the check-box to the left. The second is Disable smilies in text and is unchecked by default. If you want to disable the smilies in your post, check the box.

    Attaching Files

    The second part of this area is the Attach Files area. Clicking the Manage Attachments button opens a window like this:

    Attachments.jpg

    To attach a file, click Browse… and search for the file on your computer. When you have found it, click Open then Upload. When you have finished uploading images, click Close this window. Note, you can only attach files with the following extensions (endings): .doc .gif .jpe .jpeg .jpg .pdf .png and .txt
    When you submit your thread, any picture files will be shown in the post, and any others will be linked to for viewing.

    Subscribing

    The next area is where you can set a subscription to your thread. There are 5 options to choose from:
    • Don’t Subscribe
    • No Email Notification
    • Instant Email Notification
    • Daily Email Notification
    • Weekly Email Notification
    If you select No Email Notification, you will not receive an email, but an icon on the forum post will indicate that you are subscribed to the thread, so you can quickly see if there is a new post.
    If you choose Instant Email Notification, you will receive an email telling you of a new post as soon as it is posted, and if you choose Daily or Weekly Email Notification, you will get an email telling you about any thread updates every day or week, depending on which option you chose.

    Polls

    The final area of Additional Options is where you can Post a Poll. to post a poll, firstly check the box next to Yes, post a poll with this thread and enter the number of options you would like in your poll (the maximum number is 10), then click Submit New Thread. Unlike normal, when clicking Submit New Thread would take you to your posted thread, you are now taken to a page that says Post a Poll:

    poll.jpg

    The first box on this page is where you ask your question. Below that, you can change the number of options in your poll from what you chose on the Thread page. When you have changed the number of options, click Update options, and the number of option boxes below will change to that number.
    In the Poll Options area, type your options into the boxes, one in each. Remember to keep both the Question and Options short and to the point.
    You can set how long you want the poll to remain open in the Poll Timeout area. To do this, simply enter the number of days after today that you want your poll to stay open.
    At the bottom of the page, there are some Miscellaneous Options. These allow users to choose more than one poll option and allow you to show who chose which option (or options). You also have the “Automatically parse links in text” and “Disable smilies in text” options mentioned above.

    To post your poll, click Submit New Poll or to see how it will look, click Preview Poll. You will now be taken to your thread, with the poll at the top.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2016
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