If you are used to online forums (or any kind of text editors really) then you can probably dive right in and start posting but, just in case, we thought it might be a good idea to post a few simple helpers…
Categories vs. Tags
We want to build a fast, light, and easy to use forum, and so we are using Flarum, which is modern and wonderful but might not do everything the way that you are used to in other older web forums.
One thing that you might notice is that we do not have 'categories' but we do have 'tags' which work exactly the same way. When you start a discussion you can give it one or two tags, for whichever categories you think it will fit into best.
The Post Editor
In the post editor you can do almost everything from the toolbar at the bottom... like inserting headings, bold text, italics, lists, quotes, etc. Some of the less used things, like superscript of strikethrough, are hidden behind the little +
You can link to images online using the 'Add an image' button or you can upload images directly from your phone/pc using the 'Upload' button.
Oh, and if you don't have time to finish a post then you can save it as a draft using the disk (anyone remember those) icon at the top of the post editor.
The Cool Forumy Stuff
To react to a post, just hover over it and you will see some options to reply or to like, and hit the little emjoi to see a few more reactions, like ❤️ or 😆
To quote someone, select the text you want to quote and a handy little "quote button will popup to let you do it.
If you type a web address it will automatically be turned into a link and if you type '@' followed by a forum username then they will be ''mentioned'. You can also do both of these things from the toolbar.
To add emoji, either click the button or type ':' then start typing to search for the emoji you need. For example ':cheese' = 🧀 & ':green_heart' = 💚. If you are using a phone then you can also just use emoji from the keyboard like you would anywhere else.
Updating Your Profile
If you click on your avatar (picture) or username in one one of your posts, or the little avatar in the menu (top right on desktop, bottom on mobile) then you will end up at your profile page.
From there you can upload a new picture by clicking on the existing one, and add a bio line by clicking on the text that says 'Write something about yourself'.
You can also change your nickname, which is the name displayed everywhere on the site, do that by going to settings from your profile page. You can not change your actual username, if you have a real need to do so then please contact an admin.
Markdown & BBCode
You can also use Markdown or BBCode in your posts if you like. You can find a simple guide to markdown here: Markdown Cheat Sheet
If there is anything else you need to know or think is missing from this little guide then post it below and we'll update and add it.
