1. This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used.
    For information on cookies and how you can disable them visit our Cookie Usage page.
    Dismiss Notice

General FIRST-TIMER'S GUIDE TO FWT

Discussion in 'General' started by Ruthe, May 25, 2014.

Tags:
  1. Ruthe

    Ruthe Community Manager

    Hello new member!

    Welcome on board FWT!

    If it’s your first time using a forum, we’re here to help you navigate the vast (and exciting) space that is FWT. So put out your best thumb (or finger if you’re @sadfish), and hitch a ride from your friendly mod—namely, me—on a tour of what FWT has to offer you!


    sadfishfinger.png

    Your friendly moderator,
    Ruthe



    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I. STARTING FROM SCRATCH

    1. REGISTER.


    Create an account if you haven’t already done so!

    01-Signup.png

    Enter your desired username and click on “Sign Up”.

    03-Signup.png

    Proceed to fill up the sign-up form. Remember to check the box for “I agree to the terms and rules”.

    04-Signup.png
    Once you have submitted the form, you should receive a confirmation e-mail. Click on the link to complete your registration.

    05-Signup.png

    You should see the following screen. Choose to “edit your account details”.

    06-Signup.png


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    2. EDIT PERSONAL DETAILS.

    STATUS MESSAGE
    Kind of like a tweet or a shout-out, just to let others know how you feel.
    (Sadfish is usually just :(.)

    AVATAR
    Let us see your glorious face appear next to your every post on the forum.
    (Or be as bland and tasteless as a grey gender symbol. Or punctuation mark.)

    If you are a member of gravatar.com, your e-mail address will be recognized and your avatar synced, or you could enter an (alternative) e-mail address.

    Resizing your avatar is not an issue; simply hover your pointer over the avatar preview and you can move your avatar around.

    07-Avatar.png
    GENDER
    If you want to get sociological, we’re talking about biological sex here.
    (Sadfish isn’t sure which it belongs to.)

    DATE OF BIRTH
    Don’t want people to find out how many candles are appearing on your birthday cake this year? UNCHECK THOSE HONESTY BOXES.
    (Cruel, cruel society.)

    LOCATION
    No mayorhood conferred here, but display your country pride anyway!

    OCCUPATION
    Are you a lumberjack sorcerer? An enchanted talking axe? Enlighten us.

    HOMEPAGE
    What better way to gain traffic for your website?
    (Spam bots will be annihilated. No mercy.)

    ABOUT YOU
    Tell us more about yourself, but don’t write an essay!

    Once you’re done, let’s move on to the fancy, glittery (shudders) world of signatures.

    08-Account.png

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    3. CREATE YOUR SIGNATURE.

    Jazz up your posts by having a signature. This appears at the bottom of every post, like so:

    11-SignatureExample.png

    Enter the text you’d like to be displayed as your signature, then Preview it before saving.

    09-Signature.png

    Once you’re done editing your signature, Save Changes and click on the Privacy tab.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    4. EDIT PRIVACY SETTINGS.

    Decide whom you deem worthy of witnessing your online genius, interacting with you (or knowing your true age).

    12-Privacy.png

    Once you’re done, Save Changes and click on the Preferences tab.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    5. SET YOUR BROWSING PREFERENCES.

    What time zone do you prefer to operate by? Also, determine whether you would like to automatically watch threads, use our rich text editor or banish signatures and online statuses entirely.

    13-Preferences.png

    Save Changes and move on to Alert Preferences.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    6. SET YOUR ALERT PREFERENCES.

    This is different from the browsing preferences you just changed. Alert Preferences determines when you receive a notification in the top-right corner of your browser:

    14-Alerts.png
    Of course, you can also choose to edit your Alert Preferences from the dropdown option here. Who wants to navigate the long way when you can spend more time sitting around eating chips on a couch? Right?

    Set your Alert Preferences according to what is a comfortable level of notifications for forum activity you are involved in, e.g. watched threads, profile page comments, tags.

    Of course, if interaction with the community excites you (or if you are awaiting the completion of your template request), you should definitely leave most of these options checked.

    15-Alert Preferences.png

    Remember to Save Changes!


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    7. FOLLOW OTHER MEMBERS.

    This feature comes in handy when you’re more familiar with the community and the who’s who of your area of interest. For starters, you may want to follow some of these members—regular contributors to FWT with a wealth of experience.

    Following is one of the best ways to keep updated with your favorite members, as well as the happenings on FWT.

    To follow a member, type their full username. If you are unsure what their full username is, a dropdown of related usernames will help you.

    17-Follow.png

    Once you’ve chosen all the members you want to follow, Save Changes as usual and proceed to Your News Feed tab.

    18-News-Feed.png

    You should now see activity related to the members you’ve begun following.

    Conversely, you can ban notifications of activity by a specific member who’s plaguing you (unrequited love, perhaps?) by using People You Ignore the same way.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    II. ENTER THE FORUM

    1. LOG IN.


    19-Login.png

    Check the “Stay logged in” option if you prefer not to have to sign in every time you visit FWT.

    20-Login-2.png

    (Psst. If your password is 4 characters, please change it before hackers take a hack at it.)


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    2. NAVIGATE THE FORUM.

    Once you’ve logged in, click on the Forum tab.

    21-Forum.png

    It’s just like it seems—FWT is full of things to see and do. But it doesn’t have to be a labyrinth (hence this guide to hold your hand).

    22-Forum.png

    To find out what are all the new posts since your last visit, click on the New Posts tab:

    23-New-Posts.png


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    3. START A DISCUSSION.

    What better way to learn than hands-on? We recommend posting a new introduction thread. (Make some friends while you’re at it!)

    Navigate to Introductions. Click on Post New Thread.

    Entitle your thread. Enter your body text, in this case, an introduction of yourself.

    24-blooop.png

    Click on Create Thread when you are ready, or…


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    4. UPLOAD AN IMAGE/FILE.

    Open the folder your files are in.

    Select the files you would like to include in your thread/post. Drag-and-drop them into the rich text editor.

    25-Upload.png

    [IMAGE FILES ONLY] Once you have done so, choose between displaying your attachment as a thumbnail image or a full image in the post:

    26-ThumbnailvFull.png

    (But who can see anything in a puny thumbnail?!)

    When you are ready, preview your post to make sure it looks okay:

    27-Preview.png

    And there you have it—your very first thread! (BLOOOP!)

    28-New Post.png


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    5. ENGAGE IN DISCUSSION.

    Make conversation, provide support, like a post! FWT is a community powered by individuals like you.

    29-Post.png


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    6. SEARCH FOR TOPICS OF RELEVANCE.

    Looking for something specific? Unsure if a topic you want to post has already been discussed? Use the Search function at the top-right-hand corner:

    30-Search.png
    You can make advanced searches by customizing the search parameters. These include narrowing the search to a particular forum or to a specific member. Click on More… for more search options.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    And there you have it!

    If you need more help on how to use the forum, feel free to ask your questions here in this thread and the staff will do our best to help you! :)
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: May 25, 2014
    Farodin, zane, Dawn and 2 others like this.