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[pyrothijs]

This section of the FAQ is for questions related to the forum itself. It consists of the following categories:

*Rules
-what is and isn't allowed
-punishments
-object to a warning/punishment

*Finding answers
-finding answers to questions
-search engine (with NOTE about search results)

*Topics
-creating a new topic (with NOTE about topic titles)
-replying to a topic
-no reply button visible
-quote function
-changing text of existing posts (with NOTE about double posting)
-the 'report post' button
-upload function
-spoiler function (blacked out lines of text)

*Profile
-adding/changing profile
-adding/changing signatures
-adding/changing avatar
-adding/changing your personal photo

*Forum Lay out
-colour scheme
-language
-topic lay out (viewing answers as posts or as lines of text)

[The FORUM FAQ is complete]


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Nothing from this FAQ may be cited, reproduced or distributed in any way by other sites (except www.emergency-planet.com and related sites) without written permission of the author and www.emergency-planet.com.

[pyrothijs]

Rules

How do I know what is and what isn't allowed on this forum?
When you registerd with this forum you recieved a mail or PM containing the most important rules which apply to the forum. Those rules are called the TOS (terms of service or terms of use), you can find them posted as an anouncement at the top of each subforum. This is a direct link to them (click). Most of the illegal activities or "don'ts" on this fourm are listed here.

But as always rules can't cover every possible aspect of what you are (not) allowed to do. So please use your own judgement to determine wether something is appropriate or not, if you have serious doubts you can always contact a mod or admin before posting. Administrators and Moderators have the right to decide a subject or topic isn't allowed at the forum even though it isn't listed as forbidden in the TOS. Not following their instructions in that case will get you a warning or worse.

If I don't follow the forum rules what punishment can I get?
Normally you get a warning for every offense by a mod or admin. Next to a warning there are other punishments that an admin can resort to. You will find them below. Each member is allowed to have a total of 4 warnings. Once you have gathered those four warnings (something you really shouldn't be proud of) an automatic ban will follow.

The other punishments are:
-removal of your signature: if you broke the rules about signatures and you have not fixed your error(s) the admins can decide to delete your signature from your profile.
-removal of one or more of your posts: if you fail to adjust posts that have been found in violation of the forum rules an admin will remove your posts or adjust the text of that post.
-Suspension of your posting priviliges: for the more serious offences, an administrator or moderator can suspend your posting privilges. This means you cannot post any messages on the forum for a period of time (can vary from a day to a lifetime).
-Suspension of your Private Messaging (PM) priviliges: if you sent one or more inappropriate PM's or if you are spamming other users via PM an administrator can suspend your PM priviliges. This means you won't be able to send PM's for a period of time (can vary from a day to a lifetime).
-a temporarely ban: you are not allowed to use the forum (log in, post in topics and polls etc.) for a period of time. The more serious the violation of the rules was, the longer the period of time will be.
-a lifetime ban: same as the temporarely ban, but lasts for ever.

What if I don't agree with a warning or punishment?
Most moderators and admins are very patient people, before actually giving you an official warning they will first contact you to tell you to adjust your post or your behavior, even though they're not obliged to do so. That means that normally speaking most warnings are given justly and will not be taken back. But off course we are only human too and we can make mistakes. If you feel you have been given a warning or punishment without cause or you think the punishment is too severe you can contact the moderator who issued the warning or the forum administrators (info[at]emergency-planet.com, be sure to replace the [at] by a @).
If they feel the warning was indeed issued without good cause or the punshment was to severe they will undo the warning or lower the punishment.

Edited by pyrothijs, 02 October 2009 - 12:14 PM.

[pyrothijs]

Finding answers

How can I get my question answered as soon as possible?
This forum has been around since november 2005, so it is possible that your question has been answered already. Besides browsing the forum post by post there are several ways of finding if someone else answered your question already. You can use this FAQ, the search function (top right hand corner) or the walkthrough on our main page. If you can't find an answer off course you're free to post your question on the forum (see the topics section of this FAQ). But please: look before posting, it could save you a lot of time!

How does the search engine work?
You can find the search engine in the top right hand corner of the forum, no matter what part of the forum you are viewing. Press 'search' to activate the search engine. You can now enter one or more terms that specify what your looking for (the terms have to be over 3 letters in length). Please make sure the "search this forum only?" option is deactivated. After you've entered the terms press "go" to start the search.


There is also an advanced search engine. You can activate that by pressing "more search options" in the search engine menu. You can choose the forum you want to search in and you can sort posts by date or relevance. The "more options" button at the bottom of the screen even gives you the option to search by member name. You can also choose to search topic titles only (limits your search results) and how you want the results shown (as topics or as seperate posts).

NOTE: the search engine can't always find an answer even though it has been given. That is because some members don't specify their problem in their topics or they use other words to describe the problem then you used in the search engine. Also keep in mind that English isn't the native language of many of our visitors, so misspelled words etc. can also complicate the search. You can always try to search again but using different search terms or phrases. Again if your search is unsuccesful you are welcome to ask your question on the forum.

Edited by pyrothijs, 05 March 2009 - 02:25 PM.

[pyrothijs]

Topics

How do I create a new topic on the forum?
First make sure you are in the right section of the forum. If you want to know what questions belong in what part of the forum please check out this thread (click).

Second, once you are in the right part of the forum, you will see a list of topics that are in that subforum. On the right hand side of the screen above that list of topics you can see this button use it to start a new topic. Now type in the topic title and your message/question and press 'post new topic' (bottom of the screen).

NOTE: when creating a new topic be sure to give the topic an understandable title! Topic titles such as "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPP" or "problem" won't get your topic answered faster cause people don't know what it's about when scrolling through the list of topics. Try to be more specific: tell with what problem you need help, like this: "need help completeing mission 1". If the topic title doesn't provide you enough room to specify your problem, you can use the subtitle (below the topic title) to eleborate further.

How do I reply to a topic?
There are two ways to reply to a topic. Firstly you can find this button at the top and bottom of every page , if you press it you can add a reply to the topic. Secondly, you can find this button below every post in the topic If you press that you will also go to the reply screen, but the text of the post your replying to will automaticly be copied into your message (comes in handy if you want to reply to a specific part of the post).
Sometimes you can't find both buttons in a topic, most likely that's because the topic is locked. In stead of the 'add reply' button you will find this message at the top and the bottom of the page . Most of the time you will also find this smiley in the last post of that topic It is not possible to reply to that topic anymore.

I cannot see a reply button
There can be two causes for this:
1: the topic is closed, it isn't possible to reply to this topic anymore. See above for more information.

2: you did not confirm your e-mail adress. After registration you recieved an e-mail from www.emergency-planet.com containing your log in data. In that e-mail you will also find a verification link to confirm your e-mail adress. You need to click this link before you are able to reply to a topic.

What does the quote function do and how does it work?
The quote function is meant to quote from several topics at once. So say you want to reply to three different topics and you want to quote from all of them. You can use the quote function to make sure the topics are quoted in your reply screen. It works like this:

At the bottom of every post you can find this button . If you press it once it will change to this button . All posts that have the will be added as a quote when you press the button. You can now type your message like in a normal reply.

How do I change the text of my post after I've posted (yes you can!)?
Below your post you will find one of your best friends: the button. If you press it you are able to chose between quick edit and full edit. The quick edit option gives you the ability to only change the text whilst the full edit option gives you the ability to add pictures, colours, styles etc. just like when typing a new post. Once you're done you can click the complete edit button to submit your modified post.

NOTE: double posting (placing a post directly behind another post by the same author) is not allowed in this forum. If you want to add extra information to your last post you can use the edit button to prevent double posting.

What is the 'report post' button for?
The button can be found at the bottom left of each post. This button can be used by forum members to notify an admin or mod of a post in which the forum rules are broken. The button should only be used to report serious offenses (illegal activity, serious verbal abuse, name calling, etc.). It is NOT meant to inform someone you just posted a message and you would like an answer. Abuse or mis-use of this button will not be tolerated and will get you a warning or worse.

How do I upload a document when creating a post?
When you write a post you can use the forum's upload function to attach files to the post. You can find the upload function directly beneath the white box where you type you text. It's called attachments (see screenshot).



There are two ways of attaching a file:
1A: Enter the URL of a file that is al ready on the internet.
1B: Search for the file on your computer and select it with the browse function. After selecting the right fle press UPLOAD (#2)

Once the file is uploaded you need to enter the manage current attachment menu (#3) to add the attachment to the text or to remove the attachment.
There are two things you can do with the document:


Button A adds the document to the text box attachin it to the post
Button B removes the document from the list of uploaded files
Picture C indicates the type of document (picture, text file etc.)

I sometimes see black lines of text in a message, what is that for?
The black lines of text are called spoilers. They hide text you don't want everybody to read immediatly (for example the ending of a mission). You can create a spoiler by pressing Insert: SPOILER (left side of the screen), while typing a message. When you press this a smaller text box will appear. You can add the text for the spoiler in this text box and press OK. When you've added your post you will see a blacked out line of text, like this one:

Spoiler

Well done, you found out how to read spoilers!

To read it click on the spoiler and drag the mouse over it (while still holding the mouse button down). The spoiler will turn blue and the text will appear in white so you can read it. Try it with the spoiler above.

[pyrothijs]

Profile

How do I add or edit my profile information?
Click on 'my controlls' (top right hand corner). Now click on 'Edit Profile Information' in the personal profile list (left side of the screen). You will see a blue background appearing with some personal questions. You can fill in the blanks if you want. You don't have to, you can also fill in part and leave the rest blank. Then scroll down and click 'amend my profile'

How do I add or edit a signature/banner?
Again, click on 'my controlls' (top right hand corner). Now take the following steps:
1: Click on 'edit signature' in the personal profile list (left side of the screen). You'll see a white text box appearing like in this screen (made by Tomyboy, thank you very much for letting me borrow it ):


2: Type your signature text in this white text box. You can use the button's above the text box to add links, pictures etc. You can also adjust the lay out with these buttons (alignment, text size and color etc.).
3: When you're done scroll down and click 'update signature'. If you take step 1 again you can see how the signature looks like. You can also adjust it if you want.

NOTE: be sure te respect the signature rules (click) the forum has: not all sorts and sizes are allowed.

How do I add or edit my avatar?
An avatar is a little picture that will be shown next to your name when you make a post in the forum. You can add or edit it this way:

1: Click on 'my controlls' (top right hand corner).
2:Now click on 'Edit Avatar Settings' in the personal profile list (left side of the screen).

There are three ways to add an avatar:
3: Select an Avatar that is pre-installed. These avatars (mostly flags, smileys and comic book figures and a few symbols) are installed with the forum and can be used without beeing rescaled or uploaded etc. To select one: click on the gray square with the black triangle, select the category and press go. Now select the avatar you like, scroll down and click 'use selected avatar'.
4: Use an online avatar. If you already have an avatar online elsewhere and you would like to use it on this forum to then you can enter the URL of that avatar here.
5: Use an avatar on your computer. If you have a really cool picture on your PC you want to use as an avatar you can upload it. Use the browse button to find the file and open it.

6: When you have selected the avatar of your choice press 'Add Avatar' or 'Update Avatar' to set your avatar. If your unhappy with the avatar you can remove it by pressing 'remove Avatar'.

NOTE: make sure the avatar you want to add is of the correct format (.gif, .png, .jpg or .jpeg) and of the right size (120 by 120 pixels max). If you have the automatic image scale on the forum will automaticly make sure your avatar is the right size.

How can I add or edit my personall photo?
Almost the same way as changing your avatar (see above) only you need to got to 'Change Personal Photo' in the profile list. You can select a photo on your computer the same way as in step 5 of changing the avatar.

NOTE: make sure the photo you want to add is of the correct format (.gif, .png, .jpg or .jpeg) and of the right size (150 by 150 pixels max and no larger then 250 Kb). If you have the automatic image scale on the forum will automaticly make sure your photo is the right pixel size.

[pyrothijs]

Forum Lay out

How do I change the colour scheme of the forum?
At the left side of the bottom of every page there is a skin selector. You can change the colour there. For now, the skin selector contains only one colour scheme (velvet blue), so you're not able to change the forums colour scheme.

How do I change the language of the forum?
You can't change the language of the forum. On the bottom left of every forum page there is a language selector but it only contains English as a language.

I can't see posts anymore, I can only see the first post of every topic and underneath are links to the answers. How do I change that?
On the top right hand corner of the first topic you can find the options menu. If you press it you will see three display modes: outline (shows first topic and links to answers), standard (shows all posts) and linear + (also displays all posts but with space between posts). Press standard to go back to the version with all topics.


NOTE: this only works when you are reading a topic!