Announcement The VV "How-to" guide (with pictures)

[SummerRain]

Hello everybody! Hopefully this guide can answer any questions you might have about navigating the forum, and make it easier to navigate for new members. Just click on the "Toggle Spoiler" button to find the instructions for each heading.

If you have any questions that you think should be included, or want to know the answer to, please message me and I'll consider putting them in, as this thread is locked to keep it easy to navigate. (Similarly, for the time being, if you find any mistakes or if anything is unclear, you can message me and I'll consider changing it.)

Changing the appearance of the forum (Changing your “skin” or “style”)

Spoiler

Different skins (or styles) change the appearance of the forum. To use a different skin, look in the bottom left of the page and click on “XenForo style”:



This window (below) will appear on the screen, to choose a style simply click on it.

Accessing private forums

Spoiler

To request access to private forums, click on your username, at the the top right of the screen. Select “Join User Groups”



The joinable user gro

Spoilers

Spoiler

A spoiler requires users to press a button to show the content.

To use spoilers within your post, you can type: [spoiler="description"]Anything here[/spoiler]

You can copy and paste this into your reply. Write a description of the content in the spoiler (to help users decide if they want to see it or not) where “description” is written, and the content you wish to hide in “Anything here”.

Liking a post

Spoiler

Liking a post allows you to agree with a post, without having to write your own post. To like a post, click the “Like” button at the bottom right of the post:



Your “like” will appear like this, in the bottom left of the post:



Starting a discussion (thread)

Reporting a post

Spoiler

Reporting a post alerts the moderating team to a post which you suspect violates the rules of VV. For example, if you suspect a post is spam.

You can also report a post (including your own) if you have a request from the moderating team regarding it, for example if you would like the title to be changed to something clearer. The person who has reported a post will be kept anonymous.

To report a post, click “report” in the bottom right of a post.

Uploading media files

Spoiler

To upload media, click on the “media” button (see below) and type in the URL of the webpage you want to use. Accepted websites are: BandCamp; Dailymotion; Facebook; Liveleak; Metacafe; SoundCloud; TED; Vimeo and YouTube.

Using a picture in a post

Spoiler

To upload a picture you can either upload a picture from your computer or use a picture from a webpage.

To upload a picture: Click on “Upload a file” in the bottom left of the reply box and select a picture from your computer. The picture will the show below and you can choose to insert a thumbnail or full image using the buttons next to the picture.



To use a picture from a webpage, click “Insert/edit” image in the reply box, and type in the URL of the picture you wish to use (not the URL of the webpage). This can be found right-clicking on the image and selecting “copy image location”. This should work for any image, as long as the image has public privacy settings.

 

[SummerRain]

Your alert preferences

Spoiler

To set your alert preferences, click on your name at the top right-hand corner of the webpage and select “Alert preferences” from the drop-down window:



You can then choose what events cause an alert to pop-up on your page, by selecting/de-selecting the tick boxes shown.

How to change your avatar:

Spoiler

To change your avatar, click on your username at the top, right-hand corner of the webpage and select “Avatar” from the drop-down menu. You can then upload a picture from your computer.

Watched threads

Spoiler

Watching a thread allows you to keep track of threads that interest you easily. To watch a thread go to the thread you want to watch and select “Watch” in the top right corner of the thread:



When you click on the watch button, this window will appear. You can choose whether or not you want email notifications from this thread and then click “watch thread”.



To unwatch a thread, click on your username at the top right hand corner of the window, and select “watched threads” from the drop-down window:



If the thread you want to un-watch doesn’t appear, click “Show all watched threads”



The thread should then appear; check the box of the thread (or threads) you want to un-watch by clicking in it. Then select “Stop watching threads” from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the list of threads.

 

[SummerRain]

Personal conversations

Spoiler

A personal conversation is a private discussion between you and one or more members. To start a personal conversation with another member, click on that persons username and click on “Start a conversation”.






If you want to include another person into the conversation, you can type their name into the “participants” box at the top of the conversation page, separated by a comma:

How do I disable smilies?

Spoiler

If you want to type a smilie, for example :-) without an image appearing, use the code: [PLAIN] [/PLAIN]

Common forum abbreviations

Spoiler

AKA – Also known as
ATM – At the moment
BF – Boyfriend
BTW – By the way
DH – Dear husband
ETA - Edited to add (i.e. somebody has gone back and edited a post to change something)
GF – Girlfriend
SO – significant other
IMHO – In my honest opinion
IMO – In my opinion
IRL – In real life
JK – Just kidding
LOL – Laugh out loud
LMAO – Laughing my arse off
NSFW – Not safe for work
OMG – Oh my god
OP - original poster/original post (The person or post that starts a thread)
OT – Off topic
PC – Private conversation
PM – Private message
TBH – To be honest
TMI – Too much information
TY – Thank you
WB – Welcome back
Veg*an – Vegetarian or vegan
VV – Veggie views

How do I quote something that isn't on veggieviews?

Spoiler

To put something not not from veggie views in a quote, you can type in the code: [quote="name"] quote here [/quote].
You can put the name of the source of the quote or the person you're quoting in "name" (or leave it blank) and put the quote where it says "quote here".
(You can also quote members of VV in this way, and type their user name in "name" if you find that easier.)

 

[Second Summer]

Quoting And Multi-quoting

Spoiler

To quote a single post, click the "Reply" button underneath the post:


To quote multiple posts, click the "+ Quote" button underneath each of the posts. Then click the "Insert Quotes" button underneath the post editor:


This brings up a pop-up where you can review the posts before you insert the quotes into your own post. Note that you can remove posts with the "Remove" buttons, and rearrange the order by dragging the posts around:


Finally, the quotes are inserted into the post editor as shown here:

Selective Quoting

Spoiler

To quote only part of a post, select the part you want with your mouse, then click the "+ Quote" or "Reply" buttons on the pop-up that appears next to the selected text. Choose "Reply" to quote only that part. The quote is then immediately inserted into the text editor.



For multi-quoting, choose the "+ Quote" button instead. Once you are done choosing text to quote, click the "Insert Quotes" button and follow the directions above for multi-quoting.