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User Guide

Discussion in 'Admin. Announcements' started by Sonya, May 7, 2016.

  1. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    VegasMessageBoard just upgraded to some new software. I thought I'd put together a quick user's guide to help you with the transition. Let's get started!

    Homepage

    Let's start with the forum homepage. This is the main page of the VegasMessageBoard forums. You can always return to this page by clicking on the Logo in the header, or Forums on any of the navigation bars on the forum.

    Forum List
    This is the list of the different forum sections on VMB. Click on one of the sections and you will be taken to that page and all the threads contained in that forum section.

    Profile

    If you hover over your username in the top, right menu bar, you will be able to access several settings options:

    [​IMG]

    We will cover some of these later in the User Guide.

    Alerts
    This is where you will receive notifications for events occurring on VMB. This is completely customizable by going to "Alert Preferences" in your Profile Settings.

    By default, you will receive alerts any time:
    • Someone replies to a thread you are watching
    • Someone adds an attachment to a thread you are watching
    • Someone quotes one of your posts
    • Someone likes one of your posts
    • Someone "mentions" or "tags" you in a post
    • Someone comments on your profile page
    • Someone likes your profile post
    • You receive a new follower
    • You receive a new trophy

    As you can see, this can create a large number of alerts on a board as active as ours is. You may wish to remove some of these alerts. See the section for Alert Preferences below, under Privacy and Permissions.

    Inbox

    This is where you will find all your Private Conversations (Was private messaging). If the indicator is on, you have a conversation message in your Inbox. We will cover how to start, leave and participate in conversations below.

    Privacy and Permissons:
    Edit Profile:


    If you click on your username on the top bar of VegasMessageBoard, it will open up all your profile information as well as access to editing your settings and privacy options. You can also access this by hovering over your username and selecting "Personal Details"

    [​IMG]

    Here you can enter a status message, like twitter for your profile.
    You can create or change your avatar
    You can select your gender and add your date of birth, as well as select what information is shared on your profile.
    You can also enter your Location, Occupation, a link to your personal web page and how many trips to Vegas you have taken. (location and trips to Vegas will display on your member card to the left of your posts on the board)

    Signature:

    Selecting Signature from the profile drop menu will bring up a window where you can enter a signature that will appear in the bottom of every post you make.

    Contact Details

    This menu is where you can edit your email address, change your password, change email and conversations settings. You can also add your contact information for various social media sites including, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!Messenger, Skype, Facebook and Twitter.

    Privacy:

    From this menu, you can change a number of privacy settings, including your online status, whether or not to show your day/month and/or year or birth, who has access to your profile page and read your posts on their news feed.

    [​IMG]
    Preferences:

    This is the menu to use to set your time zone, chose an editor, whether or not to show signatures, share your online status and current activity.

    [​IMG]

    Alert Preferences:

    Select "Alert Preferences" to bring up this window:

    [​IMG]

    From this menu, you can choose which events trigger an alert to appear. Delect the box and you will not receive this notification.

    Upload/Change Your Avatar:

    The board comes with custom default avatars. There are three. The VMB logo for those who have not selected a gender in their profile - Vegas Vic for the men - Vegas Vickie for the females. You can get this avatar by just selecting your gender on the Personal Details page.

    To upload an avatar go to the top of the page to your name and hover the mouse over it so you get a drop down box appear with a list of functions, click on Avatar. This will bring up a box like this

    [​IMG]

    In the box you can upload your chosen picture to become your avatar from your computer and it is recommended that it is at least 200x200 pixels. Click on "Choose File" and select an image to use. Then click on "Okay" at the bottom.

    You can also scroll down to choose from the stock avatar images we have set up for you. Click the button next to "Pick avatar from gallery" and then select the image you would like to use. Click Okay and you're all set.

    External Accounts:

    Right now we don't have this enabled, but in the future, you should be able to connect your facebook and twitter accounts to share pages with your Facebook friends and/or Twitter followers.

    Password:

    This is the option to change your password. Enter your existing password in the first box and then enter your new password twice in the following fields.


    Posting Threads and Messages:
    Post a New Thread:


    Click on the forum that you want to post in. Then at the top right there is a button titled "Post New Thread", just click on this and it will take you to this screen below

    [​IMG]

    Enter your thread title and the content of your message.

    Post a Poll:

    At the bottom of that "Post a New Thread" window is the option to add a poll to your post.

    [​IMG]

    If you wish to include a poll in your thread, enter your question, and the possible responses. Then choose whether or not people can check multiple responses or only one, and select the options, including a date to close your poll to responses.



    Reply to a Thread:

    At the bottom of the page there is a Post Reply Box where you can type into and add media and/or pictures and go to more options if needed. Then click on the "Post Reply" button underneath. This is the most basic way to reply to a thread in general.

    Reply with quote:

    If you wish to quote a specific post as part of your reply, all you need to do is to go to the post you want to quote and click on the Reply text at the bottom right of the post.

    This will automatically create the quoted text in the Post Reply box at the bottom of the screen.

    [​IMG]

    If you wish to edit this content, be sure that you don't change or remove the [ QUOTE] and [ /QUOTE] codes on either side of the text. You can delete whatever you want between them, but they are necessary for the reply to appear with the quoted text in your reply.

    Multi-quote:

    If you wish to quote multiple posts, just click "Reply" in each individual post and the code will be copied to the reply window at the bottom of the page. Pay attention to those [ QUOTE] boxes and insert your comments where appropriate.

    Selected Quote:

    If you only want to quote a specific bit of the text from a post, you can highlight it with your mouse and a "Reply" button will appear below the highlighted text. Click that "Reply" and it will show your selected text quoted in the Post Reply window at the bottom of your screen.

    [​IMG]


    Edit Post (time limited)

    At the bottom of your post, you will see the word "Edit". Click on this and you can, for a limited period of time, edit any typos or correct any content in your original post.

    Likes:

    In every post on the board, when you hover your mouse over the post, a row of "like buttons" will appear in the lower right corner. Like this:

    [​IMG]

    When you hover over them, their titles will appear. You can choose from:

    Like
    Dislike
    Agree
    Disagree
    Funny
    Informative

    Uploading Photos and Media:

    To upload a picture from the internet just click on the small picture icon at the top of the reply box.

    [​IMG]

    This will bring up a pop up where you can insert your link to your image, then click on "Insert".


    To upload a picture from your computer click on "Upload a File" to the right just below the post bit. This brings up a pop up where you can click "Choose File" and browse your own computer or device for the picture you want.
    [​IMG]

    Once uploaded you can choose whether the Thumbnail size or Full Image in the post. (We recommend you use "Full Image" as this will put your photo inline in your post.) Then click "Post Reply" or "Create Thread". Note that the picture will be automatically resized to fit the post space if needed. Please try not to upload anything larger than 800px x 800px.

    Reporting a Post:

    There may come a time when you feel the need to report a post to the staff for example; abuse, spam or trolling. To do this just click on the word "Report" which is to be found at the bottom of the post in question. This will bring up a box like this one

    [​IMG]

    Then just fill in your reasons for reporting the post and click on "Report Post" button. The staff will receive your report and handle the situation from there.



    Conversations (was Private Messaging):

    A personal conversation is like a private thread/discussion viewable to only those invited to join the conversation. You can invite people at any stage in the conversation. You can invite up to 5 members to participate in the conversation.

    If there is a response to a conversation or you have been invited into one then you will get an alert for your inbox at the top right of the page.

    To start a new conversation Hover over your name at the top right of the page then click on Conversations. Then this will take you to your conversations page where you can view existing conversations, or click on start new conversation.

    To respond to a conversation You will get an alert in your inbox next to your name top right of the page. Hover over this and a box will appear that lists all our most recent conversations.

    You can also click on a user's icon in any thread and it will open a new box and one of the options there is "Start a Conversation".

    Leave a conversation:

    When you are ready to leave a conversation group, just select "Leave Conversation" in the top, right corner of the conversation and you will be exluded from the rest of the conversation, which it continues with the other participants.

    Search:

    To search for a specific post or to see if your question has already been answered on the board, use our search feature. In the top, right corner of the board, there is a box labled "Search VMB".

    [​IMG]

    If you want to search titles only, select the box next to "Search titles only". Otherwise, it will search for your keyword in all posts.

    You can choose to search only for posts from a specific member by typing their username in the "posted by member" box. You can enter more than one username, separated by a comma. And when you start typing a username, the software will make suggestions of usernames that match what you typed in.

    If you click on the little arrow in the bottom right, you will get some other popular search options, like your posts and recent posts.

    You can also click on "More" to get to the advanced search options.

    [​IMG]

    From here you can search for different types of posts and you can also specify a specific forum or forum group. For example in that image, if you selected "Hotels & Casinos" and chose "Also search child forums", it would search all three of the sections under that group.

    Watched Threads:

    On the top right side of forums and threads, you can select to "Watch Thread" or "Watch Forum". When a new post is made to that area, you can choose to receive an alert or email when there is new activity. You can also view your watched threads and forums by choosing the appropriate link from the top menu bar.

    Following People:

    If you click on a person's avatar in a post, you can choose to follow them. This means that their posts and likes will appear in your "news feed", which is accessible from your profile page.

    Mentions:

    One new feature of this software is "Mentions". When you want to mention, or tag, someone in a thread , type their username with an @ sign in front, like this "@Username". If they have the option enabled, they will get an alert that someone mentioned them in a thread with a link to that post.

    Countdown Timer:

    Users who have more than 5-10 posts, will have the ability to create a countdown timer. Users who have more than 100 posts, will be able to create two countdown timers.

    To set up the Countdown Timer, hover over your name at the top, right hand side of the board and this menu will appear:

    [​IMG]

    Click on Countdown Timers and choose "Add New Timer" in the top, right corner. From here you can enter any text you want to display with your timer, choose the color of the timer text, the font, the background and enter the date and time of your arrival.

    If you wish to remove an existing timer, go to this same page and select "Delete" under the timer you wish to remove.

    I hope this tutorial has been helpful. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions.

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2016
  2. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    9,984
    Location:
    SoCal
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    110
    Thanks for all your hard work, Sonya.
    We're back and we're shiny.
     
  3. benbrownjr

    benbrownjr Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2013
    Messages:
    232
    Location:
    simi valley, ca
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    100
    Thanks also @Sonya (hey it works!)
     
  4. Kolmeseiska

    Kolmeseiska Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    775
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    7
    So true! I've tried with iPhone, iPad 2 and laptop, everything seems fine. :) I'm loving the way the site is on my iPad.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. mdee

    mdee VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2010
    Messages:
    2,491
    Location:
    Orlando
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    41
    How do I upload a Picture from my computer?
     
  6. SH0CK

    SH0CK Stylin' and Profilin' Quasi Tech Admin

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2001
    Messages:
    24,014
    Location:
    Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    If you mean upload into a post, here you go.
     
  7. mdee

    mdee VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2010
    Messages:
    2,491
    Location:
    Orlando
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    41
    Looked like it asked for a URL! I want to upload from computer.
     
  8. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Clicking the little image icon in the header of the reply box will ask you for a URL. To upload an image from your computer, see this section of the User Guide:

    Uploading Photos and Media:

    To upload a picture from your computer click on "Upload a File" to the right just below the post bit. This brings up a pop up where you can click "Choose File" and browse your own computer or device for the picture you want.

    Once uploaded you can choose whether the Thumbnail size or Full Image in the post. Then click "Post Reply." Note that the picture will be automatically resized to fit the post space if needed. Please try not to upload anything larger than 800px x 800px.
     
  9. mdee

    mdee VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2010
    Messages:
    2,491
    Location:
    Orlando
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    41
    Ok cool! Thanks!
     
  10. queentata

    queentata VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2005
    Messages:
    1,012
    Location:
    Crosby, TX
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Looks really good. Easy to use.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  11. blue808

    blue808 Lahaina Strong.!

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2012
    Messages:
    138
    Location:
    Maui, HI
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Where can I find an updated link to your RSS feed? My reader (Inoreader) says the current link I have (before the upgrade) is invalid. Thanks for all the effort you've put into this great site...!!
     
  12. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Not sure what feed you had on the old board, but you can find links to the feeds for each forum next to the forum sections and for the whole board in the bottom right corner of the board.

    Here is where they are located on the forum home page for the individual forum sections:
    rssfeed.jpg

    The one for the whole board is in the very bottom right corner, next to where it says " Contact Us Help Home Top " The orange link will take you to the rss feed.

    Hope that answers your question.
     
  13. blue808

    blue808 Lahaina Strong.!

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2012
    Messages:
    138
    Location:
    Maui, HI
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Thanks Sonya... I appreciate it...!!
     
    • Like Like x 1
  14. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2006
    Messages:
    2,442
    Location:
    Southern Ontario
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    No likey the inability to edit my post even if it happens to be the next day...or delete it entirely!!!
     
  15. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2002
    Messages:
    26,509
    Location:
    North Carolina
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    That's not new to this software - it's been that way forever. Always feel free to contact a moderator or administrator and we're happy to help!
     
  16. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    I am still tweaking some of the permissions. Your ability to edit extends as you have more posts. You can always use the "report" link in your post to let a moderator know you need something edited or deleted and we can take care of it for you.
     
  17. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Just updated the Creating an Avatar and Posting Photos sections to make them more clear.
     
  18. bridude98

    bridude98 Tourist

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2014
    Messages:
    93
    Location:
    Menomonee Falls, WI
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Ok, I've spent enough time trying to find the answer to my question, so I'll just ask (for fear of it being posted somewhere that I couldn't find!):

    Is there a user guide to what all the little icons mean? I can figure out the "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" easy enough, but for example, what do the little eyeglasses mean?
     
  19. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 1999
    Messages:
    44,195
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    The eyeglasses indicate a thread or forum that you are watching. If you go to the top of the board, you will see Watched Forums and Watched Threads. You can either watch, or watch with email notification. Let me know if that's helpful or if you need more info. It also should be covered in the UserGuide which is also a sticky in this section.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  20. bridude98

    bridude98 Tourist

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2014
    Messages:
    93
    Location:
    Menomonee Falls, WI
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Got it, thanks! I'm still relatively new to the boards, but what an amazing job you've done overall!