# Forums 101 - posting, accounts, basics



## Janet H

Welcome to DiscussCooking.com.  Please take a moment to read through this discussion if you are having trouble posting or have other basic questions about how our forum works. Here are some links to find more help about using the forum (if you don't find what you need in this discussion thread).

Forum Rules
[URL="http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/faq.php"]Forum FAQs [/URL](frequently asked questions)
Our support forum where you can ask members for help with forum tech issues.
Our help desk - e-mail us for tech support, passwords, account issues, etc.


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## Janet H

*How to register*

Registration is free and open to everyone. While even unregistered viewers may read our board, only registered members can post here. 

*To register:*
1. Open your open your internet browser and go to this link: Discuss Cooking - Cooking Forums - Register or open the forums home page and click on the "register" link.
2. Fill out your birth date and click proceed. You must be older than 13 to register.
3. Check the "I agree to the rules" button (if you agree)
4. Click the "register" button
5. A form will appear and you will need to fill out the info requested. Be sure that your e-mail address is filled out correctly. We do not sell or share your information.
6. After you have filled in required info. Click on "complete registration" at the bottom of page. If you have not filled out all info - you will be prompted go enter the requested info.
7. You will get an email asking you to verify your email address. Please make sure that any SPAM filters you have enabled do not prevent email from our site from coming through.

This completes the registration process.


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## Janet H

*Logging in*

Once you have registered you may login to post or search our database for information about cooking.

You will see a log in box in the upper right hand corner. Enter your username and password (these are case sensitive) and then click the 'remember me' box.

Our site exchanges little bits of data called cookies with your computer to keep you logged in at page changes. Many virus protection programs or your computers own safety settings (if set very high) may be deleting these cookies when you navigate away from a page and then you get logged off. You can try the following things:


Set your system security settings to medium.
Be sure that you have enabled cookie handling.
Check your Virus protection software and firewall settings to be sure that cookie handling is not being blocked there - you can specifically allow cookie exchange with the site.
At the end of your visit, you can log out or just navigate away from our site. Our server will automatically sever your connection after a period of time.

*If you have forgotten your password* and cannot login, you may request a new one via the contact us link located at the bottom of each page.  You do not need to be logged in to use this link.


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## Janet H

*User Name*

*Your user name* displays next to each post an identifies your account. In order to log in you need to know both your user name and password and they are case sensitive. 

While you can change your password once you have logged in via your usercp (see link on upper nav bar), only an admin can change your user name. If you need to have a user name change please use the contact us link at the bottom of the page. Tell us what your current user name is and make a request for a new one. If your desired name is already in use, you may have to choose again. User names are best kept to a short length (under 12 characters) and shouldn't contain any special characters (like % or & or #). They also have to be G rated and may not be e-mail addresses or web addresses.

*If you have forgotten your user name* and cannot login, contact us with as much info about your existing account as you can remember and we'll try to help. The contact us link located at the bottom of each page.  You do not need to be logged in to use this link.

If you have 2 accounts, we can merge them and move all posts to one account but we will need to know which account you wish to retain.


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## Janet H

*How to post a new question (thread)*

Questions or a new topic thread can be started in the section of the forum that best fits the topic you have in mind. Once you have posted your question you can edit that post for a brief period of time.


Log into the forums.
Click on the "forums" tab at the top of the page. You may see a list of subforum/topic areas.
Click on the subforum that best suits your intended post. Once it opens you will see a list of threads already in that subforum. At the top of the list, over toward the left, you should see a "new thread" button.
Click on the new thread button and follow the prompts.
Once you have crafted your post, click on the submit reply button below the text editor to submit your post to the board.


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## Janet H

*How to post a reply*

To reply to an already existing thread:


Log into our site.
Open the thread you want to reply to.
In the bottom right hand side of the post you want to respond to, click on the note pad looking thing (post quick reply). A text editor box should appear.
Add your text and then hit post reply at the bottom of text box.
Or... you can hit "go advanced" and get a more complete text editor with formatting options and the ability to upload photos.

Once you have crafted your post, click on the submit reply button below the text editor to submit your post to the board.


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## Janet H

*Editing your posts*

Posts can be edited for a brief period after they are posted.  If you need to change post content after the edit window has expired, please contact a moderator for help with this.  In general you can simply post an update to a thread if there is new information but in the case of a recipe (for example) that needs to be corrected a forum moderator can help you make these changes.


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## Janet H

*How to add photos to a post*


Click reply and scroll down to bottom of text box.
Click "go advanced" add text to message window and then scroll down.
Click "Manage attachments" A separate window will pop up.
Click "browse" Then select the file to be uploaded. Be sure that the photo is appropriately sized. 800 x 600 pixels (or smaller) and no more than 400K. Forums software will automatically reduce the size, but smaller size photos will upload much faster. You may select several photos to upload at the same time by repeating the last step.
Click "Upload" After pics have loaded close the pop-up window
Click "submit reply" to mount the text of your message - photos will automatically appear at the bottom of your post.
 
*About attachment storage limits*

When you upload a copy of an image file (or other attachment) it is stored on our servers. We highly recommend that you reduce file sizes before uploading them to posts and threads.

*How to embed an image stored on another site:*
You can do this by using image tags. Upload the image to a service like imageshack and then copy the URL of the image and put that between  tags. That will work well, as long as the host site stays in business and doesn't disable your image for overuse of bandwidth etc.

You can also paste in the location of a photo stored here in a photo gallery.

To do this: Paste the url of the image into your post. Then add the following code on either side of the url (with no extra spaces):

[IMG]url here 

The image will appear where the url was in your text.


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## Janet H

*PM System and Profile Comments*

There are two ways to communicate with other forums members outside of the normal posting area. 


Private messages that only the person you send it to can read and respond to.
Profile Comments left on the member’s page (profile). Anyone can see profile comments and the recipient has the option to delete it from their page.
 If you click on a members name next to a post and select “View Public Profile” it will take you to the member’s profile page. Click on the “Contact Info” tab and you have several options depending on what types of messages the member has chosen to accept. 

 If you select private message you will need to select a title, type in your message and press the “Submit Message” button at the bottom. You can add smiles and links, but you can not attach pictures to a private message.

 If you select to send a profile comment, type in the message and press the “Post Message” button at the bottom.


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## Janet H

*Customizing your account, subscriptions*

You can change various settings in your member account.  To access your account, click "user CP" on the upper navbar.

From the left side menu in your user control panel, you can add a signature, upload an avatar (the picture beside a post), change your account information and your forum interface. After any change, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'save'.

One of the features of our forum is the ability to receive e-mail updates of new posts to a thread you may be interested in. You can opt for no e-mail, instant e-mail, daily or weekly. If you have elected to receive e-mail, make sure you have a valid e-mail address listed in your account profile. your e-mail address will not be publicly viewable and we do not sell or share member information.


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## Janet H

*Photo Albums*

Take a wander through our photo amazing member photos!. Members may set up Photo albums in their profile and the upload images.  Albums can be associated with one of our per-existing categories to help others locate images.

To set up a photo album:

Click on your user cp (upper nav bar)

Look for Pictures & Albums in the left side menu.
> Add album

Once you have set up your album, click on the album to open it and then add images.  Once uploaded you can edit images as needed, move them between albums and even set privacy levels.

Be sure to include a description of you photo


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## Janet H

Signatures are set up in your user cp and display on every single post you make.

Members can customise their signatures. Please remember to check out rules about what is allowed.  As an example, no commercial links are permitted and only one link.  Html isn't permitted in sig for security reasons and no signature images are permitted. or now you can set up text based signature if you like and include a link. You can use 3 lines and stuff a surprising amount of content into a signature.

Some other hints: I strongly recommend playing with smaller font sizes and making them bold. Also try putting several pieces of info on one line with *| *(look above the enter key on your keyboard) seperaters. Remember that your sig shows on every post and so members see it over and over and over. You want it to be informational - but not overpower the text of you post.  Here is an example..
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*Casual cook | Serious foodie | Gyro the dog | Felix the cat
Current location: at the grill
 My Home Page* ​


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## Janet H

*Forum Staff - Moderators*

The staff of Discuss Cooking consists of a team of moderators who are volunteers. Their job is to keep the forums running smoothly by assisting members and if needed, enforcing the rules of the forums. Moderators keep posts and threads in the proper location and are available for problem solving. Moderators may warn, suspend or even ban a member who has continually violated the rules of the forums but these disciplinary actions are extremely rare and are done with a consensus of the moderator team. You can view a compete [URL="http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/showgroups.php"]list of our site staff here.
 [/URL] 
The bottom of the Forums page displays a list of members who are currently logged onto the forums. The moderator’s names are listed in bold. If you need assistance, feel free to contact any of the moderators. If you see a post that you find objectionable, use the “Report Post” option under the posters information on the left side of the screen. This option will generate an alert to all members of the moderator team.

The site staff would like your time on the forums to be a positive experience. Let us know how we can help.


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## Janet H

*Avatars*

An avatar is the little picture displayed below your user name in the profile box on the left side of every post. You may use a forums avatar or upload your own custom avatar. Avatars are limited in size to 80 x 80 pixels or 65 KB (whichever is smaller).

*To upload a custom avatar:  *Choose a picture you like that is stored in your computer. Resize the picture to meet the size requirements above using a photo/image editor or camera software. Images that are too large will fail to load and you will receive and error message.

1. Click user CP (control panel) on upper blue tool bar.
2. Click edit avatar on left side menu.
3. Scroll down to the "Custom Avatar" box and click the "use Custom Avatar" button.
4. Click Browse button. A file menu screen will appear and you can choose the avatar file to be loaded. The file name should appear in the "upload an avatar from your computer box". 
5. Click save changes.


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## Janet H

*How to search the forum*

There are a couple of ways to search the forum. If you have a question we recommend that you search before posting. There's a fair chance that we have a several posts about your topic of interest. 

*The Forums search tool* found on the nav bar is fairly easy to use and really quick. Our search tool searches for key words and you have a choice to search for threads or posts. Consider using the *advanced search* function to narrow down your choices. You must be logged into the forums to use the search tool.

*Google search:* We have an embedded google search available.  Check out the upper right hand corner of the page to find this tool.


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## Janet H

*embedded video*

You can embed a YouTube video (provided it's on topic) in a post. Just copy the url of the video from your browser address line and paste it into your post. The video will display when you make the post.

YouTube - Julia Child making omelette


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## Janet H

*Friends and contacts lists*

Friend and contact lists can be both fun and useful. You can easily sent PM's with a single click to your group of friends, and see them more easily in the online lists as a *+* will display next to their usernames.

*What is the difference between a friend and a contact?*
A friendship is a mutual, two-way relationship between two users. It is initiated by one user and accepted by the other. A contact is a one-way friendship. This could be where the other person does not accept the friendship, a friendship request is pending, or you do not wish to be friends at this time but want to show them as a contact only.

*Where is list of friends and contacts displayed?*
  Your friends and contacts are displayed on the 'Contacts and Friends' page in your User CP. Your friends are also displayed in your profile page.

*How can I request a friend, accept a friend or break a friendship?*
  There are two ways to request a friendship with someone.
The easiest way is to view the profile page of the person you want to become friends with and click the 'Befriend' link.The other way is to add the person to your contacts first. Then from your 'Contacts and Friends' page ask to be their friend by checking the box next to their name labeled 'Friend'. Next, save the page.


If you know the username of the person you want to be friends with you can send a friend request using the box provided and clicking 'Add Friend'.
To accept a friend, go to your 'Contacts and Friends' page. At the bottom of the page you will see a list of pending requests. Check the box for the requests you wish to accept then check the 'Accept' button and save the changes. If you do not wish to be friends then select 'Reject' instead.
  Breaking a friendship can be done in three ways.


From your 'Contacts and Friends' page, uncheck the box for friend for the particular person and save the changes. If you no longer wish them to be a contact either, uncheck both boxes for that person.
In your 'Profile Page', click 'Friends' and then click 'Break Friendship' next to the user's name.
In the other person's profile, click 'Friends' then find your username and click 'Break Friendship'.


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## Janet H

*New Posts vs. Todays posts*

The link to Todays Posts can be found in the drop down menu under Quick links on the upper nav bar and is go to place for a fast update on all forum posting activity. This link will show all threads that have been updated since your last login.

The link to New Posts is located in the center of the nav bar and functions differently. It will only display posts you have not looked at and this includes any posts you have made. It doesn't really give a complete list of new posts - just ones you have not read.


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## Janet H

*How to embed a link in text*


Type the text in the reply editor
Next highlight the text you want to be a link and select the link tool on the editor box (looks like 2 chain links).
A link editor will pop up and you can add the url of the target page. Click OK
Then once back in you sig editor hit save changes.


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## Janet H

*Ignore feature*

You can place other forum members on an ignore list so that you can't read their posts and they cannot use the PM system to contact you.

To do this:


Click on 'usercp' on the upper blue nav bar.
Find "settings & Options" on the left side menu and select "edit ignore list"
 This is useful for those members that really push your buttons, or whos' posts consistently annoy the heck out you (or if your ex posts here) 

If you have a problem with another members posting style we strongly encourage you to use the ignore feature. As always, if you feel a post is inappropriate, use the report post button to report it to site staff.


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