scraptasia

how to sign-up for your free account:

01. in the top toolbar of the message board, right under our banner, you will see a link that says, "register" next to a box with a check mark in it. click on "register"

02. read through the terms of use, nothing too crazy there, and agree to them and attest to your age.

03. the sign-up form is pretty simple;

* pick a username - this will be your display name when you post and also what you use to log in. it can be your name, nickname or whatever else you want.

* enter your e-mail address. the address you enter is where you will receive e-mails when you have a private message here on the message board * type and confirm your password

* enter the general info; your gender, country, birthdate (it will let us know in the bottom toolbar if it's anyones birthday, but now how old they will be : )

* answer the math "problem" at the bottom to confirm that you are an actual living and breathing person and not a spam spewing robot

* hit submit

04. you will then (almost instantly) receive a welcome e-mail that contains a link for you to click to activate your account.

05. come back here to log in and enjoy!

::note:: when you log in you have the option to be automatically logged in each time you visit. you can check that box if you would like, then every time you come to the message board you will be logged in already!


::how to set up your profile & avatar::

01. in the top toolbar where you just signed up and logged in, you will also see a link that says, "profile" and has a little class picture looking thinger (yes, that is it's technical term) next to it. click that link.

02. the "registration" section is where you can change the e-mail address your message notifications go to and change your password if you like.

03. the "profile information" section is where people will find out more about you. feel free to add any screen names you might have for any instant messanging programs like aol, icq, yahoo messenger etc. you may also add a website (blog, etsy shop, homepage), your location, occupation and interests.

04. in the "preferences" section you can control wether or not your fellow sassy scrappers can see your e-mail address and wether or not you are online. you can also set your e-mail preferences for this message board. i personally find the easiest way to do this is to ask that the system e-mail you when you have a private message and show a pop up window when i'm logged into the board and receive a private message. i have my replies e-mails turned off because i plan on checking in on the board to read those messages.

05. the "avatar control panel" may be the tricky part. your avatar is the little picture that shows up next to your name everytime you post. avatars should be no larger than 120 x 120 pixels. it is easiest to crop a photo of you down to a square and then use an easy program like paint to set the size to 120 x 120 by going into the "image attributes" and setting it there. than you can upload your avatar directly from a computer or from a web address.

::note:: if anyone is having trouble with your avatar, feel free to e-mail me the image and i will send it back to you edited to the right size so that all you have to do it save it to your computer and then upload it to the site from there.

06. after you have set all your info and preferences in your profile as you like them, just hit "submit" and you are all done!

::what is all this stuff? (from top to bottom)::

the top toolbar contains (from left to right); "FAQ" frequently asked questions answered by free forums, a "search" button, to search within our message board for a specific word or post, a "member list" where you can see all the members and a general breakdown of their info, "usergroups" which we don't need : ), a "calendar" which everyone can add events, birthdays and dates to, the "profile" editing button, your private message box link and the log in/log out button.

the forums are all grouped according to subject matter, and each have a description of what each one is for under their forum titles. the little piece of paper in a circle next to each forum title will be orange when there are posts in that forum that you have not read yet.

the "who is online" toolbar will give you all the stats of the board and tell you who else is online at the time.

at the very bottom of the message board is the "community chest" free forums is a free site, but if we want to upgrade the message board at all, there are fees for that. the only two option i think might be desirable would be; the $4.95 a month to get rid of the annoying ad at the top and any memory upgrades we might need eventually for photos and such. no one should feel like they have to donate, but it was an option on the message board, so i let it be. : )


::how to post a new topic::

::note:: i'll start by showing you how to post your hello message.

01. decide what forum is appropriate for your "topic thread." in this case, that would be the, "say hey" forum. so you just click on that forums name.

02. there you will see some topics that other sassy scrappers have started, but you want to start a new topic for your introduction. you do this by clicking on the "new topic button" at the top or bottom of the forum.

03. add a subject line to let people know what the topic is about. in this case something like, "it's me!" or "i'm finally here"

04. type the body of your message, in this case a little intro.

::note:: there are also simple html helpers here for posting if you would like anything italicized, bolded or underlines, or of you would like to add an image or link.

05. when you are done look it all over and then hit submit.

06. voila! you're very first thread!

::how to read and reply to a post::

::note:: i'll start by showing you how to respond to other sassy scrappers' hello messages.

01. click on the topic you want to read (topics with new messages in them will also be marked with the orange piece of paper icon).

02. read through the message and any responses there may be and then hit the "post reply" button.

03. type and submit whatever you want to say, the same way we did when posting a new topic, except this time your response will show in the thread you are responding to.

::note:: if you would like to quote another users message so that people know which part you are responding to, you can do so by clicking the "quote" button at the top right corner of that persons message. this will paste the entire message message in an italacized and quoted format with the original posters name. if you only want to quote one sentence or a couple of words, just delete any words you don't want, but be careful to not delete any of the html.

::wrap up::

alright, so those are the basics! hope that helped everyone, and remember, the more you use the message board the more comfortable you will be with it! see you on board!!!

Not that its a big deal, just trying it out....

But I tried to add a pic in my siggy, I have alot of different pictures at photobucket, and I used the img, I checked the attach signature box etc.... and nothing is showing up?

AM I doing something wrong here or is that function not available yet?

the message board doesn't allow signatures because they take up alot of the memory space. sorry!

missmorgan wrote:the message board doesn't allow signatures because they take up alot of the memory space. sorry!

Oh no biggie!! They are always fun, I just thought I was doing something wrong.