Guide to Using Our Forum Software (XenForo)

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Common XenForo Terms and vBulletin Equivalents

We can continue to use the familiar lingo (posts, PMs, etc), but the XenForo links/settings use different terms.


Messages

What vBulletin calls posts, XenForo calls messages.


Conversations

What vBulletin calls private messages (PMs), XenForo calls conversations. Conversations can include just two messagers or more than two.


Alerts

What vBulletin calls notifications, XenForo calls Alerts. You can choose what types of alerts you want to see through the User CP (see next Post).


Watched Threads and Watched Forums

What vBulletin calls thread / forum subscriptions, XenForo calls watched threads / forums.
 
User Control Panel (User CP)

Hovering or tapping on your name in the upper right corner of any page on the site will bring up a box with quick access to make different settings. For the rest of this guide, I’ll refer to that box as the User CP.

User-CP.jpg
User CP

The User CP contains useful links to the following:

-Personal Details (specify your location, real first name, etc)

-Signature (change the lines shown below each of your posts)

-Contact Details, Privacy settings, Alert Preferences, Password Setting


Please take some time to explore User CP “Preferences”, “Privacy”, and “Alert Preferences” in detail. There are many useful options.
 
Navigation Bar and Breadcrumb

The bar at the top of the screen is called the navigation bar, or navbar for short. There are lots of frequently used links in the navbar.

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Navbar


Depending on the width of your display, some of those links may be automatically placed into the dropdown menu indicated by an ellipsis (three dots) as shown below:

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Ellipsis


On a mobile display, this may also be three horizontal lines.

The area below the navbar is called the breadcrumb.

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Breadcrumb


On the left side of the breadcrumb are links taking you back part of the way or all of the way back to the homepage.

On the far right side of the breadcrumb is the "Post New Thread" button (more on that soon).

Just to the left of the "Post New Thread" button, indicated by the arrow in the figure above, is the Quick Navigation Menu, which contains links to the other forums and more.
 
Avatars

The photo shown next to your forum posts is called an avatar. Avatars are central to the way XenForo works, so if yours is blank (generic), please replace it with a custom avatar. To do this, go to the User Control Panel (CP) and choose “Avatar”, then upload a photo to serve as your avatar. You can change this as often as you like.

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Avatar
 
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Conversations, Follow, and Ignore

What we previously called Private Messages (PMs) in vBulletin are called Conversations in XenForo. They remain private in nature. One difference is that your posts in a conversation remain editable for 5 minutes after you post them.

To PM someone, click or tap on their avatar in any of their forum posts, and choose “Start a Conversation”. Alternatively, go to your User CP, choose “Conversations”, then “Start a New Conversation”. Or you can hover or tap on Inbox (next to link for User CP) and choose “Start a New Conversation”.

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Start a Conversation


Next to the “Start a Conversation” link is a “Follow” link:

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Follow


Your News Feed (found in the User CP) is populated by posts from members whom you Follow.

There is an “Ignore” link next to “Follow”, which lets you ignore other members. We hope it isn’t necessary for you to use that one!

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Ignore
 
Starting Threads

To start a new discussion thread, choose “Post New Thread”.

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Post New Thread button


If you were already in a particular subforum (eg, Playground subforum), the Post New Thread button will create a new thread in that subforum.

If you were not in a subforum, for example you click the Post New Thread button while viewing the forum index, you will be prompted to choose a subforum for your thread. Pick the one which best matches your topic.

After you write the title and content of your post, scroll down and click on the "Create Thread" button:

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Create Thread button
 
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Replying to Threads and Quoting

If you want to reply to a discussion thread without quoting anyone else’s post, simply scroll to the bottom of the discussion thread, enter your text in the box marked “Write your reply…”, and choose Post Reply.

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Post Reply


To quote another person’s post in your reply, click or tap the reply link to the bottom right of their post. The posts you select will be copied to your reply at the bottom of the page. If you click “Reply” under multiple posts from the same page, all of those posts will be quoted in your reply.

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Quote Posts in Reply


To quote selectively, you can highlight just a portion of a post and click the little reply box that pops up. Much easier than quoting the whole thing and then removing parts you don't like.

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Selective Quoting


If you want to quote more multiple posts from different pages of a thread, use the “+ Quote” button (next to “Reply”) to select them all.

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Multi-Quote Selection


Then use the “Insert Quotes” button to the bottom left of where you type your reply as shown below:

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Insert Quotes button
 
Watched Threads

The “Watch Thread” link at the top of any thread will give you the option to watch (subscribe to) that thread with or without email notifications. There is a link to all your Watched Threads in the navbar.

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Watch Thread link
 
Posting Photos in Threads

The maximum allowed file to be uploaded is 5MB.

The easiest way to post an image is as follows:

1) Either drag the image(s) to your message (post) or use the "Upload a File" button (right next to "Post Reply") to select your image(s).

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Drag and Drop


8-Upload.jpg
Upload a File


2) Use the appropriate "Click Here to Insert Image into Post" button depending on whether you want to insert all images or one image into your message.

In the example below, I have uploaded three photos to my post. The buttons indicated by the arrow would insert all three images into my post as either thumbnails or full-size. The other buttons would insert only the indicated single image. Don't forget to click on "Post Reply" to submit your post after you are finished writing it and inserting any images.

8-Attachments.jpg


To delete your uploaded photos, edit the post where they are found, scroll to the bottom where the attachments are shown, and choose “Delete” as shown above. If you delete the images in the body of the post without using the Delete buttons at the bottom, the images will remain attached at the bottom of your post.

There is no limit on the number of photos or total storage used by photos when you upload to forum threads in this way, other than a limit of 10 files per post.

If you would like to link to content hosted elsewhere, this can still be done by clicking either of the following buttons, which would bring up a dialog box to enter the URL into:

8-Photo.jpg
Link to content


8-Image.png
Link to image
 
What's New?

The “What's New?” link in the site navigation bar (navbar) shows you a list of threads which have recently been started or have recently received a reply, from newest to oldest.

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What's New?
 
Finding Your Own Content

We have multiple ways of finding your own content. One option is the “Your Content” link in the User CP.

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Your Content link


Another option is to do a search and enter your username in the “Posted by Member” field, which is handy if you want to find your posts in a particular thread.

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Search by username
 
Post Ratings and Notable Members

To the bottom right of any post, you’ll find a collection of Post Ratings icons which you can use to rate that post. You can only select one rating per post, and you cannot rate your own posts.

The options are "Like" (which contributes to a users tally visible under their avatar on all forum posts), "Agree" (visible in a users profile only) and "Informative" (visible in a users profile only).

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Post Ratings icons


In addition to these ratings, a list of members with the most messages and ratings is available in the Community Forums dropdown list, called "Notable Members".

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Notable Members list
 
User Tagging

Typing the “@” symbol followed by a member’s username creates a user tag within your post. This is a clickable link to the member’s profile. If that member has chosen to receive alerts when they are tagged, then they will be notified of and provided with a link to your post. This can be useful for drawing attention to a thread, however for Moderator attention you should always use the "Report Post" function instead.

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User tagging in a forum post
 
Reporting Posts

Below each forum post, there is a link to report that post. This should be used only to report spam, abuse, or other rules violations.

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Report forum post link


13-Reason.png
Providing as much information as possible here helps
 
Mobile View

On a mobile phone the responsive design of our site means that certain elements may move around to suit the size and orientation of your screen. Below is what you should expect to see:

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Portrait

14-Mobile-Landscape.png
Landscape

Key:

1) Quick Navigation Menu (contains the Navbar, frequently used links, User CP)

2) Search

3) Conversations (aka PMs)

4) Alerts
 
Questions?

If you think someone else may have the same question as you, or that others may benefit someday from seeing the answer, please post your question in the site Suggestions and Feedback subforum.

If you tag me in any forum post (@support), I will receive an alert and read your post.

For all other questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to start a conversation with me.

Hope you are enjoying the site!
 
Always interesting that subsequent reading of these posts give new information or understanding. Thanks @support for putting together the Guide. I hope lots of members take the time to read and digest the information here :cool:
 
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