Forums
What does the all ages sun icon mean?
What do I do if I see something bad in the forums?
Where is the post I made in the forums?
Can I add a signature to my forum posts?
Can I use widgets in my signature?
Can I make my forum posts bold, italic, or make my links clickable?
What are the forums?
The forums are a wonderful place to begin your NaNo adventure. After you’ve signed up, feel free to look around and join in on the discussions on these message boards. On the forums, you’ll find discussion threads on just about any topic you can think of—from plot ideas to regional word wars to dangerously addictive games of procrastination. For an overview of the forums, check out Cybele’s Guide to the Forums.
What does the all ages sun icon mean?
In the forum list, you will see that some of our forums are marked as all ages, and have a yellow sun icon. 
This means this forum’s content should be appropriate for all ages. We have many young teens who frequent our site, and while we don’t expect you to be perfect angels everywhere, we do ask that you maintain a family-friendly tone in all-ages forums. Please refrain from using curse words (anything stronger than “darn” or “heck”) and avoid discussions of violence or sexuality. Using masked or abbreviated profanity is not acceptable, either, and will be removed.
These restrictions do not apply to your novel in any way. Outside of the G-rated forums, strong language is acceptable only in the body of posts or the body of your excerpts, so long as it’s not used in a hateful or attacking way. We do ask, however, that all participants refrain from using curse words in their usernames, signatures, user pictures, displayed novel titles, and subjects of their posts.
What do I do if I see something bad in the forums?
If you see something in any forum that you think violates the Terms & Conditions of the site in any way, please flag that post using the “Report” button and a moderator will look into it.
Where is the post I made in the forums?
One of several things might be at work here.
1) Your post is there, but has not refreshed yet. During times of high traffic, we may employ a 15 minute site cache to reduce server strain. Wait a while and see if it comes up.
2) Your post was moved. We frequently move threads to more appropriate forums (for example a question about character motivations would be more appropriate in Plot Doctoring than Character and Plot Realism. Some threads may violate our guidelines, or may have comments that violate our guidelines, and we may move it to an administrative forum for review.
You may contact the forums moderator if you have looked in your subscriptions, the forums, or other forums it might be, and can’t find it.
Can I add a signature to my forum posts?
Of course! You can add a signature of 300 characters or less, including a signature banner image of no more than 500 pixels wide by 100 pixels high, and 100 kb or less. This limit applies to all images you have in total, so if you have more than one image that combined exceed the limit, we’ll have to ask that you remove them or reduce them to fit within the size limit. You can include HTML, too!
To add a signature, mouse over the Forum button on the main menu. Click on Edit My Forum Preferences in the dropdown menu. There you will find your text box for entering your signature. Type your witty quote, HTML, and signature banner here. When you have it to your liking, click “Save” and your new signature will appear on every post you make on the site! No need to create test posts… just look at any post you have already made, and it will update!
Can I use widgets in my signature?
No, they’re designed for use off-site. When they’re included in your signature, they’re loaded way too often, which can be a drain on our overworked and underpaid servers. If you do use them in your signature, a moderator may remove them.
You’re absolutely welcome to use them in your blog, your webpage, or even your email!
Can I make my forum posts bold, italic, or make my links clickable?
You betcha! You can use HTML to enhance your post with bold, strikethrough, links, and italic text! Read on to find out how to do this!
Links
First, is the link. In web designer speak, we use an anchor tag for this… what it means to you is that you can format your links prettily.
Here’s how you do this:
<a href=”http://www.URL.com”>Clickable Text</a>
It’s important to remember to “close your tag”, that is, add a </a> at the end of the text, otherwise everything after it will be clickable. Not pretty at all. ;) Make sure any links include http:// before URL, or it will try to make an internal, relative link on our website.
Italics
Here’s how to make italicized text
<em>Italicized Text</em>
Easy-peasy! This one also needs to be closed, or your whole post will be italicized.
Bold Text
Sometimes, you just gotta shout!
To make your text bolder, use the following:
<strong>Bolded Text</strong>
This is also a tag that needs to be closed, or your entire post will be bolded.
Strikethrough Text
We can also create text that is struck out.
<strike>Strikethrough Text</strike>
Lists
The next bit of code you’re like to use is a list. Sometimes, you want to order your thoughts, or you want a bulleted list. These can be simulated with regular characters, such as a dash ( – ) for a bullet, or numbering manually. However, lists offer two advantages: Prettier, easier to read formatting, and autonumbering. If you add an item in the middle of your list, the ordered list option will rearrange your numbers for you, instead of you having to go in and retype them all.
- This is an ordered list
- Your items will be numbered in order
To do this:
<ol>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Second item</li>
</ol>
- This is an unordered list
- Your items will be presented with bullets
To do this:
<ul>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Second item</li>
</ul>
The construction of both of these lists is the same, with one small difference. Make sure you use the right opening and closing tags: <ol></ol> for an ordered list, and <ul></ul> for an unordered list.
Images
We know why you’re all here. Admit it; you want a pretty image in your signature, or you want to post an image in your post.
A few guidelines: Keep your images small (no more than 500 x 300 in the forums), and don’t use too many. If someone has to scroll past half a screen to get by your signature, a moderator may ask you to remove it.
Unlike the other tags, the image tag doesn’t need to be closed with a second tag. It’s a standalone.
If you want to post this:
Here is how you do so:
<img src=”IMG URL” />
Note the little forward slash at the end. ;) That is how you denote a tag that doesn’t need to be closed with a second tag.
Please note that images must be hosted elsewhere for you to link them. You can use Photobucket, a private web host (some don’t allow hotlinking, so check with your host) My personal favorite is TinyPic, because it’s quick and easy, requires no account to use, has a low character count, and doesn’t require a link back like Photobucket does.
