Pocket Perion Forum FAQ

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Hello all!
Are you new to Pocket Perion? Are you new to forums in general? Are you not new but are unwilling to post and ask for help? Never fear! Below you will find a selection of how-to items for the forum. If you're looking for anything in particular, please refer to the table of contents. Or press whatever key combinations are required to use your browser's search function. (Ctrl+F for you PC people)

If you are still confused but don't want anyone to know, you can send me a private message by clicking right here! Easy, right? (I promise I won't mock you.)

Table of Contents:
  Registering
      Guest Access
      How To Register
  Your Member Info
      Email Notifications
      Changing Your Username
      Avatars & Signatures
      Adding Character Information
      Online / Offline Statuses
  Using the Forum
      Making a New Topic
      Replying in a Topic
      Smilies / Emoticons
      Using BBCode to Make Things Pretty
      Making a Poll
      Searching for Posts
      Finding Topics You've Posted In
  Interfacing With Others
      Sending a Private Message
      Tagging a User in a Post
      Using the Chat System
      Visitor Messages
  Snitching Getting Help
      Reporting a Page/Topic
      Reporting a User

Registering

Guest Access
Guests are very welcome on this forum and can view and post in most of our vast categories and topics. Guests cannot post in certain places that are more sensitive to member input, such as the News category. Guests are able to see ads on the forums. Once registered, the ads will no longer be visible. Members also enjoy the ability to use the chatbox!

How To Register
At the top of each page there is a navigation bar, located just under the site's banner. There you will find the button that says Register. After agreeing to the terms and conditions (nothing sneaky, just basic overview of things not to do), all you need to register is a username and a valid email address. Once you click "Save" you will receive an email (sometimes it can take a few minutes to process) that tells you your username and password. There will also be a link within the email to activate your account. **Note: To make an account on the forums you must be at least 12 years of age. The member discussions on this forum may occasionally be inappropriate for children. (Not often, but we have to warn you!)

Your Member Info

Email Notifications
Without changing any basic settings, you should receive emails updating you on any topic that you have started, posted in, or are 'watching.' If you wish to change these settings, locate the button in the navigation bar that says Profile. On this page there are multiple tabs to select. Choose the tab that says Notifications. Here you can check and uncheck the boxes to suit your needs. (You can also go to the tab Preferences and further modify the emails you will receive from the forum.) When you receive an email from the forum notifying you of an update to a thread you are watching there will also be a link within the email to stop watching the topic. Users can also send you emails instead of private messages.
"Hey, people are emailing me and I don't want them to!"
No problem, just change your settings. Go to the Profile page in the navigation bar and select the Preferences tab. The first option on the page should be a yes/no option for allowing members to contact you directly with email. Please do not abuse this. Please contact the administrators if any member is using this function inappropriately.

Changing Your Username
Again look to the top of the page and select the Profile button in the navigation bar. The very first option on that page should be the box to change your username. Note: You still need to choose an original username! Ex, there cannot be two altcodes. (I would need to find you and we would have to battle to the death to decide the one true altcode.)

Avatars & Signatures
Again we return to the Profile tab of the navigation bar. To change your avatar, select the tab that says Avatar. If you want to use your own image, you can upload it and receive a URL from our hosting system OR you can host it on an outside site of your choosing and use the URL that they give you. (Personal image hosting recommendation: Imgur ) You can also use a forum-supplied avatar creator to throw one together yourself! There is also a gallery available for you to choose an image from, though that is maintained by the overarching forum host company and has MANY images of MANY types. Good luck navigating that labyrinth, if you so choose.

Adding Character Information
Once more we return to the Profile tab of the navigation bar! The second to last tab on the profile page should say Character. On that page you can set your IGN, class, and level. You can also add an image of your character, if you feel like showing off your shiny clothes or items. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate one character per account, so if you have many you'll need to pick your favorite. You can change this at any time! Your character information will be included in every post you make, like so:

Online / Offline Statuses
On some posts you may be noticing a cute little dancing mushroom on the far right. This mushroom shows when that user is online. You will be shown as online if you are viewing any part of the forum while logged in to your account. If you have been staring at the same page without clicking anything for 1 hour you will be considered offline until you move to another page. If you don't want anyone to know if you're online or offline, you can change the setting by going to your Profile page and selecting the Preferences tab. Once there you can select yes/no for the option to hide your online status. (YES means no one will see. NO means people will see.)

Using The Forum

Making a New Topic
You can create a new topic (aka a conversation) while on the category/section page you wish to make the topic in. At the top of the page there should be this button:

Click that button to start a topic in the category/section you wish to post in! The New Topic button is also located at the top of each topic page. If you select the button while you are viewing someone else's topic, you will be making a new topic in the parent category that you are viewing. If the section is locked, you will not be able to make any new topics or reply to any posts within the section.

Replying in a Topic
At the top of a topic's page you will see this button:

Clicking that button will bring you to the reply page. Your reply will come up as the last post in that topic. You can reply from any page within the topic if the topic has extended into multiple pages. If a topic is locked, this button will be replaced with an angrier zombie mushroom telling you that the topic is locked. Locked topics cannot receive replies until they are unlocked. If you desperately need to inform the topic creator of something, you can send them a private message. If you feel like a topic you made has been wrongly locked, please contact an administrator or moderator and we will see if we can help you out.

Smilies / Emoticons
We have our own set of custom emoticons! If they look familiar, it's because they are the purchasable facial expressions in the GMS cash shop. You can put them into your posts by either writing out their codes or by clicking on the pictures to the right of the posting box. Here are the smilies and their respective codes!
   || || || ||

Code:

 :sweet: || :wink: || :sparkle: || :whoa: || :flame:

  || || || ||

Code:

 :dragon: || :ray: || :bleh: || :googoo: || :sigh:

  || || || ||

Code:

 :sleepy: || :queasy: || :hurt: || :smooch: || :panicky:

Using BBCode to Make Things Pretty
When writing posts you may see other users posting fancy stuff, like this guide. To manipulate text you use a sort of coding called BBCode. (Email messages do not use BBCode.) If you do not wish to muck around in code, you don't have to. We don't judge you on the prettiness of your posts. However, if you're interested in making some stuff look a little better, here is a small list of options. All of the buttons at the top of the posting window will help you navigate your post's code. It is fairly painless and you probably don't even need this tutorial! However, here it is! NOTE: It is VERY IMPORTANT that you close your tags and you close them in the right order. If you don't close your tag, the forum will attempt to close it for you and something will probably go wrong. If you are messing with BBCode, the preview function will make your life easier. HOWEVER: the forum has been known to be a real stinker and sometimes erase code while previewing. Code may also be erased if you attempt to edit a post with a lot of code in it. It seems that the forum is most picky about the very first line of text and any tags that you have starting your post. This is rare and it might not happen to you, but be aware that weird things sometimes happen. Below are codes and their equivalent looks.

Bold Text Italic Text Underlined Text Strikethrough Text

Code:

[b]Bold Text[/b]
[i]Italic Text[/i]
[u]Underlined Text[/u]
[strike]Strikethrough Text[/strike]

Colored text. Use a hex code (#0000FF) for color or type a color's name (blue).

Code:

[color=#0000FF]Write here.[/color]

You can combine tags. This is bolded, italicized, and dark violet font. This is regular violet.

Code:

[color=#9300cc][b][i]#9300cc means dark violet. #990099 would mean regular violet.[/i][/b][/color]

This is a quote box. If you want to quote another user, use this.

Code:

[quote]The text you are quoting goes here.[/quote]

This is a quote box that includes the author's name.

Code:

[quote="AUTHOR"]Quoted text.[/quote]

This is a compound quote.

They can be tricky. Remember your tags.

Code:

[quote="1"]This is author 1. [quote="2"]This is author 2.[/quote][/quote]

If you want to hide something from view, you can use a spoiler. Whatever is inside the spoiler brackets will not appear unless a user clicks on the button.

Spoiler:

Code:

[spoiler]Surprise! Like this.[/spoiler]

You can add images using the img tags. Pressing the little icon that looks like a picture with a green plus will make this process easier. You can also alter the image's size to make it larger or smaller.
Original dog image:
Dog image reduced to 51px width by 50px height:

Code:

Original: [img]DOG URL HERE[/img]
Reduced: [img(51px,50px)]DOG URL HERE[/img]

Making a Poll
You can create a poll for your topic when starting a new topic. When you are on the new topic page, scroll down until you see Add a Poll options. Use the large text box to input your poll options and separate each option with a line break (pressing enter once). An example of a poll is located at the top of this post. You can close your poll at any time with the X button at the right ride of your poll on your topic's page OR you can set a time limit for your poll, though the only option is in days. Leaving the duration blank or listed as 0 days will let the poll go on forever. This is the default setting. At the end of your poll's time limit, no more users will be able to vote. The results of your poll will still be visible at the top of the topic. Vote cancelling means that a user will be able to change their vote. The default does not allow for vote cancelling, so that means that once you cast your vote you cannot go back. NOTE: No one can see who casts their vote to what answer. Even the topic creator cannot tell what you voted for. Enjoy anonymity!

Searching for Posts
At the top of every page is the navigation bar. Clicking the button that says Search will bring a small pop-up window asking for the keywords you want to search for. You can also access advanced options and that will take you to a new page. The forum searches by the topic titles so please, be specific when naming your topics.

Finding Topics You've Posted In
This is super simple! On the website's home page there is a button that says View your posts. It is surrounded by equally useful buttons! If you're the type who doesn't want to sort through any other topics but the ones you've posted in over the past week, this is for you!

Interfacing With Others

Sending a Private Message
Do you want to talk to someone one-on-one? If you're viewing one of their posts, you can click on the small private message button () to immediately take you to the message screen. You can also find the private message button on the Contact tab of a user's profile page. You can see if someone has sent you a private message by looking at the navigation bar. If you wish to bypass the forum, you can email someone directly by clicking the email button ().
Hey, people are emailing me and I don't want them to!
No problem, just change your settings. Go to the Profile page in the navigation bar and select the Preferences tab. The first option on the page should be a yes/no option for allowing members to contact you directly with email. Please do not abuse this. Please contact the administrators if any member is using this function inappropriately.

Tagging a User in a Post
If you want a user to be notified that you are making a post, you can tag them! This function works similarly to those of Facebook, Twitter, etc. Simply place an @ symbol before the username of the person you want to tag. Like so: @altcode . If you want to end your sentence with a tag, please leave a space between the end of the tag and the period that ends the sentence. It may tag and notify "altcode." but not "altcode", which can be an issue. You can use this function to alert mods or administrators that a topic needs moderating. However, we do have a reporting system. More on that can be found at the bottom of this post.

Using the Chat System
The button to open the chat window is a floating button that follows you to every page. (Spooky!) It is located in the bottom right of your browser window. When you open it, it will appear empty. You need to log in to access the chat. You do not need a new username or account to use the chat. Simply click log in and it will sign you in as your regular forum member automatically. If you are inactive in the chat for long enough, it will log you out. As of right now, guest cannot use the chat. We haven't found a way around this yet, as the issue lies with the host forum and not with our coding. Again: chat is only available to members.

Visitor Messages
Do you want to get someone's attention about something publicly? Do you just want to say hey, thanks for existing? You can! On every member's profile is a tab on the lefthand side that says Visitor Messages. This messages are visible to everyone on the forum. They are not private messages and cannot be responded to. However, you can hide or delete them from your profile. Please send a private message to an administrator or use the report function is someone is abusing the visitor messages on your profile.

Getting Help

Reporting a Page/Topic
At the end of every page of the forum there is a link in the bottom right corner. This link says Report An Abuse. If you would like to report a topic or a certain post, please go to the page of the topic or post you wish to report and scroll down to that link. On that page you can select the problem that you have with the page. It will reaffirm the URL of the page you are reporting at the top. A code is required only to prevent bots from spamming abuse reports. IF YOU ARE REPORTING A SPECIFIC POST, please make sure to tell us so in the comments section. Reports will NOT be sent to the host site, but to the administrators here. We will be able to view, judge, and take action on our own. (Administrators have red usernames, like mine.)

Reporting a User
Just as written above, every page contains the reporting link. Member profiles do not have a special link to report a user. If you wish to report a user, please make sure that you are on their profile page when you scroll down and click report. Please let us know in the comments if there is a specific action that you are reporting them for. If you have been harassed or otherwise through the PM system, please let us know. We do not monitor private messages. If you are not sure if you are on the right page to report the user, just write their username in the comment section. Remember, you can always contact any of our administrators if you have any issues. Again, please click here if you want to contact me directly through a private message.