Post by cupu on Jun 27, 2015 14:54:51 GMT
Hello everyone!! It's great to see how many people are eager to roleplay their BirdFolk - especially given how many of you have said you haven't got the slightest idea how this sort of forum works.
Unfortunately, the default and average forum layout tends to be very good at flinging loads of information at its audience on the first couple of viewings. Veterans can navigate, but we're doing our best to make the forum as legible and clear as we can for those of you that are unfamiliar. On top of the issue of layout, there's also a few roleplay terms that crop up often in forum-based roleplay (which we hope you'll come to agree is the most effective format for actual literate roleplaying, particularly for more than two people), so i'll try to delineate the jargon as best as I can in another thread. This is a pretty business-casual PSA, but if anyone's hankering for more professional guidelines do let me know.
It's a bit long but mostly because I repeat myself a ton, sorry everyone.
What is happening?
First off - there are two primary "categories" on the front page, currently indicated by the two long red bars that read 'General' and 'The World of Akriri'. This is all there is to do on the front page - you can access your profile settings and chatbox by scrolling up and down respectively. 'General' is where you'll find stuff pertaining mostly to actual forum-based info, such as PSAs like this, and 'The World of Akriri' organizes roleplays, characters and information to do with your birds.
(On the top bar, under the banner that reads "Akriri Nest", you'll see 'home', 'help', 'search' and so on - home will just zip you back over to the front page, help will probably explain all of what I'm going to say but in a less frustratingly casual way, members will list all the accounts who have registered and 'profile' is where you can edit your avatar et le reste. There's no pressure to have your signature and icon all prettied up or anything.)
You'll (currently) see three folders under each of these category titles, i.e. "General Chat", and clicking on them will either redirect you to some more folders or a "No threads were found." message. These main, Ultimate links or titles are called 'boards', and they're like the topmost level of a directory that organizes your content and discussions. General chat goes in the General Chat board, roleplays are organized by akriri community in the "Official Roleplay" board, and you'll find all the official information about communities in the "Community" board.
Where you are redirected to will be this little box where your 'threads' and everyone else's 'threads' will go. Forums are just a way of organizing different discussions based on what the discussion is about, if that makes any kind of sense.
Under here you'll find both a "Legends" and a "Statistics" table, both of which are completely expendable and you can happily wrench them out of your permanent memory for good. Don't let the clutter intimidate you; you only need to focus on anything with a folder next to it.
What is a thread?
Each folder represents a thread - if you aren't aware already, a 'thread' is just a series of posts pertaining to one prompt or subject determined by the person who creates the thread.
In the most horribly patronizing breakdown possible (please forgive me), let's compare one to a featured comment on deviantART, like "Does anyone here like croque monsieur?", which you can then reply to - except that in a forum, the discussion is linear, and you reply one-after-the-other, so it doesn't branch off into a tree of conversations originating from the same featured comment like it often does on dA. If the folder next to a thread is exploding with 'new', then there's a new reply on that thread that your account personally has not yet viewed. If it's on fire, don't panic, that just means a lot of people are posting in it in a relatively short amount of time and it's just 'hot' in the cool metaphorical way.
Eventually you'll be making your own threads - to post about your Akriri in the Character Directory, to make a roleplay thread in the Official Roleplaying Board, or idk lead the discussion on the tumultuous and arbitrary nature of the Rare Pepe market or something in Spam.
To do this, you'll have to click on one of the main 'boards' (again, like General Chat, or Character Directory), to take you to where you want to be making your own thread. For example, you want to make a thread about Jim the Birdfolk where you can post about Jim's stats and incredibly engaging love life, so you'll go to the Character Directory under "The World of Akriri". On the far right of the bar that reads "Character Directory" there should be a little button that reads "Create Thread". This will take you to a big blank text box with an empty subject, and I won't belittle you any further with an explanation of how that whole business works.
You have to go to the place where you want your topic/thread to be posted in order for it to be posted there - you don't determine where your new thread will go after you post it and make it public! On top of the text box where you write a post or create a thread should be a little indication of where you are on the forum, if you're concerned; for example, right now i'm looking at "Akiri Nest > Info & Announcements > Create Thread".
(If you do mess up for any reason, just let us know and we'll move the thread, don't sweat it. We'll probably even move it for you without prompt.)
What's a 'stickied' thread?
A 'stickied' thread is just a noteworthy thread that will always be put on top of the other non-stickied threads, no matter how old or how recent any of the threads on that board are. Furthermore, depending on how your settings are uh set, a lot of older topics will be automatically hidden once they pass a certain number of days without any new replies - this doesn't apply to stickied threads, which will remain visible forever and ever and ever.
Stickied threads will be denoted with a red pin in their folder icon, and will often have important information about the board that you are currently posting in - for example, all official Community threads in the Community board will be stickied. Some stickied threads, such as rules or templates, might be 'locked', which means you can't reply to them - they're for display. Other ones, like the Community one, and the one you're reading right now, are open for discussion, so you can reply or "post" on this thread.
What's a sub-board?
A board within a board, like branches in a directory - for example, the "Official Roleplay Board" is split up into various communities, which are their own individual sub-boards, and you can see them when you click on the 'official roleplay board' link on the main page. You can find the sub-boards on top of the main 'thread' area in any board, and hopefully they're pretty visible. They work the same way regular boards do, don't worry. Of course, not each board has sub-boards.
Ok I'm probably missing a ton of stuff, but this is just the very, very bare outlines. I'll get around to writing about roleplay terms and whatnot in a short while - but I imagine we'll have to hold off roleplaying too extensively until the elders have made their official Community threads in the respective board. If there's any questions just throw them out here, or ... don't, I suppose. For now, feel free to make threads showcasing your bird collection in the Directory board as practice, if you like!
Unfortunately, the default and average forum layout tends to be very good at flinging loads of information at its audience on the first couple of viewings. Veterans can navigate, but we're doing our best to make the forum as legible and clear as we can for those of you that are unfamiliar. On top of the issue of layout, there's also a few roleplay terms that crop up often in forum-based roleplay (which we hope you'll come to agree is the most effective format for actual literate roleplaying, particularly for more than two people), so i'll try to delineate the jargon as best as I can in another thread. This is a pretty business-casual PSA, but if anyone's hankering for more professional guidelines do let me know.
It's a bit long but mostly because I repeat myself a ton, sorry everyone.
What is happening?
First off - there are two primary "categories" on the front page, currently indicated by the two long red bars that read 'General' and 'The World of Akriri'. This is all there is to do on the front page - you can access your profile settings and chatbox by scrolling up and down respectively. 'General' is where you'll find stuff pertaining mostly to actual forum-based info, such as PSAs like this, and 'The World of Akriri' organizes roleplays, characters and information to do with your birds.
(On the top bar, under the banner that reads "Akriri Nest", you'll see 'home', 'help', 'search' and so on - home will just zip you back over to the front page, help will probably explain all of what I'm going to say but in a less frustratingly casual way, members will list all the accounts who have registered and 'profile' is where you can edit your avatar et le reste. There's no pressure to have your signature and icon all prettied up or anything.)
You'll (currently) see three folders under each of these category titles, i.e. "General Chat", and clicking on them will either redirect you to some more folders or a "No threads were found." message. These main, Ultimate links or titles are called 'boards', and they're like the topmost level of a directory that organizes your content and discussions. General chat goes in the General Chat board, roleplays are organized by akriri community in the "Official Roleplay" board, and you'll find all the official information about communities in the "Community" board.
Where you are redirected to will be this little box where your 'threads' and everyone else's 'threads' will go. Forums are just a way of organizing different discussions based on what the discussion is about, if that makes any kind of sense.
Under here you'll find both a "Legends" and a "Statistics" table, both of which are completely expendable and you can happily wrench them out of your permanent memory for good. Don't let the clutter intimidate you; you only need to focus on anything with a folder next to it.
What is a thread?
Each folder represents a thread - if you aren't aware already, a 'thread' is just a series of posts pertaining to one prompt or subject determined by the person who creates the thread.
In the most horribly patronizing breakdown possible (please forgive me), let's compare one to a featured comment on deviantART, like "Does anyone here like croque monsieur?", which you can then reply to - except that in a forum, the discussion is linear, and you reply one-after-the-other, so it doesn't branch off into a tree of conversations originating from the same featured comment like it often does on dA. If the folder next to a thread is exploding with 'new', then there's a new reply on that thread that your account personally has not yet viewed. If it's on fire, don't panic, that just means a lot of people are posting in it in a relatively short amount of time and it's just 'hot' in the cool metaphorical way.
Eventually you'll be making your own threads - to post about your Akriri in the Character Directory, to make a roleplay thread in the Official Roleplaying Board, or idk lead the discussion on the tumultuous and arbitrary nature of the Rare Pepe market or something in Spam.
To do this, you'll have to click on one of the main 'boards' (again, like General Chat, or Character Directory), to take you to where you want to be making your own thread. For example, you want to make a thread about Jim the Birdfolk where you can post about Jim's stats and incredibly engaging love life, so you'll go to the Character Directory under "The World of Akriri". On the far right of the bar that reads "Character Directory" there should be a little button that reads "Create Thread". This will take you to a big blank text box with an empty subject, and I won't belittle you any further with an explanation of how that whole business works.
You have to go to the place where you want your topic/thread to be posted in order for it to be posted there - you don't determine where your new thread will go after you post it and make it public! On top of the text box where you write a post or create a thread should be a little indication of where you are on the forum, if you're concerned; for example, right now i'm looking at "Akiri Nest > Info & Announcements > Create Thread".
(If you do mess up for any reason, just let us know and we'll move the thread, don't sweat it. We'll probably even move it for you without prompt.)
What's a 'stickied' thread?
A 'stickied' thread is just a noteworthy thread that will always be put on top of the other non-stickied threads, no matter how old or how recent any of the threads on that board are. Furthermore, depending on how your settings are uh set, a lot of older topics will be automatically hidden once they pass a certain number of days without any new replies - this doesn't apply to stickied threads, which will remain visible forever and ever and ever.
Stickied threads will be denoted with a red pin in their folder icon, and will often have important information about the board that you are currently posting in - for example, all official Community threads in the Community board will be stickied. Some stickied threads, such as rules or templates, might be 'locked', which means you can't reply to them - they're for display. Other ones, like the Community one, and the one you're reading right now, are open for discussion, so you can reply or "post" on this thread.
What's a sub-board?
A board within a board, like branches in a directory - for example, the "Official Roleplay Board" is split up into various communities, which are their own individual sub-boards, and you can see them when you click on the 'official roleplay board' link on the main page. You can find the sub-boards on top of the main 'thread' area in any board, and hopefully they're pretty visible. They work the same way regular boards do, don't worry. Of course, not each board has sub-boards.
Ok I'm probably missing a ton of stuff, but this is just the very, very bare outlines. I'll get around to writing about roleplay terms and whatnot in a short while - but I imagine we'll have to hold off roleplaying too extensively until the elders have made their official Community threads in the respective board. If there's any questions just throw them out here, or ... don't, I suppose. For now, feel free to make threads showcasing your bird collection in the Directory board as practice, if you like!
