Forum Features Guide / Overview

[NPF Administration]

Greetings, NPF members!

This forum runs using the popular vBulletin software. As you may know, vBulletin's core functionality can be enhanced and extended using plugins and modifications. Many of these are available within the vBulletin community, and others are written to fulfill custom needs or wants.

The purpose of this sticky is to provide an overview of features we have added to NPF and enabled so that everyone knows what can be done in addition to posting threads and replies.

Also, as a reminder, this forum section is for any relevant discussion of forum features. If something isn't working, let us know! If you have a feature request, let us know that, too! As a community we should always be open to engaging with one another about how we might make NPF work better or be more fun.

LATEST UPDATES
10/17/2013 - This thread was created in order to reduce the stickied threads in this forum and consolidate similar information. Some previously-undocumented features are given a description as well.



Apologies for the poor JPG compression; this was not visible in the original jpgs; should have just used PNG

[NPF Administration]

Posting and Formatting
In this section, we'll outline the different things that can be done when making a post, including the default bbcodes as well as additions to NPF.

Overall, the majority of the formatting and content codes available to you when posting at NPF are described in the bbcodes FAQ, available here and linked to whenever you are editing or creating a post. Most of these are straightforward, such as using [b] and [/b] to add bold emphasis to text. However, a small few might not be immediately intuitive.

While the Youtube tag follows the standard bbcode format, the only thing you need to include between the youtube tags is the ID code of the video. If you try to use the whole URL, it won't parse. Also, abuse of this tag is not tolerated.

Also, our swap/spoiler tags could benefit from additional information, as Meister originally provided:

Originally Posted by Meister

Because our spoiler and especially swap tags might be a bit unusual, here's a more in-depth explanation than we can provide in the tag list itself.

Spoiler tags hide whatever you type behind a grey box. Click the box to read the text, click the text to hide it again. You'll notice there are three kinds of spoiler tags - they all do the same. [spoiler] is your regular everyday spoiler tag, and [ss] is simply shortened for convenience. Try to avoid using [spoiler2] - it's really only there anymore to keep text tagged with it in older threads from showing up.

Swap tags works similarly, but they hide the text behind different text. It looks like this - again, click to reveal.And double-click to re-hide. This can be handy for longer paragraphs. Example:

8-Bit Theater spoilersSarda is Onion Kid, Chaos gets killed by four White Mages, the class changes get undone, Sarda becomes a vessel for Chaos, Black Belt dies, the Other Warriors die, Black Mage dies but gets better.

Now, sometimes using those tags properly can result in an entire thread page full of normal text mixed with spoilered and swapped text. To avoid having to click on every single instance, check the top bar right under the "post reply" button (or the "closed" button in closed threads). There's a link named "click to unhide all tags," which does exactly that.

Still, please use the tags sparingly and avoid putting the majority of a post behind them. Also, please don't nest the swap tags, i.e. don't put one in another one, because it interferes with the opening/closing functionality.

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Dice Rolling in Replies
original thread

One of the custom bbcodes added to the site but not documented by the bbcode FAQ page is the dice roller. Based on tux0rz's vBulletin 3.x submission, NPF members can specify different types of dice rolls in a post and have them automatically generated when submitting a reply.

The three bbcodes associated with the roller are as follows:
roll: shows the sum of what was rolled
rollv: shows the individual results of each die as well as the sum
rollo: open roll -- shows the results of each die as well as the sum; for any die that rolls its maximum value, a bonus roll is awarded and added to its sum

All three codes take the same input in the format XdY+N, where X is the amount of dice to roll, Y is the number of sides on the dice, and N is a modifier value to add to the roll (e.g.: a "to hit" mechanic in a game).

You can also add a label to a roll by adding it via an "=" in the bbcode:

[roll=to hit]3d6[/roll]

In general, your results will look something like the following:

roll: (2d10)[11]
rollv: (3d6)[3][6][6](15)

LIMITATIONS

• Dice rolling does NOT work in the opening post of a thread. This was fixed in a later version, but our vBulletin install is not compatible.
• Dice rolling will NOT work in any double-post that gets auto-merged (see below section). The two forum modifications are not compatible.
• Once your post is made, you CANNOT edit rolls or add new ones to the post. In order to protect against cheating or fixing rolls, the roll values are generated when the post is created and stored in the forum's database alongside the rest of the post data. What is stored in the contents of the post is merely a flag that points to this value.

Keep in mind that, due to the last point, when quoting or editing a post you will see something like [roll#] instead of the roll values.

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Thread Tags (Icons) and Filtering by Icon
semi-original thread

At one point, NPF extended the ability to add icons to posts to thread creation. Now, the opening post of any thread can select from among the many thread/post icons, and that icon will be paired with the thread subject when browsing the forum. Just make sure to select the one you want before submitting a new thread post.



In addition to giving thread creators a way to set the tone for a thread or categorize thread content, these icons can also be used to filter threads. In any subforum, you can show only threads with a certain icon/tag by clicking on that image. This will only show like-tagged threads.
-->

At one point, we enabled the use of text-based tags to describe a thread, but that was rarely used (let alone used correctly) and was disabled.

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Notification of New Replies When Posting
original thread

In Simple Machines Forums, a warning is displayed at the top along with the new reply/replies made since you had started to make your own reply.

We have enabled a similar feature here at NPF. If you are replying to a thread but new posts have been entered before you submit yours, you will be returned to the post creation page with a warning message displayed at the top. To see the new replies, scroll down below the edit area to see the latest posts in the thread. You can then amend your post to account for these replies, if desired, or just submit again to post.

NOTE: if you are using quick-reply, the modification will warn you that new posts were made but cannot show them to you due to the fact that quick-reply has no way to reload the page. You should select "Go Advanced" to review posts before submitting yours if you want.

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Double-Post Auto-merge
original thread

Essentially, this modification merges double-posts into one post. What it does is simple -- if the person posting a reply is also the last person to have posted in a thread, the forum will not add a new reply but rather append the reply into the previous post. It adds a separator with timestamp information, showing when the original post was made and when the new one was made and edited into the post.

If you use the subject field in posts, the merged post's subject will be discarded.
The existing post that the new one is merged into will have its timestamp updated, so threads can still be bumped by auto-merged posts.
Auto-merged posts do not add to your postcount. But you shouldn't be worrying about postcounts anyway!

Posts that approach max length will not be auto-merged, so lengthy story submissions, RP entries, and the like should remain separate as before.

[NPF Administration]

Forum Interaction
In this section, we'll cover the different tools available to you when browsing threads and forum sections here at NPF.


Forum "Advertisements"
original thread

At one point, regular ads rotated at the top center of the forum display, next to the Nuklear Power Forums logos on the left. Eventually, it was decided that these were more trouble than they were worth (not to mention how none of us really gave them any attention or even blocked them). Instead of running ads, NPF now uses this space to run user-driven banners. They can be silly, they can be serious; they can promote member websites, Steam activities, or even a single thread. They cost nothing, aside from any time taken to create them.

• Images can be in any valid image file format (i.e. if your browser can render it, that's fine).
• Images should be 700 pixels wide and 100 pixels high. Images that don't match these dimensions will get scaled to them, so something with the same ratio may work. Alternatively, if you use a format that supports transparency you obviously can exploit that to use less room.
• No Flash-based submissions.

Please feel free to use the original ad submission thread or a new thread to submit your banners. When submitting, please include the following information:
- what the ad is for (even if that answer is just to joke around)
- any relevant URL that should be used with the image
- the image itself

If you have a certain date or date range, let us know that as well. We will try to make sure we take it down at the appropriate time.

Thanks for your previous submissions and any new ones that come along!

If you don't see any of our banners, you may be using Adblock or a similar browser addon. While we have no issue with you blocking ads, we assure you that NPF currently and does not plan to use advertising of any kind. So don't feel afraid to whitelist the forum.

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Thread Downloading
original thread

NPF never had to temporarily house ourselves on a separate server due to licensing issues with vBulletin. While we weren't doing this, there was concern over the loss of forum threads due to no easy means to archive posts. When we didn't come back from the temporary forum we didn't have, a forum download tool was added to the feature set.

While browsing any thread, the ability to download its entire contents, in plaintext format, resides under "Thread Tools".



You'll be able to save the file locally, allowing you to view a thread and keep it forever regardless of what may or may not happen to NPF.

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Thread Ratings
When viewing any thread on NPF, you can rate the thread to show your opinion. This can easily be done by using the "Rate Thread" menu at the top-right corner when viewing a thread.



The aggregate of thread ratings by users is shown next to the thread in the forum view. Not voting does not equate to any thread rating, positive or negative, and has no effect on the overall rating.



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Reputation
rep info in userCP
negative rep discussed

Long ago, NPF enabled a reputation feature. Originally, it was limited to staff and intended to help keep tabs on users and track infractions for breaking forum rules. However, that was eventually proven ineffective, and reputation was extended to the whole forum as a fun way to let members know when they made each other laugh or approved of a post or sentiment. As we generally agreed that negative rep enabled a difficult-to-track form of trolling, reputation is limited to positive boosts.

In order to give a user rep for a post, click the scale icon under their user information on the lower-left of a post.


You can write a brief note to let them know what you are rep'ing their post. Each member of NPF has a "reputation power" that influences how many points of rep you can give with each vote; this power is a combination of user rank (meaning staff have higher values by default) and the amount of rep you have already received. The higher a user's reputation, the more green squares are displayed with their user information in posts.



Each user can track the reputation he or she has received and the rep bonuses he or she has sent out in the User Control Panel. On the main screen, a section showing Latest Reputation Given displays who you gave rep to, the date, a link to the specific post, and the comment you sent along. Likewise, the Latest Reputation Received section shows the same information for the rep you received, showing who sent it to you and which post they liked.




Please remember to be respectful to one another, and have fun sharing the love! Just remember that reputation DOES NOT confer additional privelege or status to anyone.

[NPF Administration]

NPF Chat
original thread

At one point, there was popular demand for chat options among NPF members. In previous years, this included an IRC channel, AIM chatrooms, and a Yaplet attached to the forum URL. Currently, NPF has an AJAXChat extension running. Just click the "Join Chat" link on the main forum menu!



Across the bottom of the chat screen is the edit box for entering messages and the buttons for all of the available formatting tags. To the right, by default the online users are shown; using the buttons on the bottom you can also customize your settings, get help on available commands, and toggle sounds.



In addition to using the formatting buttons, all bbcode can be used with capital tags or lowercase tags.
YouTube videos can now be enclosed in [YT] tags. Just paste the URL to the video between the tags to embed a video into chat!

Current Custom Chat Smileys
:fifthwithit:

CUSTOM COMMANDS FOR NPF

/revert
This command requires no additional input. It will revert your user name to your default/forum name.

/whois <username>
This will now reveal who is who with respect to any username by revealing the forum name. It will return to you a message along the lines of "(alias) is actually <forum username>".

/ignore <username>
As requested, ignoring is now account-based and not name-based. This means if you ignore someone and they change their alias you will still have them ignored. If you wish you un-ignore a person, you just re-enter the command with whatever their current alias is. Or use the GUI.
At any time, you can clear your cookies for nuklearforums, specifically any related to ajax-chat, to reset your ignore preferences if you are having trouble with them.

USEFUL COMMANDS YOU MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF
All of these commands are explained in the command help screen, accessed by the (?) icon at the bottom-right of the chat display!!

/who
-- shows a list of who is online in all possible channels of the chat, regardless of if you are in the same channel as them or not
-- you can optionally pass a channel name to see the members in a specific channel

/whereis <username>
-- tells you what channel a user is in

/list
-- prints a list of available channels (and you can click them to swap to them)