Kirby's Guide to the CP

[Kirby Pufocia]

Hello, friend.

Is that a registration I see in your hand? Well, log in, why don't ya! Go on, I'll wait. In the meantime, I think I'd do well to address some of the questions many users have about this very board.

First, we need to educate the public about the User Control Panel (abbreviated "CP"). This button sits at the top of every forum page, just waiting for you to click upon it. It is a most wondrous and magical button, indeed. Once you get acquainted with its position, know that most of my guide is based around the CP system, and I will most likely use it as a base for my instructions.

What's that, Johnny? You have questions? Well, ask away!

How to I change that text under my name?

This is a fairly common question, but a valid one all the same. Unlike many of the board's options, this one isn't lying in plain sight. All right, you're already at the CP page, right? What you're going to want to do is click on the Profile tab. Here, you can input a bunch of information for the whole world to see. However, if you scroll down a little, you'll find a section entitled "Custom User Text," right under your birthday. It is here that you may change that elusive text. Note that mine reads God of Metal.

There is a limit to the amount of text which can be entered under your name to the tune of 25 characters. Don't worry, there are many great titles just waiting for you to think of them!

Well, all right. What about that text that follows your every post?

This text is called a "signature," and again, we'll use the CP. Click on the Signature tab and let it load up for you. There are all sorts of things you can do with this. You'll see a load of options at the top of the text box. These are the vB commands, which can do everything from making your text bold to italic, and, of course, even change up the color a little bit. What a treat! Go wild with it, but remember to respect your mods' rules regarding signature length. The generally accepted size is a three-line maximum. But don't let that scare you. Just like with titles, there are an assload (pardon the expression) of clever things that you can pull down to three lines. Look at mine!

That's cool. What's up with that pretty picture by your name?

That pretty picture is called an "avatar." Again, we delve into the territory of the CP. Do skillfully click upon the Avatar tab and proceed from there.

At this window, you'll be able to either upload a picture (max size: 100x100 pixels or 20000 bytes, or around 18 KB) from your hard drive, or give a site's URL. When you're done, click "Submit Modifications" and you're golden!

Edit: Updated 1/09/04

What's all this I hear about Moderators, now?

Moderators are the friendly people, ninja and drooling primates that look over these forums, protecting them from the likes of Dr. Spam and his hordes of writing malcontents. These men and women have been gifted with a special ability, that they can delete, move, or otherwise shape the posts of the users as they deem fit. They act in accordance to the [link=http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=38]Evil Rules of Iron-fistedness!!!111[/link], and swear on their lives to hold true to these guidelines. The master mod holds power above all other moderators. Kurosen, blessed administrator, is the man that deals with the suspension of unruly users. In his free time, he likes to create webcomics to appease his massive fan base.

Be sure to follow these rules, and you'll stay on the good side of the law until years down the line when I take over with my force of rampaging 16-bit characters, and Brian himself shall be helpless before me! But that's neither here nor there, whatever the hell that phrase means.

All right, I read the rules, but I'm not understanding some of the wording.

No problem. If ever you have a question about any rules, go ahead and send a PM to one of the moderators, or somebody like me, who has a firm understanding of the rules.

Speaking of moderators, who are they?

In order, off the top of my head: Drooling Iguana, the crazed monkey, Viper Daimao, ninja of death and supreme master of stealth. Both are known for their dedication to the forums and quick wit. shiney, former spam whore, now known in whispers behind his back as the spam nazi. RaiRai likes spending time in the Role-playing forum, but you'll generally find her all over shiney and the general forums as well. This leaves but two, administrator Kurosen (the only mod on the forum listing to have his name in italics) and his hot red-headed girlfriend, Mashirosen, hated by flamers and trolls for her dedication to her work. We salute you, moderators of the 8-bit forums!

Wow, you've got a few screws loose, kid. Anything else I should know?

I guess it couldn't hurt to go over some of the basic terms, in the event that a newbie find his or herself too shy to ask about something he or she does not understand.

Basic terms.

Bumping - This refers to posting in an old topic in an effort to bring attention to it again. Generally, unless there's something really important to add and it's necessary more people see it, this is seen in a negative light. If you don't feel you can add something to an old discussion, simply don't bump one.

Flaming - A flame is a direct attack on another member. This is not to be confused with critisizm. Flaming generally involves vulgarity, though there are exceptions to that. Calling another poster stupid will typically fall under this category. Yes, we understand that sometimes they have it coming, but this is a civil forum. Try to learn to forgive and forget.

And, no, adding a smiley after a statement like "you suck adn yuor mom dos to!!1" doesn't make everything all better. It makes you look like an indecisive jackass. Don't resort to insults in the first place, and you'll be fine.

Double-posting - This is the art of posting two or more times in a row, also known as "replying to oneself." Continuous occurences of this act will most certainly end with a moderator's warning (see rules) being thrown your way. If you have something to add to your post, don't hit Reply, instead, go to your post itself. In the bottom right-hand corner, second big button from the right, you'll see an icon labeled "Edit." Use this to edit the content of your posts, and keep everybody happy.

Spam - "Spam is, in a word, unnecessary. Of course I'm going to elaborate." Spamming is replying to, or beginning a topic in a manner that contributes nothing to the board. This may be hard to follow, but bear with me.

Let's say, for example, there is a discussion on the game Final Fantasy 6. It may go a little something like this.

Originally Posted by Topic: FF6 help!!

1. FF6n00b: "Hey, guys. I got this game a few days ago, and I found myself stuck at that fight against all the troopers in Narshe. I love this game, but I just wish I could get through it! Any help is appreciated. Thanks is advance!"

2. FF6 Master: "Defending Tritoch from Kefka's hordes can be a real bear. I'd recommend you try to balance out your parties. Try to have a party wherein one person is good with fighting, and the other can attack multiple units. Most likely, only Edgar, Terra and Celes can hit more than one enemy at a time, so have them all in separate parties. After that, just heal as needed and dispatch the hordes. When you're through with them, get your best party down to kick Kefka's ass. Lemme know if you have any more questions."

3. Donkey McJackass: "omfg FF6 iz my favourite game lol but ur only in narshe? u sux, haha. n00b'

4. Well-intentioned Guy: "I wish I still had my copy of FF6. Damn do I miss that game."

5. FF6n00b: "Thanks for the help, Master! I finally won, but now I'm not sure where to go. Terra just <spoilers> turned into this pink thing and took off</spoilers>, and I'm not sure how to follow her. Thanks again!"

6. Well-intentioned Guy: "Hey, anyone here like to use the Atma Weapon with Locke? I hear it doubles power on him. Can anybody verify this?"

7. Donkey McJackass: "hey stfu Guy. n00b, u wanna go south to figaro adn ask teh mechanic to take u over to mirnada i think u shoudl be able to fidn yuor way form htere"

Can you pick out the rule violations in that? In the third post, Donkey McJackass was spamming; posting in an off-topic manner. He was also flaming FF6n00b. Notice how "u sux" is construed as a direct attack.

Find anything else? If you're astute, you'll see that Well-intentioned Guy was also guilty of spam in that topic. The topic called for help about FF6, and he launched into a sob story about not being able to find his game. In fact, Guy spammed twice. In the sixth post, he goes on about a weapon in the game, the Atma weapon, once again not answering the topic-poser's question.

What about the last post, though? Donkey McJackass tells Guy to "stfu*." Isn't that flaming? While out of context, it certainly would seem that way, in this case, Donkey has a legitimate reason to be replying in this manner; he is telling Guy in his own way to stay on topic. As for the rest of it, he directly answers FF6n00b's new question. Bad spelling, horrid as it may look, is not a punishable offense on these boards (except in extreme cases; using "1337-speak," et cetera).

That should cover all of the major terms for today. Remember, if you have any questions about anything relating to the rules, or features, feel free to ask away. It's the reason for which we're here. Sorta.

*STFU is an abbreviation for "shut the **** up."

Edit: (pic deleted; outdated)

[Viper Daimao]

well done my metal thrashing friend.

[Creamsteak]

Couple things, if your using the default settings then you can use your CP for a few other things:

Forum Subscriptions and Thread Subscriptions

From your User Control Panel you can access every thread you've posted to (by the default settings) and also any threads you've been subscribed 2 for other reasons. Heres the just of subscribing:

With the default settings you are subscribed by User CP to all threads you post to. That means that the user CP will show you a list of all threads you've shown interest in, but havn't updated yourself about.

If you wish to unsubscribe, this can be done with the User CP or by going to the bottom of the subscribed thread where appears. This command also lets you subscribe to threads you havn't been subscribed to. Extra bonus: this command allows you to subscribe to a thread by Email among other things. That means you will recieve an email (or an ICQ if you choose) every time the thread has been refreshed. Neat, eh? Don't forget to unsubscribe when your bored of this redundance.

Oh, and you can also subscribe to an entire forum, which will inform you every time a new thread appears. This is more important for mods than users, but if your a big comic book freak, you can always know what's going on.

[Sir Juno]

Also here is a little update of the location of the Control Panel:

[Dante]

Can you change the number of posts that will be displayed per page?

[Neverwhere]

umm.. yes. Goto CP then the options one. scroll down till you can see the drop-down menu that says 'Default posts per thread' and change it.up to 40/page

[Dante]

Right. Thanks.

[AndyBloodredMage]

Some people have pictures in their signatures. I have tried (and failed) to duplicate this effect. Is there something I'm doing that is wrong?

I believe no more pictures are allowed in sigs for the time being (time being prolly = forever)

[AndyBloodredMage]

Darn. O well I guess I'll just have to come up with witty quotes in its stead.