Getting Started with the Forum

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Getting Started

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Table of Contents

• General
• Roleplaying on the Forum
• Forum Features

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General

 

• Brand new to AWAFL? Check out our Rules journal first to get started! This is a guide for getting started using the forum.
• Registration to the forum is limited to AWAFL members only, but every member of the group should register on the forum; please do not make a forum account until you have been accepted into the group! We require that you use your dA username, so that we know who you are! You can change your display name later by going to your profile --> Edit Profile --> Personal tab.
• After you've registered, it's strongly encouraged that you include a link to your character profile(s) in your signature! This is handy for both you and rp partners to read up on your character(s), or to quick check info while rping. You can do this also from the Personal tab on your Edit Profile screen. You can use the following code to do this:
  
  [a href="link to your character"]Character Name[/a]
  Or, you can also make a signature image and use that as a link instead (it's recommended to keep your signature under 250px tall):
  
  [a href="link to your character"][img src="url of image"][/a]
• In addition to this, you are free to customize your signature however you like!
• You are by no means required to rp only on the forum. You can roleplay wherever you like; the forum is just here for those that want to! We do encourage at least trying it if you haven't before, though.
• In keeping with the Proboards ToS, please keep all content on the forum PG-13 (IC and OOC).
• The best way to keep track of your threads is via the Bookmarks system! You can Bookmark any thread of your choosing by going to the Actions dropdown menu, and selecting "Bookmark." This will then add an extra link in the navigation bar, which will pop up with alerts every time your bookmarked threads are updated! The Participated button works in a similar way, but it's important to note that it's not as reliable.
• If a board has stickied threads at the top of its thread list, they probably contain important information about the board! It's a good idea to read them when you see them. There are a lot of them around, but you don't by any means have to read them all at once; take as much time as you need to get familiar with things.

 

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Roleplaying

 

• Forum roleplay threads come in mainly two forms: open threads, and private threads!
  
  
  • OPEN threads are those free for anyone to join! Just post a starter. These can be compared to when someone starts an rp in a group chat and invites anyone who wants to rp to jump in. They're a great way for meeting other characters, or if you're looking to just start/join an rp! You can have open threads with some set participants, or just have it totally open in general. They're usually indicated by [OPEN] being listed somewhere in the title (Ex, an open thread name might look like "Do Aliens Play Baseball? [OPEN]" or "Frozen Custard Life [Name/Name/OPEN]"
  • PRIVATE threads are those where the participants are already decided; they're the more common thread type! They're for when you and someone else (or multiple people) already know you want to rp! They're generally indicated by the participating characters' names being in the title (Ex, a private thread name might look like "Can you Not [Keiko/Juon]")
  
  Outside of these guidelines, you're free to format your thread titles however you like! The same goes for posts.
• When a thread is completed, the person who originally started the thread is encouraged to edit [DONE] into the title, to make things easier to keep track of!
• If you join an open thread, be sure to keep an eye on it, in case others are waiting on you!
• Please avoid double posting anywhere IC. This is sometimes okay if you're rping multiple of your own characters in the same thread.
• Threads can go on for any length you like, and include as many people as you like.
• Solo threads (oneshot posts/short prose about just your character(s)) are also totally okay! If you have a solo you want to write for the sake of character development and post on the forum, feel free.
• It's okay if you want to set a thread in a past date! Just make sure it's indicated somewhere in the thread (ex, an rp weeks, months, or years in the past).
• You can have as many threads going at once as you like/can handle; it's also fine if they're in the same location.
• OOC talk in IC posts is totally fine! Just make sure you can tell what's IC and what's OOC.
• If you'd like to include art in posts, you're more than welcome! Whether you want to do just text, text & images, or even art rp on the forum, go for it!

 

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Forum Features

 

Proboards Basics

• Proboards uses a coding system known as UBBC, or BBcode. It's essentially HTML, but with the < and > replaced with [ and ]. It's designed to be quicker/easier to type; it also accepts CSS styling! You can find a complete list of available UBBC codes for Proboards here.
• Note that if you like to use the BBC editor when posting, be careful using the Preview editor tab as an actual preview! It will break code, and the code it generates can be messy.
• When you edit your profile, under the Settings tab, you'll find a field where you can set up Default BBC to automatically be input when you start a new post. It's handy if you use the same codes often!
• For members logged in, there's a chat at the bottom of the page to use! It also accepts UBBC. Use the Refresh arrow to display new posts to it.
• In posts, the heart icon in the top corner is a Like button. It has no real purpose, but it's fun.
• The Messages feature (also called PMs, or now DMs) is a private messaging system set up just like threads and posts, except fully private. They can contain multiple recipients, and also staff can send out mass messages this way.
• If you ever have any questions on how the forums work, you're more than welcome to contact Pai!

AWAFL Added Features

• For the use of randomization (if you want to use it), we have a dice function that is usable within posts! To use it, you can use the [ roll ] (without spaces) code. To set a specific range (ex, picking between 1 and 2, or a number between 1 and 100), you can set it as roll="#-#".
• When you edit your profile, under the Personal tab, there are fields to set your gender identity/pronouns (off of the default one built into Proboards, which we've set to not display publicly anywhere), as well as to describe your Availability! These will both show up on your user profile screen.
• A feature of AWAFL's forum is Thread Descriptions, which can be set when creating a thread; they'll display beneath the title in the thread itself, and also on the thread list in the board. The idea is to use them to help keep track of threads with summaries, but you can really use it however you like!
• The maximum size for forum icons is 150x250; Proboards will automatically shrink any uploaded icons to clip a dimension to 150, but if you link your icons externally (via sta.sh or etc), they'll display full size.
• If you want to quote just a portion of text from a post, instead of hitting the Quote button, you can select the text you want, and in the Actions dropdown menu, hit "Quote Selected"!
• Image links placed into posts will automatically embed.
• If you want to include content in your post with a visibility toggle, we have Spoiler tags! The code for them is:
  
  [spoiler]Content hidden under the spoiler link[/spoiler]
• Hit the Smilies button in the Reply screen to get a dropdown list of the shortcodes for all of our custom emotes. You can hit "View All Smileys" to see what they look like displayed.
• If you like to use a lot of code formatting in your posts, but don't want it to pop up as your default BBC when you start posting (ex, if you have sets of code you like to use for different characters, or you just hate deleting it all for ooc posts, or etc), when you edit your profile, under Settings, you can set up Posting Templates, which can be saved individually with formatting pre-defined. These can be selected from when you post!