Frequently Asked Questions (Help Documents)
Displayed below are collapsible categories detailing how to accomplish basic functionality within the community, including how to use some of the additional features that are built into the community. If you are needing further assistance please get in touch with the site administrator or email us at [email protected]. We hope to answer all enquiries within 24 hours.

Basic Functionality

Some parts of this forum may require you to be logged in and registered. Registration is free and takes a few minutes to complete.
You are encouraged to register; once you register you will be able to post messages, set your own preferences, and maintain a profile.
Some of the features that generally require registration are subscriptions, changing of styles, accessing of your Personal Pad (simple notepad) and emailing forum members.

At some point during your stay, you may decide you need to update some information such as your instant messenger information, your password, or perhaps you need to change your email address. You may change any of this information from your user control panel. To access this control panel, simply click on the link in the upper right hand corner of most any page entitled "user cp". From there, simply choose "Edit Profile" and change or update any desired items, then proceed to click the submit button located at the bottom of the page for changes to take effect..

When you login, you set a cookie on your machine so that you can browse the forums without having to enter in your username and password each time. Logging out clears that cookie to ensure nobody else can browse the forum as you.

To login, simply click the login link at the top right hand corner of the forum. To log out, click the log out link in the same place. In the event you cannot log out, clearing cookies on your machine will take the same effect..


Posting

Creating a topic in the community is very simple and easy to do. 1. Firstly start of by choosing your category that you wish to post the topic under this could be anything from the community, gaming, graphics etc. 2. Once you have chosen your desired category, scroll down until you see the post thread button, click this button. 3. You will then be redirected to a text box that will have information such as the thread subject, your message and post options. Once you have filled all this information in scroll down and click post now. You have now finished your new topic.

Creating a post is far simpler than creating a topic. All that requires you to do is select your specific category that you wish to post in, once in that category scroll down through the already created topics posted and click one that you desire to post in. Once in that topic scroll down and you will see a text box at the bottom, fill in your reply and click post reply. You may also click new reply for more features. That's your post complete.


Additions

Forum Rules - Forum Authority (As of October 2016)

Participation at Forum Authority constitutes agreement to the following guidelines, which apply to posts, profile information, avatars, signatures, any other content on this site and participation in general. This includes private messages, which we have the ability to read, but only do so when a violation is reported to us or we have a legitimate reason. Although rare, it does happen. Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not possible for us to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted. If you believe that someone has violated our forum rules or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please use the report system so staff will be notified about the case. Notification is voluntary and anonymous, but in no case should a user respond to a situation personally, thereby aggravating the situation further. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action. This is a for profit website that will attempt to generate revenue through avenues that we deem appropriate. Any content that violates our forum rules will be removed. Interpretation of our guidelines is at the discretion of the staff.

CONTENT REGULATIONS


Summary

Do not:

1. Post Illegal activity.
2. Post Illegal software of any kind, hacking, cheating, exploits.
3. Post Pornography.
4. Discrimination, bully, flame, insult, threats of violence, or harassment. Even as a joke.
5. Post copyrighted material.
6. Using profanity (excluding the rant section of the forum).
7. Advertise (excluding approval of the administration or partnership)
8. Double Posting, Cross posting or spamming.
9. Posting personal information.
10. Threatening to leave the board.
11. Backseat moderating.
12. Abuse or encourage abuse of the Like, Post Reporting, or private messaging systems.

REGISTRATION OF USERS

1. By registration to the forum you accept the present Rules. 
2. To register to the forum a user must provide an active e-mail address. We guarantee privacy of the provided information. 
3. Choice of a username (a nickname) is your exclusive right. Your nickname must be non-offensive and has to be unique on this forum. The administration reserves the right to take measures for stopping a nickname usage, if its usage violates generally accepted moral and ethical standards and it is insulting for other forum users. Registration of nicknames, resembling the existing ones so that they can mislead other forum users, is prohibited. 
4. Repeated registration of one user, regardless of his/her aims, is prohibited. This violation is considered to be extremely serious and leads to the blocking of all accounts. You are allowed to have one (1) account. 
5. Use your common sense as always on the Internet: don't just post private information, nor put it in your profile. 
6. We reserve the right to remove accounts inactive for a long time (50 days or more), if no specified reason is given. 

RULES OF CONDUCT

1. Communication in the forum is based on the principles of generally accepted morality and netiquette. 
2. Always use common sense by being nice and responding to users how you want to be treated. 
3. Links or posts regarding sex and pornography, racism, violence, and discrimination are NOT allowed. 
4. Don't flame (that's using insulting or offensive language against fellow forum visitors). We have our own ways of communicating. Flaming isn't one of them. Please be civilized. 
5. Any advertising, including Internet projects (except for the cases of preliminary approval with the administration), is strongly prohibited. 
6. If you, as a user, violate the rules or defy a moderator's call, there is a big chance that you will be warned or banned from further use of the forum. 
7. Threats, harassment, bullying or pressure of users on the forum is strictly prohibited (via posts, private messages or e-mail).
8. Respect others' opinions and knowledge, even if that does not always agree with what you think and feel about a certain thing. Personal attacks are not tolerated in this forum. 

MESSAGE POSTING

1. Thread subject must be informative and reflect the core of the thread to the maximum. 
2. Before you create a new thread, make sure that you create it in the forum of the proper subject area and that this question hasn't been discussed before. 
3. Creation of identical threads in different sections and posting of similar messages in different threads is prohibited. 
4. Try not to make grammar mistakes in your posts, it will give a negative impression about you. Use the edit function instead of making new posts in succession in a topic.
  5. Posts on this forum must be written to the best of your ability in English. If you are unsure of words in the English language feel free to ask a member for help.
6. Use quotes sparingly and properly. No one wants to read a thread that is simply a string of quotes.
7. Forum Authority cannot take responsibility for any illegal content posted on the forums, as we cannot monitor each and every member on the forums. Although the staff of Forum Authority will delete any illegal content, we cannot promise to cover everything. 
8. The board administrator and its designated moderators reserve the right to (without reservation and without notification to the thread/post creator) edit or remove posts deemed to be objectionable, offensive or otherwise in violation of forum rules. 

PUNISHMENTS

When you violate any rule, you will receive either a warning or a ban. (Temporary or permanent. Depends on which rule was broken by the user) If you are banned from the forum, you are not allowed to create an account to evade this ban. This can lead to a one-month extension onto your already existing ban and a permanent deletion of your secondary account. 

Yours Sincerely,
The ForumAuthority Team.

During your time on Forum Authority you have the ability to upgrade your account to two separate subscriptions. The first one being Emerald and the second one being platinum. Each subscription entitles you to additional features on the site. In order to purchase the platinum subscription you must have Emerald. Purchasing any subscription for your account entitles you to that specific subscription for one year only, before your subscription expires you will receive an email / direct message on the website, notifying you of expiry. You will have the option to pay for your subscription through PayPal or Direct Debit. Once the subscription has been purchased, no refunds will be given under any circumstance. If you purchase any subscription and your account has not changed to your correct upgrade, please contact the site admin.

Awards are a small fun feature implemented into the community. Also associated with achievements, these can be obtained through various tasks on the community, once the specific award is obtained a little icon will appear on your profile and posts representing the award / achievement you've achieved. Awards are there to give users more personalization and ambition, especially for achievement hunters.

Credits is a virtual online currency that can be used to obtain site features such as username changes, awards, and other virtual items to enhance the users profile. Credits can be obtained by posting within the community, referring members and other daily activities. A full detailed list of the credits statistics and income earnings can be viewed on the credits page.