Forum Help

How to start a new topic
To start a new topic, click on the relevant forum and then click on the pink button called 'New Topic'. Type in the subject of your post and then start typing content in the message box.

How to reply to a post
To reply to a post, click on the topic that the post you would like to respond to is in, and click on the pink button called 'Post Reply', you can then start typing content in the message box.

To add a smiley face to your post
When typing your post in the message box, you will find the available smilies on the left hand side of the message box. To add a smiley, simply click on the one you would like.

To upload an avatar
To upload an avatar (the small image that will appear below your username in each post), go to 'My Profile' which you will find in the bar accross the top of each screen, and click on 'Modify Avatar'. You can then choose to either upload an avatar from our collection, enter in a URL of an avatar or upload a picture from your computer. The avatar must not be any bigger than 80x80 pixels

To format your post
You will find various buttons above the message box, including bold, italic, underline, quote, font colour etc. First highlight the text, and then click the button. You will be able to see what your post will look like by clicking the 'preview' button at the bottom of the page.

To post an image from your computer:

There is no way to upload an image to the forums directly. To host an image you will need to use a free hosting site. We recommend that you use a site called ImageShack. To post a picture in a thread, follow these steps:

1. Go to ImageShack. Do not alter any of the visible options, leave them at their default, and click the Browse button, go to where you've stored the image, and click on it, select Open, and click then 'Host it' button. Wait for a while and the image will be uploaded to Imageshack.

2. Once ImageShack has finished uploading you will see a results screen. Carefully highlight all the text in the Thumbnail for forums (1). Right-click and select Copy, or press CTRL+C to copy the entire link.

3. Now simply paste this link directly into the post where you want it to be displayed. Do not alter the code in any way, do not add any code, page breaks etc. to it. To see if it looks right, before submitting the post, click the 'Preview Post' button (go to Advanced mode if necessary) and you will see if it looks right or not. What you should see is a small thumbnail version of your image which, when clicked upon, opens a new window with the full-sized version.

N.B. Please make sure that you don't post lots of images in a row as this can skew thread width and then make it hard to read the thread. Even when posting clickable thumbnails, do not post more than 5 in a row, as this will typically skew thread appearance. Also, do not post dozens of images in one post, regardless of their size, as this can impact on thread loading times for users.

To post an image from the internet:
Copy the URL of the image and paste it into the message box. Highlight the URL and then click the 'Insert Image' button which you will find above the message box.

N.B. Please check how large the image you are inserting is as a large image can take be larger than your screen and therefore be hard to see and impact on thread loading times for users.

To private message or email somebody
Under a message the user has posted, there are two buttons; 'PM' and 'Email'. To send a private message to that person please click on 'PM' and to email them click 'Email'


I hope these instructions help, if anything is unclear or you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Emma at NRAS

Email: emma@nras.org.uk
Phone: 0845 458 3969