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Hear ye, hear ye!
Dear friends and fellow tavern patrons, guests and visitors of all species!
A few questions have come up repeatedly over time, sometimes new people join us, sometimes people who have been here for a while discover a function they hadn't known about earlier but that makes life easier, so I thought I'd try to write a little basic guide, what is where and what does it do.
This is a work in progress, so I will probably add several things with time or restructure this thread. Feel free to add more ideas about useful tips.
Every information in this post refers to the PC version of this site. The mobile version is fully functional in terms of reading and posting, but not everything works the same there.
The only information I'm going to give about the mobile version, since it has come up a few times as "the forum isn't working":
If you can't sign in or get an error message on mobile, first go and empty your browser cache. It's rare, but when the cache is very full, it has happened to me and others a few times already.
A little bit about basic functions:
How can you post and what can you do with it?
To start a new thread:
There are several options to start a new thread. One of them is the button on the upper right of the forum main page.
It leads you to this view where you can pick the category.
Obviously you can't post in Moderation if you're not an innkeeper, the rest should be pretty easy.
RPG Discussion is for anything related to RPGs, while General Gaming and non-RPG discussion is for games of other genres or gaming related discussions that aren't tied to a particular genre or to more than one.
"Other" is... everything else. Off-Topic is your place to discuss whatever you want that isn't against our (very easy-going) rules.
Oh and talking about rules, if you want to promote your or someone else's game, fanart or gaming related projects or music, you're welcome to do so, just be mindful if it's not your own work, to make sure the original artist is alright with it and gets credited.
If however you want to promote your business of selling love potions, potency pills or fake passports from alien worlds, we will show you the door. After confiscating your merchandise forresearch projects safekeeping, of course 
.
Another option to create a thread is directly in the corresponding category:
If you click on the same orange button in the upper right corner with "Post thread" or in the empty line above the existing thread that says "thread title", both options will open the window to create a new thread directly in this category, without the popup window from above that allows you to pick another one.
In the window to post a thread, you have two tabs to select "Discussion" and Poll". If you want to create a poll, just select the corresponding tab:
You still see the same text box above to post your thread, so you don't need to choose between a discussion and a poll. Selecting "poll" simply adds it to your opening post and you see the box below where you can put your question, offer several possible replies and how many of those a person can choose, if the votes are public or not, if they can be changed, if you can see the results without participating first, and if the poll participation has a time limit.
Please also note the option "watch this thread" is automatically checked, which means you'll get a notification (appears as a number on the bell symbol next to your username above) when you sign in. If you want email notification when someone replies or votes, you need to mark that second box.
Don't forget to use "save draft" under the floppy disc symbol in the upper right corner of your post. It autosaves occasionally, but I wouldn't rely on it.
How to access your saved drafts?
There's no list with saved drafts on your profile or something. If you got interrupted and come back later, simply go to the category where you were posting, click on one of the two options to post a new thread (the button on the upper right or the empty line above the existing threads) and there's your draft.
It works the same with posts in an existing thread. If you come back to a thread after having saved a draft in the replies window, there it is.
I hope @Antimatter corrects me if I'm wrong, but I believe our current time limit for saved drafts is one week. So if you're writing something long and don't know for certain when you'll be back, it's safer to write in an offline document first and then post here.
How to use spoiler tags:
There are two different spoiler tags. One is the inline spoiler tag which looks like this and can be used either by using [ISPOLIER ] write your text here [/ISPOILER ] without the empty space between the R and the closing bracket, or by selecting the three dots to the right of the colour palette in the editor for further options and selecting the mask symbol for inline spoiler.
This option is better used if you want to hide a few words only, as the blurred image can be unpleasant for some people and besides you have to manually write the spoiler warning in front of it.
The other option is the classic spoiler tag which can be used for hiding screenshots (either because they're spoilery or because a ton full of them affects loading times)
They can be used with the same code as the inline spoiler, only without the letter i in front, meaning [spoiler ] text [/spoiler ] and to add the outside warning, the first block would be [spoiler = "plot spoiler" ] again without the empty spaces obviously, or to make it easier via the editor menu by selecting the very last three dots for "more options" and then the crossed out eye symbol for "spoiler". That will automatically open the window to add information to the spoiler before inserting the code.
Next post will be about inserting pictures, links and media sources, and other stuff around posts, but I'm afraid to hit the character limit and besides it will get too cluttered for an overview.
(Note to self: double-and triple-check preview when explaining about spoiler tags, because it messes up the whole post if you forget an empty space in the explanations and you have to edit your post multiple times)
Dear friends and fellow tavern patrons, guests and visitors of all species!
A few questions have come up repeatedly over time, sometimes new people join us, sometimes people who have been here for a while discover a function they hadn't known about earlier but that makes life easier, so I thought I'd try to write a little basic guide, what is where and what does it do.
This is a work in progress, so I will probably add several things with time or restructure this thread. Feel free to add more ideas about useful tips.
Every information in this post refers to the PC version of this site. The mobile version is fully functional in terms of reading and posting, but not everything works the same there.
The only information I'm going to give about the mobile version, since it has come up a few times as "the forum isn't working":
If you can't sign in or get an error message on mobile, first go and empty your browser cache. It's rare, but when the cache is very full, it has happened to me and others a few times already.
A little bit about basic functions:
How can you post and what can you do with it?
To start a new thread:
There are several options to start a new thread. One of them is the button on the upper right of the forum main page.
It leads you to this view where you can pick the category.
Obviously you can't post in Moderation if you're not an innkeeper, the rest should be pretty easy.
RPG Discussion is for anything related to RPGs, while General Gaming and non-RPG discussion is for games of other genres or gaming related discussions that aren't tied to a particular genre or to more than one.
"Other" is... everything else. Off-Topic is your place to discuss whatever you want that isn't against our (very easy-going) rules.
Oh and talking about rules, if you want to promote your or someone else's game, fanart or gaming related projects or music, you're welcome to do so, just be mindful if it's not your own work, to make sure the original artist is alright with it and gets credited.
If however you want to promote your business of selling love potions, potency pills or fake passports from alien worlds, we will show you the door. After confiscating your merchandise for
.Another option to create a thread is directly in the corresponding category:
If you click on the same orange button in the upper right corner with "Post thread" or in the empty line above the existing thread that says "thread title", both options will open the window to create a new thread directly in this category, without the popup window from above that allows you to pick another one.
In the window to post a thread, you have two tabs to select "Discussion" and Poll". If you want to create a poll, just select the corresponding tab:
You still see the same text box above to post your thread, so you don't need to choose between a discussion and a poll. Selecting "poll" simply adds it to your opening post and you see the box below where you can put your question, offer several possible replies and how many of those a person can choose, if the votes are public or not, if they can be changed, if you can see the results without participating first, and if the poll participation has a time limit.
Please also note the option "watch this thread" is automatically checked, which means you'll get a notification (appears as a number on the bell symbol next to your username above) when you sign in. If you want email notification when someone replies or votes, you need to mark that second box.
Don't forget to use "save draft" under the floppy disc symbol in the upper right corner of your post. It autosaves occasionally, but I wouldn't rely on it.
How to access your saved drafts?
There's no list with saved drafts on your profile or something. If you got interrupted and come back later, simply go to the category where you were posting, click on one of the two options to post a new thread (the button on the upper right or the empty line above the existing threads) and there's your draft.
It works the same with posts in an existing thread. If you come back to a thread after having saved a draft in the replies window, there it is.
I hope @Antimatter corrects me if I'm wrong, but I believe our current time limit for saved drafts is one week. So if you're writing something long and don't know for certain when you'll be back, it's safer to write in an offline document first and then post here.
How to use spoiler tags:
There are two different spoiler tags. One is the inline spoiler tag which looks like this and can be used either by using [ISPOLIER ] write your text here [/ISPOILER ] without the empty space between the R and the closing bracket, or by selecting the three dots to the right of the colour palette in the editor for further options and selecting the mask symbol for inline spoiler.
This option is better used if you want to hide a few words only, as the blurred image can be unpleasant for some people and besides you have to manually write the spoiler warning in front of it.
The other option is the classic spoiler tag which can be used for hiding screenshots (either because they're spoilery or because a ton full of them affects loading times)
See?
They can be used with the same code as the inline spoiler, only without the letter i in front, meaning [spoiler ] text [/spoiler ] and to add the outside warning, the first block would be [spoiler = "plot spoiler" ] again without the empty spaces obviously, or to make it easier via the editor menu by selecting the very last three dots for "more options" and then the crossed out eye symbol for "spoiler". That will automatically open the window to add information to the spoiler before inserting the code.
Next post will be about inserting pictures, links and media sources, and other stuff around posts, but I'm afraid to hit the character limit and besides it will get too cluttered for an overview.
(Note to self: double-and triple-check preview when explaining about spoiler tags, because it messes up the whole post if you forget an empty space in the explanations and you have to edit your post multiple times)
