AnimePaper Community Guide

4. The Forum

This section of the Guide covers everything relating to the Forum.

You will find information on:

> General Tips for conduct on the forums

> The sections of the forum
- Paper Central
- Design and Development
- Audio Delight
- News

> Posting on the forum
- Starting a new thread
- Replying and Quoting
- Using bbcode
- Editing your post

> Rules
1. General
2. Conduct
3. Posting

> Reporting

Scroll down, or use ctr+F to go to a section directly.

Tips

Here are some tips for those new to AP, suggested by AP members!

* Please introduce yourself first before making any posts. We would love to welcome you to this forum but we have to know who you are first.

* Because this is not instant messaging and you have time to compose topics and replies, when posting you should try to write in full sentences using grammar and punctuation.

* Try to post more than one or two lines when replying or starting a topic, of course there are exceptions to this, but a lot of the feedback we have received has been rage against new people posting one-liners! If you want to start a topic, then make it worth the reply. At least give it some decent content.

* If your post is going to be a copy-and-paste job from another site, please provide a URL link to that article accompanied by your views. Do not copy the whole article into your post. Quoting portions of the article to support your opinions however is permissible.

* Posting new threads is great! It encourages discussion on topics and stops the board from going stale, when posting a new topic, take this into account and try to avoid posting threads like:

> What are you xxxx ?
> Who do you xxxx ?
> Favourite xxxx ?
> Which is better? xxxx or yyyy?
> Where can I find xxxx?
> What xxx should I get/download? (Recommendation type threads)

* AP does not allow list-fest threads (inclusive of the examples above). Please be aware of this when starting any new topic on the main forum board. And please do not keep such threads alive if they exist. Moderators might be busy and do not have time to attend to such threads immediately.

* Game threads are not allowed on the main forum board as it will end up as a spam-magnet. Furthermore, such threads do not contribute anything at all to a proper discussion.

* When posting a request for anime or J music, please post it on the request board! I know this sounds stupid but it's surprising how many people still don't follow it.

* Always use the search button to:

> Search before you post a new topic to see if a similar/same topic has recently been posted.
> Look for an answer before you ask a question.

* Don't thread mine please! Thread mining is digging up old threads and adding post which are of little content. Please only do this if it feels appropriate to do so (i.e. something new to add that was not put forth in earlier posts).

And most important of all:

* Remember to have fun! AP has been around for over a year now and we have built up on the foundations and basis that we're just normal anime fans, wallpaper designers and artists sharing our common interests, discussing and having a laugh in the process.

We will answer any questions or queries new members have about AP through private message any time!

The sections of the forum

To access the forums, click the "forums" button at the top. Alternatively, you can get a list of the most recent forum activity by clicking on the "Thread Index" option under the "Quick" tab.

The forum is divided into 4 basic sections:

Paper Central

Paper central is the general section of the forum and includes areas for introductions and a general discussion area. This is also where you will find our anima and mange sections.

Design and Development

The design and development forums are for wallpaper development (session zero and non-anime walls) and general art (artist's alley).

Post here to get help with your work in progress walls and with your artwork.

Audio Delight

Audio delight is the area where we share anime and j-pop mp3s. Please be sure to read all of the appropriate stickys and rules regarding requests, etc.

The rest

The last part of the forum is the news section. Here you will find an archive of the announcements made for the site, as well as a section where you can post your problems and suggestions (please do read the FAQ and this guide before posting there, however, as it's almost certain your question has already been answered).

Posting on the forum

Please note that each forum may contain an additional sticky where rules specific to that forum are spelled out. Please read these as they may superceed any rules posted here.

But forums are nothing without new posts, so here's how to work the forums.

Starting a new thread

To start a new thread, navigate to the most appropriate section for your thread type. Click the "Start new discussion topic" link at the top to start a new thread.

Click this and fill out the title, sub-title (if appropriate) and contents of your message. Now, click the submit button.

Replying and Quoting

To reply to any thread, scroll to the bottom of it (or click the "got somethign to say link at the top to scroll there directly) and type your message in the box at the bottom. Press the submit button and your message will apply.

If you want to address or respond to a message earlier in the thread, use the quote button. This will place the contents of the message the person wrote inside a quotation bbcode section. You may want to edit their post down to just the most important bit.

Write your reply or comment below their message and hit the submit button.

Using bbcode

bbcode allows you to create different text types and other useful things. To use the bbcode, click on the appropriate button above the reply box, or type the code in directly.

For example, if you wanted to type something in bold. You would press the B button. Then, you type what you want to put in bold. When you're finished and you want to return to regular text, click the B button again (note that it has changed to /B).

The bbcode you can use is as follows:

This is an example of Bold Text

This is an example of Italic Text

This is an example of Underlined Text

This is an example of Strike Text

This is an example url- purple.com

This is an example of an image -

This is an example of a quote

SPOILER (click to view)

This is an example of a spolier

Other bbcodes are available - simply click the links to investigate.

Editing your post

To edit your post, simply click the edit button, make your adjustments and click the submit button.

Rules

1. General

1.1 Links

Do not post non-work safe images, unless they are part of artwork you have created. Even then, they may be removed.

No linking to porn/hentai.

No linking to warez.

No Image leeching.

No linking to copyright infirnging material, such as fansubs.

1.2 Membership

One membership per person. Duplicates will be deleted.

1.3 Avatars

Avatars are limited to a maximum of 100*100 pixels and 20kb in size. Larger avatars will be removed.

1.4 Signatures

Text in signatures to be no longer than 500 characters long. Signatures will be edited for length.

1.5 Sig Banners

Your signature image must be no bigger than 500 pixels by 130 pixels in size. Uploaded banners must be no larger than 50 KB JPG/PNG. Larger banners will be removed.

1.6 Homepage Button

Your site button must be a JPG/PNG of no more than 88x31pixels dimensions and less than 10kb in size.

2. Conduct

2.1 Trolling

We all have a bad day sometimes, but keep it off the board, attacking other members is just silly.

No feeding trolls. All they want is attention. If you ignore them they will go away.

2.2 Flaming

No flaming. Be civil at all times.

2.3 Language

No excess swearing.

Post only in legible English.

2.4 Privacy

Do not post other people's personnel information on the forum. This is to protect your own personal safety and the safety of others. You are also advised not to post your own details for the same reason.

3. Posting

3.1 Spam

We prefer quality to quantity at AP, people are free to post as much as they want as long as it is relevant to the thread. The shout box is an excellent tool to spam to your hearts content without aggravating anyone. BUT bear in mind that the shoutbox is NOT the place for advertising purposes.

3.2 Reviving Old Threads

If the thread is dead, do not revive it without good reason, this is counted as spamming, you are free to create a new similar thread if you feel there is something new to contribute, although there are exceptions, exercise common sense on this one!

3.3 Offence

Do not post anything that is generally considered offensive, racialist, sexist or ends in any other "ist".

3.4 Shouting

No shouting (posting ALL IN CAPITALS).

3.5 Relevance

Try to post in the most relevant forum and/or thread.

3.6 Smileys

Do not abuse smileys & bbcode.

Reporting

If you see a post that violates any of the stated rules, please inform the moderation team. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the forum is properly moderated, things do occasionally get missed as we are only human.

Please do try to provide detailed information and links when reporting a problem on the forum - they can be quite difficult to find without detailed info.

Other Sections of the Guide

1. Wallpapers
2. Scans
3. Vectors and Re-cg's
4. The forum
5. User page Guide
6. Paper Guide
7. Groups
8. Deletion Policy
9. Quick Help (FAQ)

Click on one of the links above or go back to the start of The Guide