# New forum tip of the day!



## TUGBrian (Nov 23, 2016)

So i am sure many of you have seen the little "tags" above many of the forum posts, and the line that says "add tags" for any of you who have submitted a new thread since the upgrade!

But many may not know exactly what these are used for, so heres the 5cent version!

Tags are used to facilitate searching for topics and keywords on the forum, but in the built in search tool here on the forums (top of the page)...and all major search engines.

Tags are a helpful tool to allow webpages to be "indexed" so to speak with common terms that describe the content of the page itself...and for the purposes of a forum...a "page" is an existing discussion thread.

Any logged in user can add tags to a thread, and we certainly encourage you to do so if you see a thread without any tags or without useful ones!

examples of great tags would be the resort name being discussed, or the resort developer, or the city/location the timeshare exists in if its a topic about vacation tips to hilton head for example.

Tags are just another way to help users find exactly what they are looking for when searching!


Also another neat page is the "TAG CLOUD" that is basically a graphical representation of the most popular tags/searches on the forum itself...tags that are more common show up larger etc etc.

here is the CLOUD for our forum:  http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?tags/


sadly we have more than 200 thousand individual threads, and none of the ones created before we installed the new forum will have tags...but as time goes on this "cloud" will develop into a much neater picture...as well as the forum will begin to be much more "Searchable" both within the forum itself, and public search engines (like google and bing).

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings!  I find this stuff fascinating!


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## dioxide45 (Nov 24, 2016)

I see the tags above your post, but I don't see a line that says, "Add Tags".

_ETA: Okay. I think I get it now. I can only add tags to a thread that I start?_


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## TUGBrian (Nov 25, 2016)

hmm...ill have to look more into the permissions if you are only able to see the "edit" link next to existing tags...or "add tags" to a thread without any...for threads you created vs all threads.


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## Born2Travel (Nov 25, 2016)

I don't see it either.  I  also don't see anywhere to  add a tag to this post as Im typing it.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 25, 2016)

Born2Travel said:


> I don't see it either.  I  also don't see anywhere to  add a tag to this post as Im typing it.


The tags aren't at the individual post level. You can add tags when creating a new thread. There is also a little edit link beside the existing tags for a thread you start.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 25, 2016)

should look like this just below the thread title


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## dioxide45 (Nov 25, 2016)

What is today's feature of the day?


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## TUGBrian (Nov 25, 2016)

ha!  features are on hold pending thanksgiving leftover digestion!


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## Born2Travel (Nov 26, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> The tags aren't at the individual post level. You can add tags when creating a new thread. There is also a little edit link beside the existing tags for a thread you start.



I do see the "edit" next to Brians tags now.  So it looks like we can edit or add tags to anyone's post.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 26, 2016)

Born2Travel said:


> I do see the "edit" next to Brians tags now.  So it looks like we can edit or add tags to anyone's post.


Yes, I see it there now too. I didn't see it the other day when I posted such.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 26, 2016)

while you should be able to add new tags, you should not be able to edit or remove a tag placed by someone else (mods and admins can, just not members).


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## dioxide45 (Nov 26, 2016)

Perhaps this should just be named to "New Forum - Tip of the Day" thread. Here is a tip I found. When you mention another member in a post, start it off with @. If the user has their settings setup to be notified when mentioned in a post, they will receive an alert with a link to the post. When you start with @ and start typing the user name, a quick menu will popup where you can select the user you want to mention. This is similar to Tagging in Facebook.

Let see if it actually works. 
@TUGBrian and @Makai Guy have done a great job converting the forums.


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## Makai Guy (Nov 26, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> Perhaps this should just be named to "New Forum - Tip of the Day" thread. Here is a tip I found. When you mention another member in a post, start it off with @. If the user has their settings setup to be notified when mentioned in a post, they will receive an alert with a link to the post. When you start with @ and start typing the user name, a quick menu will popup where you can select the user you want to mention. This is similar to Tagging in Facebook.
> 
> Let see if it actually works.
> @TUGBrian and @Makai Guy have done a great job converting the forums.


I can't tell from this attempt.  This is a 'watched' forum for me, so I already get alerted to every post here.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 26, 2016)

Makai Guy said:


> I can't tell from this attempt.  This is a 'watched' forum for me, so I already get alerted to every post here.


In your Alert Preferences, do you have '_Mentions you in a message_' option checked?

I don't have alerts setup for watched forums, perhaps try mentioning me and I will see if I get the alert.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 26, 2016)

the "alert" showed up for me.


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## pedro47 (Nov 26, 2016)

Why can't we edit our own post afters two (2) days?  The edit feature is not been display after two (2) days.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 26, 2016)

pedro47 said:


> Why can't we edit our own post afters two (2) days?  The edit feature is not been display after two (2) days.


This is the same functionality as the old forum software. You could only edit your post for 48 hours. I personally think this is still too long. It all goes back to @PerryM and the Westgate Hollywood Tower of Terror.


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## Makai Guy (Nov 26, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> In your Alert Preferences, do you have '_Mentions you in a message_' option checked?



Well, I'll be darned.   Yep, that's what it says.


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## Makai Guy (Nov 26, 2016)

pedro47 said:


> Why can't we edit our own post afters two (2) days?  The edit feature is not been display after two (2) days.


In the bad old days we had too much trouble with people getting into contoversial topics, then going back and editing out what they said.  Eventually we had to put limits on editing.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 27, 2016)

Today's Tip - Spoilers

Wanting to post about your favorite TV show or movie in the TUG Lounge but don't want to spoil important details for those that might have DVR'ed the show and not seen it yet. Simply enclose it in [ SPOILER ] [/ SPOILER ] tags. Just remove the extra spaces. Lets see how this works. 



Spoiler



The first day of January 2017 will be a Sunday!


 See, I didn't ruin the surprise for anyone that still may not know.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 27, 2016)

be super handy in the survivor thread!


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## dioxide45 (Nov 28, 2016)

Today's Tip - Keyboard Shortcuts

Just like with Word, you can use keyboard shortcuts for bold, italic and underline. Either highlight the text and use the shortcut or use the shortcut and start typing. Using the shortcut again will turn off the font change.

Ctrl U - Underline
Ctrl B - *Bold*
Ctrl I - _Italic
_
You can even overlay them on top of each other

Ctrl B + Ctrl U - *Bold Underline*
Ctrl I + Ctrl B - *Bold Italic*
Ctrl U + Ctrl I - _Underline Italic
_
Some Other Shortcuts
Ctrl K - Create Number List
Ctrl J - Create Bullet List
Ctrl H - Subscript
Crtl L - Supercript


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## TUGBrian (Nov 28, 2016)

uploaded a simple users guide for xenforo in the first post, has some good basic details on various user settings and features.


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## amycurl (Nov 29, 2016)

Spoiler tags! Just like the (now sadly defunct) TWOP forums!


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## TUGBrian (Dec 6, 2016)

Todays tip is the use of the "insert" feature when posting a reply or thread!

In the previous version of vbulletin we had a simple "quote" button at the top (or folks just typed in the quote code around the text they wanted).

now the icon has changed a bit but is still there, its the INSERT icon (see picture below) and it allows you to INSERT a number of codes to allow for different features within a post or reply.

when you click it you will see a small drop down box and "quote" is the first option!

just a heads up for those looking for the easy "quote" button!


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## pedro47 (Dec 6, 2016)

ok


TUGBrian said:


> Todays tip is the use of the "insert" feature when posting a reply or thread!
> 
> In the previous version of vbulletin we had a simple "quote" button at the top (or folks just typed in the quote code around the text they wanted).
> 
> ...


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## TUGBrian (Dec 6, 2016)




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## pedro47 (Dec 6, 2016)

ok


TUGBrian said:


> Todays tip is the use of the "insert" feature when posting a reply or thread!
> 
> In the previous version of vbulletin we had a simple "quote" button at the top (or folks just typed in the quote code around the text they wanted).
> 
> ...



The insert icon is to the right of the Draft icon. correct


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## TUGBrian (Dec 6, 2016)

or the left =)


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## dioxide45 (Dec 6, 2016)

TUGBrian said:


> Todays tip is the use of the "insert" feature when posting a reply or thread!
> 
> In the previous version of vbulletin we had a simple "quote" button at the top (or folks just typed in the quote code around the text they wanted).
> 
> ...


I was trying to find that Strike-through yesterday. I ended up just having to manually input the tags.


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## taffy19 (Dec 6, 2016)

It shows for me under "insert".


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## Makai Guy (Dec 6, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> I was trying to find that Strike-through yesterday. I ended up just having to manually input the tags.



There's a small "Help" link in the blue bar at the bottom of the page.  You can find all the bbcodes for manual entry there.


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## TUGBrian (Dec 11, 2016)

and another new forum tip I just discovered!

If you click the "new posts" link like im sure most members who love that feature do, as you scroll down you might not notice (I didnt until today) a small line break that indicates the break between "new posts since your last visit" and "new posts you havent read but havent been updated since your last visit"

This is super handy for me IMO...and i think would provide a solution for a few others that were going back and forth between new posts and recent posts!

here is a screenshot:


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## dioxide45 (Dec 17, 2016)

Drag and drop images.

If you find an image on the web that you want to place in a post, simply drag it from the webpage and drop it in to the reply box. You can do this when the images are on different tabs. First drag the image over the tab that the reply box is in, then drag it to the reply window and drop. Lets see if this works.







I simply dragged Brian's avatar in to the reply box and dropped it.

I also found, if you want to link to the image in its original location, just click on it while it is still in the reply box. The insert hyperlink box will popup with the path already inserted. Simply click Insert and the image is now also a hyperlink.


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## TUGBrian (Dec 17, 2016)

thats super handy!


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## GregGH (Jan 1, 2017)

Question of searching ?   Trying DOG FRIENDLY as it says the word 'dog' to too short or common.  So I tried with double quotes - not work -I get results for the word 'friendly'.  Tried  a + sign ( dog+friendly) ... any suggestions ?

Lets try the insert image ( as mentioned above ) ...  we never top learning ...





Really nice to add images ...

Regards
Greg H


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## Makai Guy (Jan 1, 2017)

GregGH said:


> Question of searching ?   Trying DOG FRIENDLY as it says the word 'dog' to too short or common.  So I tried with double quotes - not work -I get results for the word 'friendly'.  Tried  a + sign ( dog+friendly) ... any suggestions ?
> 
> Lets try the insert image ( as mentioned above ) ...  we never top learning ...
> 
> ...


See this post in the BBS Help section: http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/searching-the-tug-website.81078/


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## dioxide45 (Jan 1, 2017)

I do find the search feature of Xenforo to be far inferior to that of vBulletin. On vBulletin, I was able to do searches for threads started by a specific user. Like if I wanted to find threads started just by me. I can't find any way to do that now. Google Search won't help me with that either. Also find that when you choose more options, it by default tries to search all forums where vBulletin would still default to the forum you are currently in.


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## Makai Guy (Jan 1, 2017)

dioxide45 said:


> I do find the search feature of Xenforo to be far inferior to that of vBulletin. On vBulletin, I was able to do searches for threads started by a specific user. Like if I wanted to find threads started just by me. I can't find any way to do that now. Google Search won't help me with that either. Also find that when you choose more options, it by default tries to search all forums where vBulletin would still default to the forum you are currently in.



See these posts in the BBS Help section:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?...k-list-of-posts-by-yourself-or-others.137888/

http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-use-the-bbs-search-capabilities.248782/


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## pedro47 (Jan 1, 2017)

Got IT And a Happy New Year to you!!!


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## dioxide45 (Jan 1, 2017)

Makai Guy said:


> See these posts in the BBS Help section:
> 
> http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?...k-list-of-posts-by-yourself-or-others.137888/
> 
> http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-use-the-bbs-search-capabilities.248782/


Unfortuatly neither of these seem to help me accomplish what I want. The first is perhaps the closest, but the problem is that it shows all my posts. It isn't displayed as threads. I also post replies far more than I post new threads. I find the same true for most regulars where I may be trying to find a thread started by a specific person. Digging through these isn't really any easier. I liked the option in vBulletin where there was a drop down where you could select "Find Threads Started by User."


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## TUGBrian (Jan 1, 2017)

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?search/member&user_id=12397&content=thread

bottom of your profile page on the "postings" tab is "find all threads by xyz user"


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## dioxide45 (Jan 1, 2017)

TUGBrian said:


> http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?search/member&user_id=12397&content=thread
> 
> bottom of your profile page on the "postings" tab is "find all threads by xyz user"


Thanks! That is helpful. Will make things easier, though still don't see a way to limit it by forum. There is the Search Again link, but it goes to the general advanced search.


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