New forum tip of the day!

[TUGBrian]

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!

 

[dioxide45]

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?

 

[TUGBrian]

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.

 

[Born2Travel]

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

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[TUGBrian]

should look like this just below the thread title

 

[dioxide45]

What is today's feature of the day?

 

[TUGBrian]

ha! features are on hold pending thanksgiving leftover digestion!

 

[Born2Travel]

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.

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[TUGBrian]

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).

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[Makai Guy]

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.

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[TUGBrian]

the "alert" showed up for me.

 

[pedro47]

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

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[Makai Guy]

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.

 

[Makai Guy]

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.

 

[dioxide45]

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.

 

[TUGBrian]

be super handy in the survivor thread!

 

[dioxide45]

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

 

[TUGBrian]

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

 

[amycurl]

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

 

[TUGBrian]

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!