new to this!

[RobRuss]

hey lads, any offers of advice appreciated

 

[MarkieSparkie]

Well Rob the first piece advice you clearly need, is to ask specific questions on the forum and not open ended ones like this. As anybody reading this thread thinks 'advice about what precisely' and passes on to next thread without replying to you, or if you do get comments they are likely to sarcastic or humorous. I know it takes longer, but the quality of the information you receive will be much better. I hope this helps. If you ask succinct, specific questions the members will be falling over themselves to offer you advice, trust me mate.

 

[Richard Burns]

RobRuss

Firstly there is a link to frequently asked questions that gives forum guidance that you can access by clicking here, this should answer most of your queries, but below is a brief overview, that may or may not help.
Enjoy the forum.

Using a forum:

A forum is a place for the exchange of information.

Members can ask questions by posting a new thread in the appropriate place, as you have done here, and other members will provide answers (or criticism or pointless drivel, but lets not get into that!)
Also see Markies response above, provide detail!
Since the answers are from people like yourself they may or may not be correct so it is important to verify your information, but at least you have a starting point and various opinions.

Similarly if there is a question posted to which you know the answer then you can respond, thereby helping others. Do watch out for the date of some posts as the last answer may have been three years ago and now be irrelevant.

If you are looking for information then you can search the forum either by using the search function for specific terms, or by browsing the various categories; topics are, by default listed by most recently responded to.


This forum is divided into broad categories appropriate to your area of interest.
From the main entry page there is a list of headings and if you want to know about or ask a question about that topic then enter the category and you will see at the head of the list of posts "stickies" (coloured red in the title) which contain posts detailing useful or frequently asked information and can be a useful first port of call; below that are the active threads.
If the information you are after is not already available then you can post a new thread asking your question by clicking on the "post new thread" button at the top of the category. Then fill in the title and your question, using the additional buttons at the top of the reply box you can add images, links, smilies, video, format your text. If you want to make more detailed adjustments then you can click the go advanced button below the reply to insert documents, etc.

Other functions are setting up your profile (remembering that anything you put here is available in the public domain so do not put confidential information), this can detail your location, experience, pictures, a signature and also access to your forum statistics and the private messaging function.

Private messaging is sending a specific message to a specific forum member, usually something you do not want to put on a public forum or to arrange a job, delivery, etc.

Forum sponsors are advertisers that pay to get exposure here and are shown at various points on the site.
Members who are forum sponsors have their name coloured green.

There are moderators of the forum that ensure things do not get out of hand, illegal or just move things to the right areas. They can advise and warn about activities on the forum, delete or stop inappropriate posts and ban members who violate the forum rules (detailed on the forum rules category, worth reading).

That's about it for the basics, good luck.