Introduction
  
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       Membership Related Settings
       RootsChat Profile Information
       Look and Layout Preferences
       Notifications and Email
       Personal Message Options
  
   Posting Topics and Replies
       Guidelines for Posting
       Getting the best results
  
    Personal Messages (PM)
  
    Advertising
    Event Calendar
    RootsChatterBox
    RootsChat Moderating Team
    Searching RootsChat
  
    FAQs, Tips an Hints

Posting Topics and Replies

	In order to start a discussion on a new topic, click the button in the forum board best suited to the subject of your topic.
	To reply to a RootsChat topic you can click the button at the top or bottom of the topic. You can also reply by clicking on the button on any reply in the topic (see below).
	To modify one of your replies to a RootsChat topic you can click the button at the top right of your reply.
	Writing a Personal Message (PM) is similar to posting in topics, except that attachments are not allowed. See Personal Messages (PM)
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Subject:	New topic - choose a title for your topic Reply - topic title inserted automatically. Modify - topic title inserted automatically. PM - - choose a title for your message
Message icon:	You can choose an icon to appear next to the title
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Add BBC tags:	Web pages (like this one) are formatted with what is called HTML. In order to ensure that your messages cannot interfere with the actual webpage that displays your message this HTML code cannot be used in messages. Instead RootsChat allows the use of Bulletin Board Code (BBC) in posts. BBC is similar to HTML, but safe and standardised for bulletin board use. So if you want to add fancy formatting or insert and image from another website, then this is how you do it! It should make your RootsChat that little bit more colourful! There are three ways of using BBC-tags in your posts: 1) Click on the BBC-icon (see above) and type your text between the ] and [ brackets, 2) Type the opening tag, your text, and then the closing tag, 3) Mark the text you wish to tag, and then click on the corresponding icon. Note: Not all of these tags work in every browser

Click icon, and type your text between ] and [ or type these codes directly ...		to get this ...
	[b]Bold[/b]		Bold
	[i]Italic[/i]		Italic
	[u]Underlined[/u]		Underlined
	[s]strikethrough[/s]		strikethrough
	[glow=color,glow width, #characters wide]TEXT[/glow]		Glowing Text
	[shadow=color,glow width, #characters wide]TEXT[/shadow]		Shadowed Text
	[move]stuff[/move]		stuff :)
	[hr]
	[flash]http:/site.com/flash.swf[/flash]		Flash Movie
	[img]http://site.com/image.gif[/img]
	[url=http://site.com]SITE[/url]		SITE
	[url]http://site.com[/url]		http://site.com
	[quote]quoted text[/quote]
	[color=Red]Red text[/color]		Red text
	You can also use the pull-down menu to select colours:

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Message:	Enter your message in this box. Some extras for your postings .... - See the BBC-tags, above. - If you want to insert a quote from the same topic in your reply, you can click the button of the message (see Topic Pages) This automatically opens the reply window which includes the quoted text. If you are replying to or modifying a post, then below the input box you can see some of the previous replies to this topic. Click on the Insert Quote link on any topic. You can then edit out parts of the "Quote" which you don't wish to repeat. Dont forget, for your own text, the cursor must be positioned after the end-tag ([/quote]) - If you want to insert a quote from another source or topic, Use the BBC-Quote tags (see BBC-tags, above.) Add your text within the tags. You can add a source to the quote by adding author= within the opening quote tag, e.g. [quote author="Joe Soap"] Joe Soap's text [/quote] - Links / URLs can be added to your messages by simply typing them or pasting them into the text. The forum software will automatically recognise text beginning with http:// or www. as a web address and translate it as a link. See also: FAQ: How can I link to a post in my reply ? FAQ: Why do I need need to scroll left and right to read the topic ? FAQ: Why is there no "modify" button on my posting ? - Smileys (emoticons) are a fun way to express your emotion in your RootsChats. They can help you indicate whether you are joking, happy, sad, or a variety of other things. Each smiley uses standard text-message-style key-strokes. Type this (or click on the smiley icon above the message entry box) to get these smileys ... :) ;) :D ;D >:( :( :-* :P :'( :-[ 8) :o ::) :-/ :-X ??? or ?!?   See also: FAQ: Why do I get unexpected smileys in my postings ?
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Attach a photograph or image (and other options).. Click on this link for some more extras for your postings ....
Attached: (modify only)	If you wish to delete a file from your posting, just uncheck the file listed here and re-post. What looks alright on your computer may suddenly look enormous when you post it on RootsChat, so you may want to resize the image and try again.
Attach:	Attach a file or image to your posting (not valid for PMs) Please note that the maximum attachment size is 500KB. Maximum allowed width for image files is 1000 pixels. Images wider than this will be automatically reduced. You may get an error message saying that there is already a file with this name on RootsChat. Every image on the RootsChat forum must have a unique name - the easiest way to do this is to add the date to the file name and, if you are attaching the file more often (e.g. Photo restores), add a number too. e.g. instead of myfile.jpg use myfile2010-08-23.jpg, myfile20100823-01.jpg, etc. See also the tutorial on RootsChat: Topic: Adding images to Posting & Profiles Not everyone has a fast DSL broadband connection, so please try for a maximum width of 500-700 pixels. (see the tutorial, 1) Resizing and cropping your image file) Warning: Images cannot be attached to RootsChat Look-Up Request boards. This is in order to avoid copyright problems, as many members try to attach copyrighted census images and certificates to their replies.
[x] Notify me of replies	Individual choice for e-mail notification.
[x] Return to this topic	After sending your reply, return to this topic (recommended, for checking), or return to the topic board.
[x] Don't use smileys	"Some like 'em, some don't!"   This option only applies for this particualr posting.
[x] Lock this topic	Some RootsChatters lock a topic when the query is answered. We do not recomend this, as new information may be found later, or new members may join because of the information in this topic and may wish to add to the topic and/or get in touch with the poster(s).

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Please note that any attachments will "fall off" when you use the ,
so please remember to add them again afterwards.

Note: when you click on "Post" you may get the following warning message:

Warning, while you were typing one or more replies to this
topic have been posted. You may wish to edit your reply.

The new reply/replies can now be seen below the message box. You may wish to edit your reply before posting again, or you may decide to cancel your reply.


shortcuts: hit alt+s to submit/post or alt+p to preview
Note: these "short cuts" don't work on some browsers.