.:Forum Guide:.

Forum Guide
“Navigating made easy”

This is basically a guide related to the PMU forums. I remember when first joined PMU it was a bit difficult navigating, but my past forum experience must have helped me. People who are completely unaware of forums should find it complex to understand things. This basic guide is intended to help all such people.

Lets begin with the most simplest of all things. The website’s link, here it is!
http://www.pmuniverse.net

You do not need to sign up on the website to gain access to the game, you can sign up in the game itself. Personally, I really prefer signing up on forums, it helps you to be updated. Also the forum offers many special features which are unavailable to guests. Many people say that they registered but cannot log in, try checking your password, perhaps the site is down for configuration, in most cases (purely based on my observation) people do not verify their e-mail. If you did not receive and e-mail, it is maybe because your settings marked it as spam, so edit your spam filter.

Now that we’re done with the basics. Let’s move to the main page. The following screenshot shows exactly what where is located and a brief summary of the major “problem associated” areas. As you move your cursor around the page, it will auto-highlight whichever section you go through. The screenshot shows; in this case “skins” is an example. You can clearly see the following:

-Who made the last post
-Total topics
-Total posts
-Moderators of the forum

Moving on, you must have noticed that each section has a weird symbol enclosed in a blue square. This can be perceived as the significance of a post.There are many such “special marks”, but the basics are listed below. A lock means the topic is locked, and you cannot post in it. A red flame shows the topic is a general favorite or has many replies; “an active topic”. A normal arrow means that you can post in the particular topic. The screenshot further explains the forum concept.

Scroll the first screen shot to the right (->) you should see a couple of colored names. They aren’t aliens (God how I wish they were) they are staff members, and the green ones are contributors. The third screenshot (this one) shows the various staff ranks. They aren’t in any specific order; since no such order exists. But basically admins have top authority. Contributors are not staff, but they will be more than willing to help you.A designer is a staff member who helps to develop new elements in the game, such as Flare A scripter is a person who is in charge of ripping things from original games such as Sprinko A developer is a staff member who develops the game, as the name suggests. Hayarotle is a developer. Mappers map the in-game world. There are two types of mappers; overworld and dungeon. Luli is a mapper (over-world). Moderators are staff members who make sure that the game is safe and enjoyable. Dausk is a moderator.

People ask, that when they arrive on the forums, they find difficulties in editing their avatars and banners. There is a short simple way to edit avatars and banners. First you have to go to the control panel, from the top task-bar. Go to the profile and than edit your avatar and signature. Remember that there are specific sizes which need to be considered while adding a new avatar and banner. Saving it as a PNG is better than JPGl; pixel quality issues. The following screenshot shows how to get to your profile and edit the avatar and signature.

Now, the top bar has various categories, each leads to a completely different part of the forum. The basics that you need to know are evident in this screenshot.

Now, avatars and signatures aren’t the only things, you can edit your personal details and manage your inbox/outbox from the following methods. The screen shot clearly shows where what is located. Following this; I presume it is not so difficult to navigate, pretty self explanatory! It must be kept in mind that on forums, IMG codes work, HTML codes are for blogs, and direct link codes are for chat rooms and screen-shares.

The PMU chat. Chatango; is used as the PMU chat. It is divided into two sections “main chat” and “roleplaying chat” The main chat is where general discussions take place, and the role play chat is for RP’s (roleplays) If anyone tries to role-play in the main chat, it can be considered as a spam. Here are a few rules that should be kept in mind while chatting. A brief overview

-If you are in trouble, use of proper grammar in such intense situations is a bit necessary, since the person on the other end cannot help you much unless you properly convey your ideas.
-Usually Luli (lulikat), Shockietheshinx (shockie) and Sprinko(TazmillyClaus) are on the chat, however, if for any reason they are not there; you may flag a person who is causing discomfort.
-As mentioned before, if you want to show a picture, you can use Direct-link codes. Advertising for other MMO’s can be judged as an anti-social action.
-Flooding the chat is not very convenient; it will not make you gain any positive attention. If a message appears that you cannot access the chat for some reason, and have to wait for specific time, it is probable that you have been flagged.

Netiquette is a term which refers a set of social conventions which have been set up to facilitate proper in internet interactions- Wikipedia. As the word suggests “net-etiquette” It is quite easy to understand that these are the fundamental laws, influenced by individuals to make the internet a safe place for all ages, this is where you come in. The following netiquette should be read, to properly understand how to behave and act. The following are the core rules, it will help you to further understand the internet world. It isn’t necessary, but reading them will help you create a better image of yourself.

Rule 1: Remember the Human
Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life
Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace
Rule 4: Respect other people"s time and bandwidth
Rule 5: Make yourself look good online
Rule 6: Share expert knowledge
Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control
Rule 8: Respect other people"s privacy
Rule 9: Don"t abuse your power
Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people"s mistakes

That is pretty much all, just a few more things need to be kept in mind while posting, the screenshot shows what each symbol represents. And with that, you’re clear with what the basic forum symbols represent. Now, I would advise you to go through the rules once more, and read the FAQ.

[size=150]Other things.

The following guide lines can assist you to be known as a better person. And they are generally a summary of forum rules. General things, with a pinch of logic.

-If you have a problem, and the person who is trying to solve your problem is a bit irresponsive, ‘caps’ will not help the situation. He/she is not paid for helping you. Manners do wonders!
-Use plain language and be descriptive. Talking ‘geek’, using jargon, or using chat, SMS. or l33t speech (i.e. plz, u, coz) reduces the number of people who will answer.
-Hi-jacking threads with a completely new and un-related problems can be annoying, and staff find it very disturbing if you try to revive a topic that was to-be locked.
-Cross posting can cause confusion, choose a proper forum to create topics. A user report in the map editor section is very irrelevant.

Thanks for reading! Hope it helped.[/size]

Nice job, Erlade! This’ll be pretty handy for newcomers to the forums! :la: