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This discussion forum runs on vBulletin software.
Many of our members may be used to the interface Proboards uses, which can be quite different from what vBulletin does.
If you're used to Proboards, you may want to read through this first.
What IS the same, though, is that both use BBcode for markup of the text: the codes you are familiar with for bold, italics, underline, font size, URLs, images, ... all remain the same!
The 'Profile' links at the top of the page do different things in vBulletin and Proboards.
If in Proboards, you want to set your time zone, your location, avatar, etc., then you do that by accessing your profile, where you then choose to modify your profile.
In vBulletin, you have to click 'Settings' rather than 'My Profile' to define or change all those settings.
- Editing your password is done in 'Settings' > 'Edit Profile' (in the right column) OR in 'Settings' > 'Edit email and password'
- Editing your email is done in 'Settings' > 'Edit Profile' (in the right column) OR in 'Settings' > 'Edit email and password'
- Your birthday is also defined in 'Settings' > 'Edit Profile' (in the right column)
- Defining your location is done in 'Settings' > 'Edit Profile' (in the right column)
- Contact details are managed in 'Settings' > 'Edit Profile' (in the right column)
In the 'Settings' you'll also find the links to the pages to
- define your avatar
- define your profile picture (which is shown only on your profile page)
- your signature
Also check out the 'General Settings', as this is where you can define
- your time zone
- the options for private messaging, visitor messaging, and other notifications.
- thread display options
Note that SIGNATURES work differently.
In Proboards, a signature is shown automatically in all posts you make, and all posts show the same signature.
In vBulletin, a signature only is shown from the moment it is defined, and in the posts that you chose to show it.
(Meaning that you are given the option to show or not show it when you save the message).
Changing your signature does NOT affect posts you've made before. If those had a signature line, they'll keep on showing that one.
Posting of messages does not reload the page in vBulletin.
vBulletin, by default, uses AJAX technology, which allows you to add a post to a thread, or to edit a post in a thread, without needing to reload the page.
This has some effects that are different from Proboards, where you go to a new page to add or edit a post, and where the thread is reloaded afterward.
One such effect is, e.g., that when you make two consecutive posts, each post will show a different 'post count'... as long as the page isn't reloaded.
This is not a bug. It's how AJAX works: it only updates part of the page.
The more I use vBulletin the more I am liking it. Prior to this the only forum software I had used was ProBoards. You get used to it but now that I see how easy vB is there's no going back!