Comprehensive guide for Forums

[Mroz4k]

These forums are awesome! If not for the amazing community in here, then for the fact that they allow you to customize it down to a single letter, and tailor it just the way you like it. However, it can get confusing at times, which is why I decided to make this thread.

So lets start!

First, we will take a look at the top of the page and the toolbar we see here.

On the left, you see Hinterland logo – you can click it to go straight to the main page.
Search bar is pretty self-explanatory.
Browse takes you straight to the Forums.
Forums is used to see who is currently online, as well as the Hinterland staff profiles.
Activity shows all the recent posts and additions to the forum. Additionally, you can select to see specific content chosing one of the options.
Support – takes you straight to the Hinterland page, to the page „contact us“.
Merch – takes you to the shop for some of that sweet, sweet gear!

Your profile picture opens up the your profile page. To open up profile page of respective users, click on their profile picture instead.
Your username▾ brings up a new popup window with several settings we will discuss below.
+ create▾ lets you make a swift topic. Useful for quick profile status updates.
Bell button shows notifications. You need to enable notifications for the website in your browser. New notifications will play a sound, and be displayed by a red number under the bell.
Letter button shows private messages. New PM will be displayed in red.
 

Lets for now focus on the Your username▾and its options.

Profile – takes you to your profile page (also called Forum Index).
My attachments – All pictures you uploaded by attaching them will show up in here.
Manage Followed Content – very important for customization of your profile.
Account settings – self explanatory.
Ignored Users – hopefully something you wont have to use.
Sign Out – button that lets you log out.
 

Now, lets take a look at the profile page (also called Forum index). This is something not used by many, which is a shame - profile pages have a great potential to be a well of information about a specific user. So, spread the word, and lets all start using them more! 
 

In here, you can see the followers of the person whose profile you are viewing, some information about them, their reputation, etc.
To right, you have two options - Activity and About me - in here you can learn more about the person you are viewing, see their status updates or review all the comments and posts they recently made.

Manage followed content

Followed content. This is an amazing function, it allows you to follow specific community members and be notified of their content, or subscribe to specific forum boards. or even individual topics. Each time this topic is updated, you will be notified. It is a great way to keep tabs on your favorite threads. Change preference allows you to customize which content you want to see - for example whether you wish to be informed of all the activity the people you follow do on the forums, or only of certain things, for example "notify me if people are quoting me".

Account settings

Another really useful page! In here, you can update your account essentials like email adress, password, or even set up your very own signature!
To the right, you also have a quick link to some of the other settings.
Notification settings allow you to set up which content on forums sends you notifications.
Edit profile will take you to your Forum Index page and allow you to edit it.
Ignored Users takes you to its respective page.

Signatures

While very limited, signatures do exist here on the forums. You can also chose to disable them, using this sub-section of the Account Settings.

Streams

Streams can be found under Activity board. This is already a really advanced setting - streams allow you to create your own modes for specific browsing of forums - for example, if you are interested in seeing your own threads you started - you can create your own stream with this setting, and each time you want to go quickly into a page where your own threads are reviewed, you click the "Activity" board and select this particular stream. Very useful if you are trying to keep tabs on several of your own threads, or are currently writing several stories.

Now, to mention some of the general "Forum functions"

Most of the Forum boards have an option to "toggle" - you can set your profile to keep some unwanted forum boards hidden, while you browse the parts of Forums that interest you. This applies to things like signatures as well - you can simply turn them off by clicking the "toggle" button, which can be found on the side of all signatures.

These buttons can be seen on most pages on the right. Sorting function can be really useful if you are subscribed to a lot of content.
 

Thanks for reading! Hope this helped you in setting up the forums more to your liking! If you know of any suggestions I didnt touch onto, feel free to let me know, I will be happy to edit them in! Thanks a lot for any feedback!

[omoon66]

Nice, although I’m quite familiar with these forums, I learned something. Good to have you with us (also, how did you do that thing where it displays that message on all your responses? That’s how I got here).

[Mroz4k]

7 hours ago, omoon66 said:

Nice, although I’m quite familiar with these forums, I learned something. Good to have you with us (also, how did you do that thing where it displays that message on all your responses? That’s how I got here).

Signatures - its under the account settíngs.

[ChillPlayer]

Very nice, thank you for this post

[Timber Wolf]

I just noticed this in your signature, @Mroz4k.  This is an excellent overview of the forum functionality. 

Although I've been around here for a while now, I still learned some new things.  Thank you! 

[cekivi]

Very useful post @Mroz4k!

I've locked it for the time being (to keep it short and simple) and talk to @Patrick Carlson about getting it pinned.