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FAQs
Forums
Forums
Question
- How is rank determined in the forums?
- How do I create my own Avatar?
- How do you include a photo in a forum post?
- How do I submit a question
- How do I create a forum avatar.
- How do I create a new post to the catamaran technical forum?
- How do I Make a Forum Signature?
Answer
How is rank determined in the forums?
Just as in the armed services, rank is achieved through effort. In the case of our forum, that effort consists mainly of posting and answering posts. As you participate in the forums you move through the ranks.
- Up to 99 posts = Lubber
- 100 - 999 posts = Mate
- 1,000 - 2,999 posts = Chief
- 3,000 – 9,999 posts = Master Chief
- 10,000 - 99,999 posts = Captain
- 100,000 and above = Admiral
How do I create my own Avatar?
To upload an avatar to represent you on the forums go to the Member Panel link
- Choose Avatar Management.
- Click on Upload Avatar.
- Choose a photo from you computer with the “Choose File” button and then
- click the Upload button.
Your avatar should now appear with each post in the forums.
How do you include a photo in a forum post?
Posting pictures in a forum post:
Putting an image into a forum post is pretty easy, you just need the location (url) of the image and then use that in your post.
There are some basic concepts you need to understand, such as the fact that the url of the image itself is different than the url of the page the image is on. The instructions below will explain how to put your image into the photo albums here at TheBeachcats.com and then get the url to post in the forums. If your picture is already on the Internet (Picassa, Photobucket etc.) then skip down to "Adding your pictures to a forum post."
Getting your picture into an album at TheBeachcats.com
You can upload your images from your computer to TheBeachcats.com by creating a new album that you control. You can create a new album inside most of the main albums, so pick the most appropriate.
Here is a list of the main photo albums and how they are meant to be used.
Beachcat Beauty: artistic pictures involving beachcats, that great shot of the sunset behind your boat, the perfect beach, artsy sail photos, or beautiful crew members decorating your boat. Show your artistic side here.
Beachcat Hull Flying: obviously this album is for that perfect shot you finally got of flying your beachcat.
Beachcat Identification: for documenting all the beachcats ever made. If you have good shots of a particular model with an emphasis on showing their shape, rigging, and construction details, post them to the appropriate models album. Inside this album is "Unknown Beachcats", if you find a beachcat that you can't identifiy create an album in there that shows lots of shots so other members can identify your boat. When you post a new unknown, create a topic in the forums to alert members to look.
Beachcats Regattas: most of the yearly regattas have an album here, if you have pics from a regatta then post them to the appropriate existing album or create a new regatta album if it's new.
Beachcats Situations: funny-scary-weird things that happen to beachcats and beachcat sailors go here.
Beachcats Technical: use this album to both document your repair/modification/invention or to post pics of a problem/damage/question to request help in the forum.
Beachcats People: here is where members can have their own personal album to document their beachcat sailing to share experiences and just show off. Create the album with your real name as title so others can locate your album.
Beachcats Groups: similar to Beachcats People, create an album for your local sailing club/group/buddies and post the pics here for everyone to see.
Beachcats T-Shirts: post pics of regatta shirts and of you and your crew wearing t-shirts from TheBeachcats.com.
Beachcats History: do you have old photos from the early days of beachcat sailing? Please scan them and post here. If you can't scan them yourself pease contact Damon at TheBeachcats.com and arrange to mail them to me, I'll scan and return.
Creating your album and uploading pictures
So go to your chosen album (open it in a new window so you can keep reading here) and create a new album by following these steps.
- Click on "Add Album" in the left menu.
- Fill in required album name, use something like hobie18maststep (no spaces or punctuation)
- Fill in Title (Hobie 18 Mast Step Repair)
- Summary can be left blank unless you need extra title info.
- Use the description field for details about the purpose of the album, location etc.
- Click the "Create" button.
- Don't mess with any of the other settings that come up.
- Click on "Add Items"
- Depending on how many pictures you have either use the form fields or the Java Upload Applet to add your pictures. (The upload applet requires a fairly new version of Java on your computer and will probably throw up security warning, if you have trouble just use the web form.)
Adding your pictures to a forum post.
Now that your pictures are up on the Interweb here is how you add them to a forum post.
When you are typing the forum post you'll see a bunch of buttons like
With your cursor on the spot where you want the picture to go, click on the Image button.
That will produce something like this
[img][/img]
Which designates that whatever is typed between those two tags is an image url. So now we need to find the url of your image.
Finding the Image URL
Open a new browser window and go find the image you want to insert on the web. Once you see it on your screen you can right-click (control click for Macs) directly on the picture. What happens next depends on the browser you are using.
- Firefox has the choice of "copy image location".
- Chrome is also easy with "Copy image url".
- Safari has "copy image address".
- Internet Explorer you have to choose "properties", then manually copy the image url from the properties dialog box.
Once you have done one of those the image url is now in your clipboard, ready to paste.
So go back to your forum post and use one of these two methods.
- Right-click between the [img] and the [/img] and choose paste.
- Place your cursor between[img] and [/img] and then on the keyboard press Control V "Ctrl V" to paste.
Now you should have something like
[img]http://www.example.com/images/myimage.jpg[/img]
Now preview your post by clicking on the preview button, if the image shows up you can complete your post and submit it.
simple huh?
You just did? Oh, I think you mean how do I post a new topic in the forums. To post a new topic you must be logged in to the site, once you are logged in just go the forum appropriate to your topic and click on the "New Topic" link at the top of that forum.
How do I create a forum avatar.
To upload an avatar to represent you on the forums go to the Member Panel link
- Choose Avatar Management.
- Click on Upload Avatar.
- Choose a photo from you computer with the “Choose File” button and then
- click the Upload button.
Your avatar should now appear with each post in the forums.
How do I create a new post to the catamaran technical forum?
If you are logged in, in all the forums, you should see a “New Topic” link at the top of the category, just below the forum description.
How do I Make a Forum Signature?
- While logged-in visit any forum page.
- At the top of the forums click on the link ”Personal Settings”.
- Click on “Manage Your Signature”
- Type your signature in the box, format should be like:
Your Real Name
Boat brand/model
Location
By providing this basic info in your posts to other members it creates your identity and make other members feel more comfortable answering your questions.