The Forum's Guide to Forums

Congrats!


You've found the Forums.


But, now what?


If you’re new to forums,
this guide is for you.



















Section 1
What Are Forums?


Section 2
Forum Topics


Section 3
Thread Creation


Section 4
The Search Feature


Section 5
The Forum Icons


Section 6
PC Forum Access?


Section 7
Reporting Players











The typical definition for online forums is:





Our forums are mainly used to discuss different PimD topics, along with very off-topic discussions.


The most visited place in forums is 
[Active Topics]


This is where the most recent 
commented on threads are.


BUT!


If you comment on or post a thread created in certain topics (like Activities, for example) they will not show up in [Active Topics].


Also, the different “topics” made in forums are called [Threads]. This term is used a lot in forums. You will see how to make a thread in [Section 3].







Forum > Forums


There are 18 different topics in forums, and they all serve a different purpose.









Announcements:


Announcements are used by 
pimd, pimd_community, 
and pimd_admin to announce [different updates] that are happening, either past or present.
NAH




Events:


[Events] are also used by the developers’s accounts to announce the different special events that are happening. 
For example: New hunts, new gifts, or new avatars. 
NAH




Guides:


This section is for the different guide threads that pimd decides are worthy of being in guides.
 Your guide thread may be here if the developers see fit.




Strategy:


This section is to discuss different strategies used in pimd.
YEAH 




Clubs:


This section is to discuss different clubs in pimd. Usually used to post club ads. 
YEAH 




Wars:


This section is to discuss the different wars going on throughout pimd. 
YEAH 




Questions/Feedback:


This section is for players to ask questions and get feedback from other players. 
YEAH 




Other PIMD Discussion:


This section is used to make threads that do not fit any of the above categories but are still related to PIMD. 
YEAH 




Best Of:


This section is for the “best” threads of PIMD. 
Your thread may be in this category if the developers see fit.




Activities:


 This section is used to post the different activities going on.
AWW




Fan Creations:


This thread is for players to post different drawings/creations that have made for pimd.
AWW




Fan Fiction:


This section is used to post stories or role play.
AWW




Off Topic:


This section is for players to post threads that are completely off topic from PIMD.
YEAH 




Getting Started:


This section only contains the Forum Code of Conduct. 
NAH




FAQs:


This is for the developers to post the answers to frequently asked questions.
NAH




Testing Notes:


This is used by the developers to write notes about different beta testings that are happening.
NAH




Bugs/Feedback:


This is also used by developers to take feedback of bugs happening.
NAH















[Threads] are the different discussions posted within the topics of forums. Posting a thread is actually quite simple.


Enter Forum > forums > pick a section (off topic, pimd discussion, etc.) > press "new post" in the top right hand corner


All threads need a

and [Subject]. When you're done typing up your thread, hit [POST]in the top right hand corner.


Posting on a thread is pretty simple also.


Choose the specific thread you want to post on > tap [Reply] in the top left hand corner > type your response > tap [Post]  in the top right hand corner


Once you make a comment, you're able to edit it and delete it within 5 minutes.











The [X] is the button used to delete a thread or comment. 


The [Pencil Symbol] is the button used to edit a thread or comment. (within 5 minutes of posting







The [Caution Symbol] outlined in green, is the button used to report players. This is a new feature and should not be abused. Note: If you do abuse the button, you will lose the privilege of having it.


The [Quotation Marks] is used if you want to quote yourself or someone else directly.


For a more detailed thread on how to make a good thread, check out Rude's thread. 
Rude's Guide to Threads






This is brought to you by
BigBadWolf


Forum > Search






So, you want to learn the 
Search Feature!


Well, here are a few tips to help your stalker ways because, really, why else would you use the Search feature but to stalk someone, pull up some embarrassing posts/selfies, failed noob day threads?

I also want to make it clear that I will only put in the functions that I use because I feel like these are enough to get what I want out of the Search function. 


Should you want to go deeper into it and add to this, feel free to.





[Search Query]









This part is pretty straightforward. You type in what exactly you’re looking for. A thread title, a phrase someone might have said, a particular topic you want to read up on. 


If you aren’t exactly sure about the wording, just select [Search for any terms] located under the text box for the keywords.

Next, the [Author]. This part is pretty easy provided you know the exact name of the person who wrote or posted what you’re looking for. If you don’t, there’s a Wildcard option.


For example, you want to look for Wolf’s comics but can’t seem to remember his name because he keeps changing it. In the [Keyword Bar], you can type comic and for the author you can type something like Wolf*. You add the * where you feel the missing text is basically.



[Search Options]




I don’t normally use the [Search in forums] part because that would imply you know which topic you’d look in and I would just go to the topic itself but that’s pretty self-explanatory.


I would usually leave [Search subforums]selected at “Yes” since you want to be as specific as possible.


Here’s the fun part!


In the [Search within] part, you basically narrow down what you’re looking for exactly.

Take note that the [Display results as:] options affect these which I will get to after explaining [Search within]


[Post subjects and messages] and [Message text only]
I grouped these two together because they pretty much do the same thing for me. Basically, if you’re looking for a specific post and not the thread, in general, this is what you select.


[Topic titles only]
This is what you select if you want the thread itself and not a message within the thread. Technically if you’re looking for the original post itself.


[First post of topics only]
I don’t use it much so I’m not familiar with it but from what I’ve seen it basically shows the first post in a thread that used the keyword you input.


So, as I said, [Display results as:] will affect your results (obviously!) and again, it’s pretty self-explanatory.


If you select [Posts], you will get the actual posts of players or the author of the keyword you selected.

If you select [Topics], a list of thread names will pop out.






Now for a brief explanation of [Sort results by] and 
[Limit results to previous]




[Sort results by] basically sorts your results by the category you selected in the drop down box. Its default is [Post time] and I like to keep it there since it seems to be the most useful to me, in my opinion. 


So if you’re looking for a thread, you can choose to view them in ascending order (earliest to latest) or descending order (latest to earliest).


[Limit results to previous] is when you don’t want to go through hordes of threads looking for that one post or something. You can choose to show threads or posts that have been made within the day or 6 months ago. There are more options in the drop down box.

That’s pretty much it for the features! Take note though that you do not have to fill in everything. For example, you just want to check out the threads of a particular player, you would just input their username and select [Topics] for the [Display results as] option.







Do you ever see those colors or symbols next to thread titles and you don't know what they mean? Well, here's a breakdown:





Announcement Topics: have a speaker icon and a red tinted background.









Stickied Topics: The developers chose which threads get stickied, though, they are usually helpful guide threads. These will have a pin icon as well as a blue tinted background.









Locked Announcements and stickies: These are announcements that you can no longer post on.









Unread posts: appear dark purple.









Read posts: appear light purple.









Topics you've posted on: will have a light purple fill inside the icon.














Red - Developers
Green - Moderators
Blue - Honor Students
Black - Regular Players







Besides accessing forums through phone or tablet, you can also access them through your PC.


Here I am using an Apple Macbook Pro, but it works for any computer with an internet browser, really.







Type in pimd forums into your browser and click on the first link you see. It should look like this:





Here, you're able to click on different threads, like how you're usually able to do on the PIMD app. You are not able to post here though. That is reserved for moderators and developers. You're also able to use the search feature, which is outlined in red, in the picture.





Before the new forum layout was introduced, people would go to the PC version of forums to see how many posts they had and when they first clicked on forums.You're able to see when you first clicked on forums if you go to a thread you posted on and look at your profile, which will look something like this:



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With PC forums you're able to see a bunch of other stuff, for example:



• See who's online
• See all unanswered posts
• See who's browsing a specific thread
• Search for specific posts
• View the total number of posts, topics, and members in forums






Here's a fun fact:


The most number of users online forums ever was 1227 users on July 10, 2015 @ 1:08am central time.







______________________________________
Reporting Players
Section 7
Bad trolls, Bad trolls,
what you gonna do?
______________________________________



Reporting is a very new feature introduced with the new forum layout.





The report button is located to the left of the quote button, on everyone's post. To report someone, just tap the caution sign and it should bring up a menu like this one:





It then asks you to give the reason and report details. There are over 11 reasons, including "other," that you can choose from. So make sure to choose the appropriate choice. Also, make sure to provide as much report details as possible so pimd can assist you at the best of their ability. 


Once you have reported a persons thread or post, you get a screen like this:





IMPORTANT:
1.) Make sure to look over the Forum Code of Conduct to see if your report is valid.


2.) If you choose to abuse the privilege of using the report button (E.I: Spamming reports), pimd WILL BE ABLE TO take that privilege away from you.


3.) UPDATE: You are no longer able to request players to stop posting on your thread. If a thread or player violates the CoC, report that so pimd can resolve the issue. Here is the thread concerning this.


______________________________________


Thank you for reading this thread on how to use forums. I will add things as new updates come out. Thank you to BigBadWolf and Rude for collaborating with me on this. So as always...


Thanks for reading.
~Crystal.







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Thanks for the nice feedback.?