By the way: If you see a great discussion going on and want to chime in or ask a question or for clarification--jump in! Everyone is always welcome.
Posting and Replying:
Basic Post:
- Scroll to the bottom of the discussion page (topic/thread) you are reading.
- Find the “Fast Reply” text box at the bottom of the page.
- Click in that box and type your reply.
- You will notice above the reply box that you can choose things like bolding, colors, fonts, emoticons, add a link, and more. Use these buttons to "juice up" your post if desired. Keep in mind that ALL CAPS or large font can be construed as shouting.
- When you are finished typing your reply, click on “post.”
Reply with Quote:
You might use this feature when someone has said something that you specifically want to reply to in a long thread and you would like to quote them for easy reference.
- Find the post you want to quote.
- Click on the small “reply” button at the bottom of their post. It has a little plus sign in a green circle.
- You will now have a box to post your reply in at the bottom of the page that includes that person’s whole post quoted in between some fancy code. (The code is housed in between square brackets: [ ] .)
- For clarity's sake, you may want to remove parts of their quote--especially if they have a long post and you want to address only one or two of their statements. To do so, simply edit out (delete) the parts that are not relevant to your reply, ensuring that you leave anything intact that is housed between those [square brackets] at the beginning of their quote and then again at the bottom of their quote.
- Below the square brackets at the end of their quote (says "/quote" which means end of quote), add your reply.
- When finished, click on “add reply” at the bottom of the page.
Reply with More Than One Quote (multiquote feature):
This is great for those cases where you want to reply and quote several members in one post.
- Locate the first post you want to quote.
- Below that post find the “multiquote” button (to the right).
- Click on “multiquote.”
- Repeat for all posts you want to quote.
- A box will pop up saying how many posts you want to quote.
- When you are ready, click on that popup-type box (bottom right of your page). It will be green and say "Reply to X quoted post(s)."
- As with the instructions in "reply with quote" above, trim the quotes as required and add your comments after the square brackets.
- When finished, click on "reply” to post your comments and the relevant quotes.
Editing a Post:
It is inevitable... you have posted something and as soon as you hit “reply” you notice an error, or you forgot to add a link, or what-have-you.
- Find the post you want to edit. Under that post you will notice an “edit” button with a little pencil icon.
- Click on "edit."
- This will bring your post into a box where you can edit it.
- Make your changes.
- Click on "save changes."
*Further tip: If you can't find what you need while editing your post, click on the "Use full editor" button below the text box. It will provide you with more features. As well, if you are editing the topic's title (you started the topic such as in the query critique group) using full editor will show you the boxes you need for that edit. (See Editing your Topic's Title below for more details.)
** As well, some folks say they have to right click on the Edit button and select open to edit their title.
Starting a New Topic or Thread:
Note: There are lots of groups on this site, so take a moment and read their descriptions before starting a new topic/thread.
Starting a new topic:
- Find the group you feel is best for what you want to post. For example, ALL query critiques go in the query critique group. (Exception: Those looking for critiques on a nonfiction query may also consider the nonfiction group.)
- Once inside that group, click on the big blue button (top right of your page) that says “Start New Topic.”
- You should now be on a fresh page where you can add a topic title and subtitle/topic description (shows up just below the main title in the discussion topic pages).
- In the empty, white text box, type your post.
- When ready, click on “post new topic.”
Editing Your Topic’s Title and Subtitle:
For those of you posting your queries for critique in the query critique group, this is something you will need later to help you draw attention to any revisions you might post on your query. For greater success, see more rules about posting queries for critiques here.
- Click on the “edit” button (blueish text) under the first post in your topic thread.
- Your post will now be in an editable box.
- Below your editable post, and beside the “save changes” button is a “use full editor” button. Click on “full editor.”
- At the top of the page you will now be able to see a box for your topic title and one for your subtitle/topic description. Make your changes.
- At the bottom of the page, click on “save changes” to post your edits.
**If you need a little more help than this How-To provides, this site has many helpful volunteer moderators (like myself) who are happy to help. Send them a message by clicking on their avatar (profile picture). (You can see mine to the left right now.) Please note that while it may say we are logged into the system, we may actually be away from our computers making a living or doing our own writing, so be patient and we'll get back to you. As well, if you are talking about a specific post or thread in your communications with us, PLEASE contain the direct URL/link to the post or thread you are referencing. It saves us a boatload of time if we don't have to do a search through the system for it and then get back to you whether we are correct, wait for confirmation from you... etc.
