| 1) |
Navigate to the specific forum in which you want to post a message. How?
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| 2) |
Do one of the following:
- If you want to start a new topic, click the New topic icon (shown below) on the corresponding forum page or any topic page within the forum.
- If you want to add a message to an existing topic, click the New reply icon (shown below) on any page within that topic.
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 Note: Before creating a new topic, make sure it does not already exist in the forum. If it does, reply to the topic instead of starting a new one. Reply messages should be relevant to the current topic. Both new topics and replies should fit the subject matter of the forum. A forum administrator might move irrelevant topics and/or messages to a more appropriate location, as well as lock new topics that already exist so that regular members cannot reply to them. Some of our forums do not allow members to post new topics and/or reply topics. For more information, see Restrictions on Posting Messages.
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 Tip: To reply to a specific post, you can also click the quote icon (shown below) within the message block of that post. For more information, see Quoting Other Posts or Offline Content.
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The message creation form appears.
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| 3) |
Enter a title for the message in the Subject text box and a brief description of the message in the Subject description text box.
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Note: If you enter a new topic, you are required to include a title that clearly communicates the nature of the topic. This title becomes the topic title from that point forward. Forum administrators might edit your Subject line to communicate the subject matter more clearly. If you are posting a reply message, the title and description are not required. However, if you post a question as a reply message in the Help forum, you are most likely to receive help if you enter a clear title and description of your problem.
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| 4) |
If you want an icon to appear in front of your Subject line (example shown below), click the radio button that precedes the one you want to display. If not, keep the default option (No icon).
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Note: Certain types of topics have default Message Icons, however if one is selected it will override the default one. The default icons are as follows:
- Global Announcement & Announcement –›
- Sticky –›
- Normal Post –›
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| 5) |
Type your message in the large text box inside the form. Press the Enter key twice to separate paragraphs.
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Tip: To format your text, use the rectangular BBCode buttons and drop-down lists above the message text box (How?). For more information about BBCode, click here. To insert smilies, use the Emoticons inside the form (How?).
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Note: If you copy and paste text into your message from another source, such as an e-mail message, be sure to remove any additional line breaks that move text to the next line without filling the whole message area on the topic page. You might need to preview your message before you can see where they are (see step 10) .
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If you want to enable or disable BBCode or smilies for the current message, select or deselect the corresponding check box in the form.
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Tip: An Options indicator inside the form lets you know whether or not BBCode and smilies are automatically turned on or off. These are preferences that you select in your profile (How?). You can override your default preferences during this step.
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Note: If you do turn BBCode off, the messages of other forum members who use BBCode to format words and phrases are likely appear odd. You might see the actual codes in their messages, rather than the formatting that those codes display. For example, instead of seeing bold text, you might see [b] and [/b] codes around the words that they are intending to display as bold.
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| 7) |
If you want the system to send you an e-mail message when a member posts a reply to the topic, select the Notify me when a reply is posted check box in the form. For more information, see Subscribing to Topic Message Notifications.
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Note: You receive only one e-mail message notification between visits to that topic, regardless of how many new messages are posted.
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| 8) |
If you want to include or exclude a signature at the end of your message, select or deselect the Attach signature check box in the form.
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Note: The Attach signature check box appears only if you have a signature defined in your profile. To add a signature to your profile, see Changing Profile Preferences. For more information, see Attaching a Signature.
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| 9) |
If you are creating a new topic and you want to add a poll to it, complete the Add a Poll information in the form. How?
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Note: Polls can only be created in a new topic message. In some areas of our forum, only administrators may create polls. For more information about polls, see Understanding Topic Types.
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| 10) |
Click the Preview button to preview your message. Edit your text and formatting, as needed.
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Note: Members should preview all messages before posting them. It is amazing how many corrections you might need to make, once you see how your message actually appears in the browser.
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| 11) |
Click the Submit button to post your message.
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| 12) |
At this point, a page appears, offering you the choice to either go to the forum index or to view your message inside the topic. Click the link that corresponds to your preference.
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