Guideline and quick tips for navigating the IPIU forums.
Remember to read the ANNOUNCMENT at the top of each topic list that says
Read This First. Personal questions about your personal file information and progress are not discussed on these forums. Personal inquiries should be emailed to
agentrelations@ipiu.org . But you are free to discuss "general questions", such as the normal time frame of processing that pertains to all of the members.
Click on this button when you want to author a
new subject in a selected forum.
Before you author a new thread, browse through each forum to view the various Topics already there. If you can not decide which forum to post your new topic, simply put it in the
After Hours Lounge, which is where all of the off-topic and other chit-chat discussions are. A moderator will help you out.
*As you roam around all the forums, you will come across some forums that will ask you for your User Name and Password again. That probably means that the forum is private and you have not been cleared (yet) to enter it. Don't worry, just use the BACK arrow and return to select another forum to visit.
Click on this button when you want to reply to a specific thread. A thread is a topic or subject already started. Remember, this is a
reply option.
You will find this button inside each post. Use this feature when you want to include part or all of that post in your response. You may edit out
any part of the quoted material in your post. This feature also allows you to see exactly what keystrokes were used to insert an icon, color or other enhancement used by the author.
Ex: David Copeland posts a thread or reply, then 2 more members respond, now you want to respond to something specific in David's post. Find David's post and click on the
button inside his post. You will get a message text box with David's "quote" inside showing exactly how he got certain text to be blue or the smilie was made. You may use this message box to make your reply.
After composing your reply or new thread, you may review your work by clicking on the
preview reply button at the bottom. To make changes, scroll down to the text area. To submit, click on the
submit reply button.
Now you have submitted your post or thread and you decide to make a change to your own work. Click on the
button inside our work. When you make the correction, click on the
Submit Changes button.
Other useful buttons.
This button is located in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Click on this button to get a free tutorial on using the software. Then jump over to the
Test Your Forum Writing Skills On This Forum and begin trying what you have learned.
This button is also located in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Click on this button to get a search engine to quickly find a subject by a specific word or member.
As you become familiar with the forum, you will find other
tools for navigation a time saver.
When you access the forum page, you will find "Welcome back," and your name. Directly under this Welcome, you will see
View New Posts. By clicking there, you can see all the new posts and threads since the last time you were on the forum.
You've been browsing a while and before you leave the forum, you want to check for new posts. Simple. From the main forum page, right click your mouse and select refresh or press your F5 button on your keyboard. Your screen will be updated without having to re-access the forum.
While looking at the main forum page, you will see a date, time and the authors name for the last post in that forum. To view that post/thread, click on the
after the name.
You are reading a thread/post inside a forum and now you wish to access another forum. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see
Forum Jump and a drop box. Simply click on the
down arrow and select the forum you wish to access next. You will automatically be taken there,
as long as you have access to that forum.