How do you use the forums? Tips and Tricks inside!
 

I personally like the old linear style of thread organization, not "threaded" view - mostly for the fact many people reply to the wrong post and it gets messed up. Plus, it tends to take up more screen space.

My favorite tip for the forums is the subscription feature.

If you go to "Quick Links" and click "Edit Options" it will take you to your forums options page. Scroll down to "Default Thread Subscription Mode" and select "No e-mail notification". This option will automatically "subscribe" you to any thread that you post in.

Now, for the key part of this feature. If you click "Quick Links" again and click "Subscribed Threads" it will take you to a list of all your subscriptions and show you which ones have new posts. The real tip I have to offer is to make that page your forum bookmark, instead of the index.

I have mine set up this way, and every time I hit the bookmark for the forums it takes me to the list of threads I have participated in so I can check for replies and answer questions. :)

The slight disadvantage is to see new threads you do have to go out to the index. Luckily, from any page you can just click "Graal Communication Center" to go to the index, or any sub-level to check the forum you are in, etc. I only mention it because if you are a hit and run forum checker like me, sometimes you might not take the time to go check for new threads.

So what are your guys' tips on using the forums to maximum effectiveness?

OH hell, this is too easy. Don't piss off the Moderators. 'Nuff said.

I use the "New Posts" button at the top in order to see any new posts/threads that have been recently updated.

That's what I use aswell.

I simply don't check the forums if I don't have time to read more then a few threads ...

Me too...easy as pie. :D

It's also worth mentioning that there's an RSS for new threads.

Nice! :O

Ya... 'new posts' is just about all you need for any forums. Sometimes it doesn't work and skips threads I KNOW there are new posts in. Dunno why though.

New posts.

I always max out my "Posts per Page" count so that I load as many posts in at once, due to my crappy connection. Loading new pages is laggy as hell for me.

What kind of internet? Not satellite I hope?

Oh, if you have a slow connection, disabling signatures and/or avatar's is a blessing.

Yeah, I use subscribing to threads without notification and instead of looking for new posts, just post wherever takes my fancy.

Thanks for this. I remember I used to enjoy this feature many years ago... but after leaving and coming back, it wasn't there anymore :( And I never bothered to try and set it up again

You're welcome :)

I was hoping there would be some awesome tips, maybe involving the RSS especially, to help people stay more current with the forums.

Yeah, unfortunately for people like me who can't appreciate a non-RPG server like Zone, the only purpose of having gold is using the forums and waiting for GK to one day be fun again.

... and all the hosted/private worlds...

I did that on D3 and the I went to the hols for a week and when I came back I had 600 emails in my inbox.

Hmm, I'd say a good tip is using the refresh button that comes with your browser and 'Mark Forums Read' to the left of 'Forum Leaders' (On the bottom, over statistics) is quite nice :)

I just load the index and check every single forum that I see was updated since I last was on (by looking at the newest post).

Yea, and we know they are ALL totally complete, original content, and full of players.

Please don't try to argue that Graal fails as an MMORPG. That's not what this discussion is about. What other successful MMORPG's depends on the player-made/player-managed content because its main "official" servers fail? Playerworlds should be an option; NOT the only resort.

Anyways, I didn't make that comment to get into some argument about failures. I was showing the importance to the cause of your thread, and stating the reason behind it. In other words, you say "Let's help people to use the forums more,", then I say "Yeah, good idea, because the forums are the highlight of our current Graalian experience... since the main servers fail."

Sorry, but you totally just threw your own thread off topic with that commment.

http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...hp?do=getdaily
This is better than "New Posts" in my opinion, because it shows more.

my tip for the forums:
try not to pick fights
im failing at this one.