How to do quotes in your posts....

1) Any post you'd like to reply with a quote, simply push the "quote" button in lower left corner of any reply. It will automatically wrap all the text with 2 quote tags that look something like this: [QUOTE=membername} All this is in the quote [/QUOTE}. See picture below

You can delete out parts of the quoted reply to save space and to highlight the exact part you want to quote.

2) To add a quote to any text simply highlight the text and ht the quote button It's the last button on top right, just under color. Looks like a tan bubble. See picture below. This type of quote will not have the member name attached to it (works good for general quote).

3) To quote 2 separate people in same reply use both #1 and #2 above. Quote person 1 and then scroll down and copy person 2's text and wrap it as outlined in #2. You can add the member name to the 2nd quote by simply adding =membername in the first quote tag. See picture below.

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

Section to help with "how to" do certain things:

How to work with quotes
How to work with links

Don't forget, the forum has a forum-usage-specific FAQ, which can be found at this link:
vBulletin FAQ

In that FAQ section you'll find answers to these questions:

This section contains lots of information about maintaining your own user profile, avatars and browsing options etc.
Why should I register?
Does this forum use cookies?
How do I clear my cookies?
How can I change the information in my profile?
What is the signature for?
I lost my password, what can I do?
How do I add a custom status to my profile?
How do I get a picture under my username?
What are the buddy and ignore lists?


General Forum Usage
Can I search the forum?
Can I send email to other members?
What is Private Messaging?
How do I use the Member List?
How do I use the calendar?
What are announcements?
How do I rate a thread?
What are referrals?
What are the various thread display options?
Where can I find the RSS feed?


Reading and Posting Messages
Are there any special codes/tags I can use to markup my posts?
What is email notification?
What are smilies?
Code Buttons and Clickable Smilies
How do I create and vote in polls?
What Are Attachments?
What are message icons?
Can I edit my own posts?
What Are Moderators?
Why have some of the words in my post been blanked

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

Normally you can just paste a URL address into a thread and it becomes a link but if you want the fancier link with a formatted name like "link to Autoweek article" then try this below.

1) Copy the link from another browser window (or tab depending on your browser).

2) Reply or start a new thread

3) Click the blue button that looks like a world with a chain link

4) In the first box you are prompted with enter a short name like "Link to article on Yahoo". Click OK.

5) In 2nd box paste the whole link you copied in step 1

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

With our famous log threads this type of option can be very handy. Set it as your default and the most recent posts are always at the top of the thread. It takes a little getting used to at first because you read in reverse chronological order but it's great on long multi-page threads because you don't have to change pages to get to most recent posts!

1) Go to UserCP
2) Select Edit Options
3) About half way down in "Thread Display Options" group
4) Change the Thread Display Mode to "Linear - Newest First"

Change the "Number of Posts to Show Per Page" to 40 to fit more on a page.

That's it.

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

Note: Due to bandwidth issues attaching pictures into a post is reserved for the founding 1000 forum members and supporting users and vendors. Other forum users should use a free picture hosting site such as www.putfile.com and post back links or use the IMG tags to embed pictures directly into a post. See this post for instructions on how to post pictures from a 3rd party site. If it's an important image to the community a mod can add an image to any user's post as well. Another option is our gallery here at SolsticeForum since that is available to all forum members.

Here's a step-by-step on how to attach files to a post.

1) Reply to any post
2) Just below the reply text window there is a "manage attachments" button (see image 1)
3) Clicking that button opens up a new smaller popup window shown in image 2.
4) Navigate to the location of the file on your PC hard drive using the browse button.
5) Click the upload button to transfer the files (you see them listed aftewards).
6) Click the close this window button and the smaller window disappears.
7) Add text and click submit reply.

You can upload 1-5 files in 1 post.
Only certain file types are allowed (Valid file extensions: bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt zip).

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

The main forum is divided into different sub-forums. Each sub-forum is on a specific topic. You need to pick the best sub-forum for your post based on its content.

List of sub-forums below....

Solstice FAQ, Specifications, Performance Data (read only)
General Solstice Discussion
Apprentice/Early Order Program/First 1000
Technical Solstice Discussion
Solstice in the News
Solsticeforum Polls

Solstices for Sale
Solstice Parts for Sale/Wanted

General Off Topic
Other Car Discussion
AutoIndustry News

Test Forum
Site Help Forum

As you navigate to a sub-forum you may need to go back up to the top to see the various sub-forum selections again.

To change to a different forum click the "forums" link in the blue menu bar OR the "Pontiac Solstice Forum" link just under the car picture (see attached picture). This will take to to the top of the "tree" where you can see all the different sub-forums listed.

Clicking any sub-forum name drills you down into that forum to view the threads.

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

To start a poll....

1) Start a new thread using the new thread button. Add some text to introduce your poll.

2) Just under the text box click the checkbox called "Post a Poll" and default change the number of poll options (answers, default is 4, max is 10).

3) Click the submit new thread button

4) This takes you to a 2nd page called "Post a Poll" which allows you to add the poll question as well as the options (answers). Just fill in these options, use the "update options" to add/subtract answers if you need more/less.

Note: checkboxes at bottom for various things:
a) Allow multiple answers gives users a multiple choice checkbox style
b) Make votes public allows others to see who voted which way
c) The other checkboxes I leave alone

5) Click the "submit new poll" button when complete

Mods can add a poll to an existing thread if needed just ask. Mods can not change the optioons for multiple choice or public voting so choose those carefully.

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2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

Did you ever want to link to an indivdual post that's part of a long thread? It's fairly easy if you know this trick:

1) Find the post to are interested in and click the little post number in the upper right corner (pic #1)

2) Clicking that post # should open a new window or tab depending on your browser. You'll notice the URL has some extra info tagged onto the end including the post=. Copy this URL onto your clipboard (cntrl-C or right click copy). See pic #2.

3) Go to the place where you want to drop the link back to that post such as reply or new thread and just paste in the URL (pic #3).

That's it

One useful note, if you follow a single post link from somewhere in the forum you can still get to the full thread by simply clicking the "thread" link in the upper right corner of the single post view

Here's a single post view link as an example:
List of GM Tech/Service Bulletins [TSBs]

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__________________
2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

If your userid permissions do not allow posting of pictures (all members who are not 'founding' or 'supporting' members) you can use any 3rd party free picture hosting site such as www.putfile.com or www.imageshack.com

This "how to" picks up after you have opened an account with a free picture hosting site and uploaded your pictures...

1) Copy the location of your image. Most of these sites have a way to see or send the URL address of your picture to friends. It will look something like this "http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/9/26511292362.jpg" Notice it ends with the image extension jpg which is a format for pictures. Highlight entire the URL address and copy it using right click "copy" or cntrl-c keys. If all else fails try right click 'copy image location' to get the URL.

2) Paste the URL address of the image over here in a post using right click "paste" or cntrl-v keys.

Note: you could stop here and users at SolsticeForum could follow these links to see your picture but if you would rather your pictures appear inline within your post continue with the instructions below.

3) Wrap the URL address with IMG "image" tags. Notice the ending tag is a little different than the starting tag because it adds a slash /. See the attached images marked in red for examples of what this looks like.

Note: as an alternative method there also is a button on the toolbar that walks you through this by automatically building the line with IMG tags if you'd rather not type it but typing IMG twice with brackets isn't too much work. If you want to try the altenative method the button looks like a yellow square with a mountain. See attached image for example.

4) When your reply is posted the URL address wrapped in IMG tags will automatically convert to a picture. See attached images for before and after examples.

If you would like to test things out before you try it for real use our "test" forum here: http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/f...splay.php?f=17

In the attached examples below from left to right...
pic 1 - shows wrapped image tags around a URL from ImageShack
pic 2 - shows the after of what it would look like in our forum
pic 3 - shows wrapped image tags around a URL from Putfile
pic 4 - shows the after of what it would look like in our forum
pic 5 - shows the tool bar with the image tag button circled in red

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__________________
2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech