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The site's Twitter account is used to provide links to the daily commentaries (without spoiling the result of the show!), as well as stats and other bits and bobs, including DoND news. Any information regarding forum maintenance or outages would also be posted on the Twitter account, so it is particularly useful for people who regularly visit the site.

Forum User Guide

Compiled by "h2005"

This User Guide will help you find out how to use the User Control Panel, use the Private Message (PM) system, display a signature, display an avatar, how to read topics and reply to posts, create new topics, create polls and vote in polls.

If you have any problems or questions, please contact one of the admins. The admins on the forum are here to ensure it is a fair place for all. If you have any problems with the forum or with another member, please contact one of the admins. The administrators are kestral and h2005. It is best to contact them via Private Message on the forum.

NOTE: You MUST be logged in to the forum if you wish to: post a message or vote in polls; use the user control panel (including the private messaging system); contact other members and view members' only sections of the forum, such as members' off-topic chat and the spoilers forum. You can log in by using the link at the top of the forum. If you have not registered yet, do so by clicking the Register link at the top and following the steps.

WARNINGS: Global moderators and admins can issue warnings to users if they have broken the rules. If you reach three warnings, a ban will automatically be issued which will last for 1 week. Each warning will expire after 1 week. The number of warnings a user has will be displayed on their profiles and under their name on each post, along with the date they joined and their location (if they've specified one).

Please note: SPOILERS
Please respect that not all members wish to know any details of the DOND shows in advance of them being aired. If you feel you need to post a spoiler please make your posts in the SPOILER section of the site - located HERE. Any spoilers found in any other section of the site will be either moved to the spoiler section or deleted.

Notes to non-global-moderators: (i.e. forum games mods, international mods and forum members' series mods) You will be able to edit other people's posts, delete other's posts, make topics "sticky" so they stick at the top of the relevant forum and lock topics so no more replies can be made to them. Please use these extra features responsibly.

Reading topics and posting replies

Click on the forum you wish to read from the list on the index page of the forum. Click on the topic you wish to view. There may be more than one page for the topic - if so it will give you the opportunity to click on the different pages, using links at the bottom right of the page.

To reply to an existing topic, click on the topic you wish to reply to and click "Reply" near the top left hand corner of the page. Enter your post in the large box, and then click "Preview" under the box to preview your post before submitting it, or click "Submit" to submit it straight away witout previewing. Don't worry about the checkboxes asking whether you want to disable BBCode etc. - they are fine as they are by default. You can also save a draft to post later (Saved drafts can be found in your User Control Panel). After submitting the message, click "Click here to view your message" to make sure it has been entered properly.

Note: It is possible to edit your post after you have submitted it by clicking the "edit" button at the top right of your post. You can also delete your post (Only if no-one has replied to it) by clicking the "X" on your post. If you wish to report a post for review by admins / global mods, click the red triangle and provide a reason in the box for you reporting the post.

Starting a new topic

Choose the forum you wish to start the topic in, and click on it. Click on "new topic" located at the top left of the forum. Type a subject for the topic in the "subject" box, enter your post in the large box and click "Preview" to preview your topic before submitting it, or click Submit to enter it straight away. Don't worry about the checkboxes asking whether you want to disable BBCode etc. - they are fine as they are by default. You can also save a draft to post later (Saved drafts can be found in your User Control Panel). Click "Click here to view your message" to make sure it has been entered properly.

Creating and Voting in Polls

If you wish to enter a poll with your topic, you can do so when creating the new topic. Above the preview / submit buttons there will be an option to add in a poll. Enter the question of the poll, type in the poll options (being sure to click "Add option" after typing each option), state how many days you wish the poll to run for and then submit the topic as usual. The poll will appear at the top of your newly created topic.

If a topic has a poll, it will be displayed clearly at the top of the topic. To vote, simply choose the option you wish to vote for, click in the circle to the left of it and then click Submit. This will register your vote and display the results of the poll as they stand. It is also possible to view the results without voting by clicking "view results". If only the results are being displayed with no possibility to vote, then you've either already voted, you're not logged in or the poll's closed.

User Control Panel

This can be accessed by clicking User Control Panel at the top right of any page on the forum.

On the left, you will see a list of different parts of the UCP. Overview is selected by default when you go to the UCP. Be sure to click “Submit” after making any changes, otherwise changes will not be saved.

The headings under Overview are:

Front page - displays general information such as the date you joined and your total number of posts. Any important announcements will also be displayed here as well as being displayed in other parts of the forum.

Manage subscriptions - modify which topics you are currently watching. Watching a topic means you’ll be alerted by e-mail whenever a reply’s made to it.

Manage bookmarks - manage topics which you have bookmarked, similar to the “favourites” facility in your web browser.
Manage drafts - You can manage any draft posts which you may have saved.

The headings under Profile are:

Edit profile – Here you can edit your contact details and the website link, location, occupation and interests which appear to other members in your user profile.

Edit signature – does what it says on the tin. Simply type in the box to create your signature. If you wish to display an image in your sig, upload it to somewhere like Imageshack and type paste in the address of the image with image brackets at each end – such as The maximum size for signatures is a TOTAL (including text and multiple images) of 470 x 150 pixels, and the system will not accept a signature image which exceeds this limit. Note that normally, the 3 check boxes on this page are left unticked.

Edit avatar – also does what it says on the tin. You can either upload an image from your hard drive, upload an image which exists on another website, or supply the address of an image stored elsewhere (such as on Imageshack) to use as your avatar. Normally the “avatar dimensions” setting is left blank to enable the system to judge the size of your avatar.

To find out how to upload images to Imageshack for use as avatars or signatures click here.

Edit account settings – Here you can modify your e-mail address and set a new password.

The headings under Board preferences are:

Edit global options – you can set options for who can contact you by e-mail / PM, whether your online status is hidden, what notifications you get from the forum, the board language, the timezone and date format. Note that during summer time, “UTC” should be chosen as your timezone with “yes” ticked on “DST in effect”. In the winter, “UTC” should be chosen as your timezone with “no” ticked on “DST in effect”.

Edit posting defaults – here you can choose whether to enable BBCode (such as bold tags), enable smilies, choose whether or not to attach your signature, and also choose whether or not to be notified upon replies by default. Note that normally, the first three options are “yes” and the last one is “no”.

Edit display options – here you can manage what you see in posts. This is much more advanced than the previous version of the forum, and enables you to choose whether or not you see images, similes, signatures and avatars. You can also choose to only display topics / posts which have been replied to since a certain date, change the order in which posts appear in a topic and change the order in which topics appear in a forum. The default options have the checkboxes all set to “yes”, and the rest of the choices are set to display all topics sorted by post time in a descending order. All posts are displayed, ordered by post time and in an ascending order. You can choose differently if you wish.

The headings under Private messages are:

(Private Messages can also be gained access by clicking “0 new messages” (or however many new messages you have) at the top left of each page on the forum. )

The default screen will appear with “Compose message”.

Inbox – where received messages are kept
Saved messages – where messages you’ve saved are stored
Outbox – where messages you’ve sent and haven’t been read by their recipient are stored
Sent messages – where messages are stored that you’ve sent and they’ve been read by their recipient

Compose message – does what it says on the tin. Choose who the recipient of the message is (members can be searched for using the facility on the left hand side of the page), type a subject and a message and click either Preview (to check it before you send it), Submit (to send it) or Save (to save as a draft).
Manage PM drafts – manage draft private messages which you’ve saved but haven’t sent yet
Rules, folders & settings – Here you have a wealth of options covering personal folders which you may want to set up in your inbox. You can also set up certain “rules” whereby certain messages from certain people, or certain messages containing a pre-defined subject can be automatically placed in a custom folder of your choice.

The headings under Usergroups are:

Manage groups – Here you can view the usergroups and the groups you are part of. By default, you will only be a member of the “Registered users” group, and will not be able to join any other group.