Newbie Questions

[MisterHinton]

1. I just posted to newbie neighborhood but in the middle the post disappeared; I redid it but I don't know if it happened because I hit submit by accident and you got two, or what happenned. Who do you contact when a mistake like that happens just to let them know- like, for example, in this case, to discard the first and use the second if two topics show up by acident?

2. I see a lot of icons on the forum left side- pages, pages scrolling, question-mark overlay...where is the legend that explains what these symbols mean? (...and Yes, I do see the partial list at the bottom of the index page, thanks.)

[Hawk]

All new members have to have their first 2 posts approved by me. I do apologize for any confusion but I do that in an effort to keep spammers at bay.

As for the buttons you asked about, if you hover your mouse over the button you should get a small pop-up note describing what the button is for.

[MisterHinton]

I'm a security officer; precautions don't bother me, I just thought I had stepped on my own foot for a minute.

Thanks for the mouse-over tip, but it still doesn't say what all the icons mean; example- right now the one for this thread has a tiny star on it; one further down has a question mark, and one on another thread has a tiny green smiley face imposed; I hate feeling dumb, that's why I wonder where the clues to the secret symbols are all kept, that's all . Not wanting to be a nudge; just legacy of doing research for 30 years.

[Hawk]

If you're talking about these

Click on image to view full size

those are icons you can use to mark a post. They're called 'Post Icons' and are used to represent the intention of the post, if that makes sense.

For instance: if you post a question you might want to tick the question mark and it will show up next to the post, although adding those icons is not necessary. It's a personal preference as to whether or not you use them.

As for what they are supposed to represent, some are obvious like the question mark and the exclamation point. Others are a little more cryptic and are probably best ignored, but I'll try (most folks don't use them so I've not really given it much thought).

The first one on the left (fire?)I suppose could represent a hot topic. The next one (star) I suppose could represent something, but I have no idea.
Bottom line: if it's not obvious then I guess the decision as to what they mean is up to individual interpretation.

Hope that helps explain things.

[MisterHinton]

Oh yeah- "post icon"s : there they are at the top of the reply box, never noticed before- if it had been a snake it would have bit me. Funny, I don't remember using one starting out - must have hit something by mistake. Thats embaressing. Anyway, thanks again.

[Hawk]

I don't see where you used one of them in your post. Am I misunderstanding you?

[MisterHinton]

No, not on the post; in this case, on the Topics list for this thread.

[Hawk]

I think I see what you're talking about now. Are these the icons you're talking about?

icons2.jpg (34.65 KiB) Viewed 859 times

If so, those are default icons added for every new topic. Those are called 'Topic Icons'. An explanation of those can be found at the bottom of the 'Board Index' page, as shown in the below screen-shot.
The question mark in the second icon is a post icon, added on top of the topic icon by the poster.

Click on image to view full size

[MisterHinton]

Exactly. Thanks.

[Hawk]

My pleasure!

[Hawk]

'Topic Icons' are added automatically by the forum software. 'Post Icons' are added by the poster, at their discretion and are not required.