The Ultimate Guide to Making Topics

[Aldun]

The Ultimate Guide to make Guides/Topics

In this topic I will explain how to make a decent looking topic, for any section. I will explain how to make it attractive, how to make sure people read the most important facts and just making it organized in general. I will quote several pieces other topics, but I suggest you read the rules/guidelines topic of every section you post in anyway.


I. Table of Contents.
I. Table of Contents
II. BB codes
III. What you should&shouldn't do with BB codes.
IV. What to post, what not to post.
V. MMOwned specific rules.


II. BB Codes
BB codes are the things you put between brackets ("[" and "]") to edit your text in such a way it looks more attractive and/or organized. However, used in the wrong way, it can make text unreadable or plain annoying.

Every BB code has to be used in the following format:

[x]yourtexthere[/x]

with "x" being any html code. So, every html code has to end in the html code between brackers, with a "/" in front of it.

A list of the most common/basic BB codes used to make a decent topic. These BB codes work for (almost) any topic, aside from the color ones (differs for each forum, but this will work on quite some).

[b]

This code causes your text to get bold. It's usually used to point out interesting points, or to make something very clear. I suggest you never use this for more than 1 or 2 words.

[u]

This code causes your text to get underlined. Again, don't overuse this. It has (almost) the same effect as bolding: you make 1-2 works very clear.

[/i]

This code causes your text to be written in Italics. And yes, once again, never overuse this. It can be used to, as an example, make stuff ironic/point out sarcasm, or just making something clear. This -can- be used in a whole text, like in dialogs, but never use it in a full topicpost.

[url=xxxx]

xxxx represents an URL. This code causes your text to transform into a link. This is used to get a better organized topic without links everywhere between your text.

[color=xxx]

xxx has to be replaced by a color, like "yellow" or "purple". Bright colors are bad, decent colors are good. Navy is bad. Darkslateblue is good.

[center]

This code causes your whole text to be centered.
This can add a nice effect to your topic, but people usually won't like it if a whole topic is centered.
This is especially handy for pictures.

[size=xx]

This code causes your text to get smaller or bigger. This is usually used for titles or ironics (almost unreadable text at the bottom)

[quote]

This code allows you to quote text. For example, I'm trying to explain something to someone in a forumpost, and I'm using a text written by someone else. I would use the Quote tags.

A quote looks like this.

[img]

An img tag is fairly useful. If you ever want to show someone a picture, you can use it is so people won't have to click a link. Do -not- use this with big pictures!
This is how it would look:

(you can keep it.)

Now, I -do- realize there are way more BB codes, these are just the most common ones. this] site has a nice list.

III. What you should&shouldn't do with BB codes.1. Use BB codes. They always make a topic better if you know what do do.
2. Don't ever put a full text in either italics, underlined or bold. It's annoying and certainly wouldn't help people reading your topic.
3. Always use full stops (".") and commans (","), and never use too many comma's.
4. Always use Capitals (big letters) at the start of your sentence (after a full stop).
5. DON'T EVER USE CAPSLOCKS LOLOLOLOL UNLESS YOU THINK ITS REALLY NEEDED, AND NO THATS NOT YOUR WHOLE TEXT. AND NO, IM NOT USING CAPSLOCK, IM USING SHIFT.
6. Make sure you put an apostrophe (') on the right places. For example: don't, won't, didn't, shouldn't, Aldun's crazy etc.
7. Don't use annoying colors. Use colors like purple, yellow, darkslateblue (this one) etc. Read the text yourself after posting: is it readable?
8. Don't center your whole text.
9. Use alineas: reading walls of text is never fun.
10. Don't press 1/2x Enter after each full stop.
11. Don't use the img BB code if your image is too big.
12. Don't use an URL BB code unless the reader knows why you post it. That one made no sense. This one does: "Did you know about this great site with everything about World of Warcraft hacking, exploiting, Model Editting and more? You can find it here.
13. Don't overuse smileys. It's really annoying to read if every sentence ends with a smiley. Ofcourse, they are allowed. Just make sure it's not overused, and only at the right places6):.


IV. What to post, what not to post.
1. Don't post reposts: use the search function to make sure your topic is new and original.
2. Don't post posts just to farm rep. If that's the only thing you got in mind, you're doing it wrong, and chances are high your topic won't be of good quality. Spend time on it.
3. Make sure you read all stickies, especially the ones with guidelines and rules: if you do it right, you'll never get an infraction (Bah, I did it wrong!).
4. Never flame. No one likes trolls. Ofcourse, dissing someone can be fun, but only do it if you know the person and know he'll take it as a joke. Instead, report the topic or leave it alone.
5. If a topic really helped you, give him extra rep: he put effort in it, so why not spend a second to give someone reputation?
6. [TAG] your topics: this allows people to easily see what kind of topic it is. Obviously, also use a good, direct title that says what your topic is about.
7. Using Post Icons ("Pirate", "Request", "LEGENDARY" etc) is fine, but only use it if you think it's justified, and not just to get attention. Note: it shortens the length of your title in the forum overview, which causes less people to most likely notice it.
8. Using tags (under the post icons) can help people with easy searching for your topic.
9. Never doublepost, unless your previous post reached the character-limit. Instead, edit your topic.
10. If you posted a topic and you think it should be moved or deleted, don't PM a mod or poke him in the shoutbawx: just report your own post. This only makes it easier for the mods.
11. Questions are allowed (but only in certain sections), but check if you can't just Google for it: it'll only net you a lmgtfy.com answer.
12. Try to give as much information about your subject, but don't bother readers with irrelevant, useless info.
13. never ask for +rep. Not directly, not indirectly. That's the same as going to a forum and saying "IM A 12YEAR OLD LOOKING FOR FRIENDS AND I GOT A LEVEL 47 PRO UBER WARLOCK THAT CAN SOLO LICH KING, CAN I JOIN U PLXPLX?". (No offense to your 12 year olds out there). It will only attract trolls.
14. Don't post lolcats, etcetera.
15. Always look to the date of the post you're replying to: necro'ing can be justified, but only if you got a very informative and useful post.


V. MMOwned specific rules.
These rules ain't written by me: they're the official rules written by (ex)moderators/admins. Respect them, and listen to them all the time.

Rules
No bad/inappropriate Language.
Do not try to hide your language either by switching letters, etc.
No 4chan stuff, like mudkips/shoop da whoop.
No catpics, dogpics, spampics (etc lolcats).
No Racism
No Insulting Other Member(s)
Any insults from gender to race are not tolerated.
No Asking for Reputation
No Trolling(Starting Fights/Useless Comments/Flaming.
No Spam or Advertisements of any kind.
It's the moderators judgement if he/she thinks it's spam/advertisement or not.
No Doubleposting
No Bumping/NecroPosting.
Don't bump a thread to get more view/replies and don't reply in an old thread.

No Reposting.
Please search before you post anything.

No Questions/Requests In Wrong Forum.
If the forum does not allow questions/requests, do not post them.

No Bad Signature Content.
Do not use your signature to insult member(s) or link bad content.

Use Proper Thread Titles.
ALWAYS Tag your threads.

This guide can be made bigger and "ultimater" to an infinite, so I most likely missed some points that you'd like to see added. Just post them here and I'll add them righ away.

[K3zzeR]

A thread on how to write a thread...

Should include how to spell properly in there, and use it yourself.

[DrakeFish]

Atleast you followed your guide while writing it =)

[Aldun]

A thread on how to write a thread...

Should include how to spell properly in there, and use it yourself.

You can't force people who don't come from an English speaking country and who never got English lessons to speak fluent English. Obviously good spelling is nice for a topic, but I don't see in any way how it should be required.

[Bazra]

That cookie should be in a spoiler. Where before I was just cookieless, now I am cookieless and I want cookie.

+Rep

[Aldun]

Updated :P