I’m going to keep it basic, not because I don’t have faith in your abilities to understand complex formats or a more intellectual guide but because I lack the ability to produce something which will encompass both of those qualities. I’m sure most of you will collapse just by the look of the thread and never even finish reading the first part
If you are forum savvy and know how phpBB forums operate you can skip the “Understanding the Forum” part and skim through “Posting.”Understanding the Forum
Announcements: Forum staff members are the only ones who can create these types of threads. They always contain important information which everyone should take a look at. You might want to read all of these first when you visit certain boards. Announcements can be distinguished by the
next to it. If you are lucky though you might spot a joke announcement topic created by one of our tricky Administrators ( I heard that - Jim ).Stickies: Everyone loves them, they are like the Post-it notes of the forum world. Stickies, once again are a staff only feature on this forum. Stickies indicate in a sense the more popular topics. Topics which are stickies always stay at the top of the forum for easy spotting and access and can be distinguished by the
.New Posts/Read posts: Whenever a member creates a new topic within a forum you’ll see the
next to it. Once you go into the new thread the image will change into a 
which indicates you’ve read that thread. Very useful in my opinion, that way you can keep track of what you’ve read, or where people are posting. Every now and then though we have the forum gremlins who like to be a pain and take all the orange squares away and reek havoc.Locked Forums/threads: Alright when a thread is locked it means there can’t be any more posts made in it, well that’s unless you are a moderator in that board a Global Moderator or an Administrator. You can tell which are the locked topics when you see the
next to it. Easy enough right?Ranks:Okay if you look to your left. A little lower, lower, a bit more to the left now, ah there you go ^_^. You’ll notice that underneath your member name above your stars there is small writing. That is what we refer to as your forum rank. Voila! This rank changes, it changes as you post. Some know what the ranks are and how many posts you need to achieve a new one, but I’ll omit them here so you can have fun trying to figure them out. I should also mention that there are such things as custom ranks, these are awarded to staff or to anyone who the Administration believes has done a great contribution to the forum. It is our way of showing our appreciation; custom ranks can read whatever you little heart desires, assuming it’s not too long of course.
Profile:Everyone has a forum profile, you can access your profile by clicking the
User Control Panel at the top right of the forum. In the profile menu you can edit your profile, play around with certain forum preferences, switching them to your liking. If you wish to change your avatar and signatures, that can be done through here as well. Don’t know what an avatar is or how to get it? Then look belowAvatars/Sigs:Everyone has them, and everyone loves them. Avatars, that is. They are the lovely pictures displayed under your author information, right under the spiffy stars. So how can you get one? Well there are a couple of ways. One way is by going through your profile and clicking the “show gallery” button at the very bottom of the profile menu. In the gallery you will find the art work of our very own forum members. Bet you didn’t know we were that talented did you? You can pick out a snazzy avatar from one of the 15 avatar categories. Another way to obtain an avatar is going through the "Signatures and Avatar, Request and Test" board and kindly posting your request on the artists board of your choice or in the open request thread. If you don’t have one, don’t delay, get yours today!
Usergroups: There are no such things I tell you. Legend has it though, that there was a horrible accident one time in the forum. Some chemicals might have seeped into the forums which mutated them making them invisible to the naked eye. You are probably asking yourself right now whether this is true. Well, unfortunately it’s not, but how cool would that be huh?
You can access the forum user groups by clicking here or you can go to the "User Control Panel" and you will see "Usergroups" on the left side of the screen. You can view each of the group’s descriptions and join them from there.Private Messages: Ever wanted to tell a member something in private? Well you can do so by using the forum’s Private Messaging feature. It is sort of like e-mailing each other. There are many ways to access your private messages, you can either click the
new messages or you can click the 
underneath of each member’s post.On we go, on we go, almost done I promise.
Posting:
Knowing Where to Post: Most important this one is ( OMG!! ITS YODA!!
- Jim ). Each forum has a description underneath it, read these. The descriptions are there for a reason, and no, not merely for show. If after reading the descriptions you still are not sure where to post, well, ask a moderator. We will try our best to direct you to the appropriate forum. Posting in the appropriate place ensures you will get the most replies in regards to your topic. It also saves lazy moderators like me from having to actually do work O_O. *rocks back and forth from thought of doing work*Creating New Threads: Alright before you go off and create a new topic look around and ask yourself a few questions.
1. Is there a topic about this somewhere else? If there is, then there is no need to make a new topic about the same thing. You can easily go into the already created topic and ask your questions, post your comments there. If you have a question, check wether it has been asked already, use the forum search option to find out.
2. Is my topic going to contribute to the forum in anyway? If you think your topic is just going to sit there and no one will post in it because it makes absolutely no sense, then save yourself the time and effort and don’t post it.
3. Is this topic going to be appropriate in these forums? We have limits to what you can say in these forums, and as members you should be aware of these things. You agree to a lot of them when you register and there are more “no, no” topics listed in the forum rules. We try to cater to a lot of different likings but we can’t allow all. Think family oriented when posting anything here. PPT is a family friendly forum, always has been and always will be.
4. Am I posting this in the correct area? Remember, read the forum descriptions to find out what you can post in which forums.
Now, if the topic in mind has passed, you can think about creating your thread. You can do so by clicking
.Replying:Okay, now the guidelines here are very similar to those of creating a new thread. Most important thing to think about when replying to a topic is respect; do not post something to intentionally hurt others. You should also watch how appropriate your reply is, we crack down on curse words and harsh language. Ask yourself, whether your reply will contribute to the conversation, how relevant it is to the topic at hand. If a topic states that lemons are better than limes, don’t just reply with “yes you are right” to show you agree; go on and take it further by stating why you agree, or why you disagree.
As a guideline, try to post more than three words. Why three words? Because usually, a topic with more than three words means you are contributing to the conversation rather than just posting unnecessary information. This is not always true though, as some people can be quite good at posting mile long messages *giggles* full of nothing
( 
- Jim ).Editing posts: Oh this is a good one
, trust me. Alright, you had the perfect reply the type that will make everyone sit in front of their monitors with mouths wide open and drool dripping out the side, right? As you hit that submit button you realize you made HUGE spelling mistake, one which will diminish the ability for your post to dumfound everyone. Oh no! Quick what do you do? You go and try to edit your post before anyone reads it! So you look to the right of your post and fly your mouse toward the 
button. Yay! The world is safe again! You can edit your posts as many times as you’d like. If you are editing after someone has posted below you, the forum will show how many times you’ve edited your post.Deleting posts: Alright, so you posted a reply about that huge crush you have on the girl with the classy green avatar. As you walk away, you remember that just yesterday you told xGoudaQueenx how her eyes were like shiny new marbles. Oh oh player, player is in trouble!
Well maybe not, there might still be hope. You can delete your reply and pretend it never happened! To delete, just click the 
. But let the scare of having both girls find out be a lesson to your Mr. Playa. The tangled webs we weave *shakes head* And one last thing too, you have to be quick, once someone posts below you, you loose your ability to delete your reply, and that my friend will mean the end of your love games. *sings TLC’s* No I don’t want no scrub. Scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from me! ( My ears! They BLEED! 
- Jim )Double posting:This one is one of my favorites ^_^, I don’t know why. Alright, a lot of the new members don’t seem to get what we mean when we say “double posting” Some forums allow this, but we do not, especially since you can easily edit your posts, well now you can since I went over how to edit
. Double posting refers to back to back posting. In other words replying to a topic and then replying again, creating two posts beneath each other from the same member. There is no need for this, even if you have something different to say or want to add something extra to your previous reply; all you have to do is hit the edit button and add it to your first post. Moderators will delete double posts and keep an eye out incase it occurs again, if it is a constant problem, you will be contacted.Quoting:Say you happen to read something on page 3 out of a 7 page topic and you want to post a reply in regards to it. Or say you want to address your reply to a certain member. What you can do, so everyone knows what it is you are going on about, is use the
button. This conveniently places what the member said in a organized quote box and you can go ahead and reply underneath it.Bumping Old Threads: This is the term given to the act of "reviving" or posting in threads which are older than moldy thing growing under my bed. Just one thing to remember about this. Don't do it! Once a post is old and died and been sucked into the black hole of the forum or gone to forum heaven (usually a forum's lower section or second page) leave it there. It is absolutely annoying to see posts from 1979 popping back up because a member who was on vacation when it was posted found it absolutely necessary to let the forum know 25 years later that their favorite color is black. If you post a thread and it receives little or no attention don't feel hurt, it just wasn't ment to be. Let the thread go in peace, don't try to bring it back up to see if it can spark up more discussion.
How to deal with your questions:
Look first: Look around, the forum has an abundant amount of information about all types of topics. If you have a question you should look around in old topics, see if anyone has already asked that same question or answered something similar in one of the threads. To aid you in your quest for answers to the meaning of life, you can utilize the forums search feature
Search. There you can search for your answers by a variety of methods.Ask in PPTFD: If you have questions about the site, you can always go to the “Pink Poogle Toy Forum Discussion” board.
Contact Staff:Yes, the I said staff. Contrary to popular believe, we don’t bite, really we don’t. We are here to help you, so if you have questions which have stumped you and you can’t find answers to anywhere, you can always ask us. Each moderator has a board, you can see who moderates which board right under the board description. Sometimes it’s best to direct your questions to the specific board moderators, as they were placed in their board because of their knowledge of the board subject.
Well, that’s all I have to say. I hope this will be of some use to someone, if not, at least I enjoyed typing it; specially enjoyed it since it allowed for procrastination on my homework assignments
.*places fingers in cold water*
(*applaudes* - Jim )