Using Our Forums
We understand that our forum software may seem a bit daunting or complex to some of our visitors. So here's a few notes to help you jump into the fray and start posting your own messages or communicating with our members.

PRIVATE MESSAGES
As a registered forum member you can send private messages (personal notes that others can't see) to other members. There are a few ways to send private messages (PMs) to others.

To send a new private message to a member you can just click on the "PM" icon of one of their forum posts. Enter a title for the message and then your message. Hit the button and it is sent. Optionally you can always view a member's profile and choose to "add to buddy list" if you plan on regularly sending messages to that member. Then you can access your buddy list via the 'Open Buddy List' link in the 'Quick Links' menu at the top of forum pages. The buddy list is a pop-up that allows you to see which of your buddies are currently online or offline and send anyone on your list a private message more conveniently or even send a message to multiple members at once. You can also just visit your 'private messages' area in the 'user cp' area to create a new PM to send if you know the members exact username.

If you are logged in to the forums, you will see a private messages portion on the main forum page telling you how many new and total PMs you have. Click the title bar 'Private Messages' to go directly to your PM inbox or visit the "User CP" area and then click the 'Private Messages' link. Another great feature is that you can have the forums automatically notify you when you get a new private message via a pop-up notice and/or by email notification. To use the pop-up method you must have javascript enabled in your browser. Both options can be selected in the 'Edit Options' section of the 'User CP' area.

If you have a message just click the link to read the message. Then you can either choose to delete it, send a reply to the sender, or forward it to another member. Note: most members can only keep 75 messages and if you reach that level no one will be able to send you a private message until you delete some of your private messages. (The limit for silver members is 100 private messages and 150 for gold members).

When sending a private message you have the option of keeping a copy of the message you sent, which if you do is placed in your 'sent items' folder by default. By default this option isn't pre-checked, so if you want to keep a copy you need to select that option. Remember though 'sent items' do count towards your maximum messages count. You can also create additional folders to store messages you've received or sent.

If someone is bothering you in PMs or the forums, then you can chose to add that person to your "ignore list" so that you will no longer see or receive their messages or let a forum staffer know about any harassment or such. You can also disable anyone sending you PMs when you register or by updating that preference under 'Edit Options' in the "User CP" area.