HOUSE RULES - Your guide to not being banned!

[Matt]

<center>WELCOME TO CINEMA BLEND</center>

First things first, if you are a guest, please click HERE (http://www.cinemablend.com/forum/register.php?) to join our forums.

[Matt]

Please feel free to just begin posting around the forums but if you want to introduce yourself, click HERE (http://www.cinemablend.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21446)
and tell us what you feel you should.

<B><U>BASIC FORUM RULES</U></B>

*I recommend reading around the forums and getting the "feel" of how we act. We're mostly good people but we all have the tendency to joke a lot. It might take you some time to realize it too.

*A type of thread from newbies that annoys us is the "Hey list your favorite 100 directors" and then the newbie never shares with us. We aren't here to help with your class project. Nor do we care. If you do a search of the forum, I'm sure you'll find plenty of threads on these topics.

*If you are a minor, you are not permitted in NWS (Not Work Safe) threads. If we catch you in NWS threads, you'll get one warning before being banned.

Also, if you are a minor, you have to prove yourself to us. We have a few members like Notso, Luthien, and Tripolie who began here as minors and are awesome members.

They are the exception amongst younger members.

*If you can contribute intelligently to the forum, please feel free to hang around. If you cannot contribute intelligently, you'll probably still fit in. However, if you act like an immature incoherent 14 year old, you might run into trouble here. Contribute constructively. Don't just troll and post pointless statements that you can't back up.

<B><U>SIGNATURE GUIDELINES</U></B>

Effective immediately we request that all forum users adhere to the following guidelines for their personal signatures:

- Signature Images must be NO LARGER than 400 x 150 pixels
- Please limit yourself to ONE image per signature
- Please limit yourself to NO MORE than two lines of text per signature

Thanks guys for working with us on this to help keep the board a little more tidy and hopefully a little easier to read! We think signatures are great and help give this place a lot of personality, but we want to balance that with keeping threads readable and a little less cluttered.

ANTI-SPAM POLICY

Some folks come here for a one stop shop to peddle their wares and annoy us with their spam. Others are newbs who are just really excited about something and don't know any better.

No matter which of the above two groups you may fall into, the Cinema Blend Forums DO NOT ALLOW NEW USERS TO POST LINKS.

You may have good intentions, but we can't tell that over the internet. If you're new, please refrain from posting any links. Post around awhile and let us get to know you. After awhile we'll be more than happy to let you post the occasional link to things you find interesting and want to share.

[Matt]

Now that you've posted a bit, you might wonder how some members have usertitles and pictures under his or her name.

<b>USERTITLES
(The text underneath your username)</b>

Well, let's talk about the usertitles first. We have a standard usertitle system based on great characters from Cinema. Enjoy them. Once you have been a member for awhile, you might get a "custom usertitle". Do not automatically assume this is a positive. Most usertitles are inspired by something embarrassing or something that Into, Tay, or myself give to members out of spite. :)

Update: Recently, we've decided to let users create their own user titles as well, so now you can put whatever you want there!
Warning: The above is also subject to the "custom usertitles" ;)

[Matt]

Thanks to Smizzle for the following:

AVATARS
(Pictures under your username)

Please be aware, custom avatars are not available on this site. We have a library of more than 1000 varied avatars. The more you post, the more you will gain access to, consider it a reward scheme. The more you stick around, the more customisable and identifiable we allow you to be.

<u><b>How do I change my avatar?</b></u>
Avatars, custom signatures, and other personal settings and information can be changed through the User Control Panel. You can access the Control Panel by clicking on the <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/usercp.php?s=">User CP</a> button at the bottom of each forum page.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/userCP.gif">
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Once inside the control panel, click the <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=editoptions">Edit Options</a> button.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/EditOptions.gif">
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The User Options page allows you to customize your personal settings for the board. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=editavatar">Change Avatar</a> button.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/changeavatar.gif">
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This will take you to a page displaying all avatars that are available to you at this time. The number af avatars available to a member increases with their post count so if you don't see any you like just yet, keep posting! Once you've selected the avatar that you want to use, click the Sbumit Modifications button and you're done!
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/SubmitModifications.gif">
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Another option we've just incorporated to make things a bit easier is to simply visit the forums index page (http://www.cinemablend.com/forums), and click the link at the top right that says "YOUR AVATAR". It will take you to a drop down style menu where you can choose from a handful of categories.


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SIGNATURES
(Pictures/text that appear at the bottom of posts)

<u><b>What is a signature and how do I get one?</b></u>
Signatures are lines of text or images automatically entered into the bottom of each user's posts. These help give each post a personal touch unique to the forum member it belongs to. Once you've selected your personal sig and have made sure that it adheres to our <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19221">Signature Guidelines</a> click the <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/usercp.php?s=">User CP</a> button to enter your control panel. Now click the <a href="http://www.filmhobbit.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=editprofile">Edit Profile</a> button.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/EditProfile.gif">
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Scroll down to where it says signature and enter your custom sig into the empty field.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/SigField.gif">
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You can use either HTML or Vb Code to spice up your sig, changing the color of the text or adding an image. For help with inserting images to your sig, see the next question!



<u><b>How do I display images in my posts?</b></u>
The easiest way is to use the Image Tags that are built into the board. Click the button that says IMG and enter the URL of the image you want to display into the window that pops up.
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/mattsinopoli/logos/IMG.gif">
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Another option is to register an account at a free image hosting site. That way you can upload the images to your own space and avoid most of the hassles that come from hotlinking. Most sites will provide you with IMG and HTML tags for each image after you upload it, both which are supported on the site. My personal choice is <a href="http://photobucket.com/">photobucket</a> but there are other sites that work just as well.

UDPATE: We've added a new feature to our forums. You can now use our own CB image hosting, instead of bothering with registering with external sites. Simply visit the above navigation bar, and follow the given options.

Please remember to adhere to the Signature Guidelines in the first post in this thread when making yours.

[Matt]

New Sig guidelines below:

http://www.cinemablend.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39446