Custom avatars, signatures and other features

[Sherrie]

Just an FYI that for all new members these features are initially disabled due to the popular abuse of them by spammers and the like. This is nothing personal, just something I have put in place to help deter this abuse because it can often go by unnoticed and can be quite unsavoury. These features will unlock, as you get to know everyone around the forums.

Once your status has changed to Member you can read about how to use these features here:

How to: Insert Signatures and Tickers.

Inserting Picture into a Message or Adding Avatar

Editing however will only unlock partially for everyone, due to reasons explained here:

Changes to editing features

Feedback is always welcome in the feedback forum

Cheers

Sherrie

[Sherrie]

I should probably add here, 2 more important things to know for new members.

Firstly regarding passwords, always make sure your password is secure and hard to guess to ensure your account isn't accessed by someone else. This is a problem on all forums and anything online requiring passwords as programs randomly trawl the web trying to guess peoples passwords.

Secondly is private messages, sometimes spammers like to abuse the private messaging system. I have chosen not to disable this feature for new members as sometimes people are shy and prefer to seek help via private message. Because of this, private messaging can be abused from time to time, if you ever receive a suspicious private message do not click on any links they post and report it to me straight away.

[Sherrie]

One last thing lol

Posting, I always recommend that when you post that you only post what you wish EVERYONE to see. I am reluctant to delete accounts etc because this forum is about contributing and sharing.

Lets say you shared lots of helpful recipes then one time posted something personal and an ex saw it and I deleted your account. Those recipes would be lost to everyone, people often come back years and years later because they are looking for their favourite recipe, what if that recipe was something you shared? or lets say you have a really informative conversation or debate with someone and I deleted you, half of that conversation would be missing and it would no longer make any sense.

So I urge everyone to always think about what they post, whether it will offend anyone in their life or whether it would be too identifying. This goes with your username, when choosing a username, think about how identifying it is and whether you wish it to be so.

Also, never post your email address here, this is not allowed as it will be picked up by various spam bots and the like as well as be identifying and open to abuse by spammers. If you wish to share your email address with someone, message them privately.