We’ve switched away from vBulletin forums, which we’ve used since 2005 to the new kid on the block, Discourse. Discourse offers some really cools features related to discussion and engagement. If you’re new to Discourse, here are a few quick tips and tricks to get you started:
Navigation
For search, your profile page, or the hamburger ☰ menu, use the icon buttons at upper right.
- To update your profile, click your avatar, and then click on the gear icon.
- To view your user page, click your avatar, and then click on your username.
From the homepage, start your journey at the new navigation menu that lists the following views : Categories, Latest, New, Unread, Top and Follow (once you follow someone)
- Categories View - shows all topics/threads group by category and subcategory
- Latest View - shows topics/threads with recent posts
- New View - show only new topics/threads created in the last few days
- Unread View - topics you are currently watching or tracking with unread posts
- Top View - most active topics in the last year, month, week, day
While reading a topic/thread, use the timeline on the left to jump to the top, bottom, or your last read position. On smaller screens, select the progress bar at bottom right to expand it:
(If you have a desktop keyboard, you can also press ? on your keyboard for a list of super-speedy keyboard shortcuts.)
The Forum homepage as some subtle changes in the way categories and sub categories work. You can click the main category with the black font color or the sub categories in the green.
Take note that the main, parent category includes posts unique to that category, but also includes all of the posts from the sub categories.
Posting
To start a new topic, ask a new question and so on, go to the forum home page (click the BabyPips Forums logo top left) and click +New Topic (top right).
Enter a title, choose a category, and type away!
Reading
There are no next page buttons or page numbers – to read more, just keep scrolling down!
Selecting a topic title will always take you to your next unread reply in the topic. To enter at the top or bottom instead, select the reply count or last reply date.
As new replies or new topics arrive, they will appear automatically – no need to refresh the page.
Topics above the light red line are new or updated since your last visit. If you have read all the way to the end of a topic, its title will be light grey instead of black.
Replying
Press any Reply button to open the editor panel at the bottom of your browser. Continue reading (and even navigate to different topics) while you compose your reply; minimize the editor for more room. Drafts will automatically be saved as you write.
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To reply to the overall topic, use the Reply button at the very bottom of the page.
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To reply to a specific post, use the Reply button on that post.
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To take the conversation in a different direction, but keep them linked together, use Reply as linked Topic to the right of the post.
To insert a quote, select the text you wish to quote, then press the Quote button that pops up. Repeat for multiple quotes.
To notify someone about your reply, mention their name. Type @ to begin selecting a username.
To use standard Emoji, just type : to match by name, or use the traditional smileys 
To generate a summary for a link, paste it on a line by itself:
Your reply can be formatted using simple HTML, BBCode, or Markdown:
Actions
There are action buttons at the bottom of each post:
- To let someone know that you enjoyed and appreciated their post, use the like button. Share the love!
- Grab a copy-pasteable link to any reply or topic via the link button.
- Use the … button to reveal more actions. Flag to privately let the author, or the site staff, know about a problem. Bookmark to find this post later on your profile page.
Preferences
All topics less than two days old are considered new, and will show a new indicator.
Any topic you’ve actively participated in — by creating it, replying to it, or reading it for an extended period — will be automatically tracked on your behalf, and will show an unread post count indicator.
You will see the new and unread number indicators next to these topics:
Privacy
Under your User Preferences | Interface, you can maintain higher levels of privacy by selecting Hide my public and presence features.
Hide my profile keeps your entire profile hidden from the other members of the community. Limiting Presence Features means other user
Notifications
When someone is talking directly to you — by replying to you, quoting your post, mentioning your @username, or even linking to your post, a number will immediately appear over your profile picture docked at the top right of the website. Select it to access your notifications.
Don’t worry about missing a reply – you’ll be emailed any notifications that arrive when you are away.
Topic Notifcation
You can change your notification level for any topic via the notification control at the bottom, and right hand side, of each topic.
Category Notification
You can also set notification level per category (for example, Beginner Questions, Trading Discussion, Community) if you want to watch or mute every new topic in a specific category. You also have the option to be notified just if the first post in a topic/thread is updated, as many long running topics are. Simply select Watching First Post.
To change how you track topics, or the definition of “new”, see your user preferences.
Follow other users
This feature allows you to follow other users, list the latest topics involving them and receive notifications when they post. Once you follow another member, you’ll see a new View on the Forums homepage called Following
How do I follow another user? Simple!
- Click on a user’s avatar to view their usercard
- Under the Message button, click the Follow button!
Read more here about how to follow/unfollow users.
Ignore Users
Every now and then there’s a chance another member might post too much for your liking or has a viewpoint that just doesn’t sit well with you. You’d rather not be bothered with that member. We’ll, there’s a feature for that!
Once a user is ignored, you will nto receive notifications related to that user and all of their topics and replies will be hidden from your view.
To ignore another user, do the following:
- Go to that user’s profile page (click on a user’s avatar once, and then again from their user card).
- To the far right of the profile page avatar, click on Normal.
- From the menu that appears, select Ignored
- Select how long you’d like to ignore that user (e.g. two weeks).
- Click Ignore to confirm your selection.
To see all of your ignored users, do the following:
- From your profile page, go to Preferences.
- From the left menu, click on Users
- Under Ignored, you’ll have a list of all of the users you are ignoring. If you’d like to add more users to the ignore list, click the Add button and repeat the steps above.
