Managing posts on RPFs.com - how to get the most from the forums

[Bryan]

Currently, RPFs.com is getting in the area of 6,000 - 9,000 messages posted per day which can make finding and tracking topics of interest a bit of a challenge. There are a number of ways that can help make the forum more time effective, this post is dedicated to some:



HELPING KEEP ORDER - doing your part

Please follow these steps when posting new topics:

1) Use good discretion before starting new topics, assure it is of value to the community to have it. If you are posting an article or video check to see if it has already been posted. For YouTube videos this is really easy, just search for the video ID in the URL, for example if the URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCM_wQy4YVg do a search for yCM_wQy4YVg

2) Choose the correct sub-forum to post in. Please read each sub-forum name and description to determine which is the best fit. Note: "Grassroot Central" is not a dumping ground, do not post non-Ron Paul related topics there (system announcements like this are permitted ).

3) Choose a descriptive title, names such as "Check this out" are frowned upon and subject to being changed.

For detailed info read: How to post news articles & videos
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=24270



FINDING NEW TOPICS

There are several ways to find threads:

1) Scanning individual sub-forums works well for specific areas of interest and so long as the topics are correctly placed you should get the information that is important to you there. Be sure to consider the various "Display Options" (lower blue bar) that can sort the topics with differing criteria.

2) "New Posts" (found in the top blue bar) is a great feature to prevent one from having to go sub-forum to sub-forum to see the latest messages added- the issue however is that you do see threads from sub-forums that you're not interested in. Fortunately, there is a solution to this by creating a custom "New Post" search that can either exclude selected sub-forums or just perform a search on desired sub-forums.

To exclude a subforum use the following format:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/search.php?do=getnew&exclude=A,B,C

Where A, B and C are sub-forum numbers. Sub-forum numbers can be found by selecting a forum name off the menu and looking at the last number.

An example to exclude posts in "Bearing Arms" is as follows:
Select "Bearing Arms" from the menu, note the URL in your browser will show the forum as #190: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

Create a bookmark in your browser and edit it as follows:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/search.php?do=getnew&exclude=190

An inclusive only search is similar, an example is as follows:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/search.php?do=getnew&include=2,3



KEEP TRACK OF INTERESTING TOPICS

There are several ways to track important topics:

1) Within viewing a thread, use the "Thread Tools" -> "Subscribe to this Tread" feature. This allows one to later use the "Quick Links" (top blue bar) -> "Subscribed Threads" feature to show a list of all the threads you are subscribed to. It's possible to get e-mail notifications of replies.

2) Check back on your recent posts. Go to "Quick Links" (top blue bar) -> "My Profile" -> "Find all posts by". This will show your recent posts so you can check if there are replies. This is useful if you forgot to subscribe to the thread.


Please post any questions or alternate techniques that you have found helpful.

[Jaykzo]

bump

[JoshLowry]

Somebody send Bryan some flowers.

[Mark]

Somebody send Bryan some flowers.

And "someone give that man a raise"

[xexkxex]

sticky This Mofo

[constituent]

perhaps we should just bump it like crazy.... bump bomb this "mofo"

[roxic27]

Yessssssssssssssss

[Bradley in DC]

And "someone give that man a raise"

Hear, hear!

[Bryan]

And "someone give that man a raise"

OK, great- double my pay- still zero.

[Bradley in DC]

OK, great- double my pay- still zero.

Ok then, TRIPLE IT!