Maintenance Notice: Discussion Group Login Unavailable: November 21, 2009
Sign In and Registration functionality will not be available for discussion groups due to systems maintenance:
Saturday , November 21 from 12:00 midnight to 3:00 PM PST
Creating new threads or replies, and other functionality dependent on sign in will be restricted. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Do I have to be registered to use the forums?
2. Why can't I stay signed in?
3. How do I create a thread or post a reply?
4. Can I edit my post?
5. How can I remove a post, or report inappropriate posts to be reviewed?
6. How can I format the text of my posts?
7. How do I preserve formatting for code included in a post?
8. How do I search the forums?
9. What are "Watches"?
10. How is forum content organized?
11. Can I attach files to my posts? Are there any restrictions?
12. Where can I provide feedback on the discussion groups?
1. Do I have to be registered to use the forums?
You will need to sign in or register in order to post or reply to messages and to take advantage of some additional features. Authentication is not required if using a newsreader client to access the forums.
2. Why can't I stay signed in?
You will need to sign in each time you access the forums in a new web browser session. "Remember Me" will pre-populate the userID field, but re-entering your password is required for each new browser session. Additionally, cookies are required to maintain a signed in state. Be sure that cookies are enabled in your browser.
3. How do I create a thread or post a reply?
To start a new thread, choose the appropriate forum and select Post New Thread. Type your thread header in the subject line and type a message in the message box. Before you are about to post, you can spell check your message by clicking on Spell Check. You can also choose to watch the thread (which will add it to you watch list, and allow you to receive email notifications when new posts are made) by clicking the Watch This Thread box.
When you are satisfied with your message, you can preview your message to see how it will appear when posted by clicking on Preview tab. Or you can post your message without previewing it by clicking Post Message.
To post a reply to a thread, select the reply icon next to the message you would like to reply to. If you want to respond to specific text from the original message, click on Quote Original, and that will add the text from the original post in your message.
4. Can I edit my post?
Yes, as long as the post has not been replied to by another user. Click the edit button on your post to make changes and Save Message
5. How can I remove a post, or report inappropriate posts?
Contact our moderation team. Be sure to provide the URL for the post and provide details on what should be edited and/or removed.
6. How can I format the text of my posts?
The Rich Text interface provides a standard set of formatting tools for your posts. Plain text should be for basic, unformatted posting only. Newsreader users should also user Rich Text (html) to preserve formatting.
7. How do I preserve formatting for code included in a post?
To preserve code formatting in your posts, use the Plain Text editor and include {code} tags around the formatted code. Example: {code}insert your code here{code}. The same approach applies to posts via a newsreader. Note: there is an open issue with newsreaders preserving line breaks in posts—See Open Issues above for status updates.
8. How do I search the forums?
Type your term(s) into the search box, select which forum(s) you want to search, and click the Go icon. The default search is 90 days. From the search results you can use the advanced search options to refine your search by specifying a different date range or filtering by username. Note: the 200 most relevant results are returned based on your keyword query. For best results, use specific keywords for your search.
9. What are "Watches"?
A watch notifies you by email if the thread you are interested in has been updated.
To add a thread to your watch list, click on the "Watch This Thread" link at the top of the thread page. Click on Stop Watching Thread to end the email notifications. After 30 days, inactive watches automatically expire. You can also watch forums, categories and users. For example, when a new message is posted in a forum you're watching then you'll be notified by email.
To see the current list of watches, click on "Your Control Panel" then "Watches". From this screen you can choose to receive email notifications when new posts are made. Just click on Add Email Notification next to the thread for which you want to be notified.
You can delete a watch by clicking in the Delete tick box for the watch you want to delete, then clicking the Delete button.
10. How is forum content organized?
The content in the forums is structured as follows:
- - Forum Categories: Categories represent a collection of forums as well as other categories. Often, categories are used to organize forums into a tree structure so members can find the right discussions more easily.
- - Forums: Forums are the areas where individual discussions take place as a listing of threads.
- - Threads: Threads are the discussions that consist of one or more messages displayed as a list, or in a tree structure of messages and their replies.
- - Messages: Messages are the individual discussion posts made by community members.
- - Replies: Message replies are posts in response to other messages and are organized in a flat or threaded mode.
11. Can I attach files to my posts? Are there any restrictions?
Yes, All file types are supported, with a size limit of 1.5 MB. As a best practice and courtesy to other forum users, be cognizant of the attachment file size and upload small files where possible. Example: convert large .bmp images to .jpeg or other more compressed file types.
12. Where can I provide feedback on the discussion groups?
We welcome your comments and suggestions for improving the Autodesk Discussion Groups.
Feedback can be emailed to discussion-group-feedback@autodesk.com.