Hi.
You may have noticed that the forums look very different. We are now using vBulletin 3.0 beta 7. I will just do a FAQ-style thread, based on the questions I have been (and probably will be) getting.
**Q: Do I need to make a new account?
A: **Nope. All data was transferred over.
**Q: I found a bug -- what do I do?**
A: Make a thread here: [http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8](http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8)
**Q: I'm totally lost -- what do I do?**
A: Play around for a bit. Ask others online via PM. If all else fails, make a thread here: [http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8](http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8)
**Q: Why is it purple?**
A: The vBulletin 3 style has not been released yet. I was hoping to have it by now, but we don’t. I don’t want to change the style, and then have the vB3 style released the next day, so I will just wait. It shouldn’t be too long before the new vB3 style is out, and I can start customizing.
**Q: Where is the image gallery and white papers?**
A: I can’t redesign it without knowing what the forums are going to look like. I’d like them to all have the same look & feel, and without the forum style … we’re stuck.
**Q: Where is my Who-Am-I picture?**
A: Same answer as the previous question. No new style = no new development.
**Q: There are these http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/images/misc/vb_bullet.gif graphics all over. It takes forever to figure out what each of them do. Are you going to change them?**
A: Yes. This is part of the temporary purple style. When the vB3 style is released, I will install it ASAP and everything will make sense *.
**Q: What is with this threaded/hybrid/linear thing?**
A: The old-old-old forums we used to have were threaded. The forums we had the last few seasons were linear. vB3 has taken the two, and made them work together. Hopefully people that like threaded will like the threaded view. Those that liked the linear will still get linear. If you want a little of both, try Hybrid mode.
**Q: Where is the 'new reply' button?**
A: You have to click the http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/images/buttons/quickreply.gif or http://forums.chiefdelphi.com/images/buttons/reply_small.gif buttons to reply to a message. These buttons are located on each post. So, if you want to reply to a message, choose which post it is in reply to, and reply to it. This makes the linear/hybrid/threaded modes possible.
**Q: What is this reputation thing?**
A: This is a system to rate users’ posts. They post something good, give them a thumbs-up. They post something bad, give them a thumbs-down. There are alot of little specifications & limitations that I can detail a little later, but basically, if people use this – everybody may keep on target and contribute to threads, rather than posting just to post. If someone posts something totally irrelevant, or way out of line – give them a negative reputation score. If someone posts something out of this world, insightful, awesome, etc, give them a positive reputation score. You can only give people reputation points X times per day, and X per person, etc. As your reputation score climbs (50-60 pts), the points you give out to people will be worth more than Joe-Schmoe-New-User with 1-2 pts. Confused? Me too. You’ll get it after a while.
**Q: How do I know what reputation points I got?**
**A:** You can go into your User CP and look at the last few reputation points you received. You can also go to one of your posts, and try to give yourself reputation. Instead of being able to give yourself points, you see your score on that post. (Positive/Negative, and comments)
**Q: Where can I learn more about this reputation system?
A: **There’s a bit of info on this thread.
Q: I have no idea what these little icons are. How do you know?
A: Hold the mouse over for 1-2 seconds. vB3 is loaded with alternate text on each image. You will get a good explanation of what stuff does if you hold your mouse over images and links.
**Q: Wow, I can add multiple attachments, eh?**
A: Yep.
**Q: Wow, I can put a reason in for why I edited, eh?**
A: Yep.
**Q: Hey, I can add a poll after the thread has already existed (for up to 1 day)?**
A: Yep.
**Q: Whats this WYSIWYG thing?**
A: You can now post neat looking messages with **bold**, *italics*, underline, fonts, and everything, without having to know all the vB-Code tags. You also see it in realtime, without having to hit preview. The CTRL+B, CTRL+I, and CTRL+U work, if you know those commands too. Oh, this probably will not work in older browsers. You can enable and disable this in your options.
**Q: Where are the Q&A Forums?
A: **They have been removed after much debate. I, and many others, feel that they were more of a burden than help. With the addition of more moderators, the reputation system, and a few other new features, we can hopefully achieve quality help without offending anybody or impeding the process.
**Q: Where is spell check?
A: **I'll have to add it back in. Patience.
**Q: Where is the portal?
A: **It will be redesigned/re-implementeed once the vB3 style is released.*