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3. Board Index - The Board Index is the nexus of Creative Freedom, where members come to do what this site was built for: role-playing. All of the site’s forums are located here, not just the role-playing ones, but lucky for you, each forum is clearly labeled so that you know what goes where….unless you are illiterate, in which case we apologize for the inconvenience.
a. Features Common To All Forums - All forums in the Board Index are set up in the following fashion:
i. Pawprint Status Indicator - Next to each forum’s title in the main index, and also next to each and every thread in every forum, is a graphic device that looks like a pawprint inside of a block (actually, some of them have arrows or exclamation points inside them, but who’s counting?). In the same way that a pregnancy test changes colors when introduced to female pregnancy hormones, the Pawprint Status Indicator will change from blue to orange if it senses that a forum or thread has new posts in it. New posts happen to be swimming with hormones. Unfortunately, the indicator will not change back to blue until you either read the topic, or click the “Mark Forums Read†or “Mark Topics Read†links, thereby releasing all of the built-up hormones in a raging, emotional torrent. We suggest you just let the indicators stay orange. Oh, and if there is a small yellow lockbox icon on the indicator, that means the thread is “lockedâ€, which means you can no longer edit it or post in it. You can try to break the lock, or pick it, but with a DC of 40, we’re fairly sure that you’d have to use magic.
ii. Mark Forums/Topics Read Links - In the Thin Gray Bar on the Board Index, on the far-right, there is a small link titled “Mark Forums Read.†Clicking it will allow you to tell the site that you did, in fact, read everything, so that it can stop being so very, very orange. The “Mark Topics Read†link, located at the top-right of every listing of topics in every forum, does the same thing, but only for the specific forum it is attached to.
iii. Forum Link, Subforums, And Info - Next to the status indicator is all of the relevant information about the forum, including its title, a brief description of its contents, the subforums contained in it, the number of topics, the number of posts, and the latest post made. Clicking on the title of the forum will take you to the forum’s Main Page, which lists all the threads it contains. Clicking on the subforum links takes you to the subforums. Clicking on the title of the latest post will take you to the thread in which the post was made.
iv. Forum Main Page - When you click on the title of a forum in the main Board Index, it will take you to that forum’s Main Page. At the top of this page will be a list of the subforums, if there are any. Clicking on the title of a subforum will take you to its respective Main Page. Under the subforum headings (if there are any) you will find the title of the forum, and then a little blue button that says “New Topic.†Clicking that button will allow you to create a new thread in the forum. You will need to create a title for it and write a starting post, and then click “submitâ€, and voila, a new thread is born. Under the New Topic button is a yellow link that says “Subscribe Forum.†Clicking it will allow you to subscribe to the forum, which means you will be notified every time there are new posts and new topics. Under all of these buttons are the thread listings. The listings contain the titles of the threads, their authors, the number of replies and pageviews, and the last post made. Clicking on the title of a thread will take you to the Thread Main Page.
v. Thread Main Page - The Thread Main Page of each thread looks rather similar to the Forum Main Page, except that there are a few new buttons and instead of listing thread titles, it lists posts. The new buttons include: “Post Replyâ€, which will allow you to make a new post; “Subscribe Topicâ€, which will allow you to get updates every time there’s a new post in the thread; “Bookmark Topicâ€, which will add the thread to your list of bookmarks; “Print Viewâ€, which will allow you to print out a copy of the page you are viewing; “E-mail Friendâ€, which will allow you to e-mail the thread to a friend; “Previous Topic/Next Topicâ€, which will allow you to jump to the previous or next thread in the forum.
vi. Posts - Each Post is divided into two sections, the Author box and the Message box. The Author box contains the author’s username, their avatar, the date when they joined, their location, a link to their blog, their gender, their status message, and a little circle that is gray if they are offline and bright green if they are online. The Message box contains the subject of the post, the date and time it was posted, and the contents of the message. At the bottom of the Message box are seven buttons: the yellow shield button, which allows you to report the post to an administrator; the “top†button, which will bring you back to the top of the page; the “profile†button, which will take you to the public profile of the author of the post; the gray message icon, which will let you send a private message to the author of the post; the e-mail icon, which will allow you to send an e-mail to the author of the post; and the “quote†button, which will allow you to start writing a reply to the post in question with the contents of the post in quotes at the beginning.
vii. Quick Reply Box - The Quick Reply Box allows you to write a quick reply to the last post in the thread, without having to access the full editor. If you want to access the full editor, just click the “Full Editor†button. Aren’t labels useful?
b. Off Topic Discussion Forums - When we say that the discussions in the Off Topic Discussions section are “off topic,†we mean that they do not pertain specifically to role-playing. Role-playing is the capital-T Topic around here. If you wish to stray off of this topic, come here.
i. General News and Info - This forum is dedicated to bringing reliable, fair, and balanced coverage of all events within the Creative Freedom site. “Fair and balanced†naturally refers to the perspective of the site’s creators and administrators, whose opinions matter much more than yours. Remember, you elected them, so you can’t complain.
In addition to news and updates, this forum also contains all of the rules, regulations, and archived information on how the site runs. Access to this information will be made available as it becomes declassified. We can’t win a Cold War if everyone knows what we’re up to, dammit.
There are three sub-forums in this section. “Suggestions and Problems†is a suggestion box where you may submit suggestions and complaints in writing. If your form isn’t submitted in triplicate, it will “get lost†and have to be “re-filed†in a special combustion chamber. “MIA/Heads Up†is where you can tell fellow roleplayers about your upcoming vacation/holiday/family death/illness/final exam, and how it will require all your attention for the next three months. Don’t worry, they are used to rejection and will carry on without you. “Happy Birthday†is where you can wish a fellow member a happy birthday. The eating of cake in this forum is strictly prohibited.
ii. Introductions - This is where newcomers like you must go to introduce yourselves to the rest of the community. Don’t worry, none of the members bite, though many of them lick and slobber. Don’t resist, that’s rude. Just embrace it. That’s it…
iii. Chit Chat and Random Talk - Like the mess hall of a military base, this forum is the one place where members of the site are allowed to drop their guard and behave in a roughly human fashion; joking, jostling, making rude gestures, debating on subjects not endorsed by the Party Line, and viewing risqué magazines. There is one sub-forum here: “Forum Games and Sillinessâ€, where members may engage in rousing games of chess. Absolute silence is strictly enforced, and games are played with the use of timers. Creative Freedom happens to hold the Role-Playing Forum International Chess Championship Cup, and we are very serious about it.
c. On Topic Discussions - On-Topic discussions are discussions that relate to role-playing. No actual role-playing is conducted in these forums; just discussions about it.
i. Members Character Profiles - This is where members may post up character sheets for characters that will most likely be used in multiple roleplays. If you post a character here and never use them, then shame on you. It’s dark and lonely here, and characters have feelings, too.
ii. Personal Works and Creations - The typical member of Creative Freedom is an artist of some kind, unsuccessful and scorned by their peers. This forum is where you may post up your original creations so that we may all laugh at them good-naturedly.
There is one sub-forum here, called “Comments and Opinionsâ€, where members may comment and offer their opinions on the pitiful creations offered up for our amusement. Just look at them…how adorable. Ahahahahaha….
iii.“Member Listings†- is where members post up profiles of themselves and their role-playing abilities and preferences for other people to peruse. The idea is that like-minded roleplayers can find each other more easily and start role-playing together. In practice, it is an ego-inflation station. Do not tread on the egos, for they pop easily.
d. Roleplaying Section - This section is where all of the actual role-playing goes on. It should be rather self-explanatory, but here I am writing a giant guide about it…so it must not be. To start a roleplay in this section, first post a thread in one of the “Interest Check†sections to see if anyone is interested. If they are, then go to the “OOC†sub-forum of whatever section you wish to roleplay in, and then post all of the information about the plot, and the rules, and character creation, and so on. Wait for people to post up their character sheets in the “Character Sheets†section (sometimes there isn’t a separate section for it, in which case sheets just get posted in the OOC), and then create a thread in the “In-Character†section. The In-Character section is always easy to find, because it’s the one with all of the other roleplays in it. In-Character posts should never be made in Out-Of-Character sections, and vice versa. Keep your peanut butter out of our chocolate, please.
i. Omega - This section is for people who are new to role-playing in general. Standards are low, and teams are generally made up of the kids that get picked last for kickball.
ii. Beta - This section is for people who know what role-playing is, theoretically speaking. Standards are higher than in Omega, and the role-players here actually dress themselves on occasion.
iii. Alpha - This section is for role-players who not only understand role-playing theory, but have experience putting it into practice. Standards here are the highest on the site, and require a minimum I.Q. of over 9000.
iv. In The Cave - The Cave is where adult role-players (that’s over 18, kiddies) come to do grown-up things with each other, in roleplay form. Those grown up things include paying taxes, voting, and performing military service. It’s not very fun. You should probably stick to the other sections.
4. Store - Where you may buy Creative Freedom-themed products in order to support the site. You want to support the site, don’t you? Darn right you do.
6. FAQ - Stands for “Frequently Asked Questions.†If you have a question that you think might frequently be asked by other people like yourself, go here to get it answered.
7. Search - Allows you to search all the forums for specific content. When you are bored, it is fun to type in obscure phrases like “screaming habdabs†and see what comes up.
8. Members - Takes you to a list of all the members of Creative Freedom. You can sort them by different criteria and change the order they are displayed in. Creative Freedom prides itself on being the fastest-growing roleplaying site on the internet, due to its unorthodox recruitment methods. The dizziness you are feeling is just a side-effect, and will wear off soon.
9. New Messages - Tells you if you have any new messages, and lets you privately message people. Every member has an inbox rather similar to an e-mail inbox, with many convenient options that should be pretty self-explanatory. The Private Messages section is a subdivision of your User Control Panel.
10. User Control Panel - Your User Control Panel is where you can manage your site profile, your options and preferences, your private messages, and everything else that pertains to your membership on the site. Here, on this panel, you have absolute control. Do not take it for granted, however. With great power comes great responsibility.
11. Blogs - Creative Freedom allows each of its members to express their deepest thoughts and secrets for everyone else to find. You can look through these virtual diaries at your leisure, though be warned, not everyone’s thoughts are fit for human consumption. They will give you botulism.
12. My Blog - Please don’t hesitate to write down anything that comes to mind, it may prove useful to us later.
13. Logout - Please don’t leave! Don’t you want to be ONE OF US…
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