Xbox Forums: Frequently Asked Questions
At a Glance
Please use these as questions to link to the specific articles below: Registration and Login: Forum Preferences and Settings:
Privacy and Security:
Navigation:
Posting:
User Groups and Permissions: Private Messages:
You must register to take advantage of all the features offered by the Xbox forums. To show your gamer card, track post counts, send and receive private messages, and access private forums, you will need to have an account. It only takes a few seconds to register, and it is recommended you do so. To create an account you will need to create a gamer card. Link to gamer card article Here you will specify details such as your gamertag and .NET Passport account. I'm registered, how do I login? After successfully registering you should have a gamertag and password. You can then visit the login page and log in with your Passport. What if I've registered but still cannot login? If you've registered and can't login, check to ensure you have a valid Passport and password. Forum Preferences and Settings When you set up your gamer profile on Xbox.com, it includes your gamertag, Gamer Zone, gamer picture and more. Part of your gamer profile includes information about your forum preferences on the Xbox.com forums. This includes details about posts you've contributed to, as well as other settings (themes, time zone, and many others) for the Xbox.com forums. Why do I want to set my time zone? Setting your time zone enables the forums to display all dates and time relative to your time zone. How do I add a signature to my post? A signature is a message that is appended to the end of any posts you make in the forums. Edit your signature from the preferences page. This signature then appears at the bottom of any messages posted by you. A gamer card is your Xbox.com identification and displays your gamertag, gamer picture, reputation, gamerscore, Gamer Zone, and motto. The date format used to display any date information can be configured from forum preferences. How do I turn off email-tracking? E-mail tracking is a feature which notifies you upon changes in threads that you are subscribed to. You can turn off all e-mail tracking globally from forum preferences. What are the other icons that show up next to users? There are many different icons that can show up as a part of the gamer card in the forums. Common examples are moderators, Xbox product team members, and recreational gamers. Other images may be displayed based on groups the user belongs to. Why am I required to login to post, view members, or e-mail other users? This is primarily to protect the privacy of users who have shared their information or to prevent unwanted or unsolicited emails. Privacy and Security Your Xbox.com forum password is linked to your Passport, so you need to change your password in Passport. Here's how to do it: 1.Sign in to the Microsoft Passport Network if you're not signed in already. 2.Go to the MSN Account Services home page. 3.Click Credentials, and then clickChange your password. 4.Type your old password. 5.Type your new password. The Passport Network rates the strength of your password. 6.Retype your new password. Your username is your gamertag, so you need to change your gamertag. How do I change my e-mail address? The address will default to the e-mail you provided during account creation, but if you want to change it, do so from the preferences page. Use any valid e-mail account. What forums preference settings are required? The only required forums preference setting is your private e-mail address. Anything else in the preference settings are completely optional. Navigation A forum group is a #top level grouping of related forums which contains one or more forums. A forum is a grouping of related threads of discussion. A forum can contain threads and sub-forums. A thread is a grouping of one or more related posts. The first post becomes the thread and replies to the original post increment details on the thread, such as the reply count or last post. When I view a forum I don't see any threads or posts. This may bed because there are no threads in the forum, or if filters on the forms have been applied and no threads match the filter. An example of a filter is filtering to display threads newer than a certain date, such as threads new in the past two weeks. I just posted a message, how come I don't see it? A forum may or may not be moderated depending upon how the forum has been configured. After posting a message in a moderated forum you may receive a message stating that the post is awaiting moderation. Once the moderator(s) approve your post you post will become visible. The moderators may choose to move, edit, or delete your post to ensure that the post is #topical to the current forum. What is an announcement thread? An announcement is a special post type that is always displayed at the #top of a forum for a configured amount of time. The purpose of an announcement is to increase the visibility of certain #topics. A sticky #topic is a special post that causes a post to sort to the #top of a forum for a specified amount of time. A sticky #topic is similar to an announcement, whereas an announcement is displayed separate from other threads and usually does not allow replies. A locked thread is a special post that does not allow replies. Once a user locks a post or an administrator or moderator locks a thread no more posts are allowed. Can I sort threads when viewing a forum? Yes, you can sort threads when viewing a forum by author, replies, views, and last post. The default sort for a forum is to display the newest threads first (last post descending). To sort, simply click on the "Options" button at the bottom of the screen, select your desired sort order, then click "Apply." I can't access a forum I know exists. If you are attempting to access a forum that you have visited before, but now receive an "unknown forum" error there are two likely causes. The first is that the forum you are attempting to access is private and you are not signed in. The second is that the forum has been removed. Posting Yes and no. You cannot type HTML directly into the editor. If you are using Internet Explorer, the default editor for creating new posts will be a Rich Text Editor that will automatically format posts using HTML. If you post with a browser other than Internet Explorer, a standard HTML textbox is used and BBCode can be used to mark-up posts. BBCode is a special syntax for formatting plaintext posts. Can I add attachments to my posts? No. Emoticons are graphical elements that can be added within the body of a post to add emotions to the post. Common examples are the use of smilies within the contents of a post. How do I post a new message to a forum? When viewing a forum you should see an image button reading "New #topic." Clicking on this image button will take you to a form for posting a message or ask you to login first. How do I reply to an existing post? You can reply to an existing post using either the "Reply" or "Quote" image buttons displayed with the post. If you do not see these buttons when viewing a post, either you don't have permissions to reply or the post may not allow replies. If the administrator or moderator has configured the forum or your role to allow editing of posts you will see an "Edit" image button next to posts you have made. Clicking on this button will allow you to edit your post. If the administrator or moderator has configured the forum or your role to allow deleting posts you will see a "Delete" image button next to new posts you have made. If your post has one or more replies, you no longer have the ability to delete the post. My Post has words replaced with ***? The administrator may have specified a word filter for posts. When word filters are enabled certain words that are deemed to be offensive are filtered and replaced with the * character. User Groups and Permissions An administrator is the highest permission level within the Xbox.com forums. By default, an administrator has full permissions to perform any action, such as moderating posts, approving users, and so on. A moderator is the second highest permission level within the Xbox.com forums. By default a moderator can perform any number of tasks within a particular forum or set of forums. This includes approving posts, moving posts, deleting posts, editing posts, or banning users. If you have a problem with a particular forum, the best place to start is with a Moderator. Moderators belong to varying groups configured by the Administrator. Can I be banned from the forums? Yes. If you violate the Code of Conduct or Terms of Use, you can be banned for a period of time. If you are a repeat offender you may be permanently banned. Private Messages A private message is like e-mail within the Xbox.com forums. You can send a private message to other users within the forums that is visible only to them. No private information, such as the user's email address, is ever disclosed. You can choose to get e-mail notification when you receive a private message. Enable this feature on the preferences page. |
