The New Members Guide!

[Matt-H]

Version 1.8.0

Welcome to the Playdom Community Forums -- New Members Guide! Not too sure about how something works on the forum? Or how to use a certain feature on the forum? Then you have come to the right guide! This guide is the ultimate all-in-one resource that explains how the forum works. Topics covered in this thread include how to post new threads, how to send private messages, how to format your posts and how to edit your signature. Also in this guide is a comprehensive list of staff members grouped by rank and their speciality, a break-down on the forum rules and what they mean and the explanation of a typical layout of each section forum has!

This is a rather long guide, so use the contents list below to find what you are looking for! For those of you who don't like scrolling down a large thread to find what you are looking for, you can use this which has been created for the purpose of better organising this guide into separate pages. It is worth noting that the updating of this off-site version of the New Members Guide can not be guaranteed.

Acknowledgements

Here are some of the people who have contributed to the making of this guide.

• Matt-H is responsible for the layout and information provided throughout this guide.
• The other Super Moderators: Valendaria, Godfather Bill and Mendokusai Sennin; and the Forum Administrators, El Guapo and Gaia; have all contributed to the editing and proof reading of this guide as it was written. AngieDawn also assisted with minor corrections.
• There are several forum members who have contributed to the ideas of certain sections located throughout this guide. They will know who they are, there are too many to list here.

Table of Contents

Contents

Section 0: Introduction

Section 1: Forum Rules, Terms of Service and Code of Conduct

Section 2: Forum Registration

Section 3: Forum Search and Posting

Section 4: Forum Groups

Section 5: Forum Avatars and Signatures

Section 6: Modifying Account Settings

Section 7: General Forum Structure

Section 8: Playdom Support

Section 9: Forum Messaging

Section 10: The BBCode and Post Formatting

Section 11: Warnings and Infractions

Section 12: Known Bugs

Section 13: Question and Answers

Section 14: Misc

[Matt-H]

SECTION 1: FORUM RULES, TERMS OF SERVICE AND CODE OF CONDUCT

Forum Rules

Like any other forum, website, message board or blog on the internet, this one has rules and guidelines accompanying what you can and cannot do on it. Don't be scared though--like on any other forum on the internet, common sense prevails and if you don't do anything out of the ordinary and just act civil; you will have nothing to worry about. Here is a description on each of the rules:

Do not post any obscene or inappropriate content; including nudity and hateful, threatening, racist, sexual, or homophobic speech, imagery, audio, or video. Any profanity which is transposed, modified to escape the word filter, completely or partially replaced by symbols, used in an acronym, or substituted by another benign word in generally known profane phrases or uses will be considered a violation of this rule. Inappropriate content that is blocked by our filter will still be considered a rule violation.

(This following description may be offensive to some people. Any offensive words or words/phrases that would otherwise be inappropriate will be bolded) No profanity, what so ever, is allowed to be posted on this forum. This includes it being in posts, signatures, images, visitor messages and anywhere else. This includes: - Any profanity replaced by the forum's swear filter. - Any profanity in posts that are modified to evade the swear filter (for example, "sh!t") - Changing letters around in a word to escape the word filter (for example, "fukc") - Any profanity used as an acronym (for example, "WTF") - Any profanity that is substituted for other words that can considered profane in themselves (for example, "facking", "shatting", etc). This somewhat falls under the second point about modifying words to evade the swear filter. Do note that words such as "hell", "heck", "damn", "bloody", "bugger", and just about any word that may be considered profane in some cases that isn't caught by the word filter are acceptable for use on the forum in most cases. As a general rule of thumb, if a word is caught by the forum swear filter; it is not acceptable to use in any form, as mentioned above. Furthermore, any content that is considered inappropriate for a family friendly forum is not allowed to be posted here. Inappropriate content on this forum includes: - Pornography and sexual content. - Overly graphic images, pertaining particularly to violence, gore, death or similar. - Racism. - Homophobia. (for example, calling someone/something "gay") - And anything else that can be considered threatening. (for example, "I'll kill you!"). Both profanity and inappropriate content may not be included as part of an image, in any link that you post or in any video that you post--this includes music videos or movie film clips that may be considered PG.

Do not post derogatory comments or attacks against other people or groups. This includes accusing any individual(s) of cheating or inappropriate behavior. If you would like to report someone who you believe is cheating or acting inappropriately, please contact our support team.

Any form of attack, derogatory comments or accusations fall under this rule. This includes: - Any form of attack or insult towards any forum members or staff. (for example, "Go to hell", "you are so gay", etc) - Any form of direct threat, as covered by the first rule, towards any individuals or groups. - Any form of accusation made towards other players with regards to them cheating. (this includes posting images of pictures and name from within the game in question.)

Please use the search or tag search before posting. Chances are a thread or post already exists. If you can't find what you need then feel free to post.

Posting duplicate threads or posts all over the place when a thread or post already exist are grounds for warnings or infractions. The search feature can be found by going here and is explained further down in this guide.

Please create new threads in the appropriate forum, and use a descriptive title. Thread locations and titles may be changed by the staff to more accurately reflect the topic being discussed.

Constantly posting threads outside the appropriate forum is also grounds for warnings or infractions. The use of non-descriptive thread titles can result in them being changed by the staff to better reflect the topic that is being discussed - and the forum staff will use their own discretion when it comes to this. Advice on naming threads is provided further down in this guide.

Do not make repeated or nearly identical posts. Spam will not be tolerated. Also, be advised that posting randomly for the sake of raising post count or adding recent activity to a thread (i.e. "bumping" threads) will also not be tolerated. Please refrain from making one word/single smiley posts as they can appear to be spam and are too vague to be sufficient feedback.

This includes: - Double/triple/quadruple/etc posting. - Off topic posting. - Duplicate posts in the same or across multiple threads. - Bumping a thread to bring it to the top of a forum section. - Single word posts (for example, "lol", "haha", etc without any additional post content). - Single smiley posts (for example, "", without any additional post content). - Single image posts, without any additional post content. - Posting for the sake of posting (for example, doing any combination of the above just for the purpose of upping your post count). Such posts are not tolerated and will be promptly removed.

Do not advertise, promote, or discuss non Playdom sanctioned games, services, referrals, contests, websites or commercial enterprises.

This rule covers the following: - Discussion or promotion of non-Playdom Facebook or other social media games. - Advertising of third party websites, contests or referral services. - Discussion of or promotion of developers of other non-Playdom Facebook or other social media games. - Posting links to any website that may promote; directly or indirectly, illegal activity; as per Playdom's Terms of Service and the forum rules. - Posting links to any Facebook fan group. The following do not fall under this rule: - Any console or PC game that is not on Facebook. Some of these games do have Facebook versions so for the purpose of this rule, the versions that are NOT on Facebook are acceptable for discussion. - Any developer of said console or PC games. Some developers develop console/PC as well as social media games through their subsidiaries. For the purpose of this rule, it is the subsidiaries that fall under this rule, and not the main entity. For cases where specific entities develop games for PC/consoles and social media services; that entity does fall under this rule. - Any website that may of been approved by Playdom for whatever reason. If a member joins the forum just for the purpose of advertising, they will be treated as a spambot and may wind-up permabanned.

Do not promote illegal or adult 18+ substances or activities; including illicit drugs, prostitution, alcohol, and tobacco. Discussion is permitted only in regards to in-game content, this is the only exception.

This includes mentioning, or the discussion of, any of the following: - Tobacco; - Illicit Drugs; - Alcohol (any); - Prostitution; - and anything else that is considered an 18+ activity. This rule does not apply for discussion relating in-game content, however please keep in mind that use of imagery from any game, such as for signatures, avatars and profile pictures; that would normally be considered unacceptable still fall under this rule and will be removed.

Do not post social network ID numbers or links to your social network profile within the forum body unless asked to by a moderator or Playdom Community Manager. Please keep all social network ID numbers within your forum profile details or signature.

The items covered by this rule include: - Posting links to your Facebook or other social networking profile page outside of the Add Me threads, or your signature. - Posting your social networking ID outside of the Add Me threads, or your signature. - Posting your email address on the forum outside of the Add Me threads, or your signature (we recommend you keep your email address private). This rule also covers the posting of other people's social network details; including their ID numbers, profile link, and email address. This also includes posting images of other people from the games that may identify them - including their pictures and their ingame names. If you are posting a picture of someones ingame profile for discussion, and are not accusing them of cheating (see rule two above), you are required to blank out their name and any profile picture they may have.

Do not post or ask for information about bots, macros, cheats or hacks of Playdom games. This also includes links to sites that may indirectly promote such programs. Similarly, talk about your personal use of such items, or discussion of unreleased content (in other words, content that cannot be obtained by standard means), is also forbidden.

This includes: - Bots/automated software - Hacking - and other cheating methods/exploits. Posting pictures of, and/or discussing unreleased content, is also not acceptable. Speculation relating to what may be released in the future is fine, but keep in mind that passing off discussion of unreleased content as "speculation" will be considered a violation of this rule. Do note also that anyone coming to the forum just for the purpose of advertising a bot/hacking program will be treated as a spambot, and may be permanently banned.

Do not discuss or promote actions that may violate Playdom's Terms of Service agreement, Privacy Policy, or the Terms of Service agreement(s) or Privacy Policy(s) of any of our partners (this includes any social network on which Playdom applications are hosted).

This is a broad rule that covers anything related to Playdom's Terms of Service, Privacy Policy or anything that is covered in the Terms of Service or Privacy Policies of any social network where Playdom's applications are hosted. This includes: - Recommending/encouraging people to create secondary accounts on Facebook. - Encouraging people to cheat/hack in any Playdom games. - Discussing any back-routes to access a game without having to play through the social network interface.

Do not impersonate any Playdom employee or the volunteer moderators.

This includes claiming that and acting as though you are a Playdom employee or an employee of an affiliate entity (such as an offers provider). Any person who is a Playdom employee or an employee of an affiliate entity must first contact a forum staff member before posting as an employee of said entity. This process is done to prevent confusion amongst the rest of the forum community.

Do not discuss or disclose private messages or Moderator actions in our forums. If you have a dispute with a player or moderator, please contact your game's Community Manager or a Community Administrator. You may also file a complaint with our support staff at http://playdom.zendesk.com/home

This includes: - Posting private messages sent by Moderators/Administrators. - Posting about any warnings or infractions you may of received. - Commenting on the forum as to why a post may of been edited or removed. If you have any concerns to the above, for example, an infraction you may of received or a post that may of been edited; you should reach out to the moderator that did the action, or contact someone who is of a higher rank then the moderator who did the action. The hierarchy of ranks can be seen below for your reference: Moderators> Community Moderators > Super Moderators > Community Managers > Forum Administrators You can also file a support ticket if you are unsatisfied with the staff's response.

Make sure your signature conforms with the forum's Signature Rules.

This means that your signature must strictly be in-line with the Signature Size rules. Including: - Being no larger than 60 pixels high by 468 pixels wide. - Not being animated. This is explained more in-depth further down in this guide.

Do not create multiple forum accounts or share your forum account with any other user. Each forum member is allowed only one account. Any duplicate account is subject to an immediate and permanent ban.

This includes: - Creating a forum account to circumvent a forum ban. - Creating a new forum account. Be aware if you want to create and use a new forum account (and haven't been banned), you are to contact a moderator so the appropriate measures can be taken (including the banning of the old account). - Sharing your forum account with another forum member. With note of the exception mentioned for point two; any account that is found to be a duplicate account of another forum member will be permanently banned. Each member may only use one forum account at any one time.

Do not discuss subjects involving religion, politics, or socioeconomic issues.

This includes: - Discussion of specific religions and why one is better or more superior to the others; or why one religion is inferior to the others. - Discussion of specific political parties, ideologies, movements, systems of government or people (politicians) and why the afformentioned may be superior or inferior to others. - Discussion of issues pertaining to economics, rich vs poor or how people of one socioeconomic class may be superior to the other, and vice versa. Due to the sensitive nature of these issues; and the fact that they can lead to potential problems in terms of other rule violations and people taking things personally, the discussion of the above mentioned subjects are not allowed on the forums.

Do not post Support Ticket responses in the forum. All decisions made by the Support Team are final, and cannot be overturned by anyone on the forum. If you have a specific concern regarding a reply you received from our Support Team, you may forward it to your Playdom Community Manager.

Support ticket responses are intended to be private; between the person sending the ticket, and the Support Team representative/Playdom. As such, support ticket responses are not allowed to be posted on this forum as they would impede on this pivacy. It is also redundant to post support ticket replies as the decisions made by the support team are final and can not be reversed by anyone on the forums.

Playdom Terms of Service

The second official document which can lead to warnings or infractions to users on the forum who breach it. The Terms of Service is the legal agreement that is agreed to upon registering to the forums, or by playing the games. Link: http://www.playdom.com/terms

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct is not an official rule-set, but it sets the overall tone and 'feel' of the forum in regards to what is and isn't acceptable on the forum. The code of conduct can be found here: http://forum.playdom.com/showthread....ode-of-Conduct

I won't go through anything relating to the Code of Conduct as this is all pretty self explanatory.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 2: FORUM REGISTRATION

Forum Registration

Like most online discussion forums, you will need to register before you can post. To register on the forum, click the registration link located at the top-right of the forum. This is outlined in the following image:



When you click the register link, the first page you see will look something like this:



Simply select your date of birth and click the "Proceed" button. REMEMBER: you MUST be 13 years or older in order to register an account on this forum, per the Terms of Service which is linked in the first section.

After filling out your date of birth, click the proceed button; you will then be able to fill out your information on the next page, as seen in the following image:



Your "User Name" is the name that identifies YOU on the forum! Your username must be unique (in other words, it mustn't already be in use by another forum member), and it must not be inappropriate for this forum.

Your "Password" is your login accompanying your User Name. Make sure your password is complex, but so you can remember it!

Your "Email Address" must be a valid email address that YOU use! You will need to use this to confirm your forum account. NOTE: It is recommended that you DON'T use Hotmail for your account registration as it is not very reliable and it often disposes of confirmation emails from websites, mistaking them for spam. Instead, use Gmail as this is a more reliable email provider.

The Registration Questions

These two questions have been put in place in order to detour spambots and automatic registrations. There have been many complaints about the questions, but they aren't really that hard if you think about them. If you still can't work them out, here's some clues:

Question	Hint
How Many Oranges?	2 x 2 x 1.5 = ?
How Many Apples?	12 - 6 + 3 = ?

Both of the above can be answered by using a basic calculator! When entering the answers into their respective fields above, if one format doesn't work; try using a different format. So for example, if straight numbers (1 2 3) don't work, try wording them (one two three), or putting an "X" in front of the number (X1 X2 X3 or Xone Xtwo Xthree).

The Additional Information below the questions are optional and are not really needed to make the forum work, unless if you want to put someone as your referrer. This information can be altered later on if you wish

To complete the registration, scroll down to the bottom of the registration screen, tick the box "I have read, and agree to abide by the Playdom Community Forum rules" then hit the "Complete Registration" button. You will then be redirected and logged into your account.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 3: FORUM SEARCH AND POSTING

This section covers the search feature, the creation of new threads, posting in existing threads as well as reporting posts.

The Search Feature

The forum search feature can be found at the top of the forum, no matter what you are viewing on the forum.


To use, simply type what you are wanting to search for then hit the Enter key, or click the icon.

Advanced Search

To access the advanced search, look below the search bar; you will see a link titled "Advanced Search" -- clicking this link will bring you to the following page:



Now, in the advanced search; you can either search "Single Content Type", or "Multiple Content Types" - content types being either "Posts", "Forums", or "Visitor Messages". In the "Search For" section, put in the keywords you are wanting to search for and then click "Search Now". In the "Single Content Type" search, if you are searching posts; there is the option of displaying the search results as threads or posts. Searching using the "Multiple Content Types" will always display the results as "threads".

Tag Search and Tagging Threads

You can also use the tag search to search for threads which have the specified tags in them. It is strongly recommended that you use the tags feature when creating new threads as it makes it easier for others to find your content, if they require it, using the search feature.

It is possible to tag threads by scrolling to the bottom of a thread and clicking the "Add/Edit Tags" button, as seen below:



In the screen, you will notice a text box. Simply type the tags here, then click "Save Changes."

Section-Specific Search

Aside from the forum-wide search, it is possible to search specific sections and even subforums of the forum. You will notice something similar to the following image when viewing forum sections and subforums:



To search the forum sections, simply go to "Search Forum", then type in the keywords; choose either "Show Threads" or "Show Posts" then hit "Search. You can also use the advanced search to search for content within a section--this has been explained above.

Posting new threads.

Posting new threads is easy! Any subforum where new threads can be posted will have a button titled "Post New Thread":



Simply click this button and you will be taken to a page where you can fill-out and format your thread. The "Title" is the title of the thread that will appear when someone is viewing the topic index in a subforum, so make sure to be brief but specific! For example, if you are asking for help in regards to a certain mission in a game; be specific. "*mission name* - please help!" would be an appropriate title. "please help" or "help" would be too broad. More people look at threads with specific, descriptive titles as opposed to generic titles.

In the message body, you should format your post as appropriate. If you are asking the community for their opinion on a subject, go as far as to include your opinion on the subject too! It adds to the discussion and direction of your thread. Similarly, if you are writing a guide; use the formatting tools to split your post up! Nobody likes to look at huge walls of text.

Adding polls to threads

It is possible to add polls to your own threads. To add a poll to your thread, go to "Thread Tools", and click the "Add Poll to This Thread" link. You will then be taken to the following screen.



The poll question is the question that you are putting forth to the members to vote on. For example, you may have "What is your favourite pet in Wild Ones" or "What is your favourite chapter in Gardens of Time" as your question.

The Poll Options determines the number of choices a member has to choose between when voting, the default number being two. This can be changed by changing the number in the "Number of poll options" field, the maximum number of options being 10. The rest of this should be pretty much self explanatory.

The "Poll Timeout" determines the number of days you let a poll run for. For example, setting the "Poll Timeout" to "7" will mean that the poll is open for voting for seven days from the time the poll is created. It is, however, reccomended that you leave the "Poll Timeout" at "0".

In the "Miscellaneous" section at the bottom of the Create Poll screen, there are a couple of check boxes: "Allow Multiple Choice" and "Make Votes Public." The "Allow Multiple Choice" option allows you to set the poll so that users can vote for multiple options, and the "Make Votes Public" option allows you to set your poll so that user's votes are made public (Moderators may change this if they feel it is necessary.)

Posting replies to threads.

To reply to threads, you simply need to be located within a thread. In a thread that isn't closed, you will see a "Post Reply" button at the bottom of the thread:



To reply to the thread, click this button, type your reply and then click the "Post Quick Reply" button. If you are wanting extra formatting options, simply click the "Go Advanced" button, then type and format your post. Once you hit the reply button, your post will appear in the thread. Remember! It is the "Reply To Thread" button, not the red triangle.

Another way to reply to posts is to use the "Reply With Quote" link, located at the bottom of other member's posts:



On your posts also; to add additional information to them, use the edit link! It saves you making multiple posts in a row in a single thread--this can be considered spam, which is explained in the first section of this guide.

One thing worth noting when posting replies to threads or posting new threads, is that if you come across the following page:



It usually means one of two things:

- You haven't activated your forum account by clicking on the activation link within your confirmation email -- this means that you must activate your forum account. if you didn't receive your confirmation email, send a PM to one of the Moderators.

- You are trying to post a new thread in a section where the creation of new threads has been disabled -- This means that the posting of new threads (and sometimes replies) has been disabled in the subforum where you are trying to post. Some subforums don't allow posting of new threads or posts in them; whereas others only allow replies to be posted in threads. If you are trying to post in a subforum where posting has been disabled, either post in a thread within the subforum that pertain to the topic, or post in one of the existing threads in relation to your issue.

Reporting Posts.

If you have come across a post that may be problematic, needs looking at or is in violation of the forum rules; outlined in the first post, then you can use the report posts button! This is located at the bottom left of a members post -- it is the red triangle that looks something like this:



To report the post, simply click this button, then you fill out the reason as to why you are reporting the post that you are reporting. Be specific! If you are reporting spam, just say "spam" and then leave it. If you are reporting unreleased content: say that it is unreleased content, then provide a link that proves this so. There is also no need to PM a Moderator relating to problematic posts, as that is what the report posts feature is for.

When you report a post, it sends the Moderators a notification under your name stating that the post has been reported, along with the reason why it was reported. All moderators will see the report as we check up on all reports on a daily basis.

Also, when reporting posts, there is no need to post in the thread saying that you reported it! This is spam. Just report the post, and let the moderators deal with it. If another member is arguing with you and attacking you for example, just report the offending posts and ignore the user. Getting involved yourself can result in warnings or infractions on your part, and it creates more unnecessary work for the staff.

You should take note to report stuff that are obvious rule violations; such as spam, attacks against other members, inappropriate language, unreleased content, etc. Reporting a thread, requesting it to be closed, unless if it is you that created the thread; will not necessarily mean that the thread will be closed (unless if the thread in question is becoming troublesome.)

[Matt-H]

SECTION 4: FORUM GROUPS

Many people work on the forums, ranging from volunteers to actual Playdom employees which make up the forum staff. The three Moderator groups consist of volunteers who have been chosen by members of the upper two "management" groups representing Playdom on these forums. Nobody in the primary five staff groups have any ability what so ever to fix anything in the games as their work is carried out on the forums only, unless otherwise noted.

(Forum) Moderators

A (forum) Moderator's main responsibility is to look after a single forum section (and in some instances, multiple forum sections) pertaining to a particular game. In their sections of responsibility, forum moderators have the ability to delete, merge, move and sticky threads and posts - although most of their time is spent actually answering questions, greeting new members and in general, communicating with their forum. A forum moderator's main role is to act as a "representative" of their community and have gained their positions by being helpful within their game community over a period of time. Forum moderators are identifiable by their purple name colours in posts and on the online list. Below is a list of Forum Moderators:

USERNAME	SECTION	COUNTRY	OTHER NOTES	LINK
Batty Dawna	Disney's Ghosts of Mistwood	United States		^
Jan1923	Gardens of Time	United Kingdom		^
Bizzle3000	Marvel: Avengers Alliance	United Kingdom	On Hiatus	^
caslandr	Marvel: Avengers Alliance	United States		^
RedArremer	Marvel: Avengers Alliance	United States		^
Wone	Marvel: Avengers Alliance	United States		^

Community Moderators

Community Moderators have the responsibility of looking over the forum as a whole, and quelling any potential problems before they arise. They have the usual abilities that are explained above for Game Moderators, but they also have the ability to ban other users, infract and warn other users; and access a set of forum management tools which can be found in the Moderator Control Panel. Community Moderators have gained their positions for being helpful over a considerable period of time, normally from being Forum Moderators, and due to the more sensitive tasks that Community Moderators are entrusted with, must be trustworthy. Community Moderators are identifiable by the dark-blue names on the online list and in their posts. Below is a list of Community Moderators:

USERNAME	COUNTRY	MAIN FOCUS AREAS	OTHER NOTES	LINK
cadavermaker	United States	Mob1		^
Javster	United States	M:AA		^
Wild Ones rulz101	United States	WO		^
є ∂ є n	United States	M:AA		^

Super Moderators

Super Moderators, like Community Moderators; have the responsibility of looking over the forum as a whole -- however their position involves more management. Super Moderators are only added at the discretion of the Forum Administrators due to the tasks that they are entrusted with. Generally speaking, when no Administrators or Playdom Community Managers are online; such as over weekends, the Super Moderators are the ones generally in charge. The Super Moderators also act as mentors for the rest of the forum staff; including the Forum Administrators, should it be required. Super Moderators can be identified by their orange names on the online list, and in their posts. Below is a list of Super Moderators:

USERNAME	COUNTRY	MAIN FOCUS AREAS	OTHER NOTES	LINK
Godfather Bill	United States	Mob1, M:CE	Former mod on the original mob forum.	^
Matt-H	Australia		Former mod on the original mob forum.	^
Christopher	United States	SL	Former mod on the original mob/SL forum.	^
AngieDawn	United States	GoT		^
GIR	United States	WO, M:AA		^
♪Shiney♪	United States	SL	Former mod on the original SL forum.	^

Playdom Community Managers

Playdom Community Managers, generally shortened to just Community Managers, are the main group of Playdom representatives on the forum that oversee the community management of each of the games, as well as relaying feedback from the community to the developers, and vice-versa. Having Administrative abilities on the forum, Playdom Community Managers have the ability to create new forum sections and subforums and they have access to the Admin Control Panel where they can fine-tune forum settings. Generally, what the Playdom Community Managers say is final; unless of course a Forum Administrator says otherwise. Playdom Community Managers are identifiable by the dark green names in their posts, and on the online list. It is also worth mentioning that the Playdom Community Managers are not online regularly over the weekends or other public holidays. Below is a list of Community Managers:

USERNAME	GAME LIST	LINK
Master Craft	Gnome Town, Wild Ones, Poker Palace	^
Red_Panda	Triple Town	^
StinkyTofoo	Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers, Marvel: Avengers Alliance	^
TheLakeShow	Mobsters Criminal Empire, Threads of Mystery, Mobsters, Mobsters 2: Vendetta	^
Stripes	Disney Words of Wonder, Gardens of Time,	^
Aubrey415	Disney City Girl, Sorority Life	^
ToyMaker		^
Brian Drake		^
~Whitney~		^
--carol--		^
ProbablyPlaid		^
Agent-Leman	Full Bloom, Blackwood & Bell Mysteries

There is a sub-group of Playdom Community Managers. These community managers carry out similar tasks to the above community managers, however they do so to a lesser extent.

USERNAME	GAME LIST	LINK
Belven		^
Cartranna		^
Mhideras		^
Sastuerli		^

Forum Administrators

Forum Administrators are a secondary group of Playdom representatives on the forum who oversee the management of the entire Playdom Community as a whole. This means that these Administrators watch over members of all staff groups on the forums and as such, not all of their time is spent on the forums. The Forum Administrators are first in the chain-of-command, and what they say is final. Forum Administrators are identified by red in their posts, and on the online list. Like Playdom Community Managers, Forum Administrators are rarely online over the weekends and public holidays. The list (do note that the top two names are the current active Forum Administrators):

USERNAME	NOTES	LINK
El Guapo	Head of the Playdom Community Forums/Community Team.	^
slinky	Works on the Disney's Ghosts of Mistwood and Armies of Magiccommunities.	^
Gaia		^
cometbus		^
Catsronaut		^
Chris		^
Amajjing		^

Other Groups

The other groups on the forum include "Developers" and "Playdom QA" -- these guys are Playdom employees, however they are not part of the Community Team and their main role is not on the forums. There are only a couple of games that have Developers or QA's posting in their communities, but you should still speak with the Playdom Community Managers or Administrators (or use the Support Channel) if you are wanting assistance on the forum or the games themselves, as the abilities of the Developers and Playdom QA accounts are limited on the forum.

Post Ranks

The following are the known post ranks on the forum. Don't take this seriously, as regardless of your post rank, you will still have the same permissions on the forum -- and the staff can just as easily revoke a rank if you have spammed the forum to achieve it. Here is the list:

RANK	POSTS
New Member	Under 25
Bronze Member	25 - 74
Silver Member	75 - 199
Gold Member	200 - 799
Platinum Member	800 - 1,999
Diamond Member	2,000 - 4,490
Vibranium Member	4,500 - 7,499
Adamantium Member	7,500 - 9,999
Plutonium Member	10,000 - ∞

You may notice that some forum members have different post titles then the listed above. Most of these members are from the Sorority Life community, who where able to transfer their custom titles over to this forum when they merged here. The Mobsters forum members were also given the same opportunity when they merged here.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 5: FORUM AVATARS AND SIGNATURES

Avatars

Now for the fun part; you may of noticed several forum members with little pictures beside their names in their posts on the forum -- these are their personal avatars! There are no rules specific to avatars except that they must be appropriate for the forum (any avatars that may be subjective are generally noticed by the Moderators/Administrators, and are removed if they are not appropriate) and follow the forum rules outlined in the first section of this guide. Avatars must be a maximum of 80x80 pixels in size (they can be smaller) as the forum doesn't allow users to upload avatars larger then this.

Profile Pictures

Similar to avatars, only that profile pictures appear under your name on the left hand side of your forum profile. The difference however is that they can be a maximum 100x100 pixels in size and that profile pictures do not show in your posts at all, unlike your forum avatar. Your profile picture, can be anything; but it must conform to the forum rules outlined in the first section of this guide. Like with avatars, any profile pictures that may be suggestive are generally noticed by the forum staff and are removed if they are inappropriate.

Signatures

The text and/or image that you see at the bottom of peoples posts is content placed within their signature space (see red outline above)--unlike avatars, signatures have a set of guidelines that accompany their use, and of course; they mustn't be in violation of the usual forum rules, outlined in the first section of this guide. Don't stress about the size limits though! There is plenty of creativity to be had with the limited space, and the forum and member's posts look more slick with the smaller images as opposed to larger signature images. Page load times are also kept at a minimum with smaller images.

Signature rules

The signature rules can be found here: http://forum.playdom.com/showthread....ignature-Rules

- Signatures for registered members may contain up to two lines of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image, valid combination's include; a single image of no more than 60px high, 468px wide. Animated images are not allowed. - Text sizes should be between small and normal (size 1-3). Text in signatures are subject to the same conditions as posts. i.e. The Forum Rules and Code of Conduct must be followed.

This means that signatures may only contain up to two lines of small or normal sized text (anything size 3 or under.) as well as an image that is no larger then 60 pixels high by 468 pixels wide. There are absolutely no exceptions to this, and signatures even one pixel too wide, or one pixel too high; are removed regardless of the size of the base image.

Links in signatures are permitted to a maximum of four unique pages or sites. Community Moderators are allowed additional links to aid in rendering support for Playdom. You may not include links in a way which suggests you offer official support, software, etc. for Playdom. You may not link to warez, illegal cheat codes/sites, porn, racist or other similar hate sites. Links are included in signature size limits.

This rule states that you may only link to a MAXIMUM of four unique websites or pages. The pages or websites linked in your signature may in no way suggest you offer official support or software or other, for Playdom. Warez, pornography, illegal cheat codes, etc, the usual that violate the forum rules are also not permitted in signatures. Forum moderators are exempt from the linking limit, but as you can see from my signature; you can get by and be of help to the rest of the community with no more then four links in your signature. As a general rule of thumb, here is what a signature template may look like, including an image of 60px x 468px and two lines of normal sized text: Here is another template (created by Christopher) in regards to what the maximum size of a signature image may be (60px by 468px)

Uploading Avatars, Profile Pictures and Signatures

Chances are, uploading your signature, profile picture or avatar image to the forums is not possible due to the file size constraints. There is a way around the signature size constraints, though! You can upload your image at many image hosting websites, most of which are free, some don't even require registration. Here are a few image hosting websites that you may use to upload your images:

• http://imageshack.us/
  
• http://tinypic.com/
• http://photobucket.com/

The image hosting website will normally give you the code to use in order to embed the image straight into your signature space using the forum BBCode. For more information on the BBCode, click here.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 6: MODIFYING FORUM ACCOUNT SETTINGS

The "Settings" link at the top right of the forum page allows you to change many things in relation to your forum account.

My Profile

Edit Profile - This is where you would go in order to change your profile information. There is however a bug which doesn't allow users on this forum to do so, this is a known bug; and a fix is currently being worked out. Click here for more details.

Edit Profile Picture - This allows you to edit your forum profile picture that appears under your name on your profile page. Click here for more details. The maximum size constraints for your profile picture is 64 kilobytes, which is plenty for any profile picture.

Edit Avatar - This allows you to edit your forum avatar that appears under your name in forum posts. Click here for more details. There are size constraints with uploading your avatar from a URL or directly to the forum, but 19.5 kilobytes is plenty for any avatar.

Edit Signature - This allows you to edit your forum signature that appears underneath your posts. Click here for more details. To edit, simply click on the link from the "Settings" page, simply use the formatting controls to edit your signature. It is not recommended that you upload your signature images to the forum due to the size constraints that are in place.

Profile Privacy



If you are on Facebook, then this should be familiar to you. This allows you to control who see's your forum profile information. From the options, you can select from the following:

• "Everyone" -- this means everyone, including guests, can see this information.
• "Registered Members" -- only members who are registered on the forum can view this information.
• "Your Contacts" -- only people on your contact list on the forum can view this information, and
• "Your Friends" -- only people who are on your friends list on the forum will be able to see the information.

Forum Staff can obviously see all profile information of every forum member regardless of that particular members settings.

My Account

Edit Email and Password

This link allows you to change your email and password for your forum account. If you are wanting to change anything on this page, you will need to put in your old password -- this is a security measure in case someone else accesses your forum account and attempts to change the password. If you are changing your email address, you will need to confirm it; so make sure that it is a valid email address that you use.

General Settings - This is your general settings page on the forum that enables you to control how your account operates, to an extent of course.



The "Invisible Mode" allows you to choose whether you appear online on the online list, or whether you appear hidden. This can be good if you frequently receive messages from other users whilst you are online, or if you don't want to be noticed. All forum staff are able to see users who are hidden, so don't think that you can use this as a method of trying to circumvent staff attention. Period!

The Download vCard allows you to choose whether other users on the forum can download a document that contains your email address and forum username. This isn't recommended if you like to keep your email address private.

The other important details on this page are whether you want to choose to turn VM's and PM's off, or not. These settings can be found under the "Messaging and Notification" section. You can choose whether you receive a popup when you receive a new PM also, which is very handy if you want to easily know if someone has sent a new PM you.

Under "Thread Display Options", you can use the drop-down menus to change the settings for how threads are displayed. I strongly recommend that you keep these at the default settings unless if you know what each setting does.

The "Date and Time Options" allow you to change the timezone which the forum post-time shows as. This isn't really necessary to make the forum work properly. I have my timezone set to PST, for example, so I can keep track of what day/time it is over in the US (where Playdom is located)

The next important options are under the "Miscellaneous" section:



The message editor interface allows you to choose the type of editor that you use on the forum.

• The Enhanced Editor gives you the formatting controls, however; the good thing about the enhanced editor is that you don't see the BBCode tags, as everything is properly formatted as you are posting. Lists are also easier to create when using this editor, also. Do note; this editor will not work with all browsers.
• The Stranded Editor gives you the formatting controls for your post as described here. Unlike the enhanced editor, you will see the BBCode tags when you are formatting your posts.
• The Basic Editor gives you a basic text editor only, with no formatting controls. If you are wanting to format your posts whilst using this editor, you will need to manually enter the appropriate BBCode tags.

Edit Ignore List - The ignore list allows you to make it so that a certain users posts don't show up in threads, and so that they cannot contact you. USE THIS feature if someone is annoying you, do NOT get involved with it as that risks you getting into trouble too! See the first section of this guide for details.



The above screen is divided into two parts; your Ignore List, which is located at the top of the page, and below it is the function to add people to your ignore list. To add someone to your ignore list, simply get their forum username and copy/paste it into the "User Name" field and click the "Okay" button. The name you specified will be added to your ignore list. To remove someone from your ignore list, simply uncheck the box beside their name and then click the "Save Changes" button.

Networking

Friends and Contacts - This lists the other forum members who you have on your friends list. From here, you are also able to remove people you don't want from your friends list. DO NOTE: This list is not your Facebook friends list, and you cannot send game invites to people on this list.

Event Reminders - This lists your event reminders on the forum.

Miscellaneous

Attachments - This lists your attachments that you have uploaded to the forum. From here, you are able to remove them by simply checking the tick-boxes beside the attachments, scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the "Delete Selected" button. You can view the post and thread of which you have put the attachment into from this page, also.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 7: GENERAL FORUM STRUCTURE

Though not EVERY game has the same forum structure, this should give you a general idea on how each of the game forums are organized and structured. The word "game" is used as a placeholder word in each of the descriptions, so simply just substitute the word "game" for the name of the game/s that you play. Here are some terms that you should come familiar with in relation to the forums:

• Forum index - The forum index is the forums homepage, found at: http://forum.playdom.com/index.php
  
  
• Sections - These are the forums that pertain to the games. For example, Gardens of Time is a section. More Playdom Games can also be considered a section, with forums located there being "sub-sections".

• Subforums - Any forums located within a Section. For example, Bugs & Technical Issues, Suggestions and Feedback and Tutorials and Guides are all examples of subforums.

Typical Subforums

A typical forum (section) layout looks as follows--do note that different communities use different layouts from the one displayed below:

• Announcements - This is where all important news and announcements relating to a particular game and community are announced. These announcements are usually posted by the Playdom Community Manager for that particular game, or the Forum Administrators if it concerns the whole forum.

• Getting Started - The getting started subforums are used as a means to ask for general help in relation to the game that it pertains to. The name of this subforum isn't to be taken literally; this means that all "how do I do this?" type questions should be posted in here.

• Tutorials and Guides - The Tutorials and Guides subforum contains in-depth user created guides and tutorials for the game that it pertains to. The threads in these subforums should usually answer all general questions relating to the game.

• Technical Support - These sections are for player-to-player support on issues relating to the game. It is important to note that all official support requests are handled through the Playdom Support website, and not on the forums.

• Suggestions and Ideas - Have a suggestion to make in regards to the game? Then this subforum is the place to post in to get your ideas heard, as well as get feedback on the idea or suggestion that you are making. All feedback; good or bad, relating to a particular game should be posted in these subforums, also.

• General Discussion - This is for general discussion relating to the game that doesn't fit in any other category.

• Off Topic Discussion - Any discussion that doesn't relate to the game is off topic, which means that it should be posted here. Off Topic sections do not count towards a users total post count.

• Add Me/Find Friends - After allies, neighbors, friends, etc for the game? Then leave your Facebook/Social Network URL in here.

List of Playdom's Games

Here is a list of current and former games owned by Playdom. The current games will also have listed beside them; their genre/s.

Current Games

• Wild Ones
• Gardens of Time
• Mobsters
• Mobsters 2: Vendetta
• Sorority Life
• Poker Palace
• Gnome Town
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance
• Triple Town (Published)
• Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers
• Disney's Ghosts of Mistwood
• Armies of Magic
• Blackwood & Bell Mysteries
• Mobsters: Criminal Empire
• Threads of Mystery
• Full Bloom
• Disney City Girl
• Disney Words of Wonder

Former Games

• (Lil) Farm Life
• Lil Green Patch
• Fanglies
• Tiki Resort
• Big City Life
• Fish Friends
• Pet Resort
• Bloodlines
• Mobsters: Overdrive
• Kogamu
• Verdonia
• Tiki Farm
• Market Street
• Bola
• Galaxy of Wonder
• City of Might (?)
• NBA Dynasty
• ESPNU College Town
• Social City
• Deep Realms
• My Vineyard
• Botkin's Hidden Cove
• City of Wonder
• ESPN Sports Bar & Grill

[Matt-H]

SECTION 8: PLAYDOM SUPPORT

Though the forums are good for player-to-player support, issues such as ingame bans, currency issues and other account specific issues can only be addressed by Playdom Support. This section aims to explain how to submit a support ticket, as well as fill out the support form.

Finding the Playdom Support page

The support page can be found by going to this link: http://playdom.zendesk.com/home - As you can see when loading up the page, you are presented with a welcome message as well as as a search bar, and a list of games that are featured on Playdom Support. Before you proceed, search! Chances are, an issue for your game has a featured article, and there is no need to send in a support ticket if an issue is known.

Submitting a Support Ticket

Haven't found the answer to your problem? OK, it is time to submit a support ticket.

Before you can file a support ticket, you will need to log in to your Playdom.com account, or if you don't have one; sign up for a Playdom.com account. It is important to note that the accounts on the forum are NOT integrated with Support, and that you will need to register a separate account on Playdom in order to file a support ticket.

Once you are logged in, to file a support ticket, click the "Submit Request" link, located under the help submenu on the bottom right of the Support Page, as outlined in the following image. You can also view your existing requests by clicking the "View My Requests" link.



Clicking on the "Submit Request" link will then be take you to the following page:



Be sure to fill out this page as in-depth as possible!

The "Game" is the game that your inquiry is related to. It is a drop-down menu so make sure you select the appropriate game for your support inquiry.

The "Subject" is pretty self explanatory! Just as you would sending an email to someone, type in what the subject is. For example, if I was filing a support ticket in regards to a player using cheats in Wild Ones, I would name the Subject "Found cheater in Wild Ones" or "Found hacker in Wild Ones".

The "Description" field shouldn't be taken literally. Be as detailed as possible, the more that Technical Support know about the issue, the quicker that they can pin-point the issue or investigate it. If you are sending in a support request in relation to a player cheating in a game, then include the violators Social Network URLs, emails, screenshots of them using cheats, etc--if possible. Make sure you are civil when filling out this section.

The "Category" is another drop-down menu -- this determines the main category the inquiry is put in for that particular game. Selecting a category will also bring up another menu list called "Subcategory" that fit into the main category selection. Make sure you select the correct category for your issue.

The "Platform" is the social network or website that a particular game is on. If I was reporting a cheater on Gardens of Time on Facebook, I would select Facebook as my platform, for example.

The "Social Network ID#" refers to your social network ID of the platform that you are on. This is really only required if you are inquiring about an account specific issue relating specifically to your account.

Once you have all of the fields filled out, click the green "Continue" button to file your support ticket!

Following up on Support Requests

Support requests can be followed up by clicking the "View My Requests" link on the Support page, underneath the "Submit Request" link.

Support Status

Support tickets are designated several "Support Statuses" based on the response (if any) given by Playdom Support:

• Closed - Means that the support ticket sent has been looked at and reviewed by the appropriate people, but this does not mean that the issue has necessarily been resolved.

• Waiting - The support ticket has been replied to, but it is waiting for a response from the player who sent the support ticket.

• Open - The support ticket has been sent and put in a waiting list. Support tickets are usually replied to from within 48 - 72 hours of support receiving them.

[Matt-H]

SECTION 9: FORUM MESSAGING

There are two different methods of sending messages directly to other users on the forum, this is Visitor Messaging, and Private Messaging. The maximum limit for stored private messages on the forum is 100 (this takes into account stored sent messages). There is no limit for the number of Visitor Messages you can store.

Visitor Messaging

Visitor Messaging, or VM's, refer to messages left on peoples public profile pages. Visitor Messages have the advantage of them being more easier and convenient to send to other users then Private Messages. They are however; not suitable for private conversation as everyone can see them. Visitor messages must also be kept short due to character limits. You have a more limited use of the BBCode with visitor messages, also; then you would with PM's.

Sending Visitor Messages

To send another user a visitor message, simply click on their profile username. If they have Visitor Messaging enabled, you will see the above at the top of the page. Simply type in the message in the text area that you would like to send to the user, then click "Post Message".

Private Messaging.

Private messaging, or PM's, refer to the sending of messages directly to other users in a private, one on one manner. Unlike VM's, PM's cannot be viewed by anyone other then you and the person receiving the PM. To view your PM's, click the "Notifications" link at the top of the page and from the drop down, click the "Inbox" link. Be mindful of what you send to other members via PM though as forum members have the ability to report their own PM's to the staff, should they be deemed inappropriate.

Sending Private Messages

There is a little more to know when it comes to sending private messages on the forum, and there are more steps involved as well then there is if you were just sending a visitor message to another member on the forum. To send a Private Message to a particular user, click on their name, either in the online list, your friends list (on the forum) or in their posts. This will take you to their profile page. To the left hand side of their profile page, you will see this:

To send a PM to the user, you will want to click the "Send Private Message" link. Clicking this link will take you to this page:

The "Recipient Users" field indicates the users who you are sending the message to. You want this to list the user (this is automatically filled). Additional users can be added to the recipient list by putting a semi-colon (';') in-between the usernames.

The "Title" is what the Private Message will show up as to the recipient user/s.

Then of course you have the message field. Fill this out with all the information you need to send to the user/s, as it is what they will read when they click the link to open your message. The BBCode can be used in full in PM too, so use formatting to your advantage if it is required.

The Post icon is the icon that will show beside your PM on the receivers end.

To send the PM, scroll to the bottom of the PM page, and then click the "Submit Message" button.

Your Inbox

Your inbox can be found by clicking the "Notifications" link at the top of the page, and then by clicking the "Inbox" link from the drop-down menu. Your inbox will/may look like the following:



You will have two default folders, your inbox, and your Sent Items. Your Inbox is where all your PM's are stored, where as your Sent Items are where all sent messages are stored for your reference. You have the option of creating new folders by going to the Edit Folders link, should you feel the need to.

- This Icon indicates that you have replied to this PM.

- This icon indicates that you have read the PM, but you haven't replied to it.

- This icon indicates that you have NOT read this PM.

- This icon indicates that you have forwarded this PM to another forum member.

Deleting your Private Messages

There are a couple of ways to do this. One such way is to scroll to the very bottom of your inbox page and click the "(Empty Folder)" link--this will mass delete all of your PM's located in that folder, what this means is that if you want to completely clean your PM inbox, is that you will need to do the same for your "Sent Items" folder, as well as any others. The second way you can delete your Private Messages is to use the check-boxes located beside your PM index, scroll down to and click the button that says "Selected Messages", select the "Delete" option then hit the "Proceed" button.

Custom Folders

In your inbox screen, to create custom folders; simply click the Edit Folders link! From here, scroll down to the bottom of the screen to where it says "Add New Folders", simply fill out the text fields with the name of the new folders you would like, then click the "Save Changes" button. To remove a custom folder, remove the name of the folder in the "Your Custom Folders" section, then click save.