Needing help

[jeremy_swinarton]

I am a student who has just recently found an interest in astronomy. As a new member I would like to learn how the site works. Can you help me out?<br /><br />Thanks

 

[Saiph]

well, you've figured it out for the most part.<br /><br />You have a screeen name, you make new "threads" by posting a topic. Within that thread people are supposed to discuss that topic (some wander is natural in all conversations). These topics appear in the forum (space science and astronomy, ask the astronomer, etc). As such the subject of the first post is very important, as this is the title for the thread. Generic titles, or ones that aren't indicative of the topic, tend not to catch anyone's interest.<br /><br />To reply to someone's post, click the "reply" button next to the subject in their post. You'll reply to them (and be a bit careful here, as sometimes it will look like you are replying to that person).<br /><br />To avoid confusion, I often start sections of my reply's with the persons name.<br /><br />There are two ways to view threads. in a "flat" mode (my preffered way) where you see 10 or so posts under eachother in chronological order (which can be troublesome as people come and go, and things aren't always in order) threaded mode shows you a list of replies, you click on the one you want to read, and read that. They also are organized so that the replies to a single post are together. However, since people rarely link directly to the post they reply to, this doesn't work out as well either.<br /><br />So I use flat. And just read along.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>