View Full Version : A Guide to Skaterscafe {update 03.12.06}


Tom
11-26-2005, 05:09 AM
A Guide To SkatersCafe
And it's many Functions

Welcome to SkatersCafe, a giant community created by skateboarders for skateboarders. We're glad you took your time to sign up and become part of this fabulous online community. We have just over 4,000 registered members to date (03.12.06) and we're growing everyday! While this is a skateboarding forum, we do not want to limit you only talking about skating. We have many other forums available to discuss issues at such as a music forum for all your talk about the latest hits from your favorite bands, or a sports forum to talk and discuss current sports events/games, and many more. Please take your time and make yourself at home here at SkatersCafe, we hope you enjoy yourself.

So what's this all about you ask? Well, we've been growing quite substantially in the past couple of months, but there's been indication that the Cafe's many functions aren't being used to their full potential. So I took it upon myself to cerate a little mini-guide to SkatersCafe for all the users here.

Table Of Contents
A) - The Staff
B) - Your Profile
C) - Creating Threads
Di) - Posting
Dii) - Reputation System NEW
E) - SkatersCafe Specials
Ea) - Cafe Arcade Pro Arcade Currently not functioning, Sorry!
Eb) - Cafe Chat Room
Ec) - Cafe Radio
Ed) - Member Photos
Ee) - Post Your Links!
Ef) - Calendar
Eg) - Member Blogs
F) - Frequently Asked Questions
-------------------Anything added in the future will be added here-------------------------------
G) - Closing Thoughts


A) As SkatersCafe has grown over time, we've become quite a well knit family. As the community grew, so did the need to have a group of users who would become entrusted in taking care of the site and helping out users when needed. This group of users is the core staff of SkatersCafe. Every staff member here takes their job very professionally and will do the best they can to fulfill their duties as staff members. Currently (03.12.06) we have:
-15 Mods/Staff
-4 Sponsor Members
-2 Administrators
You can find a list of the Staff members here: http://www.skaterscafe.com/showgroups.php? If you need to contact a staff member with any questions or concerns, please look there and contact them as you see fit. We will do our best to fulfill your requests to the best of our abilities.

B) So you've joined the Cafe, and you want to personalize your posts? Your one stop destination is here: http://www.skaterscafe.com/usercp.php? This link will take you to your "User CP" (User Control Panel) Here you can edit you:
-Signature
-Email/Password
-Public Profile (more in a bit)
-Options (more in a bit)
-Avatar
-Profile Picture
-Private Message options
-Thread Subscriptions
-Miscellaneous (more in a bit)
-Journal (Will be covered more later)
As you can see, your User CP has a ton of options to start with. Let's look at your Public Profile......
Public Profile: Here you can enter your date of birth, create your own custom title which will be displayed at everyone of your posts under your screen name, you can enter personal contact information such as AIM/MSN/ICQ/YAHOO, and you also have the option to let us know how you found this site and a little bit about yourself.
Options: Here is where you can set some more things to your liking on the Cafe. You can choose to turn on invisible mode where you're not displayed as being online, if you'd like to receive Emails from the Administrator(suggested to be kept checked) or other members, You can adjust how to be informed about subscribing to threads(this option gives you the ability to be notified after someone has posted something new in a thread that you subscribe to) you can turn PM'ing (Private Messaging) on and off here, also set how the forum is displayed and your time zone settings.
Miscellaneous: these are a couple of extra little options, such as a reminder to events that will be happening, you can get a Paid Subscription to the Cafe (This basically helps the Administrator pay the bills, and also enlarges your inbox, allows up to 200 private messages, larger avatars, and a skaterscafe email address), you can also request to join a group of members (can only be done once created by a certain user), you can add users to your buddy list/ or choose to add them to your ignore list (by doing this you will not see anything posted by them), and lastly you can also view all your attachments that you have uploaded to the Cafe. (As a way to keep the size of SkatersCafe Database low, we ask that you don't upload a lot of things at the same time. Once you don't need an item, please remove it. Thank you)

C) With a huge selection of members, we get a big chunk of new threads started everyday. While we don't have a problem with this, actually we love seeing all the new threads. We ask you to please use the search function before posting a common thread about trick help. Please take into consideration that trick tip threads are EXTREMELY common, and as likely as it is, someone may have already asked the same question you were planning on asking. Please search the site before posting any of these threads just incase. Don't worry if it's an old thread, if your question revolves around that topic feel free to bump it with a comment about your problem in there. Regarding polls, to create a poll, after you enter all the new topic info, there's an area at the bottom asking if you'd like to add a poll, and with how many options. Simply check the box and state how many options you'd like to have. Then continue on to the next page and fill in your options and whatnot.

Di) We encourage you to post your thoughts and opinions on SkatersCafe freely. However, we hope that you'll be mature about your posts and will follow the basic rules at all times. We value your opinion on everything and anything, and hopefully you'll share them with the entire community. We ask that while you do, you keep the following rules in mind:
Refrain from AOL Speak:
Typing the word “wht” v/s “what” and “wuz” v/s “was” is simply unacceptable. There is no way in the world that it takes longer to type the words spelled right, heck half of them are the same amount of letters just spelled wrong. There are some sentences that I have to read 2-3 times to even figure out what is being said. We have adopted a simple approach to this problem, if you make a post/thread that is unreadable it will simply be deleted.
No "Flaming":
You will not post any messages that harass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest. This will include misquoting another member out of context. You may discuss another member's beliefs but there will be no personal attacks on the member himself or herself.
No "Spamming":
A) You will not post any messages anywhere on this site that are primarily for the promotion or advertising of any website, email address, business, MLM, activity, business, store, or other entities that you have an affiliation with (i.e. no self-promotion). This includes any private contact details (including addresses and telephone numbers). You will not cross-post the same message in multiple forums. You will not make useless posts to Spam your post count. You will not post your email anywhere on this site - people can email you via the site by clicking on the email button - this way your email address remains private. You will not mass-PM or mass-email multiple members of this site the same message. You will not beg or solicit reputation points/ donations in posts or PMs. You will be allowed to post website URLs, links or messages in your signature (you may put links in your profile or CF homepage).
B) If your sole purpose of joining this forum is to Spam it then you have two choices, 1) Leave, 2) Go to the http://www.skaterscafe.com/links section and do it there. We have grown tired of spammers and did not build this forum for the free advertising of others. IF you still choose to spam our forum the following things will happen:
1) Your post will be moved ASAP, we have staff from 4 countries so most spam post get deleted ASAP, no one will see it.
2) Your IP address will be banned and tracked, and several hacks will prevent you from visiting the site again.

Legal action will be pursued on any spammer who posts porn photos and links. This is a zero tolerance policy. To date (10-2-2005) we have had 3 sites shut down for posing porn on this site which has minors. Don’t try us and don’t cry and beg for us to stop if you test us like the last ones did.

No Public Posts about Specific Moderator Actions
You will not post questions or comments about the specific actions of a moderator in a public forum (e.g. editing a post, deleting a thread, banning a member), as this remains a private matter between the member and the staff involved. However, members may PM or email a moderator at anytime. General questions about staff and feedback about moderators are allowed, just not specific questions about a particular moderator action. All decisions to edit, move or delete a post or thread are based on this set of rules listed here.

As the above are not specific rules to this website, but are actually VERY common among online forums, we kindly ask that you keep these rules in mind while posting. [i](The above rules are taken from the SkatersCafe TOS that you agreed to when you registered.)

Dii) Reputation System
We have recently swapped the post count display for the reputation bar display. On the suggestion of Daniel Jones we have changed our system of rating our members. Instead of looking at post count let's start looking at the reputation of a member. So, we will now be using the reputation system more and not display post count in the main forum. Here ar some of the icons:

Early rep will be up to 5 of these http://www.skaterscafe.com/images/reputation/reputation_green.gif , then the next stage will be http://www.skaterscafe.com/images/reputation/reputation_highpos.gif the third stage will be http://www.skaterscafe.com/images/reputation/reputation_gold.gif. After a member has 5 of each they will go to larger icons like this http://www.skaterscafe.com/images/reputation/reputation_goldstar.gif . Negative feedback will be reflected in red images.

I hope to intergrate forum permissions such as forum, arcade, chat, blog and other features based on reputation.

So, how do you leave someone feedback? Just look for this icon on the lower left of a posters profile: http://www.skaterscafe.com/images/Infusion/buttons/reputation.gif
-any additional info about this system can be found here -> http://www.skaterscafe.com/showthread.php?t=14189

E) Being the huge site that SkatersCafe is, there are many features added to make this site EVEN bigger. In the next couple of "Sub" sections, I will explain our current functions purposes and how they are used. NOTE: New additions will be added in BOLD.

Ea) - The SkatersCafe Arcade!!

Only avalable to active members who have made post, if you signed up just to play the arcade it will not give you access.

Either you've known about the Arcade for a while, or you are just finding out about it. Either way, the Arcade provides a TON of excitement with lots and lots of hours of game play.......not to mention the sheer number of games!! http://www.skaterscafe.com/ibproarcade.php? That is the direct link to the arcade. The Pro Arcade can also be found at the menu on the top of your screen, easily labeled "Pro Arcade".

Okay, so you clicked the "PRO Arcade" tab, what to do now? Well upon the screen loading you come to the main Arcade page. From here you can adjust your own personal Arcade settings, such as how the displayed games are sorted, what category of games you'd like loaded up on the main arcade page and how many games/scores you'd like shown per page. You can also view games put into your favorites and how you're doing overall compared to everyone else. Once you've checked these, you can move on to playing any of the games available. Just find a category you like and pick a game! Fun STUFF! Tournaments are available for 2,6,8 players. Request them here, or the staff may organize them if they feel there's interest from members.

Eb) - The SkatersCafe Chat Room!!
You want to organize a live chat? Or just want to pop in and randomly talk to another SkatersCafe member in real time? Those problems have been solved with the addition of the SkatersCafe Flash Chat! Use this Link to access the chat: http://www.skaterscafe.com/FlashChat/flashchat.php? Think of it like one big AIM/MSN chat room filled with many customizable options such as the chat background, font color, color schemes, a ton of funky emoticons and much more! You can use the chat to get to know users better or just discuss random events of the day with others. Future live chat nights can be organized and the option to have SkatersCafe chat nights is open.

Ec) - The Cafe Radio

The radio is a free service to members and allows you to listen to a wide selection of tunes while surfing the Cafe. We've gotten numerous radio stations in a stream able format, while I can't give you a direct link, you can click the "CafeRadio" tab at the top of your screen to bring it up. There are numerous music categories to choose from, ranging from 80's rock to all the newest and greatest hits! Warning: The Radio has been known to crash or not even work at all with Mozilla Firefox, we suggest using Internet Explorer to run the radio instead!

Ed) - Member Photos

The photo section is a place that members can upload their photos and small videos for all to see. Photos can be rated by other members, url links of the photos are provided for easy linking. Custom photo albums, private albums, and many more options are avalable for members. This section can be found here: http://www.skaterscafe.com/photos/index.php? As a bonus, you have the ability to upload smaller videos, preferably under 5MB in size which can also be displayed in your photo album. We ask you to please keep your general rules about posting in mind while making comments. Such things as swearing/spamming/flaming still applies here just as much as it does on the cafe.


Ee) - Post Your Links!

So, you have a site or a favorite site you want to link to? The links section is the only place site promotion should be done (unless in your signature). If you are submitting a link please take the time to spell your site information correctly. If you submit a site and can't spell or use proper punctuation it will not be approved in the directory.


Ef) - Calendar

Just like at home, we have a calendar function to keep as all reminded of special days that are coming up. http://www.skaterscafe.com/calendar.php? <- Is the link to reach the calendar. Now we encourage everyone here to post up special reminders to everyone, but please keep these either skate-related (such as an upcoming demo or video release) or real life related (such as an anniversary to some major event or the like.) Please don't use the calendar to remind yourself about an upcoming test in school, or an appointment you have to make. Do that at home, not here. Other than that, we encourage everyone to use the calendar. :p You can check when certain member's birthdays are, this way you'll be ready to give them some birthday beats :D :p

Eg) - Member Blogs

Ever wanted to have an online journal to share with the world? Or just a little space to jot down your thoughts? Well we've got it for you right here: http://www.skaterscafe.com/journal.php You can create your very own journal to keep track of how life's been going on right here. This is a great tool for writing down emotions, feelings, a hard day's work and so on. Plus you can read other people's entries and leave comments for them.

And thus, the end of my quick guide to SkatersCafe's extra's is over....for the time being. If anything new is added, be sure to check here for a basic "How-To" about that new feature. Now, I'll move on to the next section ^_^

F) - Frequently Asked Questions

Well, for the time being I suggest you use the search function to look for answers. As for some extra help, here's the link to the "Official" SkatersCafe FAQ: http://www.skaterscafe.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_vb_read_and_post
As a side to spice-ing up your posts, here's a list of functions that you can use in your posts: http://www.skaterscafe.com/misc.php?do=bbcode

I'll actually leave this section open to you guys, the members. Please post your questions in this topic and they will be answered...



G) - Closing Thoughts

Alrighty, well for the moment this guide has been finished. Like stated earlier, if new parts are added, look for newly BOLDED parts. I really hope you guys have found this helpful in learning some/many of SkatersCafe's functions. What I hope to accomplish is for everyone who's read this to have gained some knowledge that they didn't have before.

On behalf of the entire SkatersCafe Team of Staff Members, I'd like to thank everyone for reading this and hopefully you've learned something you didn't know before.

Sk8tboar
11-26-2005, 12:49 PM
wow thanks tom! this is a really good guide.


im gonna give you a rep point as soon as i can!

darkslide
11-26-2005, 01:51 PM
Very Organized. It's awesome for newcomers

Dog Town
11-26-2005, 02:18 PM
Thanks Tom, that took alot of time to do I'm sure.

Tom
11-26-2005, 02:20 PM
No problemo guys, I just hope it'll be useful to a lot of people here. I'll continually add stuff if new things come up. Enjoy everyone ^_^

badskater695
12-01-2005, 09:05 PM
awsome, thanks alot very well organised and easy to read.

cheezhead999
12-01-2005, 09:06 PM
Great post Tom, awesome guide! In fact amazing guide, I bet you that took you a while.

Tom
12-02-2005, 03:46 PM
^LOL, yeah it took me quite a while. I plan on going through it again this weekend and adding some more stuff. Problem is I can only add 3 or 4 images per post...so I don't know how I'll go about that.
As long as you guys find it useful, my job is done :)

SKATER CHiCK x3
12-02-2005, 05:14 PM
Yes, really good post. I am new here but I feel very welcomed. Thanks guys!!<3 & i think you should message me on AIM sometime. ;) I <3 making new friends!

kingskin
12-05-2005, 03:02 PM
errr, yer man, thanks, sure un-twisted my brain

superskater23
12-20-2005, 12:51 PM
That's a great guide!!

MrsSheckler1773
12-25-2005, 05:38 PM
Hm...Well I wanted to upload a picture of me... but i dont know where to click...I dont see any upload thing...i looked everywhere...well probably not everywhere since i cant find it but where can i upload my personal photo???

I went to my photo gallery and my gallery and all that but still couldnt find it...Well thx in advance

Tom
12-25-2005, 05:58 PM
At the members photo section. Right here: http://www.skaterscafe.com/photos/index.php?

MrsSheckler1773
12-25-2005, 07:30 PM
So srry but i looked through there like lots of times but i am just slow so i couldnt find a place to upload...Srry

Dr_Feelgood
12-25-2005, 10:01 PM
That was very helpful and nice of you, good work man.

Tom
03-12-2006, 05:37 PM
The guide's been updated, check the table of contents if you'd liek to see what's new.

New stuff in the table are in red

soap
03-13-2006, 12:58 PM
absolutely brilliant tom, +rep for you my freind, well done.

RustyNail
03-13-2006, 01:03 PM
rep pointos muchos

DVSkater0991
03-13-2006, 09:17 PM
sick guide man!

feedmegrease
04-11-2006, 09:17 PM
Very good guide Tom. I think I'll give you a rep point.

sk8t3r
04-11-2006, 09:48 PM
nice man u deserve a rep ill give u one also

feedmegrease
04-12-2006, 03:52 AM
Dang Tom. You're a lucky duck if Internet Explorer didn't come across any errors while typing that. I was making a "Guide To Setting up a board" it took me nearly half an hour then my comp froze up. Darn.

Tom
04-12-2006, 06:13 AM
^ouch >_<
Well, I wrote that up in Microsoft Works, and then just copy/pasted it over and added the boldings and such. That's how I do all my major announcments...as I have had it happen where I type a reeeeaaaalllly long message, then when I go to post an error or something happens >_<

Skate 4 Fun
04-12-2006, 03:43 PM
great job i gave you a rep point as well

LIBERATE
04-13-2006, 04:50 AM
my setup is:
deck:rout one 100% maple
wheels:ricta
trucks:venture
griptape:solid
pretty cool setup:icon_bigg

great job i gave you a rep point as well
hay bam him where do you live we should skate some time:)

mjksk891
04-13-2006, 02:39 PM
LIBERATE, you need to stay on topic... that was very random. and if you want to hang out with bam-him, you should PM him instead of randomly asking him in a thread.

DownUnder33
04-18-2006, 11:06 PM
What does the bar with the colour in it mean where it says newbie and stuff like that?

jesushadherpes
04-18-2006, 11:31 PM
you get one for being awesome

Retired_Skater
07-24-2006, 09:37 PM
Tom that is an excellent guide. You are really one of the best webmasters I have seen.

See Me Skate?
07-29-2006, 05:40 AM
That was a very nice guide tom it helped me out alot.

Tom
07-30-2006, 11:48 PM
^Glad it helped man :)

panda_enjoi_kid
07-31-2006, 12:26 AM
wow good post + rep

kickpush180
08-07-2006, 11:08 AM
thanks man im a newcomer and that really helped explain everything

skullfire1002
08-08-2006, 01:36 PM
that was an insane guide

novoicemaskater
06-18-2007, 08:10 PM
Talk about the help I needed thanks

choker
06-30-2007, 05:38 PM
ok i would really like to add this for **** sake quit signing up as skater this or sk8 that or anything that combines the words skater,sk8 or anything along those lines, the site is called skaters cafe and we all skate so you don't need to use it, jesus with all the kids who call themselves skaters a lot of them don't even post on here most of the time and they go away in a day or so, also adding company names does not look cool it just makes you look like a tool of advertising, there i said it and im happy.

Skate1PlanB
07-26-2007, 01:18 AM
how do i put pictures on my signature and how do i even make a signature lol

Alptraum
08-01-2007, 02:32 PM
everyone should read this after the registration. awesome guidline for the cafe!

hexane
10-22-2007, 10:15 AM
Please explain how this "rep point" system works.

sskatess
10-22-2007, 04:11 PM
Please explain how this "rep point" system works.

if you make a good post someone will rep you and if you make a bad one they will negative rep you. The amount of reputation they give out is due to their time spent at the cafe, the amount of rep they have and the amount of posts they have. Every time you reach a certain number of rep points your rep bar goes up.

Pathtek4
10-22-2007, 04:54 PM
if you make a good post someone will rep you and if you make a bad one they will negative rep you. The amount of reputation they give out is due to their time spent at the cafe, the amount of rep they have and the amount of posts they have. Every time you reach a certain number of rep points your rep bar goes up.

Excellent summary! Just look for the ''Ying-yang'' symbol in someones profile to the left of their post that you would like to give reputation to, and click it!

skaterman250
11-29-2007, 09:22 PM
i just found out i can rep people.

lnuvik
01-09-2008, 10:26 AM
swt rule

Tristan
01-09-2008, 10:27 AM
swt rule
Mate, I know your new so I'm not to worried about it. But, we have had alot of newer members come to the site recently and all they do is spam and they have quite a bit of haters. So, unless you want lovers not haters, you should make your posts so they have a point. Cheers bro! :)

Berishman
01-09-2008, 10:40 AM
^ah....

I saw he was the last poster here so i was going to tell him that.,
but you did it for me.

yay.

NST
01-26-2008, 12:30 AM
"edit signature" doesn't show up in my user cp.
people told me that if you have 51 posts and up then you can edit it but i have like 53 posts and it still does'nt show up. so how should i edit it?
Merging doublepost
nevermind. haha.

505088K
04-29-2008, 10:04 AM
Nice guide!!!!!!!!! i understand the system of the site much better than before!

Jesus_is_Life
05-04-2008, 11:12 PM
This is very helpful.

baps-cvr
05-15-2008, 05:59 AM
cheers!

DJ Hankey
05-15-2008, 07:26 AM
Thank you, this helped me a lot with things.

Weissenegger
08-10-2008, 01:58 AM
By the way, is Hitler an appropriate image for these forums? Saw his animated image here several times... not funny.

Baller
08-10-2008, 02:01 AM
It's funny when it's Hitler playing Yahtzee.

I_Fail_Hard
08-25-2008, 09:00 PM
Nice guide, I was scared of doing something wrong.

hardflips r us
09-27-2008, 09:54 PM
Thanks a lot man. helped me out a lot

feedmegrease
09-27-2008, 10:33 PM
By the way, is Hitler an appropriate image for these forums? Saw his animated image here several times... not funny.
What's so bad about it?

Baller
09-27-2008, 10:34 PM
What's so bad about it?

Yeah that guys just being racist against the Germans! That's not cool man.

BigDogSkater
09-29-2008, 08:14 PM
y cant i use the arcade,the blogs, the chat room, the photos, or anything else except the forums?

Baller
09-29-2008, 08:20 PM
You need 51 posts.

BigDogSkater
09-29-2008, 10:48 PM
ty very much
Merging doublepost
actually i have 52 posts now and i still cant use chatroom...

marked
10-08-2008, 11:22 PM
Thanks for clearing that up!

lol
11-14-2008, 08:31 AM
ok ok

faizan104
12-13-2008, 06:58 PM
how do u make those things under your posts/ like your tags or whatever

Kiss And Peck
12-13-2008, 08:03 PM
thanks this actually helped :]

505088K
12-21-2008, 09:44 AM
how do u make those things under your posts/ like your tags or whatever

You mean a signature?

You can create on in your "userCP" as soon as you reach more than 51 posts.


But its not really needed.
Sigs are overrated anyway.
:)