Welcome to you new forum, and HUGE thanks to LauraB for organising it for us!
Although this forum is still a "phpbb" board, this is now version 3, before we had version 2.
This means the board can do a lot more funky stuff, and should be easier all round for people to use, once you get the hang of it
Before asking any questions, PLEASE make sure the answer isn't in this post or in the Frequently Asked Questions There is a link to the FAQ at the top of every page. Here are a few of the things you might have questions about:
Sub-Forums
You may notice that some forums now have sub-forums inside them, so if you are looking for a forum and you can't see it, check inside a similar forum. For example, TV, Film and Entertainment can now be found inside Off-Topic. "Find a buddy" is now a sub-section of "Introduce yourself" These are not all set in stone yet, we may do some more tweaking as we go along, all suggestions welcome.
Forum Icons
On the forum index page the new icons are these:
This one
means the forum has sub-forums inside
In other sections, these icons are used
This one is really cool....:
it means you have posted a reply in this topic
After each post on the forum you will see this icon
which means Report post" by clicking on this, then entering a reason, you can notify mods of problem posts, for example advertisements or someone being rude etc. When a mod comes online they can check to see if we have been sent any reports.
Your "User Control Panel"
- You can access your control panel by click on the link on the top right of each forum page. It has details of any threads you are watching information on your avatar, signature etc.
Subscriptions
What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?
Bookmarking in phpBB3 is much like bookmarking in your web browser. You arent alerted when theres an update, but you can come back to the topic later. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your preferred method or methods.
How do I subscribe to specific forums or topics?
To subscribe to a specific forum, click the Subscribe forum link upon entering the forum. To subscribe to a topic, reply to the topic with the subscribe checkbox checked or click the Subscribe topic link within the topic itself.
How do I remove my subscriptions?
To remove your subscriptions, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to your subscriptions.
Friends and Foes List
You can use these lists to organise other members of the board. Members added to your friends list will be listed within your User Control Panel for quick access to see their online status and to send them private messages. Subject to template support, posts from these users may also be highlighted. If you add a user to your foes list, any posts they make will be hidden by default.
How can I add / remove users to my Friends or Foes list?
You can add users to your list in two ways. Within each users profile, there is a link to add them to either your Friend or Foe list. Alternatively, from your User Control Panel, you can directly add users by entering their member name. You may also remove users from your list using the same page.
-Moderators and warnings
The mods can now warn a user by clicking an icon next to their names, warnings disappear after a set amount of time, at the moment this is set to 30 days.
We hope you enjoy the forum and have fun checking everything out, PLEASE try to find out the answer to any questions you have by reading the FAQs first, and if you have any questions ask them HERE in this thread so we can try to help you.
Although this forum is still a "phpbb" board, this is now version 3, before we had version 2.
This means the board can do a lot more funky stuff, and should be easier all round for people to use, once you get the hang of it
Before asking any questions, PLEASE make sure the answer isn't in this post or in the Frequently Asked Questions There is a link to the FAQ at the top of every page. Here are a few of the things you might have questions about:
Sub-Forums
You may notice that some forums now have sub-forums inside them, so if you are looking for a forum and you can't see it, check inside a similar forum. For example, TV, Film and Entertainment can now be found inside Off-Topic. "Find a buddy" is now a sub-section of "Introduce yourself" These are not all set in stone yet, we may do some more tweaking as we go along, all suggestions welcome.
Forum Icons
On the forum index page the new icons are these:
This one
In other sections, these icons are used
This one is really cool....:
After each post on the forum you will see this icon
Your "User Control Panel"
- You can access your control panel by click on the link on the top right of each forum page. It has details of any threads you are watching information on your avatar, signature etc.
Subscriptions
What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?
Bookmarking in phpBB3 is much like bookmarking in your web browser. You arent alerted when theres an update, but you can come back to the topic later. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your preferred method or methods.
How do I subscribe to specific forums or topics?
To subscribe to a specific forum, click the Subscribe forum link upon entering the forum. To subscribe to a topic, reply to the topic with the subscribe checkbox checked or click the Subscribe topic link within the topic itself.
How do I remove my subscriptions?
To remove your subscriptions, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to your subscriptions.
Friends and Foes List
You can use these lists to organise other members of the board. Members added to your friends list will be listed within your User Control Panel for quick access to see their online status and to send them private messages. Subject to template support, posts from these users may also be highlighted. If you add a user to your foes list, any posts they make will be hidden by default.
How can I add / remove users to my Friends or Foes list?
You can add users to your list in two ways. Within each users profile, there is a link to add them to either your Friend or Foe list. Alternatively, from your User Control Panel, you can directly add users by entering their member name. You may also remove users from your list using the same page.
-Moderators and warnings
The mods can now warn a user by clicking an icon next to their names, warnings disappear after a set amount of time, at the moment this is set to 30 days.
We hope you enjoy the forum and have fun checking everything out, PLEASE try to find out the answer to any questions you have by reading the FAQs first, and if you have any questions ask them HERE in this thread so we can try to help you.
) ... but I hope you'll agree that the new software isn't really that scary at all! It's got most of what you had before, along with some great new features, but you don't have to start exploring those features until YOU are ready 8) 
)
8) 
sorry loving the smilies
