How to use and navigate the ButYouDontLookSick.com message boards

Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the screen and the tools available to read and participate in our discussions. Instructions on how to post and use the tools available are listed below.

New Member Section:

Please take time to check in here and introduce yourself first.

Reading Messages

There are links at on the page to help you navigate the messages that are posted: view unanswered posts, active topics, and new posts since your last visit. Each of these links will allow you to view messages posted on the boards. Or you can just browse the forums.
When you post a message to the boards, you will automatically be notified by email when a new message to your post has been made. You have the option to not subscribe to this service.

If you’ve been lurking and haven’t posted yet – you can still get updates on topics you’re interested in watching – just subscribe to messages posted in a specific topic in the forum.  

Avatars (the little icon/ picture next to your name)
We have an Avatar Gallery. If you click on Profile and scroll all the way to the bottom you will see the "Avatar Control Panel" Now you can upload a photo or graphic of your own, but it must be 80 x 80 pixels or smaller and under 9Kb or it won't upload. To use an avatar from our own ButYouDontLookSick.com Gallery, just click on Show Gallery and choose one from there if you would like. Either option is fine, and will give other readers a fun glimpse into your personality.

Many members have issues with flashing items on the screen – avatars, smiley’s, graphic images, etc. We try to accommodate everyone – so please take this into consideration when choosing an avatar or a graphic addition to your post. The moderators may contact you if we see something that could be a problem for some of our sensitive members.

Creating a New Topic
If you want to create a new topic under one of our sections, click on New Topic, Type a heading, and your message.

The Search Tool

We have hundreds of visitors to this site each day and so many of them are looking for answers or information on the same topic. Before you make a new post looking for information on a drug you’re taking or a symptom you’ve experienced – consider doing a search of the boards to see if something has been posted already. A previous member may have posted your exact question!

Click Search on the screen, enter your topic search – try to be concise. Then you may further narrow your search by using the other options, however, many things are discussed on our boards – so it may be more helpful not to narrow your forum.

You may choose to just list each topic in the forum where your search request was found or you may list all posts.

Click search and take a look at your results – you may reply to any post listed.

Post Reply
To answer a post, you just simply click on Post Reply and type your message, then submit. You may also preview your message if you’d like to review it for editing.

Quote
To Quote text from someone else's post, you click Quote on the message screen that contains the text you want and it will include that post in your replay. It’s not necessary to include the entire quoted text in your reply – just delete the lines you want to remove. Just remember to leave the [quote= name of poster] at the beginning and the [/quote] at the end, or it won't work. Please don’t quote every message you reply to. The messages that have been posted in each topic are viewable by scrolling down on the reply screen.

What if I make a mistake with my post?
If you make a mistake in your post and you want to change it, use the edit button.  Click it and the screen will return you to your post and you can edit it as you like.

Private Message
Private Messages are similar to email messages – they’re sent specifically from member to member.

If you would like to send a private – not public message to one of our members, then ‘PM” that member – it’s available on each post and in the profile of each member.  Click on ‘PM’, the page will refresh and you can send a message privately. You can also click on the "You have no messages" link at the top of the Index, and you can search for the persons name there.  Many people like this option, because it can keep their email address private.

Adding pictures
Members are restricted from adding photos to their posts until they’ve made a specific number of posts. This helps us prevent a lot of graphic spam.

To add photos to your ButYouDontLookSick.com message board posts, your photos have to be hosted elsewhere, you cannot upload your pictures directly from your computer to these message boards. So we suggest trying to open an account on http://www.photobucket.com or http://www.photosite.com. If you upload your pictures to a site where people have to "log in" to view, like yahoo, Kodak etc, your pictures won't show up. Once you have created an account on a free hosting site like Photobucket, and upload your photos from your computer to the website, then you can post them here on the boards.

For example: If you use Photobucket, there are 3 codes underneath each of your photos.

Use the code that has IMG. (it might say BB/php code on other hosting sites). When you click on it, it comes up copied. Come back here, get your post ready and just right click and select paste to put the thread into your post. You can add as many pictures to your thread as you like.

Once you’ve finished your post – we suggest clicking on Preview to make sure everything has worked correctly. There should be an IMG in front and at the end of each photo code. 

If any material is deemed in appropriate, that thread will be deleted and you will be contacted by a moderator or Administrator.

We have a specific forum for posting photos – so please check there for current topics.

Message Board Lingo and Abbreviations
Sometimes we use short hand or abbreviations for a lot of medical jargon and general text messages. We have kept a handy list around in case you need to refer to it to help you understand someone's post.

Some helpful message board abbreviations can be found here