The Painfully User Friendly Guide For the Faint of Heart
The purpose of this thread is to answer many of the "how do I do X" of the new BSN, particularly in regards in use of the forum, in a readily digestible and understandable format. As such, it is heavily reliant on the use of imagery. If you should have additional questions or comments, please post them below, and I may get to them at some time in the future. This guide is written for the forum version as of February 2014.
If you have any comments on how to make this guide more painfully user friendly, you are free to suggest them.
God bless imageshack for all the image uploads.
Subjects:
A.) How do I change my profile image?
B.) How do I set my signature?
C.) How do I change the background image?
D.) How do I block or unblock forum members?
E.) How do I message someone?
F.) How do I change my username?
G.) What are warning points?
H.) What are notifications? Is there a way to get less emails from this site?
I.) What are status updates? How do I use them?
J.) Could I get a few pointers on the posting UI?
K.) What's the deal with groups?
L.) How do I attach games to this account to get into key-locked forums?
A.) How do I change my profile image?
1.) Get to your profile screen. Click your current image at the top right of the screen.
Note: This is not the only way to get to your profile screen, but it is accessible at at page in the forum.
2.) Once at your profile screen, you should notice a "Change" button at the top left of the large profile image. Click it.
The rest should be pretty self-evident. I would advise refraining from using copyrighted or obscene material.
TIP: The site can resize images, but the site's resizing is poor. Many images will look blurry or pixelated. If you care enough to avoid this, you can size the image you want down manually to the right size, 100 pixels x 100 pixels. Photoshop or Gimp will do the trick beautifully. If you do not have access to Photoshop, Gimp is free to download.
B.) How do I set a signature?
1.) Click your profile name at the top right, and then click "Settings."
2.) Click signature and then set your signature.
3.) Profit! Note that at this time, no images are allowed in signatures.
C.) Can I change the background image?
1.) You will notice the paint brush icon button on the top right of the screen. Click it.
2.) The available background images will appear below. Note: There is currently no option to upload a custom background.
D.)Forumite X is being a pain in the butt. Can I not deal with their nonsense? If I change my mind about ignoring then later, can I un-ignore them?
1.) Click your name in the top right, then go to "Manage Ignore Prefs."
For the purpose of presentation, I selected Brian Mills, a Bioware employee. Used with permission.
2.) Copy-Paste their name into the text box beneath "Add new users to my list". Alternatively, you can begin to spell it and it will auto-complete.
3.) Once the user is blocked, you can manage how much much they are blocked.
You can block their posts, signature, PMs, or any combination thereof.
4.) Later, when you in your wisdom and patience decide to give up the grudge, you can hit "Remove" to unblock them.
E.)I want to have a private conversation with another member.
This you can either activate from their profile screen or from the messenger screen.
From their profile screen:
Then type your message.
Alternatively, you can go through the messenger screen.
NOTE: You are still accountable for everything you say in the messenger.
F.) I'm bored of my current username. Can I change it?
1.) Go into settings.
On the left hand selection pane, there is an option to change your name. Note: You can only change your name 3 times within any 90-day period. Choose carefully!
G.) What are warning points?
To be completed at a later date. Haven't really seen them in action.
For now, what is known is
1.) They are bad..
2.) They are not visible to other forumites.
3.) You can check them on your profile page. Click on the number beneath your profile image on the left hand side of the screen.
This brings up a summary of your warnings-I assume documentation on why you got the ones you have.
Other than that nothing else is known.
H.) What are notifications?
In the top right of the screen, their is a globe:
Click it to bring up your notification screen.
Notifications can be a great many things: likes, friend requests, group news, etc. You can go into Notification Options, also accessed by clicking the globe, to change what you get notifications or emails for.
I.) What are status updates and how can I see them?
To make a status update, or SU, simply click your name at the top right and type it in the text box, then hit the "Update" button.
If you would like to see what people said about your status, go to your profile screen, and hit the "Profile Feed" button.
If you want to see other people's status updates, simply scroll down on the same page, and hit the "View all Updates" button. This will bring you to the "Community Status Updates" page.
Member's Profile feed is just your SUs and comments.
Friends' Updates is for your friends SUs and comments.
All Updates is everybody's SUs and comments.
From these screens you can see as well as comment on other people's SUs.
J.) Could I get a few pointers on the posting user interface?
The top row, from left to right:
Void Script, Remove Format, Special BBCode, Font, Font Size, Font Color, Emoticons, My Media, Find, Replace, Undo, Redo, Copy, Paste, Paste as Plain Text, Past from Word, and Options.
Void script nullifies any scripted features (images, hyperlinks, etc.) and posts them in text form. This is good if you are running into trouble when using such scripted features, such as broken links.
Remove Format strips away formatting options and returns whatever you have selected to the default text and size.
Special BBCode gives you additional options for scripted features, such as the "Spoiler" option.
Font is the font (dur dur dur). There is only a handful of fonts currently available, but wingdings would not have been much use here anyway.
Font Size is how big the font is font is. This is good for Title lines.
Font color is what color the font shows up as. If you would like to post in all the colors of the rainbow, knock yourself out.
Emoticons are the emoticons that are built into the site.
and more..
My Media appears to be currently unused.
Find brings up a Find menu to find stuff in a larger post.
Replace is to replace something you want to replace, but don't feel like digging up.
Undo is undo.
Redo is undo the undo.
Copy is put the selected stuff on the clipboard. You can use Ctrl-C.
Paste is put down whatever you just copied. Ctrl-V.
Paste as Plain Text removed scripted stuff from whatever you copied.
Options is just that. There isn't a whole lot to see there.
Next Row
From left to right:
Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Subscript, Superscript, Insert/Remove Bullets, Insert/Remove Numbering, Add hyperlink, Remove Hyperlink, Image, Code, Quote, Twitter, Decrease Indent, Increase Indent, Align Left, Align Center, Align Right.
Bold makes text bold.
Italic gives text a nice lean.
Underline should be obvious.
Strikethrough should also be obvious.
Subscript Xx
Superscript Xx
Bulleted list adds a SCRIPTED bulleted list. You can take it away with the same button.
- Sample
- Sample
- Sample
Numbered list is the same thing, only with numbers.
- Sample
- Sample
- Sample
Hyperlink adds a link to another site. NOTE: If you have a habit of hyperlinking questionable sites, it can get your behind in some trouble.
Remove hyperlink breaks the hyperlink.
Image throughs an image into your text.
NOTE: Loading up nasty, unrelated, or questionable imagery will get you in trouble.
NOTE: You CAN'T load up images directly from your hard drive, you can only post images on the web. You will have to use an image hosting site if you want to upload stuff from your hard drive. I used ImageShack to make this guide.
Code adds your own scripting.
Quote adds a quote box.
Falsifying other people's quotes can get you in trouble. It also makes you look like a scumbag.
Twitter brings in stuff from Twitter.
Indent pushes text over.
Like So.
Remove Indent is just the opposite.
And I'm sure everyone has seen Align Left, Align Center, and Align Right at some point.
Next
Underneath all those options is the actual post box.
Underneath that is the "Post" and "More Reply Options" buttons. More Reply Options gives you the option to disable your signature, to disable emoticons, to preview the actual post, and to follow the topic so you get Notifications about it.
K.) What's the deal with groups?
Groups are fan sub-organizations on this site. A few groups are run by Bioware, but the vast majority are run by community members and are generally dedicated to a single concept, in-game organization, or in-game character; i.e. something along the lines of "Cerberus Supporters"
To see what groups are available for you to join, click Groups at the top left.
This will bring you to the Groups Screen, which will show:
"My Groups"-Groups that you are already a member of
"New Groups"-recently founded groups
"Popular Groups"-Groups with a lot of members
Click a group you like, and take a peak.
After that, things start to diverge.
Groups have numerous different built-in options for how they are run-joining, viewing, etc..
JOINING
Open-You hit the "Join Group" button on the top right and you are in.
Admin approval-You can request to join the group, but a group officer or the group leader can shut down your request.
Invite Only-You can't request to join the group via the button, a current member must invite you.
Invite Only with Admin Approval-A group member must invite you, and a group officer must approve the invitation.
LEAVING
You are free to leave any group you're in at any time.
A group officer can also "kick" you from the group for any reason.
VIEWING
Some groups require you be a member to view their discussions and news, assuming they have any. Others do not.
POSTING
Same deal with viewing. You may or may not require membership.
Other important things to note are:
Groups are still subject to all the same rules that forums are.
L.) How do I attach games to this account?
Some forums may be key-locked - you must prove you have the game before you can post in its forums.
To check whether or not a game it attached to your forum account, simply look at your logo on the left.
In this image, I have Mass Effect 3 currently "attached" to this account, as shown by the logo. The only Bioware games that can be attached to your account in the new forum are currently (as of Feb 2014):
- Mass Effect 3
- Dragon Age 2
- Dragon Age Origins
Other title's forums are open to anyone.
If you have other games, and you want them attached, it's a bit of a procedure.
The easiest is Mass Effect 3.
Attaching Mass Effect 3
Step 1: Get to your manifest.
When at your manifest, highlight the link and Ctrl-C (copy) it.
Then you into your settings.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see empty text boxes for the the "Game Profiles."
Ctrl V (paste) the link for your manifest into the Mass Effect 3 slot and hit save. All done.
Attaching Dragon Age: Origins
For Origins, there's a couple extra steps.
First, get on the Legacy BSN. You can use this link:
If you are not already logged in, do so.
Go to the "Games" tab on your profile screen. Scroll down to Origins and choose your platform.
(Hopefully this account is the Origin account you have all of your game progress under. If it isn't , you may have a new adventure ahead of you. I would suggest trying to find the right account. If you used a console, EA will have automatically made in Origin account with whatever email you used when making your XBL or PSN account. Once you dig that up, you should be golden. Alternatively, you can call up customer service and hope for the best)
You may have to hit "Refresh" a couple times for the page to load up. When it does, copy the link.
Return to your settings page as shown above in the "Attaching ME3" section and paste the link in the corresponding text box. Hit "Save Changes." Profit!
Attaching Dragon Age 2
I do not own Dragon Age 2, so I can't very well make an image guide. 
But I would imagine it would be largely identical Origins, only going to the Dragon Age II section on the Legacy BSN rather than the DA:O one.
Please post questions, comments, and suggestions below.
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