How to make a post in the forums

[Erin]

It's easy to make a post!

First, make sure you are logged in. TestMagic does not allow anonymous or "guest" posts, so you will need to register and activate your account before you can post. (If you get stuck on that step, I have a post that explains how to activate your registration (Can't post? Can't send a PM? Can't reply? Can't subscribe? Can't download?).)

I know it can be confusing to try to figure out how to make your very first post, but once you make just one post, it’ll be easy, don’t worry.

First, you need to go to the forum that you want to make a post in. Just go to the main forum index (the "front page" of the forums) and look for the forum you want to post in. For example, you may want to go to the introductions forum to say "hi." Or, if you want to get started raising your tests scores right away, you may want to ask a question about GMAT math. In this case, just go to the GMAT math forum. When you get to that forum, you should see a button like this at the upper left, right above the titles of the posts:




If you don’t see a button, then you are not quite yet where you need to be. For example, if you're reading a post, and you want to make a new post, you won't see the "new thread" button. Instead, you will see only a "post reply" button: (The forum software is designed this way so that people don't mistakenly make a new post when they mean to reply.)

Also, if you simply go to the GMAT forum, you can’t make a post there, since that “forum” isn’t really a forum--it's simply a link to show you all the GMAT “sub-forums.” From there, you would have to click on the other links to make your post; for example, on a link that looks like this:

GMAT Data Sufficiency

Just click on that link, and you'll be in a forum where you can make a post about GMAT data sufficiency.

Of course, you can make posts in the other forums, not just the GMAT forums. If you want to ask a question about TOEFL grammar, just go to the TOEFL structure forum. If you want to ask about financial aid, just go to the Financial Aid and Scholarships forum.

Finally, you should see the posting screen. However, if you're not logged in, and you click that button, you'll see a screen that you can log in from. From there, just type in your message. When you're done, click the button that says "Submit New Thread."

Of course, there are many, many other nifty functions that you will learn about while you are a member here. For example, you will be notified immediately when someone responds to your thread, you can send somebody a personal message through the PM system, you can post a poll for people to vote in, and much, much more.

[Dingus]

How about making this sticky?

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Dingus

How about making this sticky?

Let think about how to handle this; I may make a sub-forum with "how-tos." It's just that I have this thing about forums with too many stickies; I find it somehow annoying to see all the stickies before the fresh, new posts. Too many stickies also dilutes the value of each sticky, IMVHO.

Edit: Sticky for now.

[jess_wundring]

Originally Posted by Erin

Finally, you should see the posting screen. However, if you're not logged in, and you click that button, you'll see a screen that you can log in from. From there, just type in your message. When you're done, click the button that says "Submit New Thread."

Of course, there are many, many other nifty functions that you will learn about while you are a member here. For example, you will be notified immediately when someone responds to your thread, you can send somebody a personal message through the PM system, you can post a poll for people to vote in, and much, much more.

Thanks Erin, but I need a bit of clarification because part of this process is not "intuitively obvious" to me.

I created a post in Introductions. Two people replied to me. I responded to the first person's reply easy enough but, no matter what I did in attempting to respond to the second reply, it always appended my text (in reply to the second post) as part of my original reply. It would appear as though my reply was in the appropriate subthread while previewing, but the act of submitting it turned the two separate posts into one long disjointed post.

Any idea what I was doing wrong? Is it possible to create more than one reply in a thread, addressing subthreads separately?

Thanks in advance...

[Erin]

Ah, sorry to confuse you. That's the automerge (Automerge: What is happening? It's the new automerge feature!) feature at work. It's supposed to reduce the number of repetitive useless threads, but it's not smart enough to recognize when a new thread is justified.

[Shifty]

Hi, Erin

I can't seem to post new threads but I can post replies. Do you know what's going on?

Everytime I try to post a new thread the web browser just goes to a new blank screen and the bottom shows "Done" but nothing ever posts.

Please help if possible. Thanks!!!
-Shifty

[El_Chupacabra]

I'm getting errors on every page I go to on this site. I can not create new threads but can reply to other threads.

I'm using Internet Explorer 7.0

[El_Chupacabra]

I tried posting a new thread from two different PCs running Internet Explorer 7.0 but it's not working. However, I did get Firefox to work so I'm going to download that to this PC.

[Erin]

I was having the same problem last night. It was very annoying. I'm working on it, trust me.