Getting Started
If you haven't already, go ahead and sign up for an account. You will need a username in mind, a password (word to the wise, stay the hell away from universal passwords), and an active email address. An activation email will be sent to said email address, so be prepared to check your mail and copy/paste.
Now that you hopefully have an account, you can begin browsing the message boards. Note that there are some boards where you will need to level up at least once before visiting. More on levels later. For now, it might be a good idea to make yourself a nice little introduction. This will either piss off some people or get you some friends to look for while at the Flux. If you want to make a better impression, make up a non-lame signature. Also more on that later.
Another note you may want to take care of is to find the Terms of Service. Read them. They should not be that bad. If you have any questions, ask them on the Site Info Board, and we will be happy to help you out.
The Experience System
The Experience System is found in 3 forms: Exp (Experience), Shrines (the Currency), and Shards (Posts). Users improve upon their abilities by posting quality posts. Or any posts. Each user receives one EXP for each day he/she logs in and posts at least one message. When you gain a certain amounut of EXP, your account levels up and you gain certain abilities. You can also BUY abilities via the Shrines Shop. You gain 3 Shrines per day and by Suggestion. You also receive 1 Shard per post. When a user gets 100 Shards, they will be replaced with 10 Shrines, and the cycle will restart. Once you reach a certain account level, you can transfer Shrines to other accounts. The following are the current user levels:
Disgruntled Rebel (-4): Account closed by user. Closed accounts cannot be re-opened under any circumstances. User has gained 0 Experience.
Pending Closure (-3): Account marked to be closed by user. Account will be closed in 48 hours, and after that can never be restored under any circumstances. User has gained 0 Experience.
Certified Idiot (-2): User has been banned from posting messages for one or more Terms of Service violations. User has gained 0 Experience.
Goofy Goober (-1): User's posting privileges have been suspended for one or more Terms of Service violations, pending review by an Administrator. User has gained 0 Experience.
Inactive (0): User has not yet activated their account using a valid email address and can only view posts. User has gained 0 Experience.
Goofier Goober (2): Account suspended by user to prevent abuse. Contact an Administrator for restoration. User has gained 0 Experience.
Phailure (3): Account suspended indefinitely by admin for numerous TOS violations. User has gained 0 Experience.
Stadier Pa Livets Vej (5): User on "parole" for one or more major Terms of Service violations. Can only post a few messages a day. Restored after 48-72 hours. User has gained 0 Experience.
Provisional (7): Account has just been activated. Upgraded to New User after 24 hours with positive EXP. User has gained 0 Experience.
New User (9): Awarded to users with at least 1 EXP. Can now mark messages for moderation and use meta-mod. User has gained 1 Experience.
Lurker (10): Awarded to users with at least 10 EXP. User has gained 10 Experience.
Intermediate (14): User has at least 20 EXP. Can delete own messages and close topics. User has gained 20 Experience.
Regular User (17): Awarded to users with at least 40 EXP. User has gained 40 Experience.
Graduate Student (19): Awarded to users with at least 75 EXP. Can now view own posting history and use the Bank. User has gained 75 Experience.
Veteran (23): Awarded to users with at least 150 EXP. User has gained 150 Experience.
Idol (27): Awarded to users with at least 250 EXP. Can now use topic/message search. User has gained 250 Experience.
Legend (30): Awarded to users with at least 500 EXP. User has gained 500 Experience.
Elite (34): Awarded to users with at least 750 EXP. User has gained 750 Experience.
Advanced (37): Awarded to users with at least 1250 EXP. User has gained 1250 Experience.
Special (40): This user is special and you're not.
User has gained 0 Experience.
New Moderator (41): Moderators who are assigned to a specific category of marked messages. User has gained 0 Experience.
Moderator (42): Moderators who are not assigned to a specific category, can handle all marked messages. User has gained 0 Experience.
Editor (43): I wonder what this guy does. User has gained 0 Experience.
DSB Moderator (44): Moderators who are assigned specifically to the DSB and have been appointed directly by Scorp. User has gained 0 Experience.
Lead Moderator (47): General moderators who also handle some administrative duties. User has gained 0 Experience.
Liberal Arts Major (49): Liberal Arts Majors can review and ban suspended users, as well as controlling all other aspects of the boards. User has gained 0 Experience.
Anonymoose (60): Picture a silhouette with horns. User has gained 0 Experience.
The Things Ogor Does (8314): I hope this doesn't break anything. User has gained 0 Experience.
However, those who commit stupid actions will be punished. The moderation system is used with that. Once you reach a certain account level, you can mark other users' messages that violate the TOS for moderation. This message will then be reviewed by a moderator and possibly deleted. To mark a message for moderation, click on the "Message Detail" button to the right of the message poster's username. Keep in mind that the poster will not know who marked his/her message.
To help the moderators keep the users of the Flux Network Boards in place, they have several options. These are enforced via moderated messages Having a moderated message is bad. If you follow the Terms of Service, you will not get any moderated messages. That is good. So, in short, TOS = good, no TOS = bad. If you do violate the TOS, the Flux's team of moderators can do a variety of things to it, depending on the seriousness of the violation. Here's a little list:
Delete Only - Also known as an NKL (no Karma loss - don' ask.). The moderator will delete your message without any punishment. The message is simply wiped from the boards, and you get off clean. Nice, eh? This is generally used for very minor violations. Keep in mind that you still should not continue to violate the TOS in that way and multiple offenses will have more serious consequences
Notification - The message is deleted and you get a little penalty to your account. This is generally used for more severe violations. A System Notification will be sent to you.
Warning - The message is deleted, your account level will be set to -5 for a couple days, and a large chunk of your Shrines/Karma will be taken. Not good. This is generally used for repeated or severe violations.
Suspension - Wow, you really pissed off the moderators/admin this time. You will be suspended if you repeatedly, intentionally, or very seriously violate the TOS. You will not be able to make any more posts, and the administrator can ban you if he/she chooses to.
Moderators can also move and close topics as they see fit.
Moderators also have usermaps to aid them. What is a usermap, you ask? A usermap is, quite frankly, a map of all accounts that is connected to another account. One account is connected with another when one with the same computer/IP address logs onto/creates another account. This can be used to track you down if you decide to make a new account and screw around, so be warned.
Abilities
The Shrines Shop carries with it many abilities. For questions on a certain ability, please ask on the Site Info Board. HTML tags are used for posting on the Flux Network Boards. Everyone starts out with the ability to bold (<b>) and emphasize (<i>) messages. Other html tags include the strikethrough (<s>), TeleType (<tt>), PreFormatted Text (<pre>), Coded Text (<code>), ASCII text (<pref>), Hyperlinks (<link>), and IMAGES (<pic>). Moderators have access to all HTML.
Non-HTML Features include personal boards, more quote/sig space, avatars, meta-mod, board management, and searching. One can buy a personal board from the Shrines Shop. Here, he sets the rules, which the admins will enforce. We are working on moderation options for this user. Avatars are the little pictures you may see below the username. The maximum size is 99 by 99 pixels and 29.3KB (30,000 bytes). Signatures should not be larger than 650 pixels wide and 175 pixels high for the convinience of other users. This especially applies to image signatures. The MetaModeration system allows you to give feedback to the moderators. When you reach a certain level, you can leaf through moderated messages and rate the moderators depending on what they did. If you feel they were too harsh in the punishment, you tell them. When you reach a certain account level, you have the ability to search for topics. Keep in mind that it is a simple string-search, and you cannot search for specific messages. You can manage a list of your favorite boards via your Board List. To edit this list, you can do so by clicking the link down at the bottom of the page. A checklist of the available boards appears, and you can check off what you want or don't want on your list.
To edit some of this stuff, you may access it via your user profile. A signature is a snippet of text that appears under each and every of your messages. If you purchase the ability to do so, you can also have an image in your signature. A quote is another snippet of text that appears in your User Info Page. Note that quotes will not appear in your messages. To change or create your signature/quote, go to your User Information Page by clicking on your username at the top of the page. This will bring you to a page where you can tweak various things about your account, such as how many messages you view on one page, how many topics you view on one page, and how messages are sorted. There is also a link to change your signature/quote. You also have the ability to change your theme. Put bluntly, this is what colors the board is viewed in. You can import an already made theme or make your own. Simple as that.
Contributor Central
Here at the Flux Networks, we encourage our users to contribute Rants, Reviews, FanFiction, and anything to do with Web Design. "What is all of this stuff?," you may ask. Well, a rant is pretty much an article about how you are not happy with something. Make fun of people, objects, cats, whatever. In a review you decide how helpful a product is and write about it. A FanFiction is pretty much a story. Though it is called FanFiction central, any short stories and novels may be published there as well. Technically, a fanfiction is defined AS....... Last, but not least, we have web design. You can submit layouts, banners, signatures, any other graphics, scripts, and more.
The general reward for an article is anywhere from 0-2 Exp, and 5-50 Shrines. This depends on the length, spelling, and overall greatness of the piece. Note that fanfiction chapters would usually receive 0 Exp and 5-10 Shrines, whereas scripts might receive 5 Exp and 150 Shrines. However, to receive this, you must post in the Contributor Recognition Board. Here, an admin will decide your fate.
Additional Help
If you are absolutely sure that a question or two of yours wasn't answered in this help file, you can go to the Site Info Board to directly ask fellow users and/or moderators/admin. Hopefully, they will be happy to help you.