IC= in character. This means your character is speaking, not the person, that controls it.
OOC= out of character. This means, that the person that is controlling the character is speaking.
RL= real life. The world that is not Popmundo. Some people call it Realomundo, the game our characters play. :P
navigation field: The frame on the left with the thread list.
main field: The field in which you can read the threads.
Before starting to post in the forums, find out what's not allowed in the Rules/ Manual and also read the Rules of Conduct in the official help.
The official language is English. Other languages are only allowed in the city forums, where English and the city language is allowed, and in the specific language forums.
The only exception is the Newbie Question Forum, where it's allowed to write in languages, that aren't covered by the specific language newbie forums, in the first 3 days of newbdom.
If you click on a forum title (e.g. “Newbie Question Forum”), you get the list of threads in that forum on the left side (the navigation field).
To see a list of all subscribed subforums, you can either click on “Find forums” under Advanced Options or on the Forums link on the top of the main field OR you click ” View your forums” under Advanced Options, to get the list in the navigation bar.
If you click “New messages”, you'll see all new contributions in threads that were written, since you last read the thread.
Go to the forum list in the main field (as described above) and click the “join” next to the forums, that interest you. You find the City Forums below “SEARCH FOR NEW FORUMS”.
Another way to join a subforum is clicking on a message link, that leads to a thread in that forum.
To leave, just go to the forum list in the main field and click the “leave” link. Keep in mind, that all set priorities (also for threads you contributed to) in that subforum will be resetted with leaving it.
When you post in a thread, it'll automatically be set on high priority. Sometimes it's handy to hot topic a thread, while not really having something to contribute. For that simply click the red box on the bottom of the thread, or next to the thread title in the navigation field.
If you do the latter, click “New Messages” or “Set Priorities” (under Advanced Options”) right after, to save the priority.
If you don't want to see a thread, when hitting New Messages, put it on low priority.
You can also set the priorities of sticky threads. Sticky threads only appear, when you hit new messages, so if you don't want to see that forum title every time, you can low prioritise the sticky. Keep in mind, that the sticky only appears on top in the navigation field, but not if you browse a specific subforum.
You can also alter the order of the subforums in the navigation field, by setting the priorities of the subforums. You can do this by clicking “Set priority” next to the forum name in the list in the main field.
To start a new thread, hit “New Topic”. Set the subforum you want to put your thoughts into.
Before doing this, familiarise yourself with the purpose of each subforum, to avoid placing it in the wrong forum. Also contemplate, if the new thread is needed, or if you can't put your post into an already existing thread. This is important for busy forums like English General Popmundo or Game Development.
If you happen to malplace a thread, contact a moderator about moving it, there's no need to start another topic in the right subforum.
You can find moderators on the Crew page, which is linked from the Community page.
As a VIP you got the privilege to ignore people, that you don't like. Just click on the speech bubble next to their name.
As a VIP you can automatically add a signature (sig) to your posts (under “Create Signature”). You can also turn signatures off under Advanced Options.
There are no official rules about signatures, but common netiquette has it, that people use a horizontal rule on top of the signature and that the signature isn't too long and doesn't only consist of bold writing. Keep in mind, that people are supposed to read what you post, sigs shouldn't be the center of attention. ;)
There is no official search function, because it would be too heavy on the servers.
There is however an unofficial search, that got no claim for completeness (but is still quite useful) and a thread, that collects often used threads (150107.1).
If you got a threadID without link, just enter it in the box under “Advanced Options” and hit View. Though threads, that have been last active before August 2007 aren't visible at the moment….
You're allowed to post in English and in the language of the city there. Posts in other languages will be removed by moderators.
City Forums are IC, though there's OOC talk going on as well, often in specific threads. Politic discussion in city forums is absolutely IC, it makes little sense to draw RL comparisons there.
Everything gets discussed here- Music, new implementations, political hijinx (just no bad sentences of judges, these go into the city forums!) - or just chatter, unless it doesn't get spammy and there are also trading threads.
It's suggested to keep IC in this forum, but for some stuff it's hard to stay IC, e.g. when it's about game mechanics in implementation discussions.
To save EGP from tons of useless threads, some stuff (e.g. trading of collectibles, asking for a doctor) gets kept in one thread (150107.1).
There are also General Forums for the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Turkish speakers, since the are the largest language groups within the game.
The forum for all questions!
It's the only forum you can write in in your first 3 days, but you can already access other forums through threadlinks. They remain read-only for the first 3 days though.
BUT it's not only for newbies, it's for everyone's questions. One isn't above the NQF, just because the newbie points ran out. ;)
Many city forums got their own Question threads, if you're more comfortable with asking in your own language.
Here you can present your ideas for new implementations. This forum is absolutely OOC.
Before starting your own thread, read back several pages to see if it hasn't been presented already! Also read the Development topics discussed thread (4160.1), it might save you from some trouble. You can also use the unofficial forum search to find similar ideas to yours and just expand on that one.
Also: The Devs read the forum, but DO NOT await of them to make a comment on your idea.
The forum to find love or just some snuggle partners, to talk about marriage, divorce, all things relationships and children.
This forum is absolutely IC!! Don't go there to pick up people in RL, there are specialised sites on the internet for that. :P
aka the Spam forum. :P
If you look for invites, need a job, are looking for employees or just want to plug your locale, post there.
If you got questions about running locales, it's better to ask in the newbie question forum, because the company forum is too fast paced for real discussion (e.g. the CEO advice thread (419331.1)).
It's for OOC chatter and games.
To find the answer, go to the Crew page, where the game volunteers are ordered by language. You'll find it linked from the community page.
Contact moderators, if you see people violating the forum rules, they can't be everywhere at once all the time.
The moderators are only in charge for the forum.
If people harrass you OOC with messages, you can report the message as abuse (the link is under the message) or contact the Red Robes (aka “those we don't speak of). They are the cardinals, that work in the Inquisition Headquarters). You can also contact them, if you think, that you have been punished while being innocent.