Forum

From xat wiki

xat has a dedicated forum, created using the IPS Community Suite. Below you will find information regarding the forum. You may access the forum anytime by going to https://forum.xat.com or by hovering over "xat" at the top right corner of any chat and clicking the "forum" icon.

Registering

xat accounts and forum accounts are separate. You will need to register a forum account to use it. Once you are registered, you can then log in.

Note: You may have to wait for your account to be approved.

Starting a new topic

To start a new topic, click the "Create" button on the top right corner of the screen, next to the bell (notifications) icon and click the "Topic" option. Select a forum and click "Continue". After selecting the forum and clicking to continue, you will be redirected to a page where you can enter the topic title and content. You can also create a topic by navigating to the desired forum and clicking the "Start new topic" button.

Replying to an existing topic

To reply to an existing topic, click on the topic and scroll down until you see the reply box. Enter your reply in the box and click "Submit Reply". If a topic is locked, you may not reply to it.

Note: If you are replying as a guest, you will have to wait for your reply to be approved.

Quotes

To quote someone in your reply, click on the "Quote" button on the bottom of someone's message. Alternatively, you can manually create a quote by clicking the " icon on the toolbar above your reply text box. You can also quote more than one user by clicking the "+" icon on multiple posts, then clicking the button that appears in the bottom right.

Viewing topics

Reacting to a post

To react to a post, hover over the react button in the bottom right-hand corner. From here, you can express several emotions regarding the post by clicking on different smilies, such as happiness, confusion, sadness, or gratitude. You may also leave a reputation point by clicking on the award. Each award increases the user's reputation by 1. Replies in the "Forum Games" and "General Support" forums cannot be given reactions.

Reporting a post

To report a post, click the ••• (more options) button at the top right of the post, then click "Report" and enter a message with your report where prompted. Please provide as much helpful information as possible to give your report a better understanding. The report will be reviewed by the forum staff and handled accordingly.

Sharing a post

To share a post, click the ••• (more options) button at the top right of the post, then click "Share" and copy the link provided. You can also share on the other social media available below the link field.

Clubs

Clubs allow users to form groups for discussion or just to have fun. A club can be open, meaning that anyone can join, post topics or replies, or see what is being posted within the club. They can also be closed, meaning that you must be invited in order to make posts and view topics.

Users

User groups

There are different user groups on the forum. Some user groups have special permissions and/or access to special forum categories.

  • Administrators
  • Advanced Members (active forum members with a fair amount of posts and a fair amount of reputation)
  • Members

Note: By default, all users registered on the forum are part of the Members group. Note that this list is in alphabetical order and not in order of authority.

Users can be in more than one user group. The user's primary user group will display under their profile picture. The color of someone's primary rank is also their forum name color.

User profiles

To view a user's profile, click on their profile picture or name.

Followers

To follow a user, go to their profile and click on the "Follow Member" button. You may choose whether or not to let other users see that you follow that user. A user's followers will display on their profile under their profile photo. Users may turn off the ability to let others follow them.

Profile photo

Users may set themselves a profile picture. To set yourself a profile photo, go to your profile and click on the small square on the bottom left of your profile photo. Once you click this, you will get the option to upload a photo or use xat's default photo by selecting "Remove My Photo". Once you upload a photo and click continue, you will be prompted to choose how much of the photo you want to display. Select the region and click save.

Note: You are not allowed to upload animated images in Members group (only available for Advanced Members and higher user groups).

Cover photo

Only Advanced Members and higher may upload a cover photo. To upload a profile cover photo, go to your forum profile and click on the "Cover Photo" button. Select "Remove Photo", "Reposition Photo", or "Choose Photo" depending on what you want to do. If you want to remove your cover photo, select "Remove Photo". Select "Reposition Photo" to reposition your existing cover photo. Finally, select "Choose Photo" to upload a new cover photo.

Please note that the maximum file size for a profile photo is 1 Megabyte.

Profile visitors

Users who view your profile will display on the Recent Profile Visitors tab on your profile. The tab displays the last users who visited your profile, when they viewed it, and how many times it was visited. The recent visitors tab will be disabled by default. To enable this feature on your profile, hover over the Recent Profile Visitors tab on your profile page and click Enable. To disable, hover over the tab again and click the x labeled 'Disable this block'.

You can enable or disable this feature to see who has visited your profile at any time (guests and anonymous users will not be displayed).

Reputation

A user's reputation shows how many awards they have received from other users. When a user reaches a certain amount of reputation, they will advance a reputation level. Advancing a reputation level allows a user to set a cover photo and signature. Giving yourself reputation on an alternate account or asking other users for reputation is against the rules and is considered reputation abuse.

The reputation levels are as follows:

Reputation Levels Likes
Poor -5
Substandard -1
Standard 0
Good 25
Great 50
Excellent 75
Exceptional 300
Distinguished 800

Status updates

Users may update their status, which displays on the forum homepage. Status updates are disabled by default. To enable status updates, go to your profile and click the Edit profile button. To update your status, write in the box that says "Write a public message on your own feed…". Alternatively, you can create a status by clicking the "Create" button on the top right corner of the screen, next to the bell (notifications) icon and select "Status" or by clicking "What's on your mind?" on the Recent Status Updates tab. You may post a status on someone else's profile by going to their profile page and writing one in the box labeled "Write a public message on [user]'s feed…".

Messages

Users may send private messages on the forum. Click on the mail icon at the top right corner to view and create new private messages. To view a message, click on it. To send a new message click "Compose New". On the Compose New page, enter the recipient(s), a subject and your message. It will display on the private message window if and when the user(s) viewed your message. Only users who are added as a recipient may view private messages.

You can also report private messages by clicking the ••• (more options) button at the top right of their message, then click "Report" and enter a message with your report where prompted. Please provide as much helpful information as possible to give your report a better understanding. The report will be reviewed by the forum staff and handled accordingly.

Notifications

You can check your notifications by clicking on the bell at the top right corner of the forum homepage. To manage your notifications, click on "Notification Settings".

Settings

You can access your forum account settings by clicking on your username at the top right corner of the forum homepage. Here you are able to manage your followed content and ignored users. You can change your display name, password, or email by clicking on "Account Settings".

Note: You may only change your display name twice in a 60-day period. You must be an Advanced Member in order to change your display name.

Additional settings include the ability to add account security (through Google Authenticator), an automatic signature to your posts (only available for Advanced Members and higher user groups) and the option to hide your online status from any online lists.

Account Requests

You can request a copy of all your PII data (personal identifiable information) or request the permanent deletion of your account and all personal data that we have stored about you.

Forum Guidelines

xat has provided a set of guidelines. Guidelines are similar to chat rules. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in a warning or restriction being applied to your forum account. Certain forum sections have their own guidelines, which are listed below their respective heading.

Themes

You can choose between a "Light (Default)", "Dark Blue" and "Dark" forum color theme, depending on your personal preference.

To change the theme, click "Theme" under your forum account settings by clicking on your username at the top right corner of the forum homepage. Alternatively, click "Theme" at the bottom of the forum page.

You can invert the colors of an image on the "Dark" theme with varying intensities of contrast by double-clicking on an image and adding a prefix "dark[1-3]-" to the Image Title. For example, the Image Title "dark1-image.png" would produce a higher intensity contrast, whereas "dark3-image.png" would produce a lower intensity contrast.