5.1	Forum Registration
	The third step is to register the name you chose with the Hogwarts Online forum. Use a phony first and last name, NOT YOUR REAL NAME. Do not use an underscore in between the first and last name. Simply type the first then space then the last name. Be sure to use a real email address because you will be required to validate your account.
5.2	User Groups
	All members on the site are broken up into user groups. The user groups corrispond to your position on this site. The user groups are colored to make identifing a person's member group easier. There are basically frou categories of members groups: Administration: Governors, Portraits, & Heads of Houses. Professors: Department Heads, Professors, & Staff. Students: Students of all houses, including Head Students & Prefects. Other: Creatures, Guests, Ministry, Healers, etc.
5.3	Avatars & Signatures
	Avatars: Avatars are the picture that displays with your profile, or next to your post in all forums. Avatars can be uploaded, linked, or you can use an avatar from the galleries. Avatars should be no bigger than 150 x 150. If avatars exceed this size, the forum will automaticall reformat the picture. Sometimes this will distort the image. Signatures: Signatures are displayed in your profile and under any thing you post or message. Signatures must be kept under a certain size or it will distort the forum. The maximum size for a banner is 600w x 300h. You may only have 1 banner and 2 lines of writting. If your signature violates these rules it will be removed.
5.4	Forum Functions
	The forum service that we use is InvisionFree (soon to be ZetaBoards). This services allows for many different type of functions, settings, and displays. The following are the most basic functions to any message board system.
	5.4.1	Starting a Topic
		Enter a forum area, for example the Great Hall, you will notice a red button that looks like this: Click it. It should open up a comment box. Add in the title, a small description and you first post in the areas provided. Hit the "Post New Topic" button and you're done.
	5.4.2	Reply to a Topic
		Once you are in a topic and you’d like to post, scroll to the bottom of the page and find the button. Press it. You should be redirected to another page, on this page will be a comment box. You may add your reply n this bow, once you are done typing, hit add reply. Your reply should then appear on the board. If you need to edit your post, you may choose the edit button in the corner of you post to do so.
	5.4.3	Quick Reply
		Click on the button at the bottom of the topic that looks like this: . A box will appear just below this button. Type your reply in the box then click the "Add Reply" button.
5.5	Forum Codes
	[img]URL[/img] posts image [B]text[/B] makes writing bold [I]text[/I] makes text italic [U]text[/U] underlines the text [size=5]text[/size] changes font size [color=red]text[/color] changes font color [font=impact]text[/font] [align=center]text[/align] centers font/images (Instead of 'center' you could also put 'left' or 'right'.) Example: Hogwarts Online is made up of a main site, a forum, and the wizarding world. Looks like: [b]Hogwarts Online[/b][i]is made up[/i][size=4]of a main site,[/size][color=purple]a forum, and[/color][font=impact]the wizarding world.[/font] Those are the top five most used BBC codes here on the site, you will notice different options available in the comment boxes when you post, just click the buttons, and they add the codes for you. Its important to remember that in order for the codes to work you must have an opening and closing tabs. Example: [size=5] is an opening tab, [/size] would be the closing tag to that code. The text that you want to be in that code must go between the tags.
5.6	Role Playing
	Roleplaying is the main focus of the forum. Hogwarts Online has many different formats of roleplaying, but the most accepted style on the site now is in a third person narative. All actions are regular font, all spoken words are in quotes (some people like to color their spoken words in addition to the quotes) and all thoughts are in italics. When roleplaying, it's extremely important to use proper spelling and grammar because this site attracts people from all across the globe and english may not be some members first language. It is also important when you role play to post long well thought out posts that discribe every detail of your charater and the environment so that readers can get a real feel for your character and the environment. Short, one sentence posts are unacceptable and are not alloud.
5.7	Spamming
	Wikipedia definition: "Spamming an internet forum is when a user posts a message that is off-topic or has little relevance to the subject being discussed, or a post that fails to contribute to the thread. There is also the case where a person posts messages solely for the purpose of increasing his forum ranking." Hogwarts Online also considers posting the same post numerous times then deleting it spamming and also double posting. Spamming is not aloud, and a warning by a person in power is to be given. Repeated offenses can result in a loss of posting privileges for 5 or more days.