With the implementation of the BBPress forums at SQLServerCentral, a few community members have asked how the forums work and how to best use them. This document will address a few of the items that have been asked by users.
A list of questions is followed by the answers below. If you have additional questions or are unsure of how to accomplish a task, please feel free to email the webmaster or start a topic in our Website Issues forum.
- How do I ask a question about a problem I'm having?
- How do I find my profile?
- How do I get add a forum signature?
- Where can I see the topics I've started?
- Where can I see the replies/answers I've posted to topics?
How do I ask a question about a problem I'm having?
Questions are posed as topics in the forum. If you click the Forums->Forums Home menu, you will get a list of all forums.
SQLServerCentral operates on a forum group, forum, topic hierarchy. Each question, or topic, is inside of a forum, which is inside a forum group. In the image below, you can see there are forum groups (SQL Server 2019, SQL Server 2017). Inside of these are forums, such as "SQL Server 2019- Administration" and "SQL Server 2019-Development". If you click on the title of a forum, you will be taken to all the questions/topics inside that forum.
Please choose the appropriate forum for your question. There are forum groups in these areas:
- SQL Server 2019
- SQL Server 2017
- SQL Server 2016
- SQL Server 2014
- Cloud Computing
- SQL Server 2012
- Reporting Services
- Programming
- Data Warehousing
- Database Design
- SQL Server 2008
- SQLServerCentral.com
- SQL Server 2005
- a few other lesser used items
If you aren't sure, search on the page for the major topic you are inquiring about.
Once you click into a forum, you will see something like this. This is the SQL Server 2019-Administration forum.
The title of the forum is at the top, right below the main action buttons (Post topic and Subscribe). The breadcrumb of your location inside the forums is shown here as well (Home > Forums > SQL Server 2019 > SQL Server 2019-Administration).
To ask a question, click the Post Topic button. You will be taken to the bottom of the page, where a new topic forum is located. The orientation usually has the Topic Title text box at the bottom of your browser.
Please fill out the topic field with a general description of your question. Keep this to around 50-60 characters.
In the main edit box (below the toolbar), please ask your question. Do not count on the title as part of this, and repeat whatever issue you are having here. As people cannot see your system, please describe the issue and include code/DDL for reproducing your issue. This article describes what to include to get help.
For code, the "insert/edit code sample" button will format code for you. Highlighting text or a URL and clicking the 
button will create a clickable URL. Other toolbar functions are similar to what most editors use for formatting.
If you need to add a picture, use the "Attachments" area to pick a file. Note that most users will not download files full of code/results/Excel/etc. Please use this for images, but do not use images to replace code.
Tags are options.
Clicking the Submit button will post your question.
Each user's Nickname will appear in the upper right of the site top menu bar when they are logged in. Clicking the down arrow next to your nickname will show a menu. The first item in the menu is your Profile.
If you click Profile, you will be taken to your profile page.
You can click "Edit Profile" on the left menu to make changes to your profile.
How do I get add a forum signature?
If you go to the Edit Profile link (shown above), you can scroll down and near the bottom of the page you will see a section titled "Your Forum Signature".
You can edit this and include BBCodes in the signature to make a richer display. Be sure to click "Update Profile" at the bottom to save your changes. The reference for BBCodes is linked on this page and also available here.
Where can I see the topics I've started or questions I've asked in the forums?
If you go to your profile (first question above), there is a menu item on the right that says "Topics Started". This is at the URL for /forums/user/{username}/topics
The topics are listed in reverse chronological order, with the number of replies and the last post time and user. You can click through the title or the time to get to the topic itself.
Note: these are topics that you created, where you are the first, or original, poster.
Where can I see the replies/answers I've posted to topics?
If you go to your profile (first question above), you can find the Replies Created menu item on the left side. Click that to see the replies that you have created to topics, including your own.
These are listed in reverse chronological order, with the title of the topic, your answer, and then the time you posted below this. If you click on the "Reply To: xxxx", this is a link to the actual reply.
On the right side of each post, there is a series of menu options for quick actions. These are:
- Edit - Takes you to the reply in edit mode
- Report - Reports this post as SPAM
- Quote - Currently broken. Should take you to a new reply edit window for this topic, with your previous response quoted.
- Mark as Answer (or Unmark as Answer) - If you started this topic, and also replied, you can mark your reply as an answer or unmark it.