Commenting - User Guide

This is what you see when you are going to comment:

1. Subject - If you are going to post a picture or a gif then you MUST add a title. This allows people to minimize it so that the threads do not bog down. Normal comments do not necessarily need them.
2. Body - This is where you write what you want to share. Please no text speak. Also, use proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar as much as possible. No one's grading but do your best.
3. Formatting - From left to right you can bold, italicize, strike-through, quote, link, or insert a picture.
4. Preview - If you are not sure how a comment is going to show up, hit this button. Don't complain about not being able to edit comments because previewing them is the exact same thing.
5. Post - Now it's going up! There is no taking it back.
6. Formatting Guide - There are a few of automatic formatting things (strike-throughs, bolding, etc). Check it out or you'll get shocked when you have a paragraph that's completely struck out.

Those who are new to Die by the Blade you'll notice below every comment there is a "reply" button. The commenting engine on SBN is fantastic because it allows for threaded and organized comments that automatically refresh and display new comments without having to refresh the browser. Please use "reply" or you'll be in Rafal's doghouse. 

There is also an "actions" button that you can click that gives you the option to Flag or Recommend a comment:

Flagging is useful in the rare event we have a troll infestation or a comment is offensive or malicious. Doing this helps me deal with trolls that I might miss or to give gentle reminders to people that sometimes forget that most people read the site at work. Don't flag comments to make a joke. You can however post a comment like "FLAGGED - Offensive" which shares the joke but it doesn't fill up my dashboard.

Rec'ing is like awarding a gold star to a comment or a post. This is instead of writing +1 or +whatever as a comment. 

When a comment gets so many recs it becomes highlighted green:

You can also rec fanshots and fanposts. When a fanpost or fanshot has so many recs it becomes featured in the sidebar which moves it to the top of the list under the Recommended Fanshots or the Recommended Fanposts header. This helps set apart the best contributions as seen below:

If you want to move through the comments more quickly, or help keep track of things during a Game Thread, you can hit "z" to move to and highlight the next unread comment in a thread, and then hit "r" to reply to the highlighted comment. You can throw your mouse in the trash! (Note: Please don't throw your mouse away)