Hat tip to JohnRussell

1. click on 'forums' at the top of the page

2. On that page, click on the 'topics' tab.  

3. Decide what topic you want to post your article or seed under and click on that topic ( for example , 'Entertainment'). That topic will open up and you will see a tab at the far right of the tabs that reads "add a discussion". Click on that.

4. From there you title your article or seed, and type or paste the text into the large field.  You can also use the editing tools shown by the icons at the top of the field. You can add photos or videos, make the text colored or bold, etc. 

 5.  When finished click "create discussion" at the bottom. The article will appear in the main forum. 

6. Make the first comment. 

Hat tip to Raven Wing

I have noticed that some folks have a problem with their pictures/memes/images fitting properly within the comment windows. Some are too far off to the right of the window and often cuts off part of the image.

I have found a way to adjust the images to fit within the parameters of the comment window very quickly and easily. The steps below should work most of the time. And if not, let me know and I'll help you figure out now to adjust them.

1. Click on the icon next to the smiley face on the bar at the top of the comment window to open the image loader.

2. Select Upload an Image

3. In the   Size   dropdown list select 350px - Larger

4. Next, select 'Normal' in the Position dropdown window. This will allow you to add text or another picture below the first one if preferred.

5.Under   Image   click on   Select and Image to upload

6. Navigate to the folder on your computer where the image you want to upload is located and click on it to load it into the comment window

7. Only part of the image will be visible at first, so click on the image to make it fill the window

8. If the image is too big for the window and extends off the right side, click on the image to select it.

9. You will see a small square on each corner and in the middle of each side.

10. Put cursor on the square to show a double ended arrow

11. Press down on the arrow and drag it toward the center of the image until it fits in the window properly.

Continue to drag the arrow to the center until it is the right size to fit in the window.

12. If the image is too small to fill the window, follow step 10, but, drag the arrow in the upward direction until the image fills the window as large as you wish.

These steps should help you get your images resized to fit in the comment window without a lot of fuss. If you need help, just let us know. 

I hope this helps.

Hat tip to Buzz

How To Prepare and Post a Photo-Essay

Others may do this differently, but if you have seen any of my Photo Essays, or the Old, New, Borrowed and Blue Challenge, you will see how they look.

The first thing to do is after determining my topic is to select the photos I will use for it. Your photos may need editing, and you should do that before anything else.  I then re-save the selected photos labeling them with a code so that they are easily identified for posting (i.e. oldnew 1, oldnew 2, etc).  I then start out with text on a word pad (I don't have MS Word).  First I type in the Title, then follow that with an introductory paragraph. Knowing approximately how mamy photos I'm going to post, I then type along the left side the numbers 1, 2, 3 etc. (more numbers than the photos) leaving a few spaces in between them (makes it easier for viewers to identify the photos they comment on, especially if it's a photo essay with many photos). 

Now, open the NT forum (or group) on which you intend to post, and click "Add Discussion" or the plus (+) sign at the top of list of articles. You now have your blank page to fill in.  Copy and paste in that window your prepared document.  Next, you add the first photo   under   the number 1, leaving a space or two under the number before pasting the photo. To add the photo, you make sure you have left the indicator where the next entry will be posted a couple of spaces under the number, and then on the banner with your many options above the article, you click on the image of the little piece of film strip to the left of the smiley, and that will open a picture gallery. At the top is a banner with choices and you click "Upload an Image".  You then get another screen that gives you more choices. The first on the left is "size".  I choose 512. The next one is "Position" and I choose "Normal", then "Margin" and I choose "None" and finally you click the right hand one to choose your image, and it opens your picture library.  You can choose your photo from the library either by clicking it twice, or clicking "select" below.  Your photo should now be posted. If you can't see the whole thing, click on it and it will do two things, first it will expose the whole photo, and secondly you will notice little squares show up on each corner of the photo.  You use those to adjust the size.  If the photo has run off the right side of the window you will only see the little squares on the left side but that's no problem.  If the photo is too big, then click and hold on one of the little squares and drag it towards the centre of the photo - you will see the photo reduce. I usually leave a little margin on the right side to prevent the photo from being cut off on the right when you eventually post the article.  I also make sure that vertical photos are not so big as to more than fill the screen.  Okay, your photo is posted. That is when I decide what to write about that particlular photo, and type the text next to the number above the photo.  I then repeat the process for the next photos. When all the photos are posted I delete any extra numbers below them, sometimes write in a short paragraph at that point, and finally click the "Post" button at the bottom. It is now posted, but if it was on a Forum rather than a group, you should write the first comment, or it will not show up on the Front Page "Comments" window.

To just post as a comment on another's article, you need not go through all of that, but a lot of it will apply. 

As examples, here are a couple of my photo-essays, and one documentary (still required the posting of images).

https://thenewstalkers.com/community/discussion/31648/community/kaifeng-one-of-chinas-ancient-dynasty-capitals-a-photo-retrospective

https://thenewstalkers.com/community/discussion/32394/dynasty-capital-luoyang-a-photo-retrospective

https://thenewstalkers.com/community/discussion/32490/chinese-4-panel-artworks-second-in-a-series-on-chinese-culture-and-traditions

Hat tip to TIG

Recently Newstalkers installed a set of features designed to improve the user experience.   The most visible of these are:

• Reply with Quote
• Quote toolbar (and other editor enhancements)
• Automatic comment backlinks

Consider this a brief introduction to how these features work and their   intended use.

Background

A number of social media sites have moved to a limited form of commenting.    Basically single-threaded, minimal editing.   This enables site owners to control the look of the site (by constraining the comment styles).   Unfortunately this control stifles discussion.   People have a hard time tracing through the long list of messages to understand the discussions.   In result, comments are generally minimal - discussions are difficult to find.

NewsTalkers is a discussion site.   Its main purpose is to provide a forum where people can engage in thoughtful, civil discourse on all topics.   As such, it has and will continue to enhance its user experience in support of discussions.  This includes authorship, seeding, commenting, tracking, replies and following.

With that brief background, let's move to the new features.

Reply With Quote

In discussions, one often finds an aspect on which to comment.   To illustrate the aspect the common practice is to provide a quote to serve as the context for the reply.   Since this is such a common practice it is very convenient if the site provides a simple method for accomplishing this.   

Reply-with-Quote (RwQ) is an enhancement to the REPLY button.   One selects the portion of a comment that is to be quoted and then presses REPLY.   RwQ captures the selected text, automatically formats it as a quote and positions the user to the next line to start typing their reply.    When posted, the quote will be adorned with a gray box to distinguish it as a quote (and also to provide contrast with the actual reply so that the reply stands out).

In short, if one wishes to reply to a portion of a comment, one selects the desired portion and presses REPLY.   The rest is automatic.

Quote

The Quote toolbar button is a function of the editor.   It is the first button on the editor toolbar:

Its purpose is to let the author manually quote text.   This can be text pasted in from an external site, from another comment or simply typed by the author.   The RwQ functionality discussed above works for your opening quote; subsequent quotes are adorned as such by using the Quote button.

To manually quote, click on a paragraph you wish to quote and press the Quote button.   The editor will indent the paragraph to visually note that it is now a quote.   When you post, the paragraph will be styled in a gray block quote box just like RwQ.

Note that   if you have your cursor positioned in or at the end of a quoted paragraph, hitting ENTER will continue the quote .   Visibly, the editor will remain in an indented mode.   To exit the quote simply press the Quote button on the toolbar.   That will turn off Quote and return you to normal editing.   The Quote button is simply a toggle:  quote-on or quote-off.

Other Editor Features

The editor now has more features for editing such as fontsize.   This enhances one's ability to be expressive in a comment but it runs the risk of making the site ugly.   Ultimately all users contribute to the look of the site by the styling of their comments.   Take care to ensure your highly stylized comment is not gaudy (e.g. inappropriately sized text, use of many colors or fonts, using the Quote button as a style, etc.)   

Automatic Comment Backlinks

When one replies to a comment, NewsTalkers will automatically record special information to link comments in logical threads.   This feature makes use of the fact that every comment has its own unique identity (a URL).   Each reply comment will have a link to its source comment.   Clicking on this link will automatically navigate to the source comment (auto scroll so that the desired comment is at the top of your browser window).    Note the following exchange:

Perrie selected my words "Above is a RwQ pulled from within a quote.  The bold words were done by me." and pressed REPLY and then entered her comments.   Note that at the top Perrie's comment has her comment ID, her name, the user she replied to (TiG) and the comment she replied to (@1.3.1.1).    If Perrie (or anyone actually) clicked on the 1.3.1.1 the comments will scroll to that comment.   (In this example the scrolling is simple, but sometimes the source comment is quite a distance away.)     

One can also click on the comment ID.   Clicking on the 1.3.1.1 ID for the comment by TiG will scroll that comment to the top.  Similarly, one can copy the hyperlink (Copy Link Address) and use it elsewhere.  

Finally clicking on Perrie's or TiG's names will navigate to their respective profile areas.

Hierarchic Numbering

To give even more information regarding threads, comments are numbered in a hierachic fashion.   A comment that is not a reply will have a simple integer, 1, 2, 3, ...    However, a reply to comment #2 will be adorned as 2.1, 2.2, ...   Replies to 2.2 will show as 2.2.1, 2.2.2, ...    The hierarchic numbering is limited to 4 levels since the value quickly diminishes as the numbers grow large.   A future enhancement (deferred due to the amount of change required) will employ a different comment structure with two or three levels of nesting followed by a linear stream of comments.   That is, nesting stops after three levels and reverts to a simple list.

(Hierarchic numbering only engages on articles published after the enhancements were installed.)

Editing Backlink

Another convenience is the automatic backlink while positioned within the editor.

Sometimes one needs to return to a source comment while authoring a reply.  One may want to copy more text or simply re-read to ensure understanding.  To return to the source comment, simply click on the backlink.   In this case, one clicks on the @2.1.1 backlink.  This will auto scroll to bring Buzz' 2.1.1 to the top of the window.   To return to the editor, scroll down to the bottom (the editor is always at the bottom in normal discussions) and continue authoring the reply.

Summary

The purpose for this opening round of enhancements is to make it easier to engage each other in discussion and to provide more avenues for expression.   It is up to all users to use these features intelligently.   They can make the site pretty and easy to read or they can make it look ugly and confusing.   The hope is that the open styling approach of NewsTalkers will produce an inviting environment that encourages (rather than dissuades) discussion.

Hat tip to Raven Wing

If you need help posting a GIF just follow the steps below;

First save the GIF to your hard drive

Then go the comment window where you want to post the GIF

Then click on the Insert icon next to the Smiley icon

Select Upload an Image from the top bar

Select the size you want the GIF to be

Select Normal position

Search for the GIF you want to post

Once you select the GIF you want it will automatically load

Then post your comment

Hope this helps

Hat tip to Raven Wing

Hat tip to Trout Giggles

Go to account settings. Click on your avatar name that should appear on the right hand side. Then click "Groups" directly above all your stuff. Then hit the + sign in the corner. Now you are on the page where you can create a group!

The reason I'm doing this help article is because I looked for a help article and couldn't find one. I did a lot of clicking around before I found where I needed to be to create a group.

I hope this was helpful and hopefully someone a lot smarter and more techno savvy than me can give you an easier method.

The new trending articles widget shows the topmost (currently 5) ranked articles based on certain criteria.  The highest ranked articles are popular (evidenced by the Like count) and engage the community (evidenced by timely comments).  Original work will have a more favorable ranking than a seed.

To help them ' get legs ',  new articles are artificially bumped in rankings.   Once an article ages past the system's age threshold it will compete with other articles on equal footing.   So the idea should be to promote one's article while it is young and encourage people to like it and enter comments .