Simplemachines comes with an help section located at
http://codewalr.us/index.php?action=help and wiki that you can use to learn how to use this forum properly, but since we use many mods and custom settings, there are things that might be missing, not to mention there are some oddities you might have missed since you joined. Here I go:
-When the site was first discussed one year ago, one idea I had in mind to save on hosting and have less work to do was to simply squat a dead TI forum then attempt reviving it, rather than just starting a new board from scratch. HRP was among the boards considered, since I am global moderator there, and the old CalcHaven board would have been another alternative if it wasn't for the obnoxious Webring script on the page. MaxCoderz was obviously another idea, because tr1p1ea is still sometimes around and he could have easily re-enabled registrations on that site, plus it's MaxCoderz. Of course that would have led to issues if we needed to change sub-forums or moderate, though (except maybe in the case of MaxCoderz since tr1p1ea is still around), so a brand new site was my priority over that idea if I got hosting.
-It's possible to disable the word filter in Profile->Look and Layout by checking the box that says "Leave words uncensored". Swearing is allowed here at certain conditions, so the word filter is only in place by default in order to reduce risks of seeing the site blocked by various parental and school filters.
-There is a way to disable OmnomIRC entirely, as in it won't even appear at all anymore, which can be useful if you use a very old phone or computer but cannot use Tapatalk. To do so, go to your profile, then click "Group Memberships". In there, you will see the "Regular Members (shoutbox disabled)" group. Join this group to hide the entire OmnomIRC block. You can join or leave this member group as you see fit.
-To vote a post up, click the "Like" icon that has a green circle with a thumbs up in it. To vote the post down, click the red sign that has text reading "Flag as abusive".
-The way staff is setup on this forum is unusual in the way that people in charge of managing board categories and editing the layout are not the ones who have banning and full moderator privileges. Instead, it's the moderators that are in charge of that.
-Both
http://codewalr.us/154/3071 and
http://codewalr.us/index.php?topic=154.msg3071#msg3071 syntaxes are supported when you want to link to a specific post.
-You need 20 posts to vote in polls and rate messages, 5 to get your attachments approved automatically and send PMs, and 1 to change your personal info, signature, avatar and upload attachments.
-There are many, many ways to use this website:
*
http://codewalr.us : Standard site
* Tapatalk
*
http://codewalr.us/index.php?wap2 : For people with very old phones. I don't think the IMG tag is even supported.
*
http://codewalr.us/index.php?imode Same, but with different look
*
http://codewalr.us/index.php?wap If your phone is even older
*
http://codewalr.us/index.php?action=.xml;type=rss : RSS feed (more info on how to use it at
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=25009.0 )
*
http://codewalr.us/ssi_examples.php?view=home1 : Wut? (although ssi_examples could be handy if we ever decided to create a custom page)
-If you like our Facebook or follow our Twitter pages, you will receive notifications about new topics.
*
https://www.facebook.com/CodeWalrusFans*
https://twitter.com/codewalr_us-Yes, there are easter eggs. However, the Book of Unknown and Destroy ones from SMF 1.1 are no longer available in SMF 2.0. One notable CW easter egg is if you type /walrii in the WalrusIRC shoutbox, then many walruses start bouncing through the shoutbox and in some occasions, a walrus will run or fly through certain website pages.
-The pixelated walrus you see besides the site logo and almost everywhere else is Walrii, the site mascot.
Basically, all three major english TI forums (in terms of activity) have sea animals as mascots. TI fans must like water a lot.
-The current site membergroups that are entirely based on post counts go as follow:
*New User 0 posts -Can post
*New User 1 posts -Can use sig/avatar/change extra profile info. Also can use the shoutbox directly on the site as opposed to just in full-screen mode. Can also upload attachments, but they require admin approval.
*New User 5 posts - Can send PMs. Attachments no longer require admin approval.
*Full User 20 posts -Can rate posts and vote in polls.
*Full User 100 posts -Can access safe-haven sub-forum even without being part of the required member group.
*Super User 500 posts
Let me know if you feel something should be added here. Maybe when the site has been around for a while, if the users grow some CW inside jokes by themselves they could eventually make it here.