• One of the primary principles employed in the design of this forum is a clean, uncluttered appearance.  Consequently, by default, poster display names and avatars are not shown.  Also, there is no option to enable the display of these options in user settings.  See My Settings Page
• Another principal impacting this decision is user privacy.  Because this forum is intended to reach the widest audience possible its content is viewable by all the world via the Internet.  Some users may work for organizations manipulating sensitive data and this fact may be unintentionally revealed by a poster who could then become the target of a spear phishing attack if their display name is automatically revealed by the forum.
• If the poster edits their post then a link to the editor's profile is generated by the forum, but because you cannot be certain that it was the original poster (and not the moderator) who made the last edit, and because most posts are never edited, you cannot rely on this mechanism.  Also note, if you desire to keep your identity hidden, then refrain from editing your post.  See How do I edit a post in a thread?
• To assist with determining who is replying to who, it may be helpful to turn on Threaded List View. See How do I view the reply hierarchy in a thread?
• For those users who desire to reveal their identity, they are free to create a signature.  See What is a Signature? How do I edit it?

Windows 8 Beta with Internet Explorer 10 Beta, Internet Explorer 9, FireFox and Chrome

Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 9, FireFox and Chrome

• Alerts: You can be notified about new posts in the Forums by subscribing to alerts. For information on subscribing to alerts, see How can I sign up for alerts?
• RSS feeds: You can be notified about new posts in the Forums by subscribing to feeds. To do this, click the RSS icon next to Forum name or thread subject, and then click Subscribe to this feed.

• Configure Your Email Address: To receive alerts you first need to provide a valid email address. To do this go to the "My Settings" page when you are logged in. Then enter in a valid email address twice and click "Submit". This will send you a validation email. Click the link in the validation email to complete the process and register your email with the system to receive forum alert notifications.
•  
• Subscribing to Threads: After configuring your email address, you can sign up for alerts while creating a new post or reading an existing thread. While creating a new post or replying to an existing post in a thread, you can subscribe for receiving alerts by selecting the Subscribe to Alerts for this thread check box on the interface before submitting the post. To receive live alerts for an existing thread, click the thread subject to open it, and then click Alert Me on the My Threads page. You must sign in to the Forums to subscribe to a thread. You can view your alerts by clicking My Alerts.

• Disable All Alerts: You can stop receiving emails for all forum threads you have subscribed to. To do this, simply go to the "Forum Settings" page and clicking "Unsubscribe" in the "Configure Alerts" section of the page. Your thread subscriptions will remain intact, unsubscribe will simply turn off the email delivery.
• Unsubscribing from Individual Threads: If you unsubscribe from an individual thread, you will stop receiving alerts for that thread. To unsubscribe, click the thread subject to open it, and then click Remove Alert at the top of the page.

Icon Legend



Thread Has Code

Helpful Post

No Replies

Sort By

Start New Thread

User

Alerts

Reply

Quote

Edit

Icon Legend



All Threads

Unanswered Thread

Answered Thread

General Discussion Thread

Proposed Answer

Sticky Thread

Locked Thread

Abusive Thread

Deleted Thread

Escalated Thread

• Threads with the "Locked" icon have been blocked by the Forum Moderator for any additional replies.
• Threads with the "Sticky" icon have been tagged by the Forum Moderator so that they appear at the top of the list of threads in a Forum.
• You can move the pointer over any of the icons in the Forum to see a brief explanation of each.

• For Developer Forums: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums  
• For ITPro Forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums  
• For Design Forums: http://social.expression.microsoft.com/forums  
• For all other Forums: http://social.microsoft.com/forums  

• You can directly navigate to forum's home page of a required locale by typing the URL similar to http://social.BrandName.microsoft.com/forums/Locale in the address bar of your browser. For example, if you want to locate forums for the brand MSDN and locale fr-FR, type the URL http://social.MSDN.microsoft.com/forums/fr-FR.
• You can switch to the Forums Home Page of another Locale from the current Locale by clicking the desired Locale name in the list on the Home page.

• All Threads: Filter the thread list by answered questions, unanswered questions, general discussions, and proposed answers. You can click All Threads to clear the applied filters.
• Has Code: Filter the thread list by posts containing code in the reply.
• Helpful: Filter the thread list by posts that are marked as Helpful.
• No Replies: Filter the thread list by posts that do not contain replies.

• Contributing Answers: Replies the community decides are answers get you points. Marking your own replies as answers does not give you points.
• Contributing Helpful Posts: Contributing replies the community votes as helpful get you points.
• Asking Good Questions: Users that ask valuable (helpful and/or popular) questions will be rewarded additional points.
• Bonus Points: Users can also gain extra points by contributing valuable contributions quickly or when their contributions are deemed valuable by the users asking the questions.

• First Time Activities: reply, marking and contributing an answer, identifying valuable content, and reporting spam
• Level-based achievements: replies, contributing answers and proposed answers, answering questions with code, identifying valuable content and moving threads to the right place

• Basic reply to questions: In the past users would get points for every reply, regardless of content. The new system rewards users for replies as new level based achievements. (Replies Levels I=IV)
• Self-marking answers: Answers and moderators in the system might reply to a question and mark their reply as an answer. In the old recognition system, users would gain points for this activity. In the new system, users will not be given points. The new point totals in the system reflect this correction and accounts for a fair amount of the points adjustments from the old to new points totals.

Moderators cannot delete a thread or post from a Forum if the thread contains an answer. The options for deleting the thread are disabled after it is marked as an answer. Forum Moderators can still view the deleted threads and restore them.


Back to top



Why I cannot delete thread or post from a Forum?

Moderators cannot delete a thread or post from a Forum if the thread has been marked as an answer. The options for editing and deleting the thread are disabled after it is marked as an answer. Forum Moderators can still view the deleted threads and restore them.


Back to top



How do I view deleted threads? 

Moderators can view deleted threads by clicking All Threads drop-down, and then clicking Deleted in the Forum view.


Back to top



How do I restore a deleted thread or message?

Moderators can restore a thread or message by clicking the Edit drop-down next to the post, and then clicking Undelete.


Back to top



How do I post announcements? 

Moderators can post a new announcement by clicking Create at the top of the Forum. You can then create the post in the editor, and click Submit. The announcement appears at the top of the thread list and is visually different from other posts. You can edit existing announcements by clicking Edit next to the announcement. To delete an announcement, click Delete next to the announcement.


Back to top



How do I post a Sticky Thread? 

To post a Sticky Thread, Moderators should post the new thread and then select Make Sticky in the thread view. A Sticky thread appears at the top of the list of threads and is visually different from others. At any point in time, moderators can remove the sticky status of the threads restoring the thread's original position and date time in the Forum after the sticky time set by you ends.


Back to top



How do I unlock a Locked thread? 

To unlock a Locked thread, open the locked thread and select Unlock Thread.


Back to top



How do I create posts in moderator only Forums? 

You can create posts in moderator only forums only if you have the rights of a Forum moderator or Forum Owner by clicking Ask a Question in the top of the page.


Back to top



How do I know I have been added as a moderator or an answerer? 

You know that you have been added as an answerer, when you see options to mark any reply as an answer. As a moderator you will also have options to perform tasks such as making threads sticky, locking, moving, and deleting threads. Note that as a moderator, you will not be able to split or merge threads and forums. When viewing the list of forums in a forum category, those which contain ("You are a moderator of this forum") below the title are forums you have moderator rights to.


Back to top



I have heard about escalating threads, how can I do that? Forums recently enabled the ability for MVP affiliated moderators to escalate threads that need Microsoft's immediate attention. This feature must be enabled by the forum owner using some internal tooling. By default this feature is NOT enabled so most forums will not allow for escalations. For further questions about this feature MVP Moderators can contact their Forum Owners using existing communication channels.


Back to top