Now that I'm here, how do I post?

[Octobercountry]

The old book forums on AfterElton/The Backlot were very difficult to navigate in the extreme, with all the posts mixed together in one long string. And those of you who were used to that format may initially find the set-up of this new forum to be overly regimented. However, with just a little practice I think you'll find it will be much easier to find topics and hold conversations using the new format.

If you wish to post a book review, or comment on a specific author, you first need to find whether the subject you wish to discuss has already been mentioned here on the group. To do that, simply click on the "search discussion posts" box on the right-hand side of the screen. If a topic has already been started on the book/author in question, click on the link and join in on the conversation!

If a book has NOT been discussed previously, you can start a new topic with that subject heading. First, decide in which genre folder you wish your review to appear. Click on that folder, and then look to the right, where you will see "new topic." Click on that to post your review. In the "topic" box at the top of the page where you will be writing your message, type ONLY the title of the book and the author's name---this will keep the page very clean-looking and easy to navigate.

If you are starting a new topic about an author in the "Author-specific Discussion" folder, in the "topic" box at the top of the page type ONLY the author's name. Again, this will keep the list of author discussions organised and neat.

If you wish to discuss a single book title that is also part of a longer series, you can place your review in either the appropriate genre folder, or in the "Book Series" folder---or in both. But remember---if you're placing the review in a genre folder, you want to list the topic by BOOK TITLE and AUTHOR. If you're placing the review in the "Book Series" folder, you want to list the topic by SERIES TITLE and AUTHOR.

We'd like to keep the genre and author folders fairly well organised, so that all related discussions are kept together for easy reading and group discussion. So, please do remember to check and see if the book or author you want to talk about has already been mentioned on the board, so that you can join in on an previously-existing conversation instead of double-posting.

The "Anything Else" folder is for any discussions that don't seem to readily fit into the other folders.