Unofficial FAQ for New/Updated Doomworld

The original website used software from over 15 years ago (some old version of vBulletin) and lacked flexibility to be updated in any significant capacity. The new software that the website runs on, Invision Power Systems, has immediately allowed for the massive database of Doom content to be connected to forum content. Perhaps most importantly, while the new website is something to get used to right now, it should have far more room to grow than the old one ever did, so you can expect improvements over time.

Because it's different software, with different foundations. It's unlikely that even an updated version of vBulletin, the original Doomworld software, would have provided the exact same look and function, especially given the goals of updating the website in the first place. Part of the existing look is that it seamlessly handles varying resolutions, so it's good whether you use it on your desktop, your tablet, or your phone. It's also possible that the look will change over time anyway, so keep a lookout for changes.

The best answer I can give is that Invision Power Systems was a more attractive option than phpBB when deciding to make the upgrade, which included the money factor. A likely part of that is noting that phpBB is forum software only, whereas the new website connects multiple aspects (currently forums and downloads, both of which are very important to Doomworld) into a single entity. There are weighed opportunity costs in every decision, monetary or no. My guess is that we haven't seen even half of the intended changes to Doomworld, and over time we'll understand the use of what's been paid for.

The current forum editor (often labeled WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get) works a lot like editors such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, albeit much more limited. The top bar, shown in the image below, are your formatting options:

You can mouseover the icons (in the editor, not in the above image) to see what's available. In terms of shortcuts: Ctrl-B toggles emboldening, Ctrl-I toggles italicizing, and Ctrl-U toggles underlining. Additionally, you can highlight text and click a format option (or use the shortcut) to automatically format the highlighted text.

One of the more convenient abilities of the WYSIWYG editor is the parsing of links. If you paste a URL of an image, it will automatically bring the image into the post; if you paste a URL of a YouTube video, it will automatically bring the video into the post. (Images can be resized once they're in the editor.)

To preview your post, click the right-most icon; to return to editing, click the X at the top-right of the previewed post. (Note that the preview is within the editor, so there's no refreshing of the page.)

At the bottom of every post is one of these:

There are actually two options here:

1. If you click the "Quote" on the right, this will append a quote block to the editor (and open up the editor if you have yet to write anything) containing the post you selected.
2. If you click on the "+" on the left, you'll begin a multi-quoting queue, shown below (this will appear at the bottom-right of the screen). You can click the + of multiple posts to increase the number of stored posts. When you're ready, click "Quote # posts" and the editor will be appended with each post, in order of storage, and a space in between each quote to type something. You can also cancel multi-quote by clicking the "x" instead.

As a handy feature, you can quote specific text via highlighting, as shown in the below iamge:

By clicking on "Quote this", only the text highlighted will be sent to the editor. This is the easiest way to quote a single post multiple times.

As in turns out, basic bbcode still works in the editor. The Doomworld-specific codes aren't available anymore (from what I've seen), and quotes don't quite work the same way, but if you're more used to bolding and italicizing and underlining and URLing the old-fashioned way, go for it. For the record:

bbcode codeblocks look like this

Quote

bbcode quotes look like this

Status updates are, in plain terms, threads created by you and originating from your member page rather than one of the forums. Anyone can can reply to and like status updates. For anyone who was aware of the old Blogs forum, this is effectively a replacement of that. Recent status updates appear on the right of the forum but are otherwise removed from the public space.

To activate the ability to write your own status updates:

1. Go to your profile (easily reachable by clicking your name in the upper-right of the site while logged in)
2. Click the Edit Profile button near the top-right of the page
3. Under Basic Info, toggle "Enable status updates?" so it appears as a green checkmark:

Warning points is a moderation system used by Invision. You can see your own warning points (but not others) on your profile page:

You can learn about the warning system by following this link, but here's a basic rundown and how it can differ from the old system:

• Warnings are always given with a reason (e.g., spamming) but not necessarily an action (e.g., getting banned).
• Warnings can also come with warning points (instead of actions). These may go away over time, or last indefinitely (they can probably be decreased manually).
• By accumulating enough warning points, your posts may be moderated, you may be prevented from posting in certain forums, or you may be banned altogether. (Possibly there are other restrictions, but these are the ones shown as enabled by default.)
• When you receive a warning, you may be forced to acknowledge that the warning has been received before using the forum.

As for how it works on this forum, I have no idea: moderation might choose to forego the system entirely and just hand out bans or whatnot just as before. If you ever get warning points, though, realize that getting enough may automatically restrict your posting capability.

Likes are a simple but effective way to show support for content. While most likes will come from forum posts, they can also be applied to status updates, file reviews, or even files themselves. You can offer a like by clicking the button in the bottom-right or a post/review/etc, shown below:

Likes are given publicly: that is, anyone can see that you personally show support. Furthermore, you can revoke your like after it is given. These two concepts are shown below:

As for why likes are worth caring about: a post with many likes, for example, can be seen as carrying greater weight in that thread, because many people support the statements made by the post. This isn't necessarily true, as likes are given freely without consequence to the liker (besides being seen as liking it), but in a serious discussion it can be used as a measure of popular opinion, which it turn can affect the course of said discussion.

As a personal matter, if you choose to like this post, I will take it to mean that you got something useful out of the FAQ. Thus, if there are many likes to this post, it would suggest that many people benefited from the FAQ and make me believe that it was worth writing it. In turn, this will make me more likely to update it. Inversely, few to no likes would suggest that very few benefit from the FAQ, making me less likely to update it. I say this not as any sort of threat (really, I would prefer if you only like the post if you found it helpful, not because you think it will help others or because you want to see content like this more often), simply that it is a useful measure to help me determine if I should be putting effort into the FAQ or if I should do something else with my time.

Showing support can mean just about anything from the sender and anything to the receiver, so it is difficult to know the exact benefit for any given like. You can call it an experimental feature for the time being: we'll see how it evolves over time.

Reputation, in literal terms, is the total number of likes any members has received. It is visible on a member's profile page or under their name when posting:

Just as likes don't have an exact meaning to them (see above answer), reputation is also in an unknown state. The expectation is that members with high reputation will be seen as more reliable people in the community and that their content (be it posts, reviews, or whatever) can be taken with greater weight, as it has been given support in the past. Unlike likes, however, reputation as a number lacks context: it may come predominantly from posts of a particular nature, or from file reviews, and may not reflect reliability in other areas. You can check where reputation of a member comes from by clicking "See reputation activity" on the profile page:

I'm optimistic that reputation will have a positive use, but it's too early to know whether it will have a significant impact on the community. My recommendation is to use it as a measuring stick but not as an assumption of merit.

There are a few opportunities to apply "social media integration" to your account (found here). In short, you're allowed to share credentials between various websites. You could, for example, link your Doomworld account to Facebook, such that being logged onto Facebook automatically logs you onto Doomworld. There is also limited information that Doomworld can obtain through these accounts, though none of that appears to be set up currently.

The main advantage as a user, currently, is that it's fewer passwords to track, whether manually or through your browser, and bigger companies like Facebook and Twitter are better equipped to defeat password theft anyway.

Almost every notification setting is on by default. To manage your settings, log in and go to Notification Settings. For this question specifically, uncheck "Automatically follow content I reply to" from that settings page.

The buddies system has been replaced with followers: instead of choosing someone as your buddy, you follow them. The main difference is that members can be choose whether or not they can be followed, as shown in the image below:

If you don't want others to be capable of being notified whenever you post, upload a map, et cetera, you can disable followers for yourself.

Additionally, as a follower, you can choose what types of notifications you receive for those you follow. To manage these settings, log in and go to Notification Settings.

They're technically around right now (see here) but unavailable. From the sound of it, they're not coming back, so don't expect them to. Status updates are an alternative to blogs (see "What are status updates and how do I use them?").

While www.doomworld.com links to the forum section of the website, the major other branches are still around and easily accessible. This is the Doomworld banner and the navigation bar just underneath:

You can access the news page simply by clicking on "News". "Downloads" can be used to access /idgames, in addition to the new format.

If you're aware of what the original link was to that page, it's possible it still works. Otherwise, the best answer is that the website is still in a transitional period: in the meantime you can use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and select a date older than March 14, 2017, then search around the old website (note: not everything is necessarily saved).