26. What if an image doesn’t violate the rules, but I just don’t like it?
Sometimes people will post images that you just don’t like, but don’t actually violate the forum rules. If you are using an ad blocker with your browser, you can right click the image and choose to block the image.
If the images are in signatures, you can do the above or use the forum features to remove all images from signatures or block signatures altogether. Go to Preferences > Signature Settings and choose to ‘Strip images out of signatures’ or ‘Hide signatures always’.
Alternatively, if the member consistently posts images to which you object, but are not rule violations, you can choose to ignore the member.
Warnings are notices from the forum moderators and administors that you have violated the rules in some way as well as requests to stop the behavior. Warnings are private and are not seen by other posters, and will not be discussed with them.
If you have questions about warnings, please consult the forum rules or EA Terms of Service. If you still have questions, then contact the moderator who issued the warning. Others will not be able to help you or act on your behalf.
After a poster has received a number of warnings, he or she may have his or her posting permissions limited and be put in jail. If this happens, you may see jail over the poster’s avatar.
Users who continue their disruptive behavior may be banned and receive a red banned message in place of their avatars.
Yes, they do. But, due to the volume of posts, they cannot read or respond to them all.
On very rare occasions, you may see them respond to a specific post. You can recognize developers by the green stripe at the top of their posts and their screen names, which will start with SimGuru, such as @SimGuruDrake. If you go to a Guru’s profile page, one of their roles will be listed as Sim_Guru (likewise moderators will have Sim_Guru or MOD_ENG listed as one of their roles).
Occasionally, they hold special Ask-a-Guru sessions where players are invited to ask game-related questions. These sessions are irregular and will usually be preceded by an announcement of the date and time they will occur. You can find some of the answers to past sessions here.
30. I have a great idea for the game! How do I contact Maxis?
If you have a good idea for the game, posting in the Ideas Corner is probably the best way to have it seen by a Guru. You will also get feedback here and possibly support from other players if they like your idea.
Some Gurus can also be reached via Twitter if your idea can be reduced to a 140 character soundbite. You can also get information and sometimes receive responses to posts on Facebook.
You can change the style of your text by using the buttons at the top of the box for entering your message. You can hover your cursor over the button to see what it does (e.g. italicize). Highlight the text in the message you want to alter and select a formatting button to insert the appropriate tags. Formatting changes will be applied when you press ‘Preview’ or ‘Post Message’.
Alternatively, you can use Bulletin Board Code (BBC) tags to make the changes, including some not selectable from the message box buttons.
To change text font:
[font=Times New Roman]text[/font]
(Arial, Times New Roman, Brush Script Std, Comic Sans MS, Verdana, Papyrus, Lucida Console, Goudy Old Style, and Impact work. You may discover others.)
The forums autosave drafts of replies as you are typing. You will see them saved in the message box at the bottom of the page where you type new replies. After the message is saved it will remain there even if you leave a thread or the site and come back later. (Note: Only drafts of replies to existing threads are saved. Drafts of ‘New Discussions’ are not saved, even if you click ‘Save Draft’.)
You cannot delete drafts from the thread view. Instead, you can erase all the text, type in a “.”, and save the period as a draft by hitting ‘Save Draft’. This will prevent you from accidentally posting something you didn’t intend to.
You can delete drafts from the master draft list found at http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/drafts . To do this, hover your cursor over the draft you wish to delete until an ‘X’ appears in the upper right corner. Click the ‘X’ to delete the draft.
Spoiler tags are currently not enabled on these forums. If you enclose information in the spoiler tags, it will simply appear as a gray box that cannot be clicked on to reveal the information.
This:
Spoiler Text
Appears as this:
Spoiler Text
Quoting the post does allow members to view the information contained within, but many will not do that.
There really aren’t spoilers in this game since it’s not linear and doesn’t follow any particular storyline, but if you want to indicate that something is a spoiler, you can simply indicate in the thread title that spoilers may be contained or type something like **Spoiler Alert**, leave a few blank lines, and then type your post.
39. How can I move my post to a different section?
If you post a thread in the wrong subforum (such as General Discussion when you meant to post in Off-Topic Chat), you can move your post by simply editing the original post and reselecting the appropriate forum.
Sometimes you may wish to link directly to a post in a thread rather than to the whole thread. To do this, click the date/time at the top of the post. A direct link to that post will now appear in your browser’s address bar. You can copy and paste this link wherever you like and it will take you directly to the post rather than the beginning of the thread or to the most recent post in the thread.
Your wall is basically a place for you and your friends to post messages on your profile page.
You and other members can post messages to your wall that can be viewed by everyone on your profile page as well as in the Activity Feed, which lists all the wall posts of all forum members.
You can’t. Information posted to walls is viewable by everyone both on your wall and in the Activity Feed. If you want to post something that other users can’t see, then use the private messaging (PM) system.
A signature is a line, couple of lines, or image that will appear at the bottom of each one of your posts. You can create a customized signature by selecting the cogwheel next to the search box at the top of the page and clicking ‘Preferences’. Choose ‘Signature Settings’ from the column on the left. Type the message you wish to appear as your signature. You can also add a single image.
This forum censors certain words that are deemed inappropriate for the forum of a teen-rated (T-rated) game, and these words are changed to ‘plum’.
There are occasionally some errors as in the past the forum has censored such words as pizza, title, and public. Cursing and rude slang and names are not allowed. However, if you feel the censor is blocking a word in error, PM a moderator about it.
Sometimes threads may be moved to another more appropriate section of the forum at a moderator’s discretion. You can still find your threads by clicking on ‘Discussions’ in the left column of your page.
If your thread does not appear listed under ‘Discussions’, then it has been hidden or deleted most likely because an argument broke out or it violated the forum rules.
48. Why don’t images and GIFs work in my signature?
There was a glitch in the system, which didn’t allow some users to post images. It should be fixed now, but you will have to follow these steps to get things working again if you were experiencing problems:
1) Go into Signatures
2) Delete all text in the Signature and click save
3) Leave the page
4) Go back into profile settings
5) Go into Signatures
6) Update it with the image / text you'd like to use and click save
Stickies are notices and threads affixed to the top of a subforum. They generally contain announcements and important information for forum members to view. If you’ve read an announcement or feel that the sticky thread is not pertinent to you, you can dismiss the thread by hovering your cursor over the thread title until a cogwheel appears. Click the cogwheel and choose ’Dismiss’. The stickied thread will now behave as a normal thread and sink in the list instead of staying at the top.
The Gallery is a database of your fellow Simmers’ Sims, houses, and rooms which they are graciously sharing with you and can be accessed from inside your game or from the web here.
Comments
Sometimes people will post images that you just don’t like, but don’t actually violate the forum rules. If you are using an ad blocker with your browser, you can right click the image and choose to block the image.
If the images are in signatures, you can do the above or use the forum features to remove all images from signatures or block signatures altogether. Go to Preferences > Signature Settings and choose to ‘Strip images out of signatures’ or ‘Hide signatures always’.
Alternatively, if the member consistently posts images to which you object, but are not rule violations, you can choose to ignore the member.
Return to FAQ list.
Warnings are notices from the forum moderators and administors that you have violated the rules in some way as well as requests to stop the behavior. Warnings are private and are not seen by other posters, and will not be discussed with them.
If you have questions about warnings, please consult the forum rules or EA Terms of Service. If you still have questions, then contact the moderator who issued the warning. Others will not be able to help you or act on your behalf.
Return to FAQ list.
After a poster has received a number of warnings, he or she may have his or her posting permissions limited and be put in jail. If this happens, you may see jail over the poster’s avatar.
Users who continue their disruptive behavior may be banned and receive a red banned message in place of their avatars.
Return to FAQ list.
Yes, they do. But, due to the volume of posts, they cannot read or respond to them all.
On very rare occasions, you may see them respond to a specific post. You can recognize developers by the green stripe at the top of their posts and their screen names, which will start with SimGuru, such as @SimGuruDrake. If you go to a Guru’s profile page, one of their roles will be listed as Sim_Guru (likewise moderators will have Sim_Guru or MOD_ENG listed as one of their roles).
Occasionally, they hold special Ask-a-Guru sessions where players are invited to ask game-related questions. These sessions are irregular and will usually be preceded by an announcement of the date and time they will occur. You can find some of the answers to past sessions here.
Return to FAQ list.
If you have a good idea for the game, posting in the Ideas Corner is probably the best way to have it seen by a Guru. You will also get feedback here and possibly support from other players if they like your idea.
Some Gurus can also be reached via Twitter if your idea can be reduced to a 140 character soundbite. You can also get information and sometimes receive responses to posts on Facebook.
Return to FAQ list.
The best place to post feedback on The Sims 4 for the developers in The Sims 4 Feedback section.
You can also try contacting EA Help at http://help.ea.com/en/ or support@ea.com.
Return to FAQ list.
You can find the threads you’ve made by going to your profile page and clicking on ‘Discussions’ in the left column.
Return to FAQ list.
You can find the comments you’ve made by going to your profile page and clicking on ‘Comments’ in the left column.
Return to FAQ list.
To edit the original post of a thread, click on the cogwheel in the upper right corner and select ‘Edit.’
To edit your reply to a thread, hover your cursor over the post. A cogwheel will appear in the upper right corner. Click this and select ‘Edit’.
Return to FAQ list.
You can change the style of your text by using the buttons at the top of the box for entering your message. You can hover your cursor over the button to see what it does (e.g. italicize). Highlight the text in the message you want to alter and select a formatting button to insert the appropriate tags. Formatting changes will be applied when you press ‘Preview’ or ‘Post Message’.
Alternatively, you can use Bulletin Board Code (BBC) tags to make the changes, including some not selectable from the message box buttons.
List topic- first item
- second item
- third item
List topic- first item
- second item
- third item
You can
however:
Return to FAQ list.
The forums autosave drafts of replies as you are typing. You will see them saved in the message box at the bottom of the page where you type new replies. After the message is saved it will remain there even if you leave a thread or the site and come back later. (Note: Only drafts of replies to existing threads are saved. Drafts of ‘New Discussions’ are not saved, even if you click ‘Save Draft’.)
If you wish to view a list of all your drafts in the forums, visit http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/drafts
Return to FAQ list.
You cannot delete drafts from the thread view. Instead, you can erase all the text, type in a “.”, and save the period as a draft by hitting ‘Save Draft’. This will prevent you from accidentally posting something you didn’t intend to.
You can delete drafts from the master draft list found at http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/drafts . To do this, hover your cursor over the draft you wish to delete until an ‘X’ appears in the upper right corner. Click the ‘X’ to delete the draft.
Return to FAQ list.
Spoiler tags are currently not enabled on these forums. If you enclose information in the spoiler tags, it will simply appear as a gray box that cannot be clicked on to reveal the information.
This:
Quoting the post does allow members to view the information contained within, but many will not do that.
There really aren’t spoilers in this game since it’s not linear and doesn’t follow any particular storyline, but if you want to indicate that something is a spoiler, you can simply indicate in the thread title that spoilers may be contained or type something like **Spoiler Alert**, leave a few blank lines, and then type your post.
Return to FAQ list.
If you post a thread in the wrong subforum (such as General Discussion when you meant to post in Off-Topic Chat), you can move your post by simply editing the original post and reselecting the appropriate forum.
Return to FAQ list.
Sometimes you may wish to link directly to a post in a thread rather than to the whole thread. To do this, click the date/time at the top of the post. A direct link to that post will now appear in your browser’s address bar. You can copy and paste this link wherever you like and it will take you directly to the post rather than the beginning of the thread or to the most recent post in the thread.
Return to FAQ list.
Your wall is basically a place for you and your friends to post messages on your profile page.
You and other members can post messages to your wall that can be viewed by everyone on your profile page as well as in the Activity Feed, which lists all the wall posts of all forum members.
Return to FAQ list.
You can’t. Information posted to walls is viewable by everyone both on your wall and in the Activity Feed. If you want to post something that other users can’t see, then use the private messaging (PM) system.
Return to FAQ list.
If the wall post is an original post, then hover your cursor over the post until an ‘X’ appears. Click the ‘X’ to delete the post.
If the post you wish to delete is a reply, then click ‘Delete’ at the bottom of the post.
You cannot at this time delete system generated posts – notifications about updating your profile picture or earning a new badge, etc.
Return to FAQ list.
You can’t edit wall posts. If you posted the message on your wall, you can delete it and repost.
If you posted the message on someone else’s wall, he or she will need to delete it for you.
Return to FAQ list.
A signature is a line, couple of lines, or image that will appear at the bottom of each one of your posts. You can create a customized signature by selecting the cogwheel next to the search box at the top of the page and clicking ‘Preferences’. Choose ‘Signature Settings’ from the column on the left. Type the message you wish to appear as your signature. You can also add a single image.
Return to FAQ list.
This forum censors certain words that are deemed inappropriate for the forum of a teen-rated (T-rated) game, and these words are changed to ‘plum’.
There are occasionally some errors as in the past the forum has censored such words as pizza, title, and public. Cursing and rude slang and names are not allowed. However, if you feel the censor is blocking a word in error, PM a moderator about it.
Return to FAQ list.
Sometimes threads may be moved to another more appropriate section of the forum at a moderator’s discretion. You can still find your threads by clicking on ‘Discussions’ in the left column of your page.
If your thread does not appear listed under ‘Discussions’, then it has been hidden or deleted most likely because an argument broke out or it violated the forum rules.
Return to FAQ list.
There was a glitch in the system, which didn’t allow some users to post images. It should be fixed now, but you will have to follow these steps to get things working again if you were experiencing problems:
1) Go into Signatures
2) Delete all text in the Signature and click save
3) Leave the page
4) Go back into profile settings
5) Go into Signatures
6) Update it with the image / text you'd like to use and click save
Return to FAQ list.
Stickies are notices and threads affixed to the top of a subforum. They generally contain announcements and important information for forum members to view. If you’ve read an announcement or feel that the sticky thread is not pertinent to you, you can dismiss the thread by hovering your cursor over the thread title until a cogwheel appears. Click the cogwheel and choose ’Dismiss’. The stickied thread will now behave as a normal thread and sink in the list instead of staying at the top.
Return to FAQ list.
The Gallery is a database of your fellow Simmers’ Sims, houses, and rooms which they are graciously sharing with you and can be accessed from inside your game or from the web here.
Return to FAQ list.