The Ultimate Forum Guide (Codes, Trust Levels, FAQ)

To all heroes of Azeroth, Sanctuary, Aiur, the Nexus and future Earth!


Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Pachimari, one of many Customer Service MVPs in Europe. :wave: If you’re reading this, it means that the forums for your favorite game have been updated to the much better version that you’re browsing right now. :partying_face: Not only have many things become easier to manage; there are plenty new functions as well, like the Blizz tracker, notifications, …

As you may already know, these new forums are based on Discourse, and its coolest feature is without a doubt that it allows you to use particular kinds of code in your posts. :heartpulse: I decided to create this guide to show you all the different tools you can use in order to customize your topics and replies. Feel free to save this page as a bookmark in your web browser in case you’ll need it! :star:

While most of the following codes are available for everybody, some specific codes are bound to a certain trust level. This table shows you the requirements and unlockable features for those:

(NOTE: The exact requirements may vary between
different games and languages. No guarantees!)
 
Requirements
Unlockables
1 - Enter 5 Topics
- Read 30 Posts
- Spend a Total of 10 Minutes reading Posts
- Post more than 3 Topics
- Post more than 10 Replies
- Edit Wiki Posts
- Flag Posts
2 - Enter 20 Topics
- Read 100 Posts
- Spend a Total of 1 Hour reading Posts
- Visit the Forums on 15 Days
(not necessarily sequentially)
- Like a Post
- Receive a Like
- Reply to 3 different Topics
- Create Links to trusted Websites
  (Blizzard, YouTube, Twitch etc.)
- Increased Like Count
3 - Visit the Forums on 50% of the last 100 Days
- Read 500 Topics created in the last 100 Days
- Read 20,000 Posts created in the last 100 Days
- Like 30 Posts
- Receive 20 Likes
- Reply to 10 different Topics
- Don’t have more than 5 Spam/Offensive Flags
- Don’t be currently suspended
in any Blizzard Game or Forum
- Post Images
- Create Links to any Website
- Create Wiki Posts

You can use this website that I wrote to check your trust levels in all new Blizzard forums (except World of Warcraft, because trust levels are bound to characters there). For World of Warcraft (or if you prefer to check your trust level manually), please refer to the instructions found here.

Please also note that your trust level can decay over time. :warning: Now, let’s take a look at the things we can use. Just click on a category to show its functions as well as their code form equivalents:



Text Formatting

Bold Text

<b>Hello world!</b>
<strong>Hello world!</strong>
[b]Hello world![/b]
**Hello world!**
__Hello world!__

Hello world!


Italic Text

<i>Hello world!</i>
<em>Hello world!</em>
[i]Hello world![/i]
*Hello world!*
_Hello world!_

Hello world!


Strikethrough Text

<s>Hello world!</s>
<strike>Hello world!</strike>
[s]Hello world![/s]
~~Hello world!~~

Hello world!


Abbreviated Text

Hover your mouse over the abbreviated text to see the full message!
<abbr title="Good Luck, Have Fun!">GL, HF!</abbr>

GL, HF!


Inserted Text

<ins>Hello world!</ins>

Hello world!


Deleted Text

<del>Hello world!</del>

Hello world!


Keyboard Text

Press <kbd>A</kbd> to continue

Press A to continue


Code Block

[code]Hello world![/code]
~~~
Hello world!
~~~
Hello world!

Code Line

Use this when you want to post a link but don't have the required trust level.
<code>Hello world!</code>
`Hello world!`

Hello world!


Quote

To use a personalized quote, highlight someone's text and a Quote button should appear.
<blockquote>Hello world!</blockquote>
[quote]Hello world![/quote]
> Hello world!
Hello world!

Superscripted Text

Hello <sup>world!</sup>

Hello world!


Subscripted Text

Hello <sub>world!</sub>

Hello world!


Alignments

Align Left

<div align="left">Hello world!</div>
Hello world!

Align Center

<div align="center">Hello world!</div>
Hello world!

Align Right

<div align="right">Hello world!</div>
Hello world!

Justify

<div align="justify">Blizzard Entertainment is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software. After establishing the Blizzard Entertainment label in 1994, the company quickly became one of the most popular and well-respected makers of computer games. By focusing on creating well-designed, highly enjoyable entertainment experiences, Blizzard Entertainment has maintained an unparalleled reputation for quality since its inception.</div>
Blizzard Entertainment is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software. After establishing the Blizzard Entertainment label in 1994, the company quickly became one of the most popular and well-respected makers of computer games. By focusing on creating well-designed, highly enjoyable entertainment experiences, Blizzard Entertainment has maintained an unparalleled reputation for quality since its inception.

Description

Descriptions are placed a little farther to the right.
<dd>Hello world!</dd>
Hello world!

Non-Breaking Space

Need extra spaces? Just pressing Space multiple times won't work, so use this instead!
Hello &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; world!

Hello                   world!


Break

When you want to put some empty space between your paragraphs.
Hi!<br>
Bye!

Hi!

Bye!


Font Sizes

Big Text

<big>Hello world!</big>

Hello world!


Small Text

<small>Hello world!</small>

Hello world!


Heading, Size 1

<h1>Hello world!</h1>
# Hello world!
Hello world!
=

Hello world!


Heading, Size 2

<h2>Hello world!</h2>
## Hello world!
Hello world!
-

Hello world!


Heading, Size 3

<h3>Hello world!</h3>
### Hello world!

Hello world!


Heading, Size 4

<h4>Hello world!</h4>
#### Hello world!

Hello world!


Heading, Size 5

<h5>Hello world!</h5>
##### Hello world!
Hello world!

Heading, Size 6

<h6>Hello world!</h6>
###### Hello world!
Hello world!

Links & Images

Text with Link

<a href="https://blizzard.com">Blizzard</a>
[Blizzard](https://blizzard.com)

Blizzard


Anchor

An anchor is a reference to a specific part of your post.
Just place an anchor anywhere in your post like this:

<a name="AnchorName"></a>

In my case, I placed an anchor at the beginning of this guide.
Now use a link and enter # as well as the name of your anchor.

<a href="#AnchorName">Back to the Top</a>
[Back to the Top](#AnchorName)

Back to the Top


Images

Images can be embedded by just entering their link, or using HTML code.
Make sure that the image source ends with a format such as .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .bmp or .gif.
If your image is not being displayed, it is likely that the image is too large.

https://i.imgur.com/niq0drf.png
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/niq0drf.png">


Scaled Images

If your image is too big or small, you may want to scale it accordingly.
There is no need to use both width and height.
Changing one will proportionally change the other. Your image won’t be stretched in a weird way.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/niq0drf.png" width="250">


Image with Link

Combine an image with a link to make that image clickable.
Instead of entering an internet address, you can also link to an anchor!

<a href="https://blizzard.com"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/niq0drf.png"></a>


Media

Sound / Music

Sounds must be in the format .ogg. A player with a download option will appear automatically!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Alphabet_song.ogg


YouTube Video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=yeA6rT5LaEQ

Vimeo Video

https://vimeo.com/237828429

Twitch Video

https://twitch.tv/videos/309712149


Twitch Stream

https://twitch.tv/blizzard


Tables & Lists

Table (Easy)

This method even allows you to set the alignment for every single column with : and -.
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
| :-- | :-: | --: |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Left | Center | Right |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
1 2 3
Left Center Right
4 5 6

Table (Advanced)

The first line of the table, the header, is inserted using th.
Any data after that can be added using td.
Use tr to continue with the next line of your table.

<table>
<th>Column 1</th>
<th>Column 2</th>
<th>Column 3</th>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>3</td>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>6</td>
</table> 
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
1 2 3
4 5 6

Unordered List (Easy)

Use -, + or * for every object.
- Object A
+ Object B
* Object C
  • Object A
  • Object B
  • Object C

Unordered List (Advanced)

Each object is added with li.

<ul>
<li>Object A</li>
<li>Object B</li>
<li>Object C</li>
</ul>
  • Object A
  • Object B
  • Object C

Ordered List

A list in a particular order. Each list item is added with li.
You can (but don’t have to) set the starting number using start.
If you leave this out, the list will count starting from 1.

<ol start="38">
<li>Object A</li>
<li>Object B</li>
<li>Object C</li>
</ol>
  1. Object A
  2. Object B
  3. Object C

Google Maps

Go to Google Maps and search for any place. In the left window, click SHARE.

Click on Embed a map.

Select a size of your choice and then click COPY HTML.

Paste the code into your post. You now have a fully functioning, interactive map!

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3320.9893536006693!2d-117.76897698442434!3d33.65743774587851!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x80dcde82907fe8bb%3A0xcb7104743d635730!2sBlizzard+Entertainment!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sde!4v1543517886574" width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Google Calendar

Go to Google Calendar. Select a calendar on the left and click on the three dots next to it.

Click on Settings.

On the left side, click on Integrate calendar.

Copy the embed code that is shown.

Paste the code into your post. You now have a fully functioning, interactive calendar!

<iframe src="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ht3jlfaac5lfd6263ulfh4tql8%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe%2FBerlin" style="border: 0" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Miscellaneous

Frame

Create an empty frame. Set the dimensions with width and height.

<iframe width="300" height="145">

Details

Create a small menu that can be opened for more details.
<details>
<summary>Knock knock!</summary>
Who's there?
</details>
Knock knock! Who's there?

Horizontal Line

<hr>
---




Comment

Comments are only visible when looking at the source code. Ideal for hidden messages!
Nothing suspicious in here. <Nothing at all.>
Nothing suspicious in here. <!-- Nothing at all. -->

Nothing suspicious in here.



Frequently Asked Questions / FAQ

Why have the forums been replaced in the first place?

The goal was to make the forums easier to navigate, to foster more engaging conversations, and to reward those who contribute in positive ways. :innocent: Blizzard hopes that the brand-new forums and their new functionalities will accomplish these goals. Any further feedback is highly appreciated!


What will happen to the threads and posts of the old forums?

This varies between all games, however generally only a small portion of the posts will be migrated over to the new forums. There’s no need to worry though: For a limited time, the old forums (with the eu.battle.net URL) will be available in a “read only” state, allowing you to save your favorite conversations elsewhere if you plan to revisit old memories at some point in the future.


What new features are there?

Some of the new features are trust levels, the Blizz Tracker to quickly find official posts, preformatted text, real-time updates, infinite scrolling, notifications, preferences, better support for mobile devices, home screen shortcuts, bookmarks and advanced searching and sorting.


What happens after I flag a post?

Flagging a post will flag it for manual review by a moderator who will then view the post. For a few minutes, you may undo the flag again. Users can only issue a very limited amount of flags each day. Threads may end up becoming automatically locked for 24 hours if enough flags are received. :no_entry_sign:


How can I see my trust level?

For all new forums except World of Warcraft, you can use this website to check your trust level. Here’s the manual way: Visit your forum profile. Now add .json behind the URL (in my case the URL should end with /u/pachimari-2784.json). Press Ctrl + F and search for “trust_level”. Look for the entry with the highest number at the end. That’s the trust level you’re assigned to.


How can I see what trust level requirements I'm still missing?

The exact requirements that players have already completed and that they are still missing are generally not publically visible. This is to encourage players to actively be a part of the forums, rather than just “going through the list” in order to get permissions as quickly as possible. :wink:


What is a Wiki Post?

A Wiki Post is a post that anybody can edit, not just the author! To edit a Wiki Post, a user must have reached Trust Level 1. To create a Wiki Post themselves, they must have reached Trust Level 3. To turn your own post into a wiki, click the wrench symbol at the bottom and then Make Wiki. :wrench:


Where can I leave my feedback about this amazingly helpful guide?

First of all, thank you very much for reading my guide! :innocent: I hope it’ll prove useful to some of you. If you have any questions, feedback to provide or would like see something added, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Since this guide has been posted multiple times across all of Blizzard’s game forums, unfortunately it’s hard for me to keep track of them all. :confounded:

Therefore, if you got something on your mind:
:bird: Please message me on Twitter or :email: shoot me an email.
Thanks in advance, and best of luck on your future forum adventures! :cowboy_hat_face:



Pachimari
88 Likes

Look what I learned today!

OP is a murloc.

11 Likes

The feedback.

  1. Remove mention of iframe, that tag has no business of being in the posts.

  2. Add link to W3C pages for HTML. Cannot use CSS.

  3. Add link to a similar reference for Markdown, eg, this one:

https:// commonmark [dot] org/help/

…and a link to something for BBCode.

I don’t think it makes sense to have a separate thread for each of the three formatting options.

4 Likes

This should make guides on here look far more appealing.

5 Likes

Actually, Iframe can be useful to display another web page inside the comment without having to open it into another tab. Or a video, in the same way (YouTube videos use iframes in order to be embedded into other random pages)

2 Likes

I did try this using multiple websites, but it seems like the forum doesn’t allow stuff to be embedded into the frame. For now, just the border is all you can do!

Thanks for the feedback! I didn’t want to show every available method here, so I focused mainly on HTML to make it as easy as possible to understand. I’ll probably add this in the future anyway!


Pachimari
7 Likes

Can I change the font used in boards (apply it to all posts), because the current one is harder to read than the older one?

How do I now ignore users (@dev: and why wasnt this transfered in the first place)?

2 Likes

an Iframe is a container that enables loading a page inside it. I can’t imagine it actually works as that could cirumvent the limitation to post links…

EDIT: just tested it, the src attribute is indeed stripped, so iframes are worthless. You can safely remove this one from the guide.

3 Likes

What are the restrictions to images?

“Sorry, you can’t put images in a post”

Thanks

3 Likes

Somewhat off topic, but how do I change the character to post on? Every time I switch to another character it seems to log me out instead.

2 Likes

Really nice, i see Discourse forums going places.

2 Likes

Underlining - what happened to it… please?
Is it because it makes text look like a clickable link? When it… isn’t?

3 Likes

I wonder do Characters update at all? my Characters I transferred to another realm almost 2 weeks ago are still showing the old data on the forums, but the character profil is not there anymore and has been updated to the Server AND Guild I am in now…

2 Likes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjHJPUwhps

I still think the trust level should be displayed clearly next to the portrait in the top right.

7 Likes

this instead of some shenaningans and what not to find out your trust level would be nice

5 Likes

I agree, no one really cares what level you are except for ourselves. We should be able to easily see it.

2 Likes

Just wanted to share that i’ve created a tool which can show you your trust level:
https://trustlevelchecker.jodk.nl

It’s been around for a while, but i’ve just updated the tool to now also allow entering the name of any character to check. This means battle.net authorization is no longer required.

5 Likes

So I used the trust level checker - trustlevelchecker,jodk,nl/ and there i am advised that I am currently at a trust level 2. Yet for some reason I can’t post links… why is that???

2 Likes