- are there any 'official' help documents or pages?
yes, at http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/faq.php
and at http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.ph ... eads_Forum
also, there are many stickies at the top of subforums with useful threads
- what's a "sticky"?
it's a thread that a mod or admin has made permanently stuck to the top of the list in a subforum. policies are a sticky. and DH-8 announcement is a sticky, etc.
- what's the best page(s) to bookmark as a jumping off page?
- https://www.bogleheads.org/.
- If you have posted recently, you may want to start with Your Posts
- If you are only interested in one or two of our subforums, they are all linked from the Board index
- how can i view topics sorted into each subforum? (e.g. just investing theory or just personal finance, etc)
from the Home page, click on subforum link which is near the top of the page # Replies - Subforum (see list) - Topic Title
- the below tips require you to be signed up and logged in to bogleheads. so, how to sign up for a username?
simply click on "Register" at the top of the forum page. http://www.bogleheads.org/forum supply a username, email, etc. then, you must activate your account by responding to the email that will come from bhadmin.
- why bother registering, when i can see everything without registering?
well, besides the obvious advantage of being able to post questions, answers, and contribute to discussions, there are other reasons. PM (private messages) only available to registered members who have at least one approved post. you can track threads that you want to get emails when a thread has been replied to.
- how can i easily find out when people respond to my posts?
change your profile default to YES for "Always notify me of replies:". then, when you start a new topic or reply to existing topic, the forum will email you a link to any responses that people post after yours.
- how can i track updates to a thread that i didn't contribute to?
at the bottom of every thread topic, there is an option called "Subscribe Topic". click on that. to stop getting emails about new replies, you can unsubscribe
- how do i get to my profile to change password, avatar, notifications, etc?
once you're logged in, click your username near the top of any forum page
- what's a PM?
it's a Private Message. it's like internal email for forum members to communicate with other forum members privately. once logged in, you can click on the "PM" button below people's posts to send them private communication
- why doesn't my PM seem to get sent? it's still stuck in the outbox.
PMs aren't exactly like emails. a PM will stay in your "outbox" until the recipient opens up your PM. only at that point will it move to the "sent" folder. note that you can edit or delete messages in your outbox,
- when will this forum software be upgraded to a more current version of phpBB?
"if it ain't broke, don't fix it" somewhat applies, we prefer to let other sites work out the bugs before we upgrade
- how can i search for old topics that i know must've been asked in the past (e.g. 529 plans, or TIPS, or whatever)
there is an embarrassment of riches for search options:
1) on the main page, there is a search box and button that brings you here: http://www.bogleheads.org/moresearch.htm <edited link
2) within the forum software, http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/search.php
3) the boglehead wiki has a search engine: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.ph ... ext=Search
4) or use google. limit google searches to be just within the bogleheads site: from google.com, type in "TIPS site:bogleheads.org" (replace "TIPS" with a phrase that you want to find threads on)
- what are some sites related to bogleheads.org?
http://www.bogleheads.org/readsites.htm lists several. in addition:
http://www.lostsprings.com/diehards/chapters/ for finding a local chapter for face-to-face meetings
http://www.lostsprings.com/diehards/contest/ S&P boglehead prediction contest
- help! i lost a post! where did it go?
if you create a very time consuming post, the forum may 'time out' and you may lose your work. it's best to draft large posts in a word processor, notepad, an email, or other 'safe' location and then just copy and paste the long post into a new forum topic, so you won't lose your post. if you leave the webpage without successfully 'submitting' your post, it's gone forever.
- how do i post a picture or chart in a thread?
you must host the picture or chart on the internet somewhere, and then link to it in a thread using image tags in front and at its end. [img]image%20URL%20here[/img]. http://www.tinypic.com is a free, easy source of uploading pictures to the internet and getting an image URL. no registration required and it's very fast/convenient.
- how do i post a link to an article/website?
just type it into a thread. when posted, it will automatically turn into a hyperlink if it starts with http. or, you can use the URL tag in the toolbar area to change the link text.
- there is a spammer or inappropriate post on the forum that should be edited/removed. who should i contact?
please click the report ("!") button on the post, you don't have to include an explanation. it may take a little while, but all reported posts are reviewed by a moderator or site admin
- a certain poster bugs me. is there an 'ignore' feature?
no. but if a poster bugs you, they probably bug others, too. send a PM to a mod/admin for any posts that violate guidelines/policies of this site
- i want to go to a face-to-face meeting. how can i find a local chapter that's active in my city/region?
first, visit the chapter forum at http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=9 or http://www.lostsprings.com/diehards/chapters/ to find out who to contact.
- i'm living in a city that doesn't have a local chapter anywhere close. how do i form a local chapter?
it's easy to start a boglehead chapter. just post a request in the local chapter subforum. if 4 people respond that are interested in joining... then congrats! you are the leader of a new boglehead chapter. contact mel to make it 'official'. local chapters vary in terms of meeting frequency, meeting content, and membership. some are very active, some are somewhat dormant. some have 5-6 members, and some have mailing lists of over 100 bogleheads.
- is this site sponsored or supported by vanguard?
no. it's an independent website not affiliated with vanguard. jack bogle posts here occasionally, but vanguard employees are not allowed to post here without using a nom de plume.
- how does this site get funded? how does it monetize all of the page views?
it doesn't. the website is maintained and owned by alex frakt. the domain/servers are maintained by larry auton (mingstar). they do it as a public service. they spend significant time and money keeping this website operational. it is ad-free and sponsor-free.
- how do you pronounce jack bogle's last name? how do you pronounce "boglehead"?
it's like boAgle, not boggle (think rogue!). and it's boAglehead, not bogglehead or bobblehead. (it has a long O sound). it's confusing due to the boglehead bobblehead (boAglehead bobblehead). but just remember: it's a long "O" like mogul.
[several answers updated by Alex Frakt 2015-11-15]