The AnswerBank is a community question and answer site. Ask any question, from the academic to the trivial, and receive answers from real people.

We have put together a simple tutorial to help you get started. Find everything from how to register to how to post and rate answers.

Got a question that isn’t answered below? Please see our FAQs.

Getting started

If you are new to the AnswerBank you must first register to post questions and answers. All you need is a valid email address.

Once you have submitted your registration details, you will be sent a “welcome” or validation email. Click on the hyperlink in the email to validate your registration. Now you are ready to post. If you have not received the “welcome” email, please email Technical on the Contact Us page and read our FAQs under: “Why am I not receiving AnswerBank emails?“

Already a member?

Once registered, signing in could not be easier. Simply enter your username and password into the sign-in tab. Or you can choose to be automatically signed in every time you visit the AnswerBank by selecting the box in your profile and clicking submit.

Posting guidelines

So many questions, so little time! To post a question, go to the most relevant category and enter a question title and your question in the two boxes. When you click on submit you will get a list of similar questions. Click on the “yes, please” button at the bottom of the list to submit your question.

To post an answer go to the question and click on the “post an answer” hyperlink. Type your answer in the box and click on submit or the preview button to check for errors before submitting.

Not all posts are created equal. To add formatting to your posts or to label a hyperlink, use the basic html code below:

• To italicise: <i>italicise</i>
• To bold: <b>bold</b>
• To underline: <u>underline</u>
• To label a hyperlink: <a href="http://www.myhyperlink.com">my label</a>

You are in control

Let us introduce you to our AnswerBank tools.

Your profile

Don’t wander around the site looking for your questions and answers. Go straight to your profile where sorting tabs help you access your posts quickly. You can also update your registration details, keep track of your vitals (number of questions, answers and removed posts) and opt to sign-in automatically.

You’ve got an answer

You will receive an email notifying you each time your question receives an answer. To stop receiving emails, click on the “Got an answer?” hyperlink next to your question.

Rate your answers

Some answers are better than others. Reward the answers you like with stars. Click on the “rate this answer” hyperlink next to each answer and make someone’s day.

Subscribing to questions

Interested in a question you didn’t ask? Click on the “subscribe to question” hyperlink and you will receive email notifications each time the question receives an answer. Click on the link in your email to stop receiving notifications.

Reporting abuse

If you feel that a post is abusive, profane or goes against any of our Site Rules you can report that post for a moderator to review. The reporting hyperlinks are beneath the individual posts. Please do not report posts just because you disagree with someone’s views or a particular user.

Search

The AnswerBank has been around since 2002 and with hundreds of thousands of questions logged, you can be sure we’ve got it covered. To search our database of questions, enter your search criteria in our “search the site” box.

Contacting the site

Depending on your query, send an email to the AB Editor or Technical from the Contact Us page.