You must be logged in to search. You can search for posts based on username, word(s) in the post or just in the subject, by date, and even limit the search to particular forums.

To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of any page. The search feature is disabled when there are over 1500 registered users online. Because a large number of users using the search feature greatly reduces the speed of the site we are limiting this resource during busy times to Annual Supporting Members.

• In your Control Panel, click on "Edit Avatar" on the left hand side
• Scroll down and click "Use Custom Avatar"
• If you are going to use an avatar from another website, enter the url in the first blank.
• If you are going to use an image off your computer, hit "Browse," select your image and click "Open."
• Make sure your image is 80 by 80 pixels (or less) and 8.0 kb (or less).
• Hit "Save Changes"

PbNation limits avatars to the following criteria:

• avatars must be 80 pixels by 80 pixels or less
• avatars must be 8.0 KB or less

We allow our Annual Supporting Members to have larger and more detailed avatars.

• Up to 100 pixels by 100 pixels
• Up to 16.0 KB

We allow members to post images of persons who are wearing very little clothing but do not qualify as pornography. We do not allow explicit cartoon images. We do not allow obscene gestures like a raised middle finger. Avoiding the swear filter through the use of an Avatar is also strictly prohibited. Those images will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and can be removed at the discretion of a staff member. Please do not upload an avatar that a staff member has already removed or warned you about.

Using another user's avatar in an attempt to impersonate them any way is grounds for being banned. Do not impersonate other users.

Two or more users can use the same avatar as long as it doesnt have a user's name in it. It is it rude to steal someone else's work without their permission, but it isn't against the rules. If you want to protect your avatar, add your name in a legible fashion.

Swear words (even partially censored swear words) are not allowed in text, pictures, signature or avatars on PbNation and will result in an infraction. Leaving out letters or self censoring by replacing letters with symbols is strictly prohibited because it does not allow the filter to pick the word up.

When you let the swear filter work, it censors every single letter. When you do it yourself and only partially censor the word, users can still tell what you meant. There are three acceptable ways of doing this. You can not swear. You can completely censor the word using asterisks marks like this: ****. Or you can spell the word correctly as long you aren't using it to insult other members.

You are allowed to use swear words within reason on PbNation so long as you aren't using them to insult other users. We have a built in swear filter that will automatically pick up swear words and convert them to ****. You may turn this feature off in your control panel under "Edit Options." Simply set "Word Censorship" to No. This will allow you to view swear words.

Acronyms like "lmao" are allowed. However, if you use an acronym in such a way as to troll or insult other members, just like any correctly spelled swear word used to troll of insult, you could earn an infraction or ban. For instance, telling a user to "gtfo" could earn easily an infraction.

Certain words have also been censored by the administrator. If your posts contain any censored words, they will be blanked-out like this: *****. Do not space words or website urls out or replace letters to avoid the word filter, even if the word was not a swear word. Please do not partially self censor words either. Spell words and websites correctly and the filter will catch them. The same words are censored for all users, and censoring is done by a computer simply searching and replacing words.

Company names or websites that have been added to the word filter are usually companies who have repeatedly spammed PbNation.

• Why are penny auction sites on the swear filter?

Please take care what you put in your signature. That means do not use your sig to insult other members, troll or make racist remarks. You are free to put your opinion in your sig but all PbNation rules do apply to signatures.

Selling new items in your sig, or requesting that users PM you for prices on new items you are selling is prohibited. Links to new items you have listed in the New In Box Items / New or Unused Equipment / Services section are allowed.

Please do not avoid the word filter in your signature. If the filter picks up a word, even if it is not a typical swear word, please do not avoid the filter by altering the word. Additionally, images in signatures are prohibited.

Links to external sites are allowed, as long as they are not to adult content, non sanctioned PbN contests, auction sites, referral games, referral sites, money making scams or pyramid schemes. Please do not dodge the word filter in your signature.

Do not advertise pre-orders in your signature. We do not allow pre-orders on the site.

Links to your own PbNation B/S/T items are allowed and encouraged.

Links to your own old style Feedback is encouraged. Never link to banned feedback. Do not link to Feedback for any other account from your signature, even if it is your own account with a different user name. Please read the Feedback Rules here.

Please don't put misleading links in your signature. However, it is a longstanding tradition on the site to intentionally put confusing or tricky text when linking to the ASM signup page, so this will still be allowed within reason.

Occasionally a moderator will remove or ask a user to remove something not explicitly banned from their signature. This could be because it is visually distracting, misleading, trolling, generally in poor taste or for numerous other reasons. Users are encouraged to ask why it was removed so they don't make a similar mistake in judgment in the future, but there is no appeal. Adding it back or adding something similar back can result in an infraction or a ban.

PbNation limits signatures to the following criteria:

Maximum Characters in Signature Including BBCode Markup: 700
Maximum Characters in Signature Excluding BBCode Markup: 500
Maximum Value of x for [SIZE=x] BBCode: 4
Maximum Lines in Signature: 8

Yes. To send an email to another member, you can either locate the member you want to contact on the member list, by clicking the link under "Email" from the user's Profile page or by clicking on a member's user name and selecting "Send email to . . ." This will open a page that contains a form where you can enter your message. When you have finished typing your message, press the [send email] button and your message will be sent instantly. Note that for privacy reasons, the email address of the recipient is not revealed to you during this process.

Members may elect to not receive email from other users by not checking the box marked "Receive Email from Other Members" in the Control Panel under Edit Options.

Registered members may also be able to send messages to other members of this forum using the private messaging system. For more information about private messaging, click here.

If the administrator has enabled the Private Messaging system, registered members may send each other private messages.

Sending Private Messages

Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may be able to include vB Code, smilies and images in private messages that you send.

You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the button in a member's posts.

When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of the message in your Sent Items folder.

Private Message Folders

By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the Inbox and the Sent Items folders.

The Inbox folder contains any new messages you receive, and allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent the message to you, and the date and time the message was sent.

The Sent Items folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy of the message for future reference.

You may create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Edit Folders' link.

Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them completely. You may also have a button which allows you to forward multiple messages from a folder to another member of the forum.

You will need to periodically delete old messages, as the administrator has probably set a limit to the number of private messages you can have in your folders. If you exceed the number of messages specified by the administrator, you will not be able to send or receive new messages until you delete some old messages.

Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply to the message, or forward that message to another member of the forum. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your buddy list.

Message Tracking

When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt for that message. This will allow you to check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient by viewing the Private Message Tracking page.

This page is divided into two sections: unread messages and read messages.

The unread messages section shows all messages that you have sent with a read-receipt request, that have not yet been read by their recipient.

The read messages section shows all messages you have sent with a receipt request that have been read and acknowledged by their recipient. The time that the message was read is also shown.

You may choose to end the tracking on any message you choose by selecting the message and clicking the [end tracking] button.

When you receive a message with a read-receipt request, you may have the option to read the message while denying the read-receipt request. To do this, simply click the 'deny receipt' link rather than the title of the message, if it appears.

The member list contains a complete list of all the registered members of this forum. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the forum, or by the number of posts the members have made.

The member list also has a search function, which allows you to quickly locate members according to categories you specify, such as searching for all members who have joined in the past week etc.

The Staff list allows you to view all of the moderators for PbNation as well as what forums they moderate. You can also view moderators for any forum by scrolling to the bottom and looking in the bottom right corner.

Do not post another user's personal information on PbNation. If a user provides you their information for any reason, do not repost it anywhere on the site.

Personal information can include but is not be limited to the following:

Please do not post any private residence phone number, even your own.

Reposting pictures of another user, their family, or residence, is not permissible unless they have it currently posted on PbNation. If they take it down, please don't repost it here. It is permissible to post a picture of a user while at a paintball field engaged in any aspect of the game of paintball (be it playing, staging, teching a marker, or other).

It is not permissible to post a picture of a user (or family, friends, acquaintences, etc) while at any other location than a paintball field (ex: prom, family cookout, out with friends) unless they have it currently posted on PbNation already. Please ask permission before you use someone's personal pictures. Never use someone else's pictures implying they are you.

Linking to a imagehost (which includes but is not limited to myspace, facebook, tinypic, photobucket, imageshack, etc.) gallery is premissible if it is used to make the point that more than one user may be using an imagehost account in attempts to scam or defraud a user.

PbNation users are encouraged to be careful with what information they make publicly available on this site including links in profiles to social networking sites.

The easiest way is to click on Members under Quicklinks. The Quicklinks button can be found at the top of every PbNation page towards the right.

You can search by User Name, Home Page, ICQ Number, AIM Screen Name, MSN Messenger Handle, Yahoo! Messenger Handle, Skype Name, Post Count or Join Date.

You do not have to be ASM to search n this way.

You can view your own subscriptions by clicking on your User CP button located at the top near the center of every PbNation page. Click on View All Subscribed Threads to view all of your subscriptions.

You can change how you are notified about new posts right there in that view.

PbNation started off as just a paintball forum but as the number of people grew, so did the site itself. Granted, PbNation now hosts approximately 500 different forums. However, there's more to the site than that:

Reviews - The sheer amount of paintball equipment can be a little overwhelming even to a seasoned player. Now you can help out other players by writing reviews or just browse reviews written by others when you are on the hunt for new equipment and want to see how it stacked up.

Video - You no longer have to go to other websites to host or play videos. You can also find thousands of paintball videos all in one place. You can also host your own videos for free on PbNation and embed videos right into your posts.

Buy/Sell/Trade - We have the largest paintball Buy/Sell/Trade in the world. There are more guns listed for sale here at any one time than you'll find in any one place anywhere on earth. Even more than Ebay. You can also draw attention to your own For Sale posts by purchasing Gold Ups, show you are trustworthy by buying a B/S/T Trust or just list a used item for free. You can also sell New items on PbNation for just the cost of a Gold Up.

Feedback - Every user now has their own feedback section automatically built into their account. This allows users who use the B/S/T section to show they are a trusted trader over time. If you don't want people to ever leave you feedback, just don't post in B/S/T.

To enter the PbNation review section, either hit the Reviews button at the top left of any PbNation page or use the url https://pbnation.com/reviews. You can find specific reviews by the author by simply going to that user's profile.

PbNation Review FAQ:

What are the rules for writing a review?
You can find the rules here.

How do I add a manufacturer?
On the list of manufacturers you can just click the "add manufacturer" button and it will take you to the add a manufacturer form to fill out.

Why aren't there pictures of products?
Those are coming. We don't have a solid release date of when, but that is one of the things we want to add.

My friend has a product, can I make a review?
Only if you have at least tested it yourself. If you haven't, let him review it. The review system is for personal experiences, not for you to enter your friend's opinion. Let him make his own review.

I saw something new that is coming out, can I make a review?
Only if you have at least tested it yourself. If you haven't played with it, you can't make a review. If it isn't listed as a possible product to review, you can submit it using the add a new product form.

Can I review sponsored gear?
Yes. However, you must enter your relationship with the company who sponsors you.

Can I review products that compete against my sponsored gear?
Please do not. That's an obvious conflict of interest.

There's a product missing. How do I get it added?
First, go to the proper category (the column on the far left in the Reviews section). Then click the "add product" button to get to the add a new product form to fill out. It won't appear instantly because a moderator will have to verify that it isn't a duplicate.

My review got a poor rating. What can I do?
The best thing you can do is edit your review and improve it. Here are some things to avoid:
Don't leave short reviews. Leave lots of detail so the review is helpful to the reader.
Don't leave perfect reviews. Nothing is perfect, especially not paintball equipment.
Try not to be biased.

The forum button is gone, how do I get back to the forums?
Click on the large PbNation logo. It goes straight to the forums.