Instead of having to reply to a thread by first clicking the "reply button" you can make it faster through "quick reply".
To enable quick reply, simply go into your profile and click on the "Look and layout preferences" link. At the bottom you can switch in the scroll bar to show quick reply on by default. This means a little box at the bottom of every thread automatically, making it much quicker to post. You can also hide peoples signatures and avatars and change other forum settings here.
If you want to be notified of when someone replies to a topic you posted in or created a thread for, just check the box that says "Notify me of replies" at the bottom of the form area when you reply. You can also turn on this option under the Thread Tools drop down menu on the right hand top corner of every thread. You can also have notifications on by default for every thread you post in, by checking the option under the category: "Notifications and Email" inside your profile settings.
In your profile you can add your avatar under "Forum Profile Information". Image size cannot be any larger than 100 X 100 pixels. If it is any larger than that it will show a blank. You can add a full album of pictures under the link in your profile "My pictures" of up to 20 pictures where users can even comment on your individual pictures. Under the "Ultimate profile" link in your profile you can add paragraphs about you and even embed youtube and other types of embedded media into your profile. You can also set preferences here on whether you want comments allowed on your profile and who is allowed to see your pictures and other advanced profile settings.
I've disable direct uploading of attachments into thread posts. You can still display photos in posts by using a 3rd party image hosting site like
http://www.imageshack.us/ Go to the site and upload your photo. It requires no registration and is very quick. After you upload it will instantly give you a piece of code that you cut n paste into your post to display the picture.
