Welcome aboard, Annabelle!
I tried to put a smiley in this. I did a click and
drag but it would not work. How do I put them in
a message?
Just click on them and they'll automatically appear (once per click), though they generally show up at the END of whatever you've typed so far, so if you what you're doing is going back to insert them inside your message such as the middle of it, you're usually better off just typing the code for them yourself where you want them. When you click on them and get them to appear at the end, you'll be able to see their code.
Second, how do I mark a item as having been read?
You can't mark each post, but what registered members can do is take advantage of the "mark topics as read" button to clear the system, then when a new post appears, the grey buttons before each forum title on the home page will turn blue to indicate that there's something you haven't read on that board. If you're finished reading what interests you but decide there's something there that you're not interested in reading (perish the thought, hee hee!!) just click the "mark topics as read" button again and it'll be as if you read it. There's a sampling of what the blue and grey buttons look like underneath the last board on the main page.
Each time a thread gets another message added to it, it jumps to the top of the board.
