[noparse]
FLASHBACK FORMATTING REFERENCE FOR AI ASSISTANTS
================================================
Purpose: point your AI drafter at this before writing a Flashback post,
so it formats correctly the first time. Flashback runs vBulletin with a restricted, partly
custom tag set. Everything in sections 1–9 was VERIFIED by posting live test threads.
Version: 1.1 | base v1.0 2026-06-10 (verified) + maintainer re-tests & additions 2026-07-16.
Living document.
★★★ OVERARCHING RULE: ALWAYS OPTIMIZE FOR MOBILE. ★★★
Most readers are on a phone. [code] blocks WRAP (~46–48 mono chars) — no horizontal scroll —
so wide tables/ASCII art break. Every layout decision is a mobile decision first.
★ POST LIMIT: ~10 000 characters per post (section 7). Split long content across replies, or
use the standard move — a short main post + a [spoiler] "längre version" (or a linked
follow-up post). BBCode tags count toward the limit.
1. BBCODE TAGS THAT WORK
------------------------
- [b] [i] [u] — bold, italic, underline; they nest freely.
- [highlight] — emphasis (renders as coloured text).
- [left] [center] [right] — text alignment.
-[indent] — indents a block, shown with a left edge bar.
-[list] with[*] — bulleted list.
-[list=1][list=a][list=i] with[*] — numbered / lettered / roman.
- [url]bare[/url] and [url=target]label[/url]. Bare URLs auto-link when the reply option
"Gör automatiskt om URL:er till länkar" is on (default on).
- [email]addr[/email].
- [quote] and [quote=Name] — quote box; nesting works. Use [quote=Name] (NOT
[quote=Name;postid] — that shows the literal "Name;postid", not a backlink).
- [spoiler] and [spoiler=Title] — hide/show toggle. Title is NOT shown on the button; both
render as a plain "Spoiler" toggle.
- [code] — monospace, whitespace-preserving block (section 3). NOT literal (section 3).
- [html] — a separate monospace box labelled "HTML-kod:".
- [noparse] — renders inner tags literally. THE ONLY true literal container.
2. BBCODE TAGS THAT DO NOT WORK (shown literally — never use)
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[s] [strike] · [color] [size] [font] · [sub] [sup] (use Unicode, section 5) ·
[table] [tr] [td] (align manually in [code], section 4) · [icode] (NO inline code —
for literal/inline use [noparse]) · [hr] · [code=php] [php] (no syntax highlighting) ·
[img] (disabled/restricted) · [tex] [math] [latex] (no LaTeX of any kind).
3. [code] BEHAVIOUR AND GOTCHAS
-------------------------------
- Monospace; preserves multiple spaces, leading spaces, and tabs.
- NOT a literal container: a well-formed tag inside STILL parses — [code]a [b]b[/b][/code]
renders "b" bold. You cannot nest [code]; a literal "[code]" inside breaks the block. For
guaranteed-literal output (showing tags/brackets), use [noparse].
- Tab stop = 8 columns. A field of exactly 8 chars + one tab overshoots to column 16. Keep a
field ≤7 to land at 8, ≤15 to land at 16, etc.
★ TABLE TECHNIQUE (verified): a real TAB char (ASCII 9) inside [code] makes aligned
columns; the same tab collapses to a single space in [quote]/plain prose. Tab-tables only
work in [code].
- Long lines WRAP (no horizontal scroll). On a phone the wrap is ~46–48 mono chars, device/
zoom dependent → keep table/art lines ≤ ~46 chars.
- Plain < > & " ' { } [ ] are safe as literal text in both code and prose.
4. ALIGNMENT FOR TABLES AND CHARTS (inside [code])
--------------------------------------------------
- Most glyphs (letters, digits, math symbols, Greek, block elements) are exactly ONE mono
cell → align with spaces or tabs (stop = 8).
- ASCII frames using + - | align perfectly → USE these for bordered tables.
- Box-drawing (┌ ─ ┬ │) renders but is slightly WIDER than one cell; error accumulates and
breaks borders. NEVER use for alignment.
- Block elements (full block, light/medium shade) are one cell → clean bar charts.
- Superscripts have extra advance width; subscripts are tighter → do NOT put either in an
aligned column.
- Combining marks (overline, vector arrow — x̄, v⃗) render and are ZERO-WIDTH → safe inside
aligned columns.
5. CHARACTERS
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Every glyph tested renders in BOTH code and normal text, no missing glyphs: relations,
operators, roots, full Greek (upper+lower), blackboard bold (ℕ ℤ ℚ ℝ ℂ ℙ), proof marks
(∎ ∴ ∵ ∣ ∥ ⊥), arrows, astronomical/weekday symbols, stars/footnote marks, fractions,
superscripts, lowercase subscripts, block/shade elements, combining diacritics. Arabic,
Hebrew (RTL) and CJK all render; RTL flows right-to-left within its run. `₿` works.
Unicode limit (not Flashback's): there are NO subscript CAPITAL letters → name variables to
avoid subscripts (P, Q, S, T) or use lowercase subscripts where they exist.
6. SMILEY AUTO-CONVERSION (prose only; never inside [code])
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Only this small, CASE-SENSITIVE set converts to emoji in normal text:
These do NOT convert (stay literal):
:d :P :O :s :@ :3 :> :') 8) =) B) xD ^^ <3
Crucially, clock times (02:06:53), "8)", and math like P(x|8) or f:A→B are NOT affected.
To remove ALL risk, tick "Stäng av smilies i texten" on the reply form.
(Note: this verified set is narrower than a screenshot glance suggests — trust this list.)
7. POST MECHANICS
-----------------
- Character limit ~10 000 per post → split long content across replies (or short-post +
[spoiler] longer version). Tag characters count.
- Reply-form options: "Stäng av smilies i texten" (off by default) disables emoticon
conversion; "Gör automatiskt om URL:er till länkar" (on by default) toggles bare-URL linking.
8. PRACTICAL RECIPE FOR MATH / TECHNICAL POSTS
----------------------------------------------
- Formulas/tables in [code]; keep lines ≤ ~46 chars for mobile.
- Unicode symbols directly (no LaTeX). Avoid box-drawing for borders; use ASCII + - | or
space/tab alignment.
- No sub/superscript tags → rename variables or use Unicode super/subscripts.
- Tick "Stäng av smilies i texten" if the text mixes colons/parens/letters; the default set
rarely triggers on technical text anyway.
- Use [noparse] to display BBCode or literal brackets.
- Section titles: there are no markdown "#" headers on Flashback — use [b]Title[/b] on its own
line. **bold**/*italic*/# from a markdown draft must be converted to [b]/[i]/[b]-headers.
9. ADVANCED / DECORATIVE GLYPHS (confirmed one cell → usable in aligned [code])
-----------------------------------------
All render, each EXACTLY one mono cell EXCEPT colour emoji:
- Mathematical Alphanumeric (bold/italic/script/fraktur/double-struck/sans/mono, e.g. 𝔽 𝒮 𝕏
𝓍 𝟙
: real chars that style even inside [code] without tags, and align as one cell.
- Braille patterns: one cell each → sparklines/plots in [code] (⣀⣠⣴⣾⣿⣷⣦⣄).
- Eighth/quadrant blocks: sub-cell bar charts ("████▌" / "██▏").
- Tall bracket pieces (⎡⎢⎣ ⎤⎥⎦ ⎛⎝ ⎞⎠): stack across lines for matrices/large parens in [code].
- Primes (′ ″ ‴), matrix dots (⋮ ⋯ ⋰ ⋱), equilibrium arrows (⇌), big operators (⨁ ⨂ ⨀ ∮),
brackets (⟨ ⟩ ⟦ ⟧ ⌈ ⌉), relations (≜ ≝ ≪ ≫).
- Decorative: dice ⚀-⚅, chess ♔-♛, card suits, music notes, circled numbers/letters.
DOUBLE-WIDTH: colour emoji (🎲 📅 🧮 ⏳) render but occupy TWO cells → safe in prose, NEVER in
aligned [code].
(NOTE: the shade blocks ░▒▓ read as tofu on some mobile fonts — prefer the full block █.)
10. ★ SPACE-EATING TRAP (verified)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Format tags can DELETE a wrapped/adjacent space. Wrapping a blank in [b]/[i]/[u]/[highlight]
(e.g. [b] [/b]) can make that space vanish and collide the words. ⇒ WRAP WORDS, NEVER
WHITESPACE. Put the space OUTSIDE the tags: [b]ord[/b] [b]ord[/b], never [b]ord [/b][b]ord[/b].
Especially watch nested/stacked tags around spaces.
11. DATA-ACCESS: SEARCH & URL API SURFACE (Flashback has no official API — this is the de-facto one)
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- Search is URL-addressable: https://www.flashback.org/sok/<query> (query-box strings work in
the URL directly, e.g. /sok/a:admin regelbrott f:29).
- Operators: p: profile · a: all posts by a user · u: same via profile-ID · q: a user's *quoted*
posts · f: forum-ID · t: thread-ID. Combinable (esp. a, q, f, t).
- Boolean/advanced: AND (& / AND / space) · OR (| / OR) · NOT (- / NOT) · phrase "ord1 ord2" ·
proximity "ord1 ord2"~N · grouping ( ). Sort: relevance (default)/asc/desc.
- ID-addressable pages: thread /t<id>, post /sp<id> (or #<num>), profile via p:/u:<id>, forum
f:<id> (the ID = the last digits in the address bar for that page).
- Indexing (how content becomes searchable — matters for a parser): BBCode tags stripped
([b]word[/b] → word); [code]/[spoiler] CONTENT is searchable; [quote=X]Y → only X indexed
(why quote=<username> finds "who quoted me");
Och sen så regelverket, som gick direkt till push istället för PR. Jag ordnar branch-protection.
