Hi Nerak, it is pretty easy.

1. First the graphic has to be available on the web somewhere. If it is a graphic of your own, you have to have a place to "upload" it to a webspace where it will have a URL (a web address). Many internet service providers offer some free web space automatically with your account, or you can see if someone else can "host" your picture for you.
   
2. You need to know the exact address (including the filename) of the graphic you want to use. If it is a picture you found on the web, you can move your mouse over the picture, right click and choose properties from the menu. A box will pop up appear and one of the pieces of information will be the URL (address) of that graphic.
   
   You can use your mouse to select that line and copy it. Make sure to include the whole thing, including the "http://" at the beginning all the way to the filename and extension at the end.
   
3. To use that image in your post, you use the image tag. Start with [ image ] (but leave out the spaces) then paste or type in the URL of the graphic, then finish with [ /image ] again without the spaces. No spaces anywhere!
   
   When you preview your post you should see the image.
   
   <ul>
4. If you see the text line including the image tag, you've made a mistake, probably have some spaces in the line.
   
5. If you see a tiny box with an "x" instead of the graphic, you probably have the URL wrong. It could also be that the website that contains the graphic blocks people from linking images that way.

[/list]
Disclaimer: Most people are not aware that it is a violation of copyright, i.e. it is illegal to use other people's images without permission. It is polite to ask permission from the website owner before using their images.

Many sites offer graphics specifically for the purpose of having people link to them witout permission.

<ul>[*]You can check the site and see if they give permission and if there are any rules they want you to follow, like not using the images for commercial purposes.
[*]Some sites state that you are allowed to use the images but you are not allowed to link to them from their webspace (it a lot of people link to those images it puts a strain on their web server) so they may request that you download the image and put it up on your own webspace and link to it from there.
[*]Some sites may allow use and linking to their images but request that you add a line of text with the name of their website.
[*]Some websites explicitly state that you are not allowed to link or use their images.
[*]Remember that if the site doesn't say anything about the use of images, it is by default illegal to use their images without getting permission first.[/list]
There are plenty of sites that are expressly for the purpose of supplying images free of charge such as <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.smileycentral.com>http://www.smileycentral.com</A>

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Easy summary:

1. Get the URL of the image you want to use (right click and select "properties") and copy it
   
2. use the "image" tag in your posts: paste the URL inbetween [ image ] and [ /image ] (but leave out the spaces... there should be no spaces anywhere)

For example, the line: [ image ]http://www.idexter.com/misc/sigs/idexter_motion_logo_100pxlc.gif[ /image ] when typed without the spaces puts this image: in your post.

When you enter a post, a link above the entry box that says "use markup in you posts" will show you other tags that you can use in your messages as well.

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--http://www.idexter.com