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Frequently Asked Questions
Registration
User Profile & Settings
Privacy & Security
Navigation
Posting
Private Messages
Tags
User Roles & Permissions
Registration
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In order to fully utilize the abilities of this forum, the administrator will probably require that you register as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:
- Post new threads
- Reply to other member's threads
- Edit your posts
- Receive email notifications of replies to messages and threads you specify
- Send private messages to other members
User Profile & Settings
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A profile is information about your account that controls how you view information within the community. This includes details about posts you’ve contributed to, personal information you wish to share such as your web address or weblog address, as well as settings that control how you interact with this site such as time zones, and many other settings.
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Why do I want to set my time zone? Setting your time zone will enable the site to display all dates and time relative to your time zone.
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How do I add a signature to my post? A signature is a message that is appended to the end of any posts you make in the forums. You can edit your signature from the profile page. This signature will then appear at the bottom of any messages posted by you.
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How do I get a picture under my username? These small images are called avatars.
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An avatar is a small picture that is displayed in your profile and beneath your name in your forum posts. An avatar is used to personalize your profile and your contributions. You can add or change your avatar from your profile page.
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If avatars are enabled by the administrator you will see an avatar section when viewing your profile. From here you can upload any jpg, png, or gif images as your avatar. The avatar should be 100 x 100. The avatar may be displayed at a smaller size so do check how good it looks when it shrinks. You will also need to enable your avatar for it to be displayed with your posts.
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How do I set the date format? The date format used to display any date information can be configured from your profile.
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What are the other icons/avatars that show up next to users? There are many different icons that can show up next to usernames in the forums. Common examples are administrators, moderators. Other images may be displayed based on roles the user belongs to such as the site's staff members.
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Why am I required to login to post, view members, or email other members? Depending upon how the administrator has configured the site you may be required to be logged in before viewing/using these areas. This is primarily to protect the privacy of users who have shared their information or to prevent unwanted/unsolicited emails.
Navigation
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A Forum Group is a top level grouping of related forums. A Forum Group may contain one or more Forums.
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A Forum is a grouping of related threads of discussion.
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A Thread is a grouping of related posts. A Thread contains one or more Posts.
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When I view a Forum I don't see any Threads/Posts? A Forum may not display any Threads if there are no Threads in the Forum or if filters on the Forums have been applied and no Threads match the filter. An example of a filter is filtering to display threads newer than a certain date, such as threads new in the past 2 weeks.
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What does it mean if a Forum is Moderated? A Forum may or may not be moderated depending upon how the Forum has been configured. After posting a message in a moderated Forum you may receive a message stating that the post is awaiting moderation. Once the moderator(s) approve your post, your post will become visible. The moderators may choose to move, edit, or delete your post to ensure that the post is topical to the current forum.
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What are the different icons next to Threads? The icons next to threads when viewing a forum indicate different status. You can move your mouse cursor over these icons to see what the different status / types of threads are.
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What do the Thread icons mean?
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Announcement - post is pinned and allows no replies |
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Announcement - post is pinned and allows no replies (Not Read) |
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Popular Post is pinned |
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Popular Post is pinned (Not Read) |
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Post is pinned |
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Post is pinned (Not Read) |
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Post allows no replies |
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Post allows no replies (Not Read) |
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Popular Post |
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Popular Post (Not Read) |
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Post |
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Post (Not Read) |
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What is an Announcement Thread? An announcement is a special post that is always displayed at the top of a forum for a specified amount of time. The purpose of an announcement is to increase the visibility of certain topics.
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A sticky topic is a special post that causes a post to sort to the top of a forum for a specified amount of time. A sticky topic is similar to an announcement, whereas an announcement is displayed separate from other threads and usually does not allow replies.
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A locked thread is a special post that does not allow replies. Once a thread is locked no more posts are allowed.
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Can I sort Threads when viewing a forum? Yes, you can sort threads when viewing a forum by Author, Replies, Views, and Last Post. The default sort for a forum is to display the newest threads first (Last Post descending). To sort simply click on the options button at the bottom of the screen and select your desired sort order and click 'Apply'.
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What is the orange "RSS" icon at the bottom of the forum? The RSS icon is linked to the RSS feed for the forum. RSS is used to allow other applications to subscribe to a forum's posts.
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What is the icon next to a user's name when viewing a Post? This icon indicates the user’s online status. When the icon is displayed it means the user has been active recently (usually within the last 15 minutes).
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I can't access a forum or thread I know exists. If you are attempting to access a forum or a thread that you have visited before, but now receive an 'unknown forum' error there are two likely causes. The first cause is that the forum or thread you are attempting to access is private and you are not signed in. The second cause is that the forum or thread has been removed.
Posting
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Yes and no. You cannot type HTML directly into the editor. If you are using Internet Explorer the default editor for creating new posts will be a Rich Text Editor that will automatically format posts using HTML. If you post with a browser other than Internet Explorer a standard HTML textbox is used and BBCode can be used to mark-up posts.
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BBCode is a special implementation of HTML, offering great formatting control on particular objects in a post. The use of BBCode is granted by the administrator, but it can also be disabled on a per post basis from the posting form. BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML, but tags are enclosed in square brackets [ and ] rather than < and >. Some examples are:
- [b]text[/b] - for bolding
- [i]text[/i] - for italics
- [url=http://www.example.com/]text[/url] - for creating links
- [img]http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif[/img] - for posting images
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What are Smilies / Emoticons? Smilies, or Emoticons, are small images which can be used to express a feeling using a short code, e.g. :) denotes happy, while :( denotes sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen in the posting form. Try not to overuse smilies, however, as they can quickly render a post unreadable.
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How do I post a new message to the forum? When viewing a forum you should see a button labeled "Write a New Post". Clicking on this image button will take you to a form for posting a message. You must be logged in.
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How do I reply to an existing post? You can reply to an existing post using the Reply button displayed with the post. If you do not see the Reply button when viewing a post, the post may not allow replies.
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If the forum you posted in is configured to allow editing of posts, you will see an Edit button next to posts you have made. Clicking on the Edit button will allow you to edit your post.
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I just posted a message, how come I don't see it? The site uses caching methods which may at times delay posts from being displayed immediately. Another reason you may not see your messages is if moderation is enabled.
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How do I delete my posts? If the forum you posted in is configured to allow deleting of posts, you will see a button labeled "Delete" next to posts you have made. If other members have replied to your post you will no longer be able to delete your post. If you want a post removed but are unable to delete it, you are encouraged to contact an administrator or moderator.
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My post has words replaced with ****? The administrator may have specified a word filter for posts. When word filters are enabled certain words that are deemed to be offensive are filtered and replaced with the '*' character.
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How do I add a signature to my posts?
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How do I add an avatar to my posts?
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Yes, images can be shown in your posts. If the administrator has allowed attachments, you may be able to upload the image to the board. Otherwise, you must link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g. hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.
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Can I add attachments to my posts? Attachment permissions are granted on a per forum, per group, or per user basis. The board administrator may not have allowed attachments to be added for the specific forum you are posting in, or perhaps only certain groups can post attachments.
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What are the recommended Web browsers? For PC users, we recommend Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.x or higher or Mozilla's Firefox 1.x or higher. For Mac users, we recommend Mozilla Firefox 1.x or higher
Private Messages
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What is a Private Message? A private message is like email within Community Server. You can send a private message to other users within this Community Server site that is visible only to them. No private information, such as the user's email address, is ever disclosed.
Tags
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Tags are like keywords or labels that you add to posts. Tags are great for organizing and finding posts you have made in the past, but it becomes even more useful in finding related posts made by other members using the same tags. You can find more information about Tags on Wikipedia.
User Roles & Permissions
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Permissions control what you are or are not allowed to do while browsing the site. The permissions you are granted control all aspects of what is displayed within the community.
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What is an Administrator? An administrator is the highest permission level within the community. By default, an administrator has full permissions to perform any action, e.g. moderating posts, approving users, and so on.
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A moderator performs any number of tasks within a particular forum or set of forums. This includes approving posts, moving posts, deleting posts, editing posts, or banning users.
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