F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S
Do I have to register?
How can I use smilies?
Can I add HTML to my messages?
What are moderators?
How can I change my registration profile?
Can I customize the bulletin board in any way?
Are cookies used?
Can I edit my own posts?
Can I attach files?
Can I search?
Can I add a standard signature to my posts?
What are announcements?
Are there any censor features?
What do I do if I lost my username and/or password?
Can I be notified by email if someone responds to my topic?
What is Daily Active Topic List?
Can I search private forums?
What are archives?
What are icons?
Registering
Smilies
You've probably seen others use smilies before in email messages or other bulletin board
posts. Smilies are keyboard characters used to convey an emotion, such as a smile :) or a
frown :(. This bulletin board automatically converts certain smilies to a graphical
representation. For example, if you type :o in your BB post, it will automatically be
converted to - a shameful
face. The following smilies are currently supported:
:) | smile | ![]() |
:( | frown | ![]() |
:o | embarrassment | ![]() |
:D | big grin | ![]() |
;) | wink | ![]() |
Using HTML and/or UBB Code
You may be able to use HTML and/or UBB Code in your posts, if your administrators and
moderators have those options turned on for each forum. Some forums may have either HTML
or UBB Code turned off, or both turned off. Only your bulletin board's leaders can set
this. Every time you post a new note, you will be told whether UBB Code and/or HTML is
enabled for that particular forum. If HTML is on, you may use any HTML tags, but please be
very careful that you use proper HTML syntax. If you do not, your moderator or
administrator may have to edit your post. UBB Code is similar to HTML, but offers just a
few basic functions, such as hyperlinking, image display, bolding and italicizing. A
complete list of current UBB Codes are listed here.
Moderators
Moderators control individual forums. They can edit, delete, or prune any posts in their
forums. If you have a question about a particular forum, you should direct it to your
forum moderator.
Changing Your Profile
You may easily change any info stored in your registration profile, using the
"profile" link located near the top of each page. Simply identify yourself by
typing your username and password and all of your profile information will appear on
screen. You may change any items, except your username.
Customizing User Preferences
As a registered bulletin board user, you may store your username and password in memory
for up to one year at a time. This will prevent you from having to type your user name and
password every time you post a note. You also have the option of changing the default
number of days back to view topics. Just click on the "prefs" link and you can
make either of these settings.
Cookies
This bulletin board uses cookies to store the following information: the last time you
logged in, your username and password, and your preferred "topic view", if you
set it in preferences. These cookies are stored on your browser. Cookies are not used to
track your movement or perform any function other than to enhance your use of the bulletin
board. If your browser does not support cookies, or you have not enabled cookies on your
browser, many of these time-saving features will not work properly. Also, you need to
have cookies enabled in your browser if you want to enter a private forum.
You may delete all cookies set in this forum by visiting the "preferences" area of the forum and selecting the "delete cookies" link.
Editing Your Posts
You may edit or delete your own posts at any time. Just go to the topic where the post to
be edited is located and you will see an edit icon on the line that begins "posted
on..." Click on this icon to edit or delete the post. No one else can edit your post,
except for the forum moderator or the bulletin board administrator. A note is generated at
the bottom of each post that is edited so that every one knows when a post has been
edited. Note that if your post was the start of a new topic, deleting your post will
result in the removal of the entire topic (all replies after your topic will also be
deleted).
Adding Signatures
You may use a signature (commonly used in email messages) on your posts. This is a new
feature, so if you registered previously, you may not have been queried about storing a
signature. If you click on the profile link at the top of most bulletin board pages, you
will be able to edit your profile, including your standard signature. Once you have a
signature stored, you can choose to include it any post you make by checking the
"include signature" box when you create your post. This bulletin board's
administrator may elect to turn the signature feature off at any time, however. If that is
the case, the "include signature" option will not appear when you post a note,
even if you have stored a signature. You may also change your signature at any time by
changing your profile.
Note: You may not use HTML in your signature file, but you may use UBB Code (except for the UBB Code Image tag).
Attaching Files
For security reasons, you may not attach files to any posts. You may cut and paste text
into your post, however, or use HTML and/or UBB Code (if enabled) to provide hyperlinks to
outside documents.
Searching For Specific Posts
You may search for specific posts based on a word or words found in the posts, user name,
date, and particular forum(s). Just click on the "search" link at the top of
most pages. Note: announcements are not included in the search returns.
Announcements
Announcements are one-way communications from either a forum moderator or a bulletin board
administrator. No one may post replies to these announcements. If you want to talk about
specific announcements, you will have to create a new topic in the appropriate forum.
Censoring Posts
The bulletin board administrators have the power to censor certain words that may be
posted. This censoring is not an exact science, however, so certain words may be censored
out of context. Please realize that the censoring, if any censoring is being performed, is
being done by a computer based on the words that are being screened. Words that are
censored are replaced with asterisks.
Lost User Name and/or Password
Retrieving your username and password is simple, assuming that email features are turned
on for this bulletin board. All of the pages that require you to identify yourself with
your username and password carry a "lost password" link that you can use to have
your username and password emailed instantly to your email address of record.
Email Notification
If you create a new topic, you have the option of receiving an email notification every
time someone posts a reply to your topic. Just check the email notification box on the
"New Topic" forum when you create your new topic, if you want to use this
feature.
What is the Daily Active Topic List?
When you visit this bulletin board, you will see a link at the top of the list of forums
called "Daily Active Topic List". Clicking on this will provide you with a list
of topics in all open (non private) forums that have been posted to that day.
Can I search private forums?
Currently, only administrators and moderators can search through private forums. We do
plan to support seaching of private forums for other authorized users in the future.
What are archives?
Archives are read-only areas that contain topics that were previously posted to one of our
forums. You may not add a reply to a topic that is in an archive. Topics in an archive may
have been conpletely removed from the original forum where they were started, or they may
still exist in their forums.
What are icons?
Depending on the configuration of your forums, you may be able to associate an icon with
each post that you make. There are currently 14 icons, each expressing a different emotion
or identification. These icons range from a simple note to sadness to warning. These icons
appear next to each topic in a forum listing and on each post. If you do not see icons,
your forum administrator may not be allowing icons on this particular forum. (Thanks to
Kombat03 for the icon idea!)
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