To
post a new topic in a forum, click the relevant button on either the
forum or topic screens. You may need to register before you can post a
message. A list of your permissions in each forum is available at the
bottom of the forum and topic screens. Example: You can post new topics,
You can vote in polls, etc.
Unless
you are a board administrator or moderator, you can only edit or delete
your own posts. You can edit a post by clicking the edit button for the
relevant post, sometimes for only a limited time after the post was
made. If someone has already replied to the post, you will find a small
piece of text output below the post when you return to the topic which
lists the number of times you edited it along with the date and time.
This will only appear if someone has made a reply; it will not appear if
a moderator or administrator edited the post, though they may leave a
note as to why they’ve edited the post at their own digression. Please
note that normal users cannot delete a post once someone has replied.
To add a signature to a post you must first create one via your User Control Panel. Once created, you can check the Attach a signature
box on the posting form to add your signature. You can also add a
signature by default to all your posts by checking the appropriate radio
button in your profile. If you do so, you can still prevent a signature
being added to individual posts by un-checking the add signature box
within the posting form.
When
posting a new topic or editing the first post of a topic, click the
"Poll creation” tab below the main posting form; if you cannot see this,
you do not have appropriate permissions to create polls. Enter a title
and at least two options in the appropriate fields, making sure each
option is on a separate line in the textarea. You can also set the
number of options users may select during voting under "Options per
user”, a time limit in days for the poll (0 for infinite duration) and
lastly the option to allow users to amend their votes.
There
are two images that may appear below a username when viewing posts.
Depending on the used style, the first may be an image associated with
your rank, generally in the form of stars, blocks or dots, indicating
how many posts you have made or your status on the board. The second,
usually a larger image, is known as an avatar and is generally unique or
personal to each user. It is up to the board administrator to enable
avatars and to choose the way in which avatars can be made available. If
you are unable to use avatars, contact a board administrator and ask
them for their reasons.
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 >. For more
information on BBCode see the guide which can be accessed from the
posting page.
No.
It is not possible to post HTML on this board and have it rendered as
HTML. Most formatting which can be carried out using HTML can be applied
using BBCode instead.
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.
Locked
topics are topics where users can no longer reply and any poll it
contained was automatically ended. Topics may be locked for many reasons
and were set this way by either the forum moderator or board
administrator. You may also be able to lock your own topics depending on
the permissions you are granted by the board administrator.
Administrators
are members assigned with the highest level of control over the entire
board. These members can control all facets of board operation,
including setting permissions, banning users, creating usergroups or
moderators, etc., dependent upon the board founder and what permissions
he or she has given the other administrators. They may also have full
moderator capabilities in all forums, depending on the settings put
forth by the board founder.
Moderators
are individuals (or groups of individuals) who look after the forums
from day to day. They have the authority to edit or delete posts and
lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate.
Generally, moderators are present to prevent users from going off-topic
or posting abusive or offensive material.
Usergroups
are groups of users that divide the community into manageable sections
board administrators can work with. Each user can belong to several
groups and each group can be assigned individual permissions. This
provides an easy way for administrators to change permissions for many
users at once, such as changing moderator permissions or granting users
access to a private forum.
There
are three reasons for this; you are not registered and/or not logged
on, the board administrator has disabled private messaging for the
entire board, or the board administrator has prevented you from sending
messages. Contact a board administrator for more information.