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Registration First off, registration is NOT required to post messages. For more, see Anonymous Posting This is a very simple process. When you enter the forum index page you will see a group of links on the upper right hand side of the screen. The first of these links is 'Register', click this link. Next you are presented with a forum that includes the following fields: Username, Password, Retype Password, Email address, ICQ Number, AIM Name, Yahoo messanger, MSN Messenger, Web Site address, Location, Occupation, Intrests, Signature, and options to display your email address and to set a username cookie. Below is an explination of each field. Username: This is the name that will be associated with each post you make on the forum. It is you identity, but if the administrator allows it you can change it at a later date. Also, they administrator has the option to disallow username he/she feels are offensive or inflammitory. Password & Retype Password: In the password field enter a password that you will use to identify youself (in conjunction with username) to the forum. You will be asked for this password when you want to change settings/preferances, post new messages, or login. You must enter you password in the retype password field to ensure that you have not accedentally typed the wrong password above. Email Address: This is the email address that will be associated with your account. It will be used to send you notifications, to aid in the replacement of lost passwords, and to be contacted by the administrator if he/she so desires. You can make this address private by simply not checking the 'Allow other users to view my email address'. ICQ #, AIM Name, Yahoo & MSN messenger: These are all optional fields that will help aid other users of the forums in contacting and chatting with you. You need not fill these in but if you do icons will appear along with each of your posts with convienat links to your ICQ, AIM, Yahoo and MSN information. Web site address: This field is also optional. When this field is filled an icon will appear with each of your posts that will provide a link to the adddress you provide. Location, Occupation, & Intrests: These feilds are optional. They add some extra information to your profile that will give other users a better understanding of you. Signature: This field is also optional. The text that you enter here will be appended to any post where you select 'Attach Signature'. HTML and BBCode may be allowed depending on how the administrator has configured his/her forums. There is a maximum of 255 characters. Options: If you select 'allow other users to view my email address' you email address will show up as a link with each post you make, and will be viewable in your profile. 'Store username in a cookie for 1 year' will store your username on your computer so that you never have to enter it when you visit the board. Note: Your password is NEVER stored on your computer, so you will still have to supply it when logging in. This is done to increase security on the board and make it harder for someone to impersonate you. Once you have filled out the required fields (Username, password, retype password and email address) simply press 'Submit' and a new user will be created. If any problems occure, such as you have mistyped your password, you have choosen a username that is in use or disallowed, you will be directed to press you back button and change the incorrect fields. If all goes well you will be told that you have registered successfully and you will recive an email at the address provided. This email will contain your username and password so please keep it for your records. Congratulations, you may now post new messages under your username! New Topics This will be old hat to most people who have used UBB style message boards in the past. However, some users new to the style may find it confusing, when its really quite simple. When presented with the forum index you will see information about all the forums on the board. Click the name of a forum that you feel your new topic is most approprate in. You will then been presented with a listing of the current topics in that forum. Take moment to browse though them and make sure what you would like to start a topic on has not already been covered. Once you have done this look to the upper right hand corner of the page. You will see a large link entitled 'New Topic' click this link. The screen you are presented with is the posting screen. This will vary based on some conditions. If you are logged in (see the section entitled 'Logging In' for more information on this process) you will see the following fields: Username: , Subject, Message, Information on the status of HTML and BBCode in posts, Options to turn off HTML, BBCode and Smiles, an option attach your signature, and an option to recive an email notification when someone replies to this topic. If you are not logged in you will be presented with a Username and Password field along with the other mentioned above. Posting is very simple from this point on. Fill in all the text fields on the page (you will recive an error if you do not fill any in) with the data you want in the post. The options under the message text area can be used to enhance the posting. You can select to turn HTML off inthis post, with this selected any HTML in the message body will be set so that is will show as normal text when you read the message later. You can select to turn BBCode off in this post, with this selected any BBCode tags (see the section entitled 'Using BBCodes' for more information) will display as plain text. You can select to turn Smiles off in this post, with this selected any smiles (ie :), :D) will show as plain text. The show signature will attache the signature that you specified when registering or in later in your profile (see the section entitled 'Editing my Profile' for more information on changing/adding this). And finnaly you can tell the board that you wish to be notified by email when someone replies to this message. Once you have entered the message you like, and selected the options that you want you can click the 'Submit' button and your message will be posted. You will be shown a screen telling you the post was successfull then you will be forwarded to your new post so you can read it. Replies Posting a reply is just the same as posting a new topic. Once you have browsed though a few topics within a forum you are bound to find one that you want to respond to. In the upper right hand corner, or the lower left hand corner you'll find a link labled 'Reply'. Click this and you will be presented with a form almost identical to the New Topic form (if you have not read the 'How to post a New Topic' section please do). Simply fill in all fields appropiatly and click submit. If you have made an error in any of the fields you will be presented with an error message telling you what you did wrong and to go back and try again. The only differance between posting a reply and posting a new topic is in the options area. With a reply you cannot recive email notifications when someone replies to the topic. The other method of replying to a topic comes in the form of 'Reply with Quote'. Under each post within a topic you will see an icon labled 'Quote'. When you click this you will be taken to the reply form just the same as clicking the 'Reply' button, however in this case the message window will contain the message text of the post that you are quoting. It will also contain the appropriate BBCode tags for quoteing a message (see the section entitled 'Using BBCodes' for more information). Again, you must simply fill in the fields appropriatly and press submit. Postiong Anonymously Anonymous posting is an easy way to say something quickly without having to go though the hassle of registering. Administrators have the option of setting different posting levels on each forum, Anonymous posting allowed, Registered users only, or Moderators/Admin's only. You will be informed of the posting level in the reply or new topic forms. If Anonymous posting is allowed it very simple to do. Fill in the form as you would as a registered user (see the section entitled 'Posting a New Topic' for more information on the forum elements), however leave the 'User Name' and 'Password' fields blank. After pressing submit your post will be assigned the username 'Anonymous' and you will not be able to edit it. That's it, very simple. |