With this new software, a lot of things have changed and sometimes it’s difficult to figure out how to do things. So I’m starting this topic so we can try to show how to use the new features. Try to keep any comments on this page to the point.
There are two ways to log on. The first is to simply fill in your user name and password in the boxes at the top of the page. This is the quick method, but it doesn’t give you any options.
The second method is to click the little “Login” button at the very top of the page. This will take you to a different page altogether. There you enter in your user name and password, but you also have a couple of extra options. Beneath where you type in your password, there are two check boxes. Checking the first one, labeled “Auto-login on future visits?”, will log you in automatically every time you go to any Museum of Hoaxes page until you log off, turn off your computer, or clear certain of your computer’s folders (such as your cache files, cookies, or temporary files folder. Some computers are set to clear those folders automatically at set intervals of time, while with others the user has to do it manually).
Checking the second box, “Show my name in the online users list”, displays your user name on the main page of the Forum. If you leave this box unchecked, then your user name is not shown to anybody and you are only listed as an “anonymous user”.
New Member, Junior Member, Member, Senior Member, and Five Star Member:
The Forum’s software keeps track of the total number of posts you make. As you reach certain numbers, you get “promoted”. For example, you start as a New Member, and after 25 posts you become a Junior member. The number of green boxes under your name matches the level that you’re currently at. 1 box is for New Members, 2 for Junior Members, etc.
The number of posts needed to reach each level (as far as I can remember) are:
26 = Junior Member
51 = Member
201 = Senior Member
1001 = Five Star Member
There’s nothing beyond Five Star Member right now, but Alex the Webmaster can add on more levels if he wants (e.g.: 5001 post = Super Five Star Member, 10000 = Devoted Museum of Hoaxes Follower, 100000 = Person In Need of A Life).
Moderators (such as Smerk, the author of the post below this one) are people chosen by Alex (the webmaster) to try to keep the Forum from descending too far into the depths of anarchy. They have special abilities, such as being able to edit other people’s comments. If a comment you posted has suddenly been edited or vanished, that probably means that one of the Moderators decided that it was objectionable and changed it.
The Moderators tend to be rather lenient, as this is a forum for open discussion. However, if you do such things as excessively flame people, post spam, constantly post total gibberish (we’re used to partial gibberish around here), or do things that are simply weirder than usual, they may edit your posts and/or contact you.
Moderators can also have you banned from the Forum if you misbehave too much, so don’t try to “fight back” by posting lots of nonsense to annoy them!
Here is a list of some of the text colours you can use: aquamarine beige
black blue brown chartreuse coral fuchsia gold gray green lavender magenta maroon olive orange pink plum purple red sienna tan teal turquoise violet white (white) yellow
Some of these colours can be found in the menu on the “Post Reply” page, but others you have to type in manually by typing {color=red}type text here{/color} and replace the {} with [] and the colour you want to use in place of "red".
Below, I typed {color=maroon}Hello!{/color}
You can go back and correct previous comments you’ve made by going to the particular comment and clicking the “Edit” button beneath it. You can only edit your own comments, unless you’re a Moderator.
If you want to reply to a comment that was made a while ago, you can show which comment you’re replying to by going to it and clicking the “Quote” button. Here is how it looks when I Quote the previous comment I posted:
Accipiter - 16 August 2005 06:31 PM
Edit:
You can go back and correct previous comments you’ve made by going to the particular comment and clicking the “Edit” button beneath it. You can only edit your own comments, unless you’re a Moderator.
You can quote the entire comment, or edit the amount you quote so it’s just the essential part by deleting the extra words after hitting the “Quote” button:
Accipiter - 16 August 2005 06:31 PM
You can only edit your own comments, unless you’re a Moderator.
You cannot use the “Quote” button in topics that have been closed, but you can manually copy and paste the comment, type {quote} and {/quote} around it (replacing the {} with []), and have a similar effect. You won't get the person's name and date automatically that way, but you can type those in manually as well if you feel the need. Below, I copied and pasted the main body of the comment I'd quoted earlier, then set it up like this:
{quote}{b}Accipiter - 16 August 2005{/b}
You can go back and correct previous comments you’ve made by going to the particular comment and clicking the “Edit” button beneath it. You can only edit your own comments, unless you’re a Moderator.{/quote}
Accipiter - 16 August 2005
You can go back and correct previous comments you’ve made by going to the particular comment and clicking the “Edit” button beneath it. You can only edit your own comments, unless you’re a Moderator.
I had to type out the {quote} parts, the name and the date.
To post an Internet link or an image from the Internet directly onto the page:
To copy an image directly from elsewhere on the Internet to the Forum: type {img}web address{/img} and replace the {} with [].
Below, I typed {img}http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/rabid_junebug/Artwork/Sketches/Beetle1.jpg{/img}
To post a link to a website: type {a href=web address}name of link{/a} and replace the {} with <>.
Below, I typed {a href=http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/rabid_junebug/Artwork/Sketches/Beetle1.jpg}Beetle image{/a}
Creating an avatar, and posting a link to a picture on your hard drive:
Go into Post Reply and use the “Browse” button by where it says “Attachments”. When you’ve found the image, click “Submit Post”. Then you’ll get an image like the one shown below.
For some reason, a few people will have trouble doing this. What these people have to do is to upload the image from their hard drive to the Internet (you can use a website such as http://www.photobucket.com to do this). Then you save the image from the website back onto your hard drive. This is also sometimes needed when adding an avatar.
Avatars can apparently only be uploaded from your hard drive. In order to add an avatar, click on “Your Control Panel” at the top of the screen. From the list on the left, click on “Edit Avatar”. You can then browse your hard drive for the image you want, assuming that it is within the given size requirements.
Signatures are comments that automatically appear at the end of each comment a person posts.
You can set what you want your own signature to be by clicking on “Your Control Panel” at the top of the page, then clicking “Edit Signature” on the menu on the left, and then typing in whatever you want your signature to be.
If you get tired of looking at other people’s signatures all the time, you can choose to turn off your ability to see them. Click on the “Your Control Panel” button, then “Edit Preferences” on the menu at the left. Uncheck the box marked “Display member signatures in entries”. To see signatures again, go back and check the box.
To send a PM to somebody, click on the button labeled “PM” under their name. You can send no more than 50 PMs in any 24 hour period. Alex the Webmaster has tried to increase this number, but it seems to be stuck on 50 with the current software.
You can only see if you’ve received a PM by logging in. If you have one waiting for you, then box at the top of the page with the letters “PM” in it will turn green, and beside it you will see how many unread messages you have.
Also, the default setting for this software automatically sends an e-mail to your listed e-mail address every time you receive a PM. To change this, click on “Your Control Panel” at the top of the page, find “E-mail Settings” on the menu at the left, and then uncheck the box marked “Notify me via email when someone sends me a private message”.
When typing a PM, you can change your font properties (colour, size, italics, etc.). Attaching pictures or links to other pages won’t work, though.
Sometimes when a PM is sent, it will appear two or three times in the recipient’s inbox. We have no idea why this happens.
Logging on and being anonymous:Checking the first one, labeled “Auto-login on future visits?”, will log you in automatically every time you go to any Museum of Hoaxes page until you either log off or turn off your computer.
Also, if you clear you cache files, cookies, or temp. files. (Some people do this on their own, and some computers are set up to do it automatically every xx days.)
Sometimes when you’ve typed your comment and hit the “Submit Post” button, things don’t work as they should. There are various possibilities for this. It could be the “Posting Monster”, which is apparently some little filtering subprogram in the software that won’t let certain comments be posted. The Posting Monster is rather random and sporadic in its attacks, though shorter comments tend to have this problem more often than longer ones. So if this happens to you, try adding some more text or a smiley to your comment. This may also be caused by the server getting overloaded.
Other times, your comment won’t post just because the software does something weird. In this situation, all you can do is try again.
Sometimes your comment will even be posted twice! Remember, this Forum’s software is not infallible, and strange inexplicable things will happen.
Accipiter, thanks for creating this thread. Just a few clarifications:
Banning Users: Charybdis also has the power to ban users.
Private Messages: I tried to up the limit of private messages that can be sent in a 24 hour period, but no matter what I do the limit seems to stay stuck at around 50. So this seems beyond my control. Maybe it’s a software bug that will be fixed in later versions of the software.
Posting Monster: If the server is getting overloaded, strange things like this can happen.
Member Levels: There is nothing that exists beyond five-star member. Though I could create levels beyond five-star if people want it. I’m willing to take suggestions. (Adding levels is very easy to do.)
You can only see if you’ve received a PM by loggin in. If you have one, then box at the top of the page with the letters “PM” in it will turn green, and beside it you will see how many unread messages you have.
I dunno how I set it up, but I get an email when I have a PM, otherwise I’d never check it, it’s such a rare occurrence 😊
Go to the top of the screen and select “Your Control Panel”. On the left hand side under “Personal Settings” select “Edit Avatar” You can either select an avatar from the default set or upload your own from your hard drive by selecting the “Browse” button. A maximum of 100x100 pixels and 50kb can be uploaded. Once you’ve selected your avatar, click “Upload Avatar” to save changes.
Quotes/Signatures:
Again, under “Personal Settings” select “Edit signature”. Type quote/signature in the box provided then click “Update Signature”.
As long as a mod comes along and closes the old one it’s not a problem. I just don’t think we want everyone opening new ones day after day if there aren’t any mods around for a few days, otherwise they’d start stacking up. Also, I don’t know if it’s an option you have when opening, but I have to follow up and make the thread sticky after you open it, which isn’t that big a deal.
Okay boo, tell me what I’m doing wrong. (I first posted in another just to test this…I’m trying to follow Accipiter’s instructions for putting an image in:
I am pulling from my own site directory and using the img code above. I also tried just entering this manually
Images inserted directly INTO a post (not those attached using ‘browse’) MUST be a one-word name. Spaces are not recognized and won’t pull, neither will they pull even with coding or underlines in the spaces. I changed the names of images to get them to properly pull, closing spaces up completely.
Yes it is….it was a random choice, but I have to have these HUGE on my site (they’re first in thumbnails) so that various galleries and juried groups can view detail HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry about that!
Is there somewhere where the smilies are shown along with the codes required to make them?
I figure most of them are basic and generic, yet this :D does not make a big-smile smilie I’m sure I’ve seen on the board before. And there are probably others, too.
Edit: Nevermind. Link to the immediate left. Duh! :red:
Member Levels: There is nothing that exists beyond five-star member. Though I could create levels beyond five-star if people want it. I’m willing to take suggestions. (Adding levels is very easy to do.)
How about 2001= Conspiracist,
3001= Jr. Hoaxpert,
And 5000+= Hoaxpert
Member Levels: There is nothing that exists beyond five-star member. Though I could create levels beyond five-star if people want it. I’m willing to take suggestions. (Adding levels is very easy to do.)
How about 2001= Conspiracist,
3001= Jr. Hoaxpert,
And 5000+= Hoaxpert
:wow:
Hmm…we should probably make the intervals a tad bigger, considering some of the people are up around 20,000 posts…or more…
Member Levels: There is nothing that exists beyond five-star member. Though I could create levels beyond five-star if people want it. I’m willing to take suggestions. (Adding levels is very easy to do.)
How about 2001= Conspiracist,
3001= Jr. Hoaxpert,
And 5000+= Hoaxpert
:wow:
Hmm…we should probably make the intervals a tad bigger, considering some of the people are up around 20,000 posts…or more…
GOD this is long Now i know why i NEVER read manuals.BTW how many posts do u need to become a five star member?
P.S. the joke about 10000 posts being a person who needs a life is funny but offending.
But this is a sticky and the forum manual, so it’s okay to ask questions in it. I don’t remember what the five-star mark is, but it’s not too much. Maybe 5000.
I am pulling from my own site directory and using the img code above. I also tried just entering this manually
