As most of you know, this version of Phorum was recently installed, and all of us are still figuring out how all the new options work. Here are a few directions:

1) REGISTRATION
As mentioned in the above Stickie, anyone can browse and read the messages in this forum, but if you want to post a message, registration is required.
To do so, click on “Log in” or go directly to [warsailors.com] then enter a Username, E-mail address, and a chosen Password, then click the Submit button. (If you prefer, you can make sure your E-mail address is hidden from view – this will be explained further down in this Stickie).
Next, you will receive an E-mail providing you with a URL which you'll need to click on in order to activate your registration.
Once you’ve done this you can post messages any time you want, as long as you’re logged in.
NOTE for your information: I've noticed that, even if E-mail addresses are not hidden from view in your Profile, they are all garbled in the "Source" so no "bots" can come along and harvest them. (You'll be able to confirm this by going to "View/Source in your browser). However, addresses entered before this new forum was installed are not garbled.

2) "MY CONTROL CENTER":
In the navigation bar there are a number of links, the first few of which (Forum List, Message List, New Topic, Search etc.) should be self explanatory.
By clicking on "My Control Center", you can customize the view of the forum to suit your own preferences as follows:

a) - Under "Personal Profile/Edit Signature" you can enter a “Signature” which will then be added automatically to all your postings, provided you have set it to do so in the Forum Settings – there's more on this below. Note that the signature will not show up when you “preview” a message, but it will be added when you post it.

b) - Under “Edit E-mail Settings”, if you prefer, you can unclick the box for “Allow other users to see my email address” and “I want to receive moderation emails”. You can also alter your E-mail address. "Submit" your changes.

c) - Under the next link, "Edit My Privacy Options”, you again need to unclick “Allow other users to see my email address” if you want your E-mail address to be hidden from view of other visitors. (As a moderator, however, I will always be able to see these addresses, whether hidden or not).

d) - I’m not sure about the next item “Allow other users to see when I am logged in”, because as far as I can see, there is no place where anyone can see whether you’re logged in or not.

e & f) - I haven’t looked into the next one “View and Join Groups” – if anyone has already tried this, please let me know how it works, and I’ll edit this Stickie accordingly. Also, I have not as yet tried to follow a thread, but this option should be fairly self-explanatory. (By following a thread, you'll receive an E-mail when new messages are added to the thread).

g) - This brings us to the links under OPTIONS:
If you click on "Forum Settings" you’ll see a number of options. Here, you can:

Alter the time zone showing the time messages were posted to suit you
Activate DST (whatever that is?).

By altering the next 2, your forum view will be changed.

1) - “Thread Override - List:”
The default is a “threaded view”, that is, all messages in a thread will show up.
By altering this setting to “View Flat” each thread will only show the Subject of the thread, the number of replies, and the date and name of the last poster to the thread.

2) - “Thread Override - Read:”
Again, the default is a “threaded view”, that is, the messages in each thread will show up separately and you’ll have to click on each one to see what they say.
If, however, you prefer to see ALL the messages in a thread on one and the same page, you need to set this to “View Flat”. This view also provides you with direct links to the "next thread" and the "previous thread" - this option does not seem to be available in the threaded view.

h) - I’m not sure what the next one, “Enable email-notification as default:” does yet, but by entering “yes” for “Enable "Add my signature" as default:”, any signature you’ve added under “Personal Profile”, as discussed above, will automatically be added to all the messages you post. (In other words, you never need to add your name at the bottom of each posting).

i) - Entering “yes” for “Enable e-mail notification for private messages” will ensure that you'll be notified by regular E-mail if someone has sent a Private Message to you via the Forum. If you have “No” in this box, you won't know if anyone has sent you a Private Messages until you log on to the forum (there will be a notification in the top right hand corner of the forum saying "You have a new private message").
Be sure to hit the Submit button if you’ve made changes to settings.

Note that I’ve disabled the option to upload files to the Forum, and have also disabled smileys.

3) PRIVATE MESSAGES
Now, going back to the “Message List” and clicking on "Private Messages” you’ll be able to send, read and organize private messages just as you do at home (use the drop down menu to find your recipient). In a way, it’s like having a 2nd E-mail account - however, it's a good idea to delete these messages occasionally just to save forum disk space. Again, if you want to be notified of a new private message, see i) above.

4) The links in the bottom navigation bar should also be fairly self explanatory, but if you have any questions at all, please post a message to this forum - others may have the same question, and might benefit from the answer. If you prefer, you can also, of course, send me a Private Message with your question(s).

MISC.:
Lower case lettering is preferable, especially if your message is long.

It's best to keep the Subject line as short as possible; if it's too long the links on the right hand side tend to get scrunched up, and end up on several lines.

PROBLEMS?
Occasionally, I receive mail from people who, although they have registered and have posted once, are rejected when they try to log in to post a second time (I've received 3 such mails since the forum was installed). I can't explain the reason for this, but if it should happen to you, please let me know, and I'll fix it for you (use my webmistress at warsailors.com address, replacing the "at" with the usual @).


This Stickie will be continuously edited to include more explanations as new questions come up.

June 15-2007:
As many of you know, a new version of Phorum was installed on June 12 - you can read about it here
[warsailors.com]

This version appears, on the whole, to be like the old version, except, I notice that there's an option in the menu below each posting that says "Reply via PM". By clicking on that, it gives you the ability to send a private message without having to go to your Conctrol Center to find the recipient in the drop down menu first, like before. That's the only difference I can see sofar.

Also, don't forget I have a page that gives some tips on how to post pictures etc. here
[warsailors.com]
There's also a link to this page at the top of the forum page.

Regards Siri
(warsailors.com)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2007 09:27AM by siri.