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Surf Report 37 > askSam Forums FAQs
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askSam Forums FAQs
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| Registration & Login |
Why do I need to Register?
Depending upon how the administrator has configured his/her forums
installation you may be required to create an account before posting,
and in some cases reading other user’s posts; most configurations
will allow for reading messages without requiring registration.
The forums also supports anonymous posting and the administrator
may configure some forums to allow anonymous/guest posting. To take
advantage of all the features the forums offers, such as setting
your own avatar, tracking post counts, emailing users, private messages,
access private forums, and many other you will need to have an account.
It only takes a few seconds to register, and it is recommended you
do so.
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How do I Register?
To create an account you will need to visit the Registration page
and complete the form for creating a new account. Here you will
specify details such as your login name and email address – depending
upon how the forums are configured you may also be asked to specify
a password. If you are not asked to specify a password, one will
be emailed to you after successfully registering.
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I have a Username and Password,
How do I Login?
After successfully registering you should have a username and password.
You can then visit the login page and enter your username and password
to login to the forums.
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I already logged in, why do I
get logged off automatically?
When logging in if you do not check the ‘Remember Me’ option you
will be automatically logged off after a administrator-defined length
of inactivity, usually 20 minutes. If you would like the forums
to always log you in automatically, please check the ‘Remember Me’
checkbox.
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I forgot my username and/or password.
If you forgot your username and/or password you can visit the Forget
Your Password page and have both your username and a new password
emailed to you by entering the email account your registered with.
You will be sent a new password since we store your password encrypted
and have no way of retrieving the original value. Once you receive
your username and new password you can login and change your password.
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What if I’ve registered but still
cannot login?
If you’ve registered and can’t login, check to ensure you have a
valid username and password. If you are sure the username and password
are valid, but still can’t login you may either require account
activation or your account may be on hold. In this case it is best
to contact the board administrator(s) or moderator(s).
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I’ve logged in before, but now
can’t login?
First check to ensure your username and password are correct. If
you still can’t login your account has either been put on hold or
deleted due to inactivity. Please contact the board administrator(s)
or moderator(s).
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| User Profile & Settings |
What is a Profile?
A profile is information about your account that controls how you
view information in the forums. This includes details about posts
you’ve contributed to, personal information you wish to share such
as your web address or weblog address, as well as setting that control
how you interact with the forums such as: themes, time zone, and
many other settings.
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Why do I want to set my time zone?
Once the forums knows what time zone you are in it will display
all dates and time relative to your time zone.
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How do I add Signature to my
Post?
A signature is a message that is appended to the end of any posts
you make in the forums. You can edit your signature from the profile
page. This signature will then appear at the bottom of any messages
posted by you.
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What is an avatar?
An avatar is a feature of the forums which allows for an image to
be displayed along with your posts. Avatars may be enabled or disabled
by your forums administrator.
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How do I set my avatar?
If avatars are enabled by the administrator you will see and avatar
section when viewing your profile. From here you can complete the
forum to name the avatar you wish to use, either uploading an avatar
or specifying a URL to your avatar. You will also need to enable
your avatar for it to be displayed with your posts.
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How do I change the language
used by the forums?
The forums is designed to be multi-language friendly. Currently
the only available language is English, but additional language
packs can be installed to add support for other languages. Check
http://forums.asp.net for language packs. Within your profile you
will see a listing of the available languages.
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How do I set the date format?
The date format used to display any date information can be configured
from your profile.
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How do I turn off email-tracking?
Email tracking is a feature which will send emails to you when messages
that you are subscribed to change. You can turn off all email tracking
globally from your profile.
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What are the other icons/avatars
that show up next to users?
There are many different icons that can show up next to usernames
in the forums. Common examples are administrators, moderators, or
top posters. Other images may be displayed based on groups the user
belongs to.
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Why am I required to login to
post, view members, or email other users?
Depending upon how the administrator has configured the forums you
may be required to be logged in before viewing/using these areas
of the forums. This is primarily to protect the privacy of users
who have shared their information or to prevent unwanted/unsolicited
emails.
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| Privacy & Security |
How do I change my Password?
Once logged in you can change your password from your Profile page.
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How do I change my Username?
Unless the administrator has configured the forums to allow username
changes you cannot change you username. Otherwise you can change
your username from the Profile page.
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How do I change my email address?
Once logged in, you can change your private email address from your
Profile page.
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What Profile settings are required?
The only profile setting that is required is your private email
address. This is the email address that is used when you subscribe
to the forum threads or emailing you a forgotten username/password.
The private email address is never shared or displayed publicly.
If you wish to share an email address publicly, use the public email
address field. The remainder of the profile settings are optional.
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What if I don’t want my name
displayed in the member lists?
You can set the option in your profile and your name will not appear
in any member listings, including the listing of who is online.
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| Navigation |
What is a Forum Group?
A Forum Group is a top level grouping of related forums. A forum
group contains 1 or more forums.
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What is a Forum?
A Forum is a grouping of related threads of discussion. A Forum
contains 0 or more threads and 0 or more sub-forums.
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What is a Thread?
A Thread is a grouping of related posts. A Thread contains 1 or
more Posts. The first post becomes the Thread and replies to the
original post increment details on the Thread, such as the reply
count or last post.
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When I view a Forum I don’t see
any Threads/Posts?
A forum may not display any threads if there are no threads in the
forum or if filters on the forms have been applied and no threads
match the filter. An example of a filter is filtering to display
threads newer than a certain date, such as threads new in the past
2 weeks.
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I just posted a message, how
come I don’t see it?
A forum may or may not be moderated depending upon how the forum
has been configured. After posting a message in a moderated forum
you may receive a message stating that the post is awaiting moderation.
Once the moderator(s) approve your post you post will become visible.
The moderators may choose to move, edit, or delete your post to
ensure that the post is topical to the current forum.
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What are the different icons
next to threads?
The icons next to threads when viewing a forum indicate different
status. You can move your mouse cursor over these icons to see what
the different status / types of threads are.
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What is an Announcement Thread?
An announcement is a special post type that is always displayed
at the top of a forum for a configured amount of time. The purpose
of an announcement is to increase the visibility of certain topics.
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What is a sticky Thread?
A sticky topic is a special post that causes a post to sort to the
top of a forum for a specified amount of time. A sticky topic is
similar to an announcement, whereas an announcement is displayed
separate from other threads and usually does not allow replies.
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What is a Locked Thread?
A locked thread is a special post that does not allow replies. Once
a user locks a post or an administrator/moderator locks a thread
no more posts are allowed.
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Can I sort Threads when viewing
a forum?
Yes, you can sort threads when viewing a forum by Author, Replies,
Views, and Last Post. The default sort for a forum is to display
the newest threads first (Last Post descending). To sort simply
click on the column title, e.g. Last Post.
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What is the ‘XML’ icon at the
bottom of a forum?
The XML icon is linked to the RSS feed for the forum. RSS is used
to allow other applications to subscribe a forums posts.
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What is the red/green icon next
to a user’s name when viewing a Post?
This icon indicates the user’s online status. A green icon means
the user has been active recently (usually within the last 15 minutes).
A red icon means the user has not recently been active. You can
hover your mouse over this icon to see details about the user’s
past activity.
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I can’t access a forum I know
exists.
If you are attempting to access a forum that you have visited before,
but now receive an ‘unknown forum’ error there are two likely causes.
The first cause is that the forum you are attempting to access is
private and you are not signed in. The second cause is that the
forum has been removed.
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| Posting |
Can I use HTML?
Yes and no. You cannot type HTML directly into the editor. If you
are using Internet Explorer the default editor for creating new
posts will be a Rich Text Editor that will automatically format
posts using HTML. If you post with a browser other than Internet
Explorer a standard HTML textbox is used and BBCode can be used
to mark-up posts.
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What is BBCode?
BBCode is a special syntax for formatting plaintext posts.
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Can I add attachments to my posts?
Yes, however, this requires the moderator(s) or administrator(s)
to enable this permission for user’s on a forum-by-forum basis.
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What are Emoticons?
Emoticons are graphical elements that can be added within the body
of a post to add emotions to the post. Common examples are the use
of similes within the contents of a post. The forums come with a
pre-defined set of emoticons, however the administrator can add
additional ones.
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How do I post a new message to
a forum?
You can post a new message to a forum in several ways depending
upon how the administrator has configured the site. When viewing
a forum you should see an image button reading New Topic. Clicking
on this image button will take you to a form for posting a message
or ask you to login first. Depending upon how the administrator
has configured the forums you may be able to post anonymously in
some forums, i.e. no login required. If you do not see the New Topic
image button you may not have enough permissions – even after logging
in – to post a message to the forum even though you are allowed
to view the forum.
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How do I reply to an existing
post?
You can reply to an existing post using either the Reply or Quote
image buttons displayed with the post. If you do not see the Reply
or Quote image buttons when viewing a post you either do not have
permissions to reply or the post may not allow replies.
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How do I edit my posts?
If the administrator or moderator has configured the forum or your
role to allow editing of posts you will see an Edit image button
next to posts you have made. Clicking on this image button will
allow you to edit your post.
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How do I delete my posts?
If the administrator or moderator has configured the forum or your
role to allow deleting posts you will see a Delete image button
next to new posts you have made. If a post you have made has one
or more replies you will no longer be able to delete the post.
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My Post has words replaced with
***?
The administrator may have specified a word filter for posts. When
word filters are enabled certain words that are deemed to be offensive
are filtered and replaced with the ‘*’ character.
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How do I add a signature to my
posts?
See How do I add Signature to my Post? in the User Profile and Settings
section.
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How do I add an avatar to my
posts?
See What is an avatar? And How do I Set my Avatar in the User Profile
and Settings section.
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| User Groups & Permissions |
What are Permissions?
Permissions control what you are or are not allowed to do while
browsing the forums. When using the default views for the forums,
the permissions are displayed in the lower-right corner of ever
page (where permissions are applicable). The permissions you are
granted control all aspects of your view within the forums.
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What is an Administrator?
An administrator is the highest permission level within the forums.
By default, an administrator has full permissions in the forums
to perform any action, e.g. moderating posts, approving users, creating
new forums, and so on. Administrators belong to the Forum-Administrator
group.
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What is a Moderator?
A moderator is the second highest permission level within the forums.
By default a moderator can perform any number of tasks within a
particular forum or set of forums. This includes approving posts,
moving posts, deleting posts, editing posts, or banning users. If
you have a problem with a particular forum the best place to start
is with a moderator. Moderators belong to varying groups configured
by the Administrator.
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What is a Forum Role?
A forum role is grouping of common users for the purpose of assigning
permissions. In addition to common permission assignment a forum
group can also be used to display an image for a user in that group.
Forum roles make the job of administering and moderating the forums
easier since users can be assigned to roles and then permission
applied to forums based on those roles.
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How do I join a Forum Role or
Group?
Users are assigned to Forum Roles by the administrator or moderator.
If there is a particular forum role you wish to join, please send
a private message or email to one of its members for more information.
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