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| Why should I register? |
In order to fully utilize the abilities of this forum, the administrator will probably require that you register as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:
If you are under the age of 13, the administrator may require that a parent or guardian provides consent before allowing you to complete the registration process. More information about this is available during the registration process. |
| Can I search the forum? |
You can search for posts based on username, word(s) in the post or just in the subject, by date, and only in particular forums. To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. You can search any forum that you have permission to search - you will not be allowed to search through private forums unless the administrator has given you the necessary security rights to do so. |
| Are there any special codes/tags I can use to format my posts? |
For the most part, your posts will contain plain text, but on occasions, you may want to emphasize certain words or phrases by making them (for example) bold or italic. Depending on the rules of the forum, you may use HTML code to produce these effects. However, more often than not, the administrator will have disabled HTML code, and opted instead to use vB Code: a special set of tags which you can use to produce the most popular text-effects. vB code has the advantage that it is very simple to use, and is immune to malicious javascripts and page layout disruption. You may also find that the administrator has enabled smilies, which allow you to use small icons to convey emotion, and the [img] code, which allows you to add pictures to your message. For more information about vB code, click here. |
| What is email notification? |
If you post a new thread, or reply to an existing thread, you can choose to be notified by email when someone else replies to that thread. You can also choose to receive email notifications of new posts in a thread without posting in that thread, by clicking the 'Subscribe to this thread' link displayed in the thread page. If you choose to stop receiving email notifications from a thread, you can turn off the option by either editing your post, or by unsubscribing from the thread here. Only registered users may receive email notification, and they can set whether they want to receive email notification by default by editing their options. Email notification is also referred to as 'Thread Subscription'. |
| What are smilies? |
Smilies are small graphical icons which you can insert into your messages to convey an emotion or feeling, such as a joke or embarrassment. For example, if you entered a sarcastic comment, rather than type 'that was a joke', you could simply insert the 'wink' smilie. If you have used email or internet chat systems, you will probably be familiar with the concept of smilies already. Certain combinations of text characters are converted into smilies. For example,:) is converted into a smiling face. To understand smilie codes, tilt your head to the left and look at the text: you will see that :) represents two eyes and a smiling mouth. For a list of the smilies currently used by this forum, click here. On occasions, you may want to prevent the text in your message being converted into smilies. You will see a checkbox which you can select when you make a new post, which will allow you to 'Disable Smilies'. |
| Code Buttons and Clickable Smilies |
These controls allow you to quickly and easily enter vBcode into your posts and messages. To use them, simply click the appropriate buttons or select items from the lists to enter vBcode. There are three editor modes available: Basic, Standard and Enhanced mode. When using the Basic editor, there are no vBcode buttons to assist your editing. You must enter any vBcode markup manually in this editor. When using Standard mode, highlight the text you wish to modify and press the appropriate button. This will place the proper vBcode tags around the selected text. Pressing a button while not having any selected text, will insert vBcode tags at your cursor. You may then enter your text between the tags. When using the Enhanced mode, pressing a button will modify any highlighted text. This mode is a WYSIWYG mode, What You See Is What You Get, whereas your final post appears the same while being edited. Clicking a button while having no text selected will not have any effect. To use the clickable smilies, simply click the smiley that you want to insert into your message, or click the Show All Smilies link (if available) to access the full list of smilies. |
| How can I change the information in my profile? |
| It is your responsibility to keep the information in your profile up-to-date. You should especially ensure that your email address is kept current. You can alter any of the fields in your profile, except your username. Once you have registered your username, it becomes yours for life. In extreme circumstances, you may request that the administrator change your username, but he or she will require a very good reason to do so. Edit your profile here. |
| What is the signature for? |
| After you have registered, you may set your signature. This is a piece of text that you would like to be inserted at the end of all your posts, a little like having headed note paper. If the administrator has enabled signatures, then you will have the option to include your signature on any posts you make. If you have specified a signature, then the forum will automatically append your signature to any messages you post. You can disable signatures on a per-post basis by un-ticking the 'Show Signature' checkbox when you compose your message. You may turn the signature on and off on posts you have already made by editing the post and altering the state of the 'Show Signature' option. You can set your signature by editing your profile. |
| I lost my password, what can I do? |
| If you forget your password, you can click on the 'Forgotten Your Password' link on any page that requires you to fill in your password. This will bring up a page where you should enter your registered email address, and an email will be sent to that address instantly, with instructions for resetting your password. |
| What are announcements? |
Announcements are special messages posted by the administrator or moderators. They are designed to be a simple one-way communication with the users. If you wish to discuss announcements, you will have to create a new thread in the forum, since you cannot reply to announcements. |
| How do I rate a thread? |
You may find a small menu on thread pages which allows you to 'rate this thread' with a number between 1-5. Casting a vote for threads you view is entirely optional, but if you think that the thread is superb, you might rate it as a 5-star thread, or if you think that it's unspeakably dismal, you might choose to rate the thread with a single star. Once enough votes have been cast for the thread rating, you may see a set of stars appear with the title of the thread in the thread listings. These stars reflect the average vote cast, and can allow you to quickly see which threads are worth reading if you are on a very busy forum with a lot of threads. |
| Can I edit my own posts? |
Editing one's own posts has been disabled. Posts and threads can be edited by the Moderators. Click on the Contact Us button if you want your post or thread edited or removed. It is recommended you check your post before submitting by clicking the Preview Post button. |
| What are referrals? |
The administrator may have enabled referrals, which allows you to be credited for any new users you invite to the forum. You gain referrals by promoting MSWorld Forums using your unique referral link. The link you should use as your referral link is this: http://www.msworld.org/forum/index.php?referrerid=0 Each time someone follows this link to MSWorld Forums and registers as a new member, your referral count will be incremented by one. The number of referrals you have can be viewed in your profile. Your administrator will have more information on any prizes or rewards that may be given out for referrals. Please be courteous when promoting MSWorld Forums by not spamming other web sites with your referral link just to gain referrals. |
| What Are Moderators? |
Moderators oversee specific forums. They generally have the ability to edit and delete posts, move threads, and perform other manipulations. Becoming a moderator for a specific forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly helpful and knowledgeable in the subject of the forum they are moderating. |
| Why have some of the words in my post been blanked? |
Certain words may have been censored by the administrator. If your posts contain any censored words, they will be blanked-out like this: *****. The same words are censored for all users, and censoring is done by a computer simply searching and replacing words. It is in no way 'intelligent'. |
| What are the various thread display options? |
When viewing a thread, you will be able to view the thread from a choice of four modes.
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| Where can I find the RSS feed? |
The administrator may have enabled RSS syndication, this allows you to view newly created threads in guest viewable forums without visiting the board. The feeds are currently provided in two formats, RSS and RSS v2. The differences are as follows:
To add this to MyYahoo click here. The forums to which this applies can also be limited to specific guest viewable forums by adding another parameter to the URL containing the forumids as follows: |