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Forum HelpRevision 1.0 - 12/13/98
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This FAQ covers the most frequently asked questions regarding this forum. This is by no means meant to be comprehensive. Answers to most questions, as well as general usage guidelines, are covered in the forum's online help system, accessible from the help icon of any page or through the start page. In addition, questions here aren't necessarily limited to the forum itself, and may answer miscellaneous questions commonly posted to the forum.
This FAQ is divided into general questions and technical questions. Non-technical questions pertain to issues that do not have anything to do with the software, such as what is okay to post to the forum, what to do in certain problem situations, and stuff like that. Technical questions deal with the forum software itself, such as questions about your profile, how to perform certain tasks, etc.
New questions since the last revision are marked with a red asterisk (*).
A. Yes, of course. People arrive in our Internet community all the time, and you'll get to know the others as time goes on.
A. You should find the more experienced people on the forum very helpful. Everybody was a newbie once, and most people here remember that. They usually try to help people who are just starting out. Though, one good tip is to search the forum if you have a particular question. It's quite possible it has already been answered.
A. Yes. We welcome you, and other people who speak other languages. You will learn more English here.
A. If you're talking about something which has gone on for more than three days, contact the administrator or one of the moderators (their contact information is linked from the start page). While people are going to disagree about some things, we'll do what we can with the limited amount of time we have to make sure that disagreement doesn't become too personal or escalate into a feud.
A. This depends on the group you're posting to. As a general rule, your post should have something to do with the subject of the group. The subject of the group is loosely defined by the name of the group, although users are encouraged to browse the existing posts in the group to find out what the group is used for before posting to that group. For message content guidelines and regulations, see the Messages rules and regulations page (which can also be accessed from the forum's start page). These rules and regulations apply to all groups unless otherwise noted.
A. Yes and no. If you don't know a person's e-mail address, you can post a message requesting their correspondence. However, the forum is a public place and therefore your posts should be of interest to all users. If you find that a thread you're posting to is getting narrowed to two people and/or the content does not appeal to the general forum public, it might be best to take the conversation to e-mail or perhaps a chat room. This does not mean that all narrowed discussions aren't of interest to all users, however, so just use common sense.
A. You can, but most users would prefer that you posted one thread with a more general subject heading that could pertain to all of your topics. Then you can just post subthreads to that thread to cover the other topics. You can do this by clicking the "Post new message here" link below your new thread on the message display page.
A. First of all, the best thing not to do is to reply to the message. Instead, simply report the message to the forum administrator or one of the moderators. A contact list is available on the forum start page. Typically, the offensive message will be deleted promptly without user intervention, but it never hurts to report it in case it gets missed.
A. Well, the first thing to do is to try to help yourself. If the forum forgot who you are, it's probably because your forum cookie got lost. The forum cookie is saved to your browser and is used to tell the forum which profile to use when you visit. If you saved a username and password with your profile, simply enter them at the login/out screen to resume your previous session and get your profile back. If you didn't specify a username and password, but you specified an e-mail address with your profile or any of your posts, you can click the "forgot my profile" link on the login/out page. Follow the instructions and your usercode will be mailed to the corresponding e-mail address it finds. You can then use this usercode to log in at the login/out screen.If you still can't get your profile back, the administrator, if in a good mood, will look it up for you if you specify as much information about it as you can. This is the last resort if the other two methods fail. Note that you should immediately save a username and password (Options...Preferences) with your profile so you can get it back easily or log in with your profile from remote places.
A. Chances are that your browser doesn't have cookies enabled (or possibly doesn't support them). In order for the forum to automatically recognize you across user sessions, you must accept cookies. Check your browser setup options and look for any cookie settings. If you don't mind accepting cookies, ensure that cookies are enabled. If your browser or network doesn't support cookies, or you don't like to accept cookies (I can't imagine why), then you must manually log into the forum each time you visit. See the above question for information on obtaining your previous profile. Also, be sure to save a username and password with your profile for easy login (Options...Preferences).
A. This is often caused by a corrupt cookie file. The forum can't read from or write to a corrupt cookie, and this effectively disables the forum's profile features. The only way around this is to manually delete the forum cookie file. With Internet Explorer, your cookie files are typically located in a directory called "Temporary Internet Files," "Profiles," or "cookies" within your Windows system directory or your root directory. The forum cookie file will contain the name of the site that the forum is on (so example.com would have "example.com" in part of its name). This is the cookie you'll need to delete from your hard drive. With Netscape, the cookies.txt file can be edited. In this case, open the cookies.txt file with a text editor and delete any lines having the site's name in them. Make sure word wrap is off. Note that before editing or deleting any cookies, you should close down the browser. Also note that this site is not responsible for any damage you do to your computer, browser or other cookie files.
A. You probably posted the message while viewing a timespan other than the most recent one. Try viewing the latest timespan to see the most recent posts.
A. Go to the Login/out screen while using the profile you wish to move to another browser. Write down the usercode and then use this code to log into the forums with your other browser(s).Or, if you saved a username and password with your profile (Options...Preferences), simply enter them at the Login/out screen.
A. You might not be inserting the required "?" character in front of the opening and closing tags. The proper format is <?TAGNAME></?TAGNAME>. For more on custom tags, see Message writing tips.