Village
FORUM
There are times when issues arise and local people wish to raise
concerns which perhaps would normally require a village meeting or other get
together of a group of people. Many, like myself would like to put forward
views, comments and provide help and information, but due to other commitments
normally associated to work find ourselves unable to take part. The forum is
intended to allow everyone to put their views, provide help and information to
others and be able to comment and add support or not as the case may be. It is
not intended to replace existing meetings, Newletters etc. but take the
existing and offer it to a wider audience quickly.
Registering
Registration is only required
if you plan to post new topics or reply to existing topics. There is no cost
associated to Registration. You are required to provide as a minimum your
correct name and email address, however we would be pleased if you would fill
all the fields requested.
Smilies
You've probably seen others use
smilies before in email messages and so on. Smilies are keyboard characters
used to convey an emotion, such as a smile :) or a frown :(. The discussion
forum software automatically converts certain smilies to a graphical
representation. For example, if you type :o in the forum post, it will
automatically be converted to
 - a shameful
face. The following smilies are currently supported:
| :)
|
smile |
 |
| :(
|
frown |
 |
| :o
|
embarrassment |
|
| :D
|
big grin |
 |
| ;)
|
wink |
 |
Using HTML and/or UBB
Code
For most village forum topics you are able to use HTML
and/or UBB Code in your posts. For several reasons I may have either HTML or
UBB Code turned off, or both turned off. Every time you post a new note, you
will be told whether UBB Code and/or HTML are enabled for that particular
forum. If HTML is on, you may use any HTML tags, but please be very careful
that you use proper HTML syntax. If you do not I may have to edit your post to
make it clear for other users. UBB Code is similar to HTML, but offers just a
few basic functions, such as hyperlinking, image display, bolding and
italicizing. A complete list of current UBB Codes are listed here.
Moderators
Moderators control individual
forums. They can edit, delete, or prune any posts in their forums. If you have
a question about a particular forum, you should direct it to your forum
moderator. As new topics are added I will request that someone associated with
that topic from within the village be the moderator.
Changing Your
Profile
You may easily change any info stored in your
registration profile, using the "profile" link located near the top of each
page. Simply identify yourself by typing your username and password and all of
your profile information will appear on screen. You may change any items,
except your username.
Customizing Using
Preferences
As a registered village discussion forum user,
you may store your username and password in memory for up to one year at a
time. This will prevent you from having to type your user name and password
every time you post a note. You also have the option of changing the default
number of days back to view topics. Just click on the "prefs" link and you can
make either of these settings.
Cookies
This bulletin board uses cookies
to store the following information: the last time you logged in, your username
and password, and your preferred "topic view", if you set it in preferences.
These cookies are stored by your browser on your PC. No cookies are used to
track your movement or perform any other function other than enhance your use
of the discussion forum. If your browser does not support cookies, or you have
not enabled cookies on your browser, many of these time-saving features will
not work properly. Also, you need to have cookies working if you want to enter
a private forum.
You may delete all cookies set in this forum by visiting the
"preferences" area of the forum and selecting the "delete cookies" link.
Editing Your
Posts
You may edit or delete your own posts at any time.
Just go to the topic where the post to be edited is located and you will see an
edit icon on the line that begins "posted on..." Click on this icon to edit or
delete the post. No one else can edit your post, except for the forum moderator
or me. A note is generated at the bottom of each post that is edited so that
every one knows when a post has been edited. Note that if your post was the
start of a new topic, deleting your post will result in the removal of the
entire topic (all replies after your topic will also be deleted).
Adding
Signatures
You may use a signature (commonly used in email
messages) on your posts. Once you have a signature stored, you can choose to
include it any post you make by checking the "include signature" box when you
create your post. I may turn the signature feature off at any time if I find it
is not used. If that is the case, the "include signature" option will not
appear when you post a note, even if you have stored a signature. You may also
change your signature at any time by changing your profile.
Note: You may not use HTML in your signature file, but you may
use UBB Code (except for the UBB Code Image tag).
Attaching
Files
For security reasons, you may not attach files to any
posts. You may cut and paste text into your post or use HTML and/or UBB Code
(if enabled) to provide hyperlinks to outside documents.
Searching For
Specific Posts
You may search for specific posts based on a
word or words found in the posts, user name, date, and particular forum(s).
Just click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. Note: announcements
are not included in the search returns.
Announcements
Announcements are one-way
communications from either a forum moderator or me. They allow me to inform
everyone about general changes or useage issues etc. No one may post replies to
these announcements. If you want to talk about specific announcements, you will
have to create a new topic in the appropriate forum.
Censoring
Posts
I have setup the system to censor certain words that
may be posted by a village forum user. This censoring is not an exact science,
however, so certain words may be censored out of context. Please realise that
the censoring is being done by a computer based on the words that are being
screened. Words that are censored are replaced with asterisks. The reason that
I have introduced the censorship of certain words for village issues is because
I want everyone to be able to look at it including younger members of our
villages.
Lost User Name and/or
Password
Retrieving your username and password is simple.
All of the pages that require you to identify yourself with your username and
password carry a "lost password" link that you can use to have your username
and password emailed instantly to your email address that we have on record
when your first registered.
Email
Notification
If you create a new topic, you have the option
of receiving an email notification every time someone posts a reply to your
topic. Just check the email notification box on the "New Topic" forum when you
create your new topic, if you want to use this feature.
What is the
Daily Active Topic List?
When you visit this village forum,
you will see a link at the top of the list of forums called "Daily Active Topic
List". Clicking on this will provide you with all topic in all open forums that
have been posted to that day.
What are
archives?
Archives are read-only areas that contains topics
that were previously posted to one of the forums. You may not add a reply to a
topic that is in an archive. Topics in an archive may have been completely
removed from the original forum where they were started, or they may still
exist in their forums.
What are
icons?
There are currently 14 icons, each expressing a
different emotion or identification. These icons range from a simple note to
sadness to warning. These icons appear next to each topic in a forum listing
and on each post. |
