Help

Have you registered? Seriously, you must register in order to log in. Have you been banned from the board? (A message will be displayed if you have.) If so, you should contact the webmaster or board administrator to find out why. If you have registered and are not banned and you still cannot log in then check and double-check your username and password. Usually this is the problem; if not, contact the board administrator -- some configuration settings for the board may be incorrect.

You must register to participate on the board by posting messages, voting in polls, and so on. Registration will also give you access to additional features not available to guest users such as definable avatar images, My Messages, e-mailing to fellow users, usergroup subscription, etc. It only takes a few minutes to register so it is recommended you do so.

If you do not check the Log me in automatically box when you log in, the board will only keep you logged in for a preset time. This prevents misuse of your account by anyone else. To stay logged in, check the box during login. This is not recommended if you access the board from a shared computer, e.g. library, internet cafe, university cluster, etc.

Don't panic! While your password cannot be retrieved it can be reset. To do this go to the login page and click I've forgotten my password. Follow the instructions and you should be back online in no time.

First check that you are entering the correct username and password. If they are okay, then maybe your account needs activating. The board will requires all new registrations to be activated, either by yourself or by the administrator before you can log on. When you registered, it would have told you whether activation was required. If you were sent an e-mail then follow the instructions; if you did not receive the e-mail then check that your e-mail address is valid. One reason activation is used is to reduce the possibility of rogue users abusing the board anonymously. If you are sure the e-mail address you used is valid, try checking any spam or junk filters and folders in your e-mail. Some forum registration activation e-mails trigger such filters, so these might have caught the e-mail. If all else fails, then try contacting the board administrator.

The most likely reasons for this are: you entered an incorrect username or password (check the e-mail you were sent when you first registered) or the administrator has deleted your account for some reason. If it is the latter case then perhaps you did not post anything? It is usual for boards to periodically remove users who have not posted anything so as to reduce the size of the database. Try registering again and get involved in discussions.

Community members may use the Member Control Panel to change settings for the boards. To change your settings, click the Member Control Panel link (found under Boards in the site menu at the top of all pages).

The times are almost certainly correct; however, what you may be seeing are times displayed in a timezone different from the one you are in. If this is the case, you should go to the Member Control Panel's Preferences tab to change the setting for the timezone to match your particular area. Please note that changing the timezone, like most settings, can only be done by registered users. So if you are not registered, this is a good time to do so, if you pardon the pun!

If you are sure you have set the timezone correctly and the time is still different, the most likely answer is daylight savings time (or summer time as it is known in the UK and other places). The board is not designed to handle the changeovers between standard and daylight time so during summer months the time may be an hour different from the real local time.

There may be two images below a username when viewing posts. The first is an image associated with your rank; generally these take the form of stars, bars, or blocks indicating how many posts you have made or your status on the forums. These images are displayed automatically and are chosen by the board administrator.

Below this may be a larger image known as an avatar; this is generally unique or personal to each user. Your avatar can be managed from the Avatar tab of the Member Control Panel. Many default avatars are provided in the Avatar Gallery.

In general you cannot directly change the wording of any rank. Ranks appear below your username in topics and on your profile and are used to indicate the number of posts you have made. Some special ranks may be used to identify certain members, such as moderators and administrators. Please do not abuse the board by posting unnecessarily just to increase your rank.

Long time members of the boards may have the ability to specify a custom title that appears near the rank.

Custom Titles are a privilege granted to long time, upstanding members of the community. You must have at least 100 Karma Points to enter your own Custom Title. When you have 100 or more Karma Points, a Custom Title field will be displayed on the Profile tab of the Member Control Panel.

Sorry, but only community members can send e-mail to people via the built-in e-mail form. This is to prevent malicious use of the e-mail system by anonymous users.

Easy -- click the relevant button on either the forum or topic screens. You must register and log in before you can post a message.

You can only edit your own posts. To edit a post, click the Edit button displayed with that post. If someone has already replied to the post, you will find a small piece of text output below the post when you return to the topic that lists the number of times you edited it. This will only appear if no one has replied; it also will not appear if moderators or administrators edit the post (they should leave a message saying what they altered and why).

The board administrator can edit any posts. Board moderators can edit any post in areas for which they have moderation responsibilities. Only board administrators and moderators can remove or delete a post.

To add a signature to a post you must first create one; this is done via the signature tab of the Member Control Panel. Once created you can check the Add Signature box on the posting form to add your signature. You can also add a signature by default to all your posts by checking the appropriate options in your Member Control Panel's Preferences tab. You can still prevent a signature being added to individual posts by un-checking the add signature box on the posting form.

Creating a poll is easy -- when you post a new topic (or edit the first post of a topic, if you have permission) you should see a Add Poll form below the main posting box. If you cannot see this then you probably do not have rights to create polls in the particular area where you are posting. You should enter a title for the poll and then at least two options -- to set an option type in the poll question and click the Add option button. You can also set a time limit for the poll, 0 being an infinite amount. There will be a limit to the number of options you can list, which is set by the board administrator.

As with posts, polls can only be edited by the original poster, a moderator, or board administrator. To edit a poll, click the first post in the topic, which always has the poll associated with it. If no one has cast a vote then users can delete the poll or edit any poll option. However, if people have already placed votes only moderators or administrators can edit or delete it; this is to prevent people rigging polls by changing options mid-way through a poll.

Some forums may be limited to certain users or groups. To view, read, post, etc. you may need special authorization which only the forum moderator and board administrator can grant, so you should contact them.

Only community members can vote in most polls so as to prevent spoofing of results. If you have registered and still cannot vote then you probably do not have appropriate access rights.

Announcements often contain important information and you should read them as soon as possible. Announcements appear at the top of every page in the forum to which they are posted. Whether or not you can post an announcement depends on the permissions required, which are set by the administrator.

Sticky topics appear below any announcements in viewforum and only on the first page. They are often quite important so you should read them where possible. As with announcements the board administrator determines what permissions are required to post sticky topics in each forum.

Locked topics are set this way by either the forum moderator or board administrator. You cannot reply to locked topics and any poll contained inside is automatically ended. Topics may be locked for many reasons.

Administrators are people assigned the highest level of control over the entire board. These people can control all facets of board operation which include setting permissions, banning users, creating usergroups or moderators, etc. They also have full moderator capabilities in all the forums.

Moderators are individuals (or groups of individuals) whose job it is to look after the running of the forums from day to day. They have the power to edit or remove posts and lock, unlock, move, remove and split topics in the forum they moderate. Generally moderators are there to prevent people going off-topic or posting abusive or offensive material.

The best way to become a moderator is to be an active, responsible, and upstanding member of the forums. Participate often and in constructive ways, while following the Participation Guidelines. If new moderators are needed, the administrator will review these and other criteria, select members that they feel will make good moderators, and then ask those members if they would like to be moderators.

Usergroups are a way in which board administrators can group users. Each user can belong to several groups (this differs from most other boards) and each group can be assigned individual access rights. This makes it easy for administrators to set up several users as moderators of a forum, or to give them access to a private forum, etc.

To join a usergroup click the usergroup link on the page header (dependent on template design) and you can then view all usergroups. Not all groups are open access -- some are closed and some may even have hidden memberships. If the board is open then you can request to join it by clicking the appropriate button. The user group moderator will need to approve your request; they may ask why you want to join the group. Please do not pester a group moderator if they turn your request down -- they will have their reasons.

Usergroups are initially created by the board administrator who also assigns a board moderator. If you are interested in creating a usergroup then your first point of contact should be the administrator, so try dropping them a message in My Messages.

There are three reasons for this; you are not registered and/or not logged on, the board administrator has disabled messaging for the entire board, or the board administrator has prevented you individually from sending messages. If it is the latter case you should try asking the administrator why.

If you keep receiving unwanted messages from someone, inform the board administrator -- they have the power to prevent a user from sending messages at all.

We are sorry to hear that. The e-mail form feature of this board includes safeguards to try to track users who send such posts. You should e-mail the board administrator with a full copy of the e-mail you received. It is very important this include the headers (these list details of the user that sent the e-mail). They can then take action.

Karma Points are a special way of gauging the activity of the members of our community. Each day a member visits any page of the message board while logged in, that member receives one point of karma. Members with enough karma receive special rewards.

You can view the amount of karma points you have by viewing your message board profile. There are links to your profile in your posts and on your name at the bottom of the message board index page.

In your profile, you will find that the word "Karma" is a link to the list of Highest Karma Members. This page shows each member based on the amount of Karma they have earned.

Karma may be lost for serious or repeated violations of the Participation Guidelines. The amount of karma lost, if any, will depend on the nature and severity of the violation.