Guide to using the whereiliveonline forums.
This guide is a summary of the User information provided at http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/
A Forum allows people to post ideas, opinions, and information in an organized way. Posts are organized in a way that makes it easy for people to find the information they are interested in, but without having to wade through unrelated information.
Postings are organized into three subdivisions:
Post - A post is a piece of information submitted by a single user. It may be a new post, which starts a new topic, or a reply to an existing post. Posts are typically a sentence, paragraph, or a few paragraphs.
Topic - A topic is a collection of posts. The idea of a topic is that there is a single post that contains the topic of discussion. Other posts in the topic are replies to this first post. Topics are like conversations, allowing many people to state their opinions about an idea, or debate an issue.
Forum - A forum is a container for topics. Forums often have a general subject that the topics within are about. For instance, you might have a Movie Reviews forum, which would contain topics in which people would discuss movies and their opinions about them.
Navigating through posts is based on the idea of posts, topics and forums. Generally, a user will start at the Forum Index. The Forum Index shows a list of forums. If you click on one of the forums, you will be shown the View Forum page, which is a listing of the topics in the forum. If you click on a topic, you will be shown the View Topic page, which is a listing of the posts in that topic . The posts in a topic are organized chronologically, with the oldest post first
In order to log into the board as a user, you must register a username. To do this, click the small Register link at the top of any page.
You will then be taken to the registration information form. Fill out each of the required fields, and any of the optional fields you like. When you register, you must specify an email address. All email from the board to you will be sent to that address. Once you have registered you must check your email and click the activation link that will be sent to you before you may log in.
Logging In
In order to post using your username and use your custom settings on the board, you must log in. To log in, you must use the small login form at the bottom of the Forum Index page.
Alternatively you may click the small Login link at the top of any page to be taken to the Login Page.
Enter your user name and password, and click Login. Now you will be able to post with your username, change your profile, check private messages, etc. To log out of the board, click the small Logout [ ] link at the top of any page.
If you are not logged in and attempt to do anything that requires a login, you will be taken to the login screen.
If you forget your password, go to the Login Page. Click I forgot my password.
Posting
There are two main ways to create a post. In the View Forum and View Topic pages, you may click New Topic. This will take you to the posting form, and, when you have posted, will create a new topic with your post as the first one in the topic. In the View Topic page, you may also click Reply. This will take you to the posting form, and, when you have posted, it will add your post to the topic you replied to. To reply to a specific post, you may also click the Quote button in the upper right corner of that post.
Posting Form
When you post a new topic or post a reply, you are taken to the posting form, where to enter your post.
Subject - The subject of your post. If this is a new post, the subject is required, and it will be the name of the topic. If the post is replying to another post, the subject is not required, but may be added, and will be shown at the top of the post.
Message Body - The Message body is a large text area where the body of your post is input. Plain text is the only thing allowed in this text area, but special formatting, links, smilies (emoticons), images, etc. may be added through the use of Smilies, BBCode and/or HTML (if they are enabled).
Smilies - Smilies (also called emoticons) can be added to posts.
BBCode - BBCode allows you to add special formatting to your posts. You may only use BBCode in your post if it is enabled on the board you are using. To see if BBCode is enabled, look in the lower left corner of the posting form, you should see \"BBCode is ON/OFF\". If BBCode is enabled and you would like to disable it in your post, check the box next to Disable BBCode in this Post.
HTML - You may use HTML to format your posts. The HTML tags allowed may be configured in the administration panel You may only use HTML in your post if it is enabled on the board you are using. To see if HTML is enabled, look in the lower left corner of the posting form, you should see \"HTML is ON/OFF\". If HTML is enabled and you would like to disable it in your post, check the box next to Disable HTML in this Post.
Signature - You may add a signature to your post. To do this, check the box next to Attach Signature. You may change your signature by editing your profile.
Reply Notification - When you post, you may be interested in knowing when that topic is replied to.
Polls - To add a poll, look to the bottom of the posting form. These options will only be visible to a user if they have permission to make Polls.
Polls
Polls are a special type of that allow community members to vote on an idea or issue. Polls can only be made from the top post in a topic.
Poll Question - This is the subject of the Poll, the question that is being answered by the poll. The poll question appears at the top of the topic, above the poll options. This is required for the poll.
Poll Option - Poll Options are the possible answers to the poll question. To add poll options, type the option into the text field and click Add Option. To have a valid poll, at least two options must be offered.
Run Poll for - Number of days to run the poll for. After the specified time has passed, the results of the poll are displayed in the topic, and no one else may vote.
Smilies are small images that appear in posts. Usually they are small images of faces, and are often used to show emotion.
To use smilies in your posts, you need to enter a series of characters. Common character series are :) for a happy face ![\"Happy\"](\"http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/icon_smile.gif\"/)
, :( for a sad face ![\"Sad\"](\"http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/icon_sad.gif\"/)
, etc. Another common style for smilie character sequences is :emotion: (i.e. the emotion the smilie shows, with a colon \":\" before and after this). Examples of this are :wink: for a winking face ![\"Wink\"](\"http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/icon_wink.gif\"/)
, :lol: for a laughing face ![\"Laughing](\"http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/icon_lol.gif\"/)
, etc.
Quoting Messages
Quoting messages allows you to include other\'s posts in your own. It is useful for showing that you are replying to a post, or part of a post.
To quote all of someone\'s post, look at the top right corner of their post and click Quote. This will take you to the posting form, and will allow you to reply to the post. It will also automatically add the appropriate BBCode to your post to quote the post you are replying to.
Private messages allow users on a board to contact each other out of the public eye. Private messages can be described as a cross between email, instant messaging, and forum posting.
To use private messaging, you must be logged in to the board. Look at the top of any page, and click You have X new message(s). This will take you to your private messaging center.
Usergroups are a powerful feature of the board. They allow moderator permissions, private permissions, and any other special user settings to be granted to multiple people. This makes it easy to change settings for a group that has things in common without having to edit each user\'s individual permissions. It is also possible to make the Group Moderator (controls group membership) someone who is not an administrator.
There are two ways to join a group. First, you may be added to the group by the group moderator. This is not controlled by the user, but by the group moderator through the group control panel. This is the only way to become a member of a Closed or Hidden group.
To join an open group, click the small Usergroups link at the top of any page.
To edit your profile, click the small Profile link at the top of any page. You must be logged in to edit your profile. To make changes to your profile, change the values on the form and click Submit at the bottom of the page.
If you have any further questions or problems in using the whereiliveonline forum please contact us on webmaster@whereiliveonline.co.uk
