DarylScience Forum Stuff
After reading this outline, click the link at the end to
enter the Forum
4.1 User Accounts
phpBB 2.0 is based on a user system. When
a user is logged in, his/her username will be shown with each post he/she
makes. Each user may also have some custom settings which allow them to
control the look and feel of the board as they use it.
4.1.1 Registration
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 be taken to the Registration Agreement Terms, which you must
agree to in order to register.
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. The
settings on the registration form are identical to those in the Profile
Settings form.
Make sure you use full and real names! As I must approve each user, any username that I can't recognize as one of my own will be dropped.
When you register, you must specify an email address. All email from the
board to you will be sent to that address. If the board is set to User
Activation, you must check your email and click the activation link there
before you may log in.
4.1.2 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. You will be
taken to the page you were previously using, but will now be able to post with
your username, change your profile, check private messages, etc. To log
out of the board, click the small Logout [<your username> ] 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. After you log in, you will be taken to
the page you were attempting to go to before logging in. Things that
require login include changing your profile, checking your private messages,
posting to forums (if they require it), etc.
If you forget your password, go to the Login Page. Click I
forgot my password.
You will be taken to a form to enter your username and email address. A
new password will be created, and sent in an email to you. When you
receive the email, you need to click the new password activation link. The
new password activation link exists so that if someone else enters your
information into the Forgotten Password form, your current password will
remain intact. After you have activated your new password, you may log in
with it. You may change your password to what you like in your
profile.
4.2 Posting
There are two primary 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.
4.2.1 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.
You may only use smilies in your post if they are enabled on the board you are
using. To see if smilies are enabled, look in the lower left corner of
the posting form, you should see "Smilies are ON/OFF".
If smilies are enabled and you would like to disable them in your post, check
the box next to Disable Smilies 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. If so, you may check Notify me when a
reply is posted.
Sticky/Announcement - To make a post into an Announcement or a Sticky
Topic, look to the bottom of the posting form. There are radio
buttons at the bottom that will allow you to set the post as Normal, Sticky
or Announcement. These options will only be visible to a user for
the top post in a topic, and only if they have permission to make Announcements
and Sticky topics.
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.