|
|
| [ Home ] [ Back to Forums ] | |
| Guidelines for using Coastals' Forums (FAQ Below) | |
The forums are open to all responsible* persons. When trips, boating information, river conditions, river/open water concerns, and other paddling information or issues are posted, the forums are being used properly.
Unacceptable postings are those that use inappropriate language, attack or threaten others, promote issues not pertaining to paddling or the environment that are negative in content, spamming, or anything else that may be deemed destructive to the paddling community. The President of Coastals ultimately determines when immediate action is needed on the forums, while the Board of Directors is responsible for making policy with the consent of the membership.
Thank you for making the Coastals' Forum Area a nice place to be online!
*Responsible persons are (while on Coastals' Forums):
1) Nice 2) Informative
This FAQ is not meant to be comprehensive - there are links to more resources at the bottom of this FAQ. Click on a link below (words underlined) to go to that subject.
I'm new - how do I get started?
How do the forums work? How do I post messages?
What do all these words mean - avatar, bbcode, etc?
The forums are confusing compared to other ones - how do I get around them easily?
I have more questions or I still have a problem - what do I do?
If this is your first time using the forums, you'll be able to look around but must register in order to post or view other's profiles. Click on the 'register' link on the main board page in the upper-right-hand corner. You must read and agree to the terms and conditions, then proceed to fill in the form. CLICK ON THE SUBMIT BUTTON ONLY ONCE. You will receive an e-mail within one hour - if you do not, check your spam/bulk/junk e-mail folder and make sure the coastals.org domain is on your safe list.
Click on the link in the e-mail to complete your registration by verifying your e-mail address. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE AN E-MAIL IN ONE HOUR, click on the 'CONTACT the Message Board Administrator' link at the bottom of the main page and fill in the form.
You must log in to post messages. Once you log in, you can see that the forums are organized like this:
-Categories (for instance, Trips) - There are several categories; categories will usually have more than one Forum.
---Forums (Trip reports) - Forums are a place to put messages about a particular area based on the category.
-----Topics (Epic Battle on the New) - A specific subject based on the Forum. You can post a new Topic.
-------Posts - Replies to the Topic. You can put a new post in a topic.
Click on the name of the Forum or Topic in order to view what's inside, and when you see a "New Topic" or "Post Reply" button, click on it to make a post. Also, when you want to reply directly to someone's post, you can click the Quote button and your post will include the wording of the person you are replying to. Click the "Preview" button to see how it will look before you post, and click the "Submit" button to post it.
Categories and forums look like this:
The topic list inside the Forum "Want to paddle NOW?" looks like this:
The Topic and Posts look like this:
An avatar is a small picture that you choose from the Avatar Gallery (at the bottom of your profile page) or upload from your computer that will show up beside your name when you post, and bbcode is like html. What is html, you ask? It's the common programming language on the web, and no, you don't need to know bbcode or html in order to post. These things can make your posts more interesting (with color, text formatting, inserting clickable links, etc.), so if you decide you want to try them, feel free! If you don't, just post. It's that easy.
More information about bbcode: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/faq.php?mode=bbcode#0
An easy place to learn and practice html: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_scripts.asp
a. When you log in, you will see a link on
the upper right: "View posts since last visit." This will show you
a page listing where new 'stuff' is located.
b. At the bottom of the main forum page you'll see a key showing an icon for
'new posts' and a different icon for 'no new posts.' If you click on the
forum with the 'new posts' icon on the left, the same icons are on the left
of the topics, so you can identify what the new 'stuff' is.
c. The time/date of the last post in a forum is on the right side of the
main forum page.
NOTE: To clear all the new 'stuff'
that you haven't read without reading
all of it - On the main forum page, click on the link at the bottom left
that says 'Mark all posts as read.'
When posting a new TOPIC, make sure the subject isn't already posted. It is confusing to have to read and respond to several TOPICS about the same subject. Any duplicate TOPICS are subject to removal (in order to lessen confusion), so please post in a TOPIC that already contains that subject.
Please check these things before contacting the webmaster:
Check this topic for updates and hints by clicking here
FAQ link on the main page of the forums (at the top right)
FLASH TUTORIALS! Little movies about how to use a Forum like ours (scroll to the bottom of the page for "End User Tutorials"). You will need the free Adobe Flash viewer to view the tutorials, so if they don't show up, download the viewer by clicking here.
Google - a great place for all information! Just type in what you are looking for (example).
If your problem still exists, go to the bottom of the main page of the forums and click "CONTACT the Board Administrator." Fill in the form and someone will contact you.