1. What is [Insert Forum Name]?
2. What is a message board?
3. What is a member?
4. What is a forum?
5. What is a topic?
6. What is a message?
7. Can I attach files to messages?
8. Who are the moderators?
9. Why do some users have access to a WYSIWYG editor and others don't?
10. What is MBML?
11. What are icons?
12. What is a title?
13. What is an avatar?
14. What is a signature?
15. What is a popularity rating?
16. What is a poll?
17. What is "members who are online"?
18. Which timezone is used for dates and times?
19. Is the system multi-lingual?
20. As a member, can I log in automatically each time I visit?
21. As a member, can I hide my email address?
22. As a member, can I send or receive a message to another member without others knowing?
23. When someone replies to a message that I've posted, can I be notified by email?
24. What is the archive?
25. What is Active Data Online MessageBoard2000?
[Insert an introduction to your forum, including guidelines and perhaps the terms of use]
A message board is a online forum, in other words, a place on the Web in which people can interact and discuss issues and questions.
A member is a user who is registered and identifiable. To become a member, click on "Register" and provide a name (maximum 20 characters) by which you would like to be known in the community, a valid email address and optionally other information about yourself. Whilst it may be possible to use the board anonymously (this is at the discretion of the administrators who have set up the individual forums), in most cases you would need to be logged in as a member before you can post topics or messages or both. Certainly, it is necessary to become a member if you would like to create a poll or cast a vote in a poll, if you would like to rate the popularity of members, or if you would like to use features such as file attachments and avatars.
A forum is a discussion area based on one subject. Generally, it is good form to post content in a forum that is within the boundaries of the subject matter. Forums with similar content or purpose are grouped together for easier identification on the forum index page. Some forums allow anonymous posts as well as posts from members. Some forums are for reading only. Some forums are private, that is, restricted to a selection of members. (By design, messages in private forums do not appear in News and in search results.) Some forums are screened, that is, messages are checked by moderators before they are displayed. Forums and their attributes can only be created and modified by members with admin rights.
A topic is a single discussion within a forum. As per convention, the default order of a list of topics is by descending order of the most recent message. Nevertheless, it is possible to sort and filter the list, and where applicable traverse the pages of the list to discover less active topics. Topics can be suspended or made read only by those with admin or moderator rights.
A message is a single comment, question or response within a topic. Members can choose (via "Settings") to read messages within a topic in a linear or threaded view, and in descending or ascending order. Normal forums require users to be logged in before they can post a message. Forums that allow anonymous posts can accept posts from users who have not logged in or who have not registered. Messages from anonymous users will be marked "Anon." and will include the author's IP address at the time of the posting. Messages from members, in contrast, will display the member's name, title, country, image (if supplied), total messages posted and popularity rating. By design, messages from members with interesting titles, attractive images or good ratings should stand out. Notice also that there is a link "Rate Member" near each message. Clicking this link leads to a ratings page, from where any member can rate his or her fellow member for the content and style of the message (for more information, see what is a popularity rating). The system provides a search engine that can be used to search for messages containing particular keywords, for messages within a particular forum or for messages by a particular member. And there is also a news page, which lists messages posted in the last day, which can be changed to messages in the last minute, hour or week.
If this message board is configured to accept file attachments, members can attach files such as images and documents to messages. The administrator will likely restrict the types of files that are acceptable and the maximum size of a file.
Moderators are members, often without admin rights, who can edit and delete messages so that content complies with the terms of use of the website. Messages that have been edited or deleted will be marked accordingly and will display the name of the member who has performed the edit or delete. A member is assigned the right to operate as a moderator within a particular forum by members with admin rights. In a screened forum, a moderator of the forum must check and accept posts submitted by ordinary members before the posts can be published. Since it is sometimes impractical to use forum screening or to employ too many moderators, the system includes automatic word censorship - words deemed to be foul or inappropriate by administrators will be replaced by '-' characters.
If the administrator has enabled the WYSIWYG editor option, users with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or newer will automatically be presented with the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor, complete with drag-and-drop icon capabilities (that is, click on an icon, drag it to a spot within the editor and drop it there to include the icon in the message). Others will be presented with the standard editor and will need to use MBML to format messages or use icons.
MBML stands for MessageBoard markup language. It is a proprietary markup language for describing textual formating (bold, italic, underline, strike, blockquote, bullets, indentation) and icons in MessageBoard and MessageBoard2000 systems. A list of all MBML tags is described in MB2_HelpMBML.aspx.
Icons are various smiley's and tinyish graphics that can spruce up the presentation of a message. With MessageBoard2000, it is possible for administrators to upload to the system and thus provide to the community any icon. This means that every message board powered by MessageBoard2000 can have a unique set of icons. The icons that are currently available are displayed on the WYSIWYG editor page and MB2_HelpMBML.aspx.
Every member can adopt a title that describes him or her in a few words (maximum 100 characters). Common practice is to use post nominals, a description of an actual or fictitious position, or the like.
If this message board permits avatars, a member can upload a 70 by 70 pixel image GIF file to serve as an avatar or image of him or her. The avatar of a member is placed beside every message that he or she posts, as a visual ID.
A signature of a member is a kind of mark, possibly comprising plain and formatted text, icons and hyperlinks, that is placed underneath every message that the member posts. It is common practice in online communities to use a favourite quote, witticism or observation as a signature.
A popularity rating is the average rating a member has received from his or her fellow members. A rating is a score on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the worst and 10 is the best. Needless to say, a member cannot rate himself or herself, and anonymous users cannot rate members. Every individual rating is stored in the system and reported publicly. The idea is to allow everyone to know who thinks what of whom. Popularity ratings can be updated as often as necessary. In fact, every time a member posts a message, other members are encouraged to rate the member - that is, to submit a new or revised popularity rating in light of the new message. Clicking on the link "Members", you will discover that it is possible to search for other members on the basis of member name, title, country, profile keywords and popularity rating. Near the member search engine are links to pre-defined searches, including lists of the "Most popular" and "Least popular" members. Those members who have the highest popularity rating in the community, who are among the most frequent posters and who have been rated by many other members, will likely find themselves among the "Most popular" in the community, and conversely, those without might find themselves among the "Least popular". The system of popularity ratings in MessageBoard2000 is designed to encourage interesting, entertaining posts from members, and ultimately a good website.
A poll is a special kind of topic, in which a question is put publicly, inviting opinion from other members in the form of votes and comments. Each member can only vote once in a poll and a poll will never close once voting commences unless the topic is subsequently suspended or marked read only by moderators or administrators. The results of a poll are counted and displayed in real time. By design, each member's vote in a poll is never revealed to administrators, moderators and the public.
Members who are logged in and browsing a forum or topic will appear in the "members who are online" box of that forum or topic. This information can help encourage activity.
Dates and times are stored in the database in Greenwich Mean Time, or Universal Time. But each member can choose (via "Settings") to have dates and times displayed in their preferred timezone, which may be GMT plus or minus several hours. The accuracy of dates and times will depend on the accuracy of the clock of the web-server.
The system is fully localised. It is possible (it depends on the configuration of the system) for a member to view the message board in a language other than the current one, including languages with non western characters. By default, MessageBoard2000 comes with English and French resource and help files. If the administrator provides resource and help files for additional languages, say, Spanish and Chinese, then these languages will also be available. Furthermore, MessageBoard2000 is designed to accept text in any language supported by unicode, including those with non western characters.
If the administrator has set the system to authenticate users via "windows", then logging in is always automatic. If, however, the administrator has set the system to authenticate users via "forms", then users will either have to log in manually using the login form or select "Automatic login" under "Settings" to log in automatically using cookies.
Under "Settings", it is possible to prevent your email address from being displayed on your profile page.
The system provides the capacity to communicate privately via anonymous email. A private message is an email sent via the system from one member to another without the sender or recipient knowing each other's email, or any other member knowing about the message. If a member has chosen to allow private messages to be sent to him or her via "Settings", there will be a "Send private message" link on his or her profile page.
Under "Settings", it is possible to instruct the system that you would like to receive an email notification whenever someone replies to any of your messages.
For very large message boards, the system provides an archiving mechanism to conserve database space and maintain efficiency. Those with admin rights can archive individual topics. When a topic is archived, the system generates an equivalent HTML file of the content and puts the file into the archives folder. Once archived, a topic can be deleted from the database proper. Archived, static content is accessible via the "Archive" link.
This message board is based on Active Data Online MessageBoard2000, an advanced message board application, designed and developed by Active Data Online Pty Ltd (www.activedataonline.com.au/messageboard2000.html), powered by Microsoft ASP.NET v1.1.4322 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
Active Data Online MessageBoard2000 v1.2.8.1738