Posted 17 years ago on 3/9/2007 and updated 4/22/2010
Take Away: Guide to using our message boards
KB100475
Customer Comment
"[Prestwood Boards is] better than most sites around these days. Persons met there seem to be more informed than any other site including large corp. sites."
-Sandman
How Do I?
These are some of the most commonly used features…
Post a New Topic
Click “New Topic” to start your own new topic. Be sure to include a Topic title. You can also include a posting icon if you wish to convey a mood with your message. At this time, you can also check a box to have all replies sent to your email address, or check a box to preview your post. When you are finished, click “Post Now” to complete the process.
Post a Reply
To reply to a topic, click the “Post Reply” button. On the resulting page, you can select an icon, and write a message. You can also have some fun with your message using the UBBCode™ and Instant Graemlin options. Simply click any of the buttons to format your text or insert a “Graemlin”. If the “Post Reply” button is missing, that means that replies are not permitted in this particular forum.
Edit my Message
If you notice an error in the message you have posted, and you wish to change it, you can edit your own post by clicking this icon , which appears inside each message.
Post a Poll
To post a poll, click the “Post a Poll” button. On the resulting page, use the “Poll Title” box to name your poll, use the “Poll Description” box to add comments or description that will appear above the poll questions, and select the type/number of poll questions. At this time, you can also check the Advanced Options box to set a start/stop time, or viewing/voting options. Click “Continue.”
On the next page, you create your poll questions and determine the answer format. Click “Continue” again. On the next page, you write the possible answers, and click “Continue.” If you have selected “Advanced Options,” you will see a screen with options for start and stop date and time, as well as when the results may be viewed and whether the results may be viewed by non-voters. Note that you can choose any, all, or none of the Advanced Options.
At the end of the process, you get a chance to review and/or edit your poll before it is posted. If your poll is ready, click the “Post” button.
Note that polls are just like any other topic, and can be replied to.
Vote in or View a Poll
If you see that someone has posted a poll, and you wish to participate, simply click the “Vote Now” button and add your responses. Note that permission to participate in polls is set by the Admin and can differ from forum to forum. To view the poll results, click the “Results” button. The poll can be set so that you cannot view the results until the polling period is over, and/or so that non-voters cannot view the results.
Send a Topic to Someone Else
In any topic, you’ll see UBBFriend: Email this page to someone! If you click this link, you can send the topic to one or more friends via email. You have the opportunity to add a personal message to the beginning of the message as well.
View Recent Messages
See all active topics for the day by clicking “Today’s Active Topics.” You’ll see a compiled list of all topics with posting activity in the last 24 hours, in chronological order.
Receive Email Notifications
If you are the person who started the topic, you can opt to receive all replies via email when you first create the post.
See Recent Visitors (or Users Online)
Notice the “Recent Visitors” box at the top or bottom of the page? If you click that link, you’ll see a list of which users have logged into the community recently, and where they are (or were). Note that users who have opted out of this feature will not be shown. If you click the board name, you can see a popularity summary across all forums; if you click the forum name, you can see detailed forum visitor statistics.
Hide from the Recent Visitors Feature
If you’d prefer that other members not see which forums you have visited, you can turn off your visibility. Click “my profile,” then click “View/Update Profile,” and check yes for “Hide from Recent Visitors.”
Search for Information
One of the key benefits of the discussion board format is that it enables commonly asked questions to be answered once, for the benefit of all. Before posting your question, it is always worth checking to see if it has already been asked - and answered! You can do this via the Search link on the top navigation bar. Various options are available, both for how the search term is specified and for controlling which forums you want to search.
Change my Profile
You can edit the information in your profile at any time (this is the information you provided at registration). Simply click the “my profile” link; this opens an entry page with your ratings and private messages. Click “view/update profile” to make changes to items like your password, email address, location, etc.
Add an Avatar to my Posts
Click the My Profile link, then click View/Update Profile. Scroll down to the field called “Avatar Image.” Click the link to see the avatars that are available for you to choose from. The owner of the UBB.classic you’re using may also allow you to use a custom avatar. If so, you will see a field called “Use Custom URL” in the avatar popup. Simply type in the URL to your image (it must be accessible via URL; you cannot type in the path to a file on your own computer) and click “Set URL”. You can change your avatar at any time using this same process.
What the heck is an Avatar?
An avatar is a graphic representation of you. It can be a photo, a cartoon, or some other image file that you choose. Usually, they are small (UBB.classic prefers 65x65 pixels) and show up when you post to the message board. Avatars are not restricted to just message boards, however; many online games and communication software allow you to use an avatar, or graphic image, to represent your presence.
Add Someone to my Buddy List/Ignore List
You can add a person to your Ignore or Buddy List by accessing the person's profile or on the private message page for a particular message. You may remove people from your Ignore or Buddy List by un-checking the boxes next to the names.
Use the Buddy List for people you anticipate sending frequent private messages. It is a handy way of reaching all of your buddies from one compiled list. Use the Ignore List for people you do not wish to receive private messages from. Ignore lists have no use for anything other than private messages.
Send a Private Message
You can click on the icon within any message to send a Private Message to the author.
Print a Topic
Look for Printer-friendly view of this topic at the bottom of any thread. If you click the link, a new window will open that contains a stripped-down version of the thread content. Use your browser’s print function to print this version.
Rate Another Member
You cannot rate yourself, but if you click on the “Rate Member” hyperlink that appears in each post, you can use the “Rate Member” box to express your opinion. These are permanent, so make sure you really mean it!
Add an image to my message
In order to add an image to your message or your signature, you must have the image already available on a web server. This can be an image on your own personal web page, for example. To place an image within a message, simply click the “Image” UBBCode button, and place the URL to the image in the popup box.
Legend for icons on the Topic Interface
Click this icon to see the author of this message’s profile information.
View author’s home page (if they have provided one).
Click this icon to send an email to the author of this message (if the author has made his/her email address publicly accessible).
Click this icon to send a Private Message to the author of this message.
Click this icon to edit or delete this message (you can only use this feature if you are the author of the message or an Administrator/Moderator).
You may only use the Close Topic, Move Topic, or Delete Topic links if you are an Administrator or Moderator in this forum.
I wrote an article, saved it as a draft, came back to it a few days later, and now I can't figure out how to publish it. When I was writing it, there was a publish button. But now that I view it as a draft, there's no button any more. How do I do this?
No problem, glad you found it. I'll think about that a bit and see if I can make that more prominent for contributors but still keep it out of the way.
PrestwoodBoards
Print This
, which appears inside each message
icon within any message to send a Private Message to the author.
