1.
What is [Insert Forum Name]?
2.
What is a discussion board?
3.
What is a member?
4.
What is a forum?
5.
What is a topic?
6.
What is a poll?
7.
What is a picture?
8.
What is an event?
9.
What is a bookmark?
10.
What is marked-read?
11.
What is the RSS feed?
12.
What is a message?
13.
Can I attach files to messages?
14.
What dates and times are used by the system?
15.
Who are the moderators?
16.
Why do some users have access to a WYSIWYG editor and others don't?
17.
What is DBML?
18.
What are emoticons?
19.
What is a title?
20.
What is an avatar?
21.
What is a signature?
22.
What is a rating?
23.
What is "members who are online"?
24.
As a member, can I log in automatically each time I visit?
25.
As a member, can I hide my email address?
26.
What is a private message?
27.
When someone replies to a message that I've posted, can I be notified by email?
28.
What is Active Data Online DiscussionBoard?
1. What is [Insert Forum Name]?
[Insert an introduction to your forum, including guidelines and perhaps the terms of use]
2. What is a discussion board?
A discussion board is a online forum, or a place on the Web in which people can discuss issues, tally opinion, share pictures and announce events.
3. What is a member?
A member is a user who is registered and identifiable. To become a member, click on "Login or Register" and then "New Members", and provide a name (maximum 25 characters) by which you would like to be known in the discussion board, and a password and valid email address for your account. Typically, you must register and be logged-in as a member before you can post on the board. In some cases (depending on how the forums have been set up) you can post on the board without logging-in. But if you would like to set up a profile, post file attachments, rate posts, or the like, you must first become a member.
4. What is a forum?
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 are for reading only. Some forums allow anonymous posts as well as posts from members. Some forums require users to log-in before they can be accessed. Some forums are restricted to specific members. (By design, posts in restricted forums do not appear in news and in search results.) Some forums are moderated, that is, moderators can edit or delete posts. Some forums are screened, that is, posts are checked by moderators before they are displayed. Some forums allow discussions, polls, pictures and events; some forums allow only a subset of these. Forums and their attributes are created and modified by members with admin rights.
5. What is a topic?
A topic is a single discussion within a forum. Topics may be based on a comment or an idea, a poll, a picture or an event. 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.
6. What is a poll?
A poll is a 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 unless the topic is deleted, suspended or marked read-only. 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.
7. What is a picture?
A picture is a topic in which an image serves as the basis for discussion. The handling of pictures in DiscussionBoard is similar to that of a web-based photo gallery system. Unlike a message attachment, which may be an image or a document file, pictures are displayed inline rather than as a link, and each topic can only have one picture.
8. What is an event?
An event is a topic in which a forthcoming date and time of note is announced. Events may be special occasions, upcoming meetings, announcements, or the like. Events appear in the system's calendar and in the forum in which they were posted.
9. What is a bookmark?
A bookmark is a means in the system to access a topic quickly. Each member is entitled to collect up to 50 bookmarks. And bookmarks can be added and removed, as needed.
10. What is marked-read?
When a user, who is logged-in, reads a topic, the system will mark it. Thus, the next time the user visits the same forum, he or she can see at a glance that the said topic has been read. Aside from marking individual topics, the system also offers a means to mark an entire forum as read. Obviously, as new posts appear, the markings will be removed, and so it is possible to see what is new.
11. What is the RSS feed?
The system offers dynamically generated, RSS 2.0 compliant feeds of each forum so that new posts can be read in RSS aggregators via XML.
12. What is a message?
A message is a single comment, question or response within a topic. Members can choose to read messages within a topic in a linear or threaded view, in descending or ascending order, and in their original fonts or a single font. Forums that allow anonymous posts can accept posts from users who have not logged-in or 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 or avatar (if supplied), start date, total posts and (if configured to do so) average rating. By design, messages from members with interesting titles, attractive images or good ratings should stand out. The system provides a search engine that can be used to search for messages containing particular keywords or phrases or both, for messages within a particular forum or topic, or for messages by a particular member. The system also provides a news page, which lists recent messages.
13. Can I attach files to messages?
If the discussion board is configured to accept file attachments, members can attach to messages files such as images and documents. The administrator will likely restrict the types of files that are acceptable and the maximum size of a file.
14. What dates and times are used by the system?
Users who are not logged-in will view dates and times in Greenwich Mean Time or GMT (ie, Universal Time or UTC). Users who are logged-in can set the timezone of the system to match their own. Users can also set the format of dates and times to read the way they would like it to -- for example, "1 Dec 2021" vs "1/12/2021", etc. The accuracy of dates and times depends on the accuracy of the clock of the web server.
15. Who are the moderators?
Moderators are members, often without admin rights, who can edit and delete posts so that content complies with the terms of use of the website. Posts 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 asterisks. The system also offers a reporting tool that allows users to bring inappropriate or offensive posts to the attention of moderators.
16. Why do some users have access to a WYSIWYG editor and others don't?
Users with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or newer will have access to the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor, complete with text formatting, emoticons and a spell checker. Others will be presented with a non-WYSIWYG editor with similar capabilities via DBML and message preview.
17. What is DBML?
DBML stands for DiscussionBoard markup language. It is a proprietary markup language, akin to HTML, for describing textual formating (bold, italic, underline, strike, subscript, superscript, bullets, indentation, font type, font colour, font size), hyperlinks and emoticons in the DiscussionBoard system.
18. What are emoticons?
Emoticons are various smiley's and tinyish graphics that can enliven the look of a message. To add or insert an emoticon into a message, simply click on the emoticon's image. It is noteworthy that unlike other forum systems, every DiscussionBoard can be set up to have its own unique set of emoticons.
19. What is a title?
Every member can adopt a title that describes him or her at a glance (maximum 100 characters). Common practice is to use a concise description, one's post nominals, a description of an actual or fictitious position, or the like.
20. What is an avatar?
If the discussion board permits avatars, a member can upload a 70 by 70 pixel image GIF or PNG file to serve as an avatar or image of him or her. By default, the avatar of a member is placed beside every message that he or she posts, as a visual ID. Members who do not want to load and look at avatars on the messages that they read, can switch avatars off in the personal settings page.
21. What is a signature?
A signature of a member is a kind of mark, possibly comprising text (plain and formatted), emoticons 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. Members who do not want to load and read signatures on the messages that they read, can switch signatures off in the personal settings page.
22. What is a rating?
A rating is a score on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest, of the quality of a post. If the administrator has switched the ratings system on, every time a member posts something, other members are encouraged to rate the post, and each rating revises the member's average. Needless to say, a member cannot rate himself or herself, and anonymous users cannot rate members. The system of ratings in DiscussionBoard is designed to encourage interesting, entertaining posts from members, and ultimately a good discussion board.
23. What is "members who are online"?
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 feature encourages activity. Those who prefer their privacy can choose to log-in without revealing their online presence.
24. As a member, can I log in automatically each time I visit?
If the administrator has set the system to authenticate users via "windows", logging-in is always automatic. If, however, the administrator has set the system to authenticate users via "forms", users can log-in automatically via cookies by checking the "Login automatically the next time" box before logging-in.
25. As a member, can I hide my email address?
It is possible to hide your email address from public view by selecting the hide option in the personal settings page.
26. What is a private message?
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 address, or any other member knowing about the message. Members can choose to switch private messages on or off. If a member has chosen to allow private messages (via the personal settings page), there will be a "Send private message" link on his or her profile page.
27. When someone replies to a message that I've posted, can I be notified by email?
It is possible to instruct the system (in the personal settings page) that you would like to receive an email notification whenever someone replies to any of your messages.
28. What is Active Data Online DiscussionBoard?
Active Data Online DiscussionBoard is an advanced discussion board application, designed and developed by Active Data Online Pty Ltd (www.activedataonline.com.au/discussionboard.html), powered by Microsoft ASP.NET v1.1.4322 and a relational database.