e_Board Frequently Asked Questions
Use your browser's [Back] Button to return to the board.
What's with the little pictures?
indicates an original message (Topic).
indicates a reply.
How that heck do I use this thing?
The message board page is divided into three parts:
The Linkbar: (Appears at the top and the bottom of the list
page).
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[View Archived Messages] - Click here if you want to see older messages.
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[Expand/Collapse Threads] - Click here to see all messages, or just
topics.
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[Subscribe] - If this board supports it, you can subscribe, and receive
copies of messages via e-mail.
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[Post Message] - Click this if you want to add a message to the list.
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[FAQ] - Click here to read this stuff.
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[Exit Board] - click here to exit the message board area, and return
to the Home Page.
The Message List
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Here you'll see the subject line of each message. The newest ones
are at the top. Replies to a message appear directly below that message
and are indented. To read a message, just click on the highlighted
message subject. Each message also shows the date that it was posted.
The Message Input Boxes - These are used to post a
message.
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Name: Type your name (or a nickname) here.
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E-Mail: If you'd like people to have the option of sending you E-Mail,
enter your address here. (Optional)
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Subject: This is the topic of your message. Try to make your subject
as specific as possible. For example "Confused about POV" is much better
than "A Question," or the proverbial "HELP!!!!" ;-)
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Check if you want to receive replies via e_mail. If you check
this box, you will receive an e-mail copy of all replies to you message.
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Message: Type your message into this field. Make it as
short as you can, so that more people will read it. Many just don't
read long messages.
NOTE: The next three boxes are optional.
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Link URL: Does your post refer to a web site? If so, enter
the URL here, and a link will be added to your message.
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Link Title: If you typed in a Link URL, Enter a title for the
URL here. This Title will appear as a link at the end of your message.
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Image URL: If you have a picture on the web that you want to
include with your message, type its URL here
Click [Preview] to view the message for typos before you post it.
Click the [Post Message] Button to send your message to the Message
Board.
Click the [Reset] button, if you want to start over.
How do I post a Reply?
If you read a message and want to post a reply, you can do it directly from
that message page. Let's look at the parts of the message page:
The Linkbar (There's a linkbar at the top and the bottom
of each message page):
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[View Thread] - This scrolls you to the thread view. A thread
consists of a topic message, and all of the replies under that message.
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[Post Reply] - This scrolls you to the Reply Input Boxes, so
that you can post your response to the message you just read.
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[Return to Main List] - Returns you to the main message list page.
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[Admin] - Administrator access.
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[Help] - Gets you here.
The Message:
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Here you'll find:
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The poster's Name. If the name is highlighted, you can click
on it to send E-Mail.
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The Date and Time that the message was posted.
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The Message itself. (finally!!)
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If the poster included links with their message, they appear at the
bottom.
View Thread:
If someone has already responded to this topic, their message will be visible
here. Just like on the Main Message List, you can click on any
of these messages to read them.
The Reply Input Boxes:
These are exactly like the main Message Input Boxes,
with two exceptions:
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The Subject Box will contain the subject of the original message,
with a Re: in front of it. This shows that your message is a response
to the original message. You can edit this, or leave it as-is.
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The Message Box will include the original message, with a colon at
the start of each line, to indicate that those lines were "quoted" from the
original message. You may edit these lines, or leave them as is. (If
you're responding to a small section of a rather large message, you can cut
the quoted part down,so that it just includes the relevant part of the message).
Click the [Preview] to check your message for typos before posting
it.
Click the [Post It] button, to send your message to the board.
Click the [Reset] Button it you want to start over.
Can I put html tags anywhere in my posts?
No. You can not use HTML tags in any field except body of the message. The
maintainer of the script has the option of allowing or disallowing any HTML
in the Message part of your posting. If they disallow it, the script will
just throw out everything in <>'s. If they allow it, your html markup
will appear in the posting. It can't hurt to try.
Why are there colons in the message when I try to post a
reply?
Colons appear in the message dialog box when you try to reply up on a message
to indicate that those lines are quoting the previous document. The owner
of the e_Board can decide whether they wish to enable or disable the quoting
of previous messages.
Why didn't my post show up?
Your post most likely did not show up, because your browser did not reload
the page, it simply pulled it out of you disk cache. Please reload your browser
window and it should then appear.