Assembling the Technical FAQ Related to Using These Fora

[polly_mer]

Ok, as a trial I made a "Help" forum and enabled guest posting. We can check the limits of what that allows for a few days and see how it works out.

When I posted as a guest on the board, I didn't get a message about who could see my email.  I can believe people might be reluctant to use the board if they think their email will be visible to the world.

How would the system know a guests email?

When I posted as guest, I was asked for a name and an email.  I don't see the email as available publicly, but that wasn't clear from the fields I filled out.  I expected a notice like the one indicating the moderators can see my email when I report something.

[polly_mer]

Back to the list:

Q: I registered, but I can't see how to post.

A: Does the upper left hand corner say, "Hello <moniker>"? If the word "guest" appears, then a log in is required, even if stay logged in forever had been chosen at some point.


Q: I submitted a registration request and didn't get an emailed answer in 24 hours.  What should I do?


A: Try logging in.  Sometimes the confirmation email goes astray.  If you can't log in, then please post to the Help & Questions (http://thefora.org/index.php?board=10.0) board with a succinct description.  Please put an email you can check into the field marked "email"; this email will not be visible in your post, but the moderators can use it to contact you offline.  Remember that you can create a new email linked to the moniker you desire at many fine, free services.


Q: How do I get a cool tagline and custom title?

A:

• Log in or register and then log in.
  
  
• On the left-hand side, a few lines below the bold "Hello <moniker>" and just above the line of breadcrumbs (The Fora: A Higher Education Community >> <navigation point a> >> <navigation point b>), you should see you should see a highlighted word "Home".  "Home" starts a row of headings that includes "Profile".  Click "Profile".
  
  
• You should now have a new line of headings below the breadcrumbs that includes "Modify Profile".  Hover your cursor over "Modify Profile" and select "Forum Profile".
  
  
• Fill out the fields as desired and change any field at any time.  Click the "Change Profile" button in the lower right to apply the changes.  You may skip any field.  Personal text will end up on the left below your post counts.  Custom title will end up on the left below your moniker and above any automatic titles.  Signature will end up below all posts.  A little trial and error may help you get your posts to look as you desire.
  
  

   

[eigen]

Great additions.

Might also be worth mentioning the "CHE Posts" box that will display your past-life post count.

Also, I may have turned off signatures... I'll turn them back on if so.

[eigen]

Ok, signatures are turned back on, but the formatting is set to very base level, since they're something that will appear over and over again. If we want to add back in broader formatting options, we can do that at a later date.

[polly_mer]

Good point, Eigen.

Q: I registered, but I can't see how to post.

A: Does the upper left hand corner say, "Hello <moniker>"? If the word "guest" appears, then a log in is required, even if stay logged in forever had been chosen at some point.


Q: I submitted a registration request and didn't get an emailed answer in 24 hours.  What should I do?


A: Try logging in.  Sometimes the confirmation email goes astray.  If you can't log in, then please post to the Help & Questions (http://thefora.org/index.php?board=10.0) board with a succinct description.  Please put an email you can check into the field marked "email"; this email will not be visible in your post, but the moderators can use it to contact you offline.  Remember that you can create a new email linked to the moniker you desire at many fine, free services.


Q: How do I get a cool tagline and custom title?

A:

• Log in or register and then log in.
  
  
• On the left-hand side, a few lines below the bold "Hello <moniker>" and just above the line of breadcrumbs (The Fora: A Higher Education Community >> <navigation point a> >> <navigation point b>), you should see you should see a highlighted word "Home".  "Home" starts a row of headings that includes "Profile".  Click "Profile".
  
  
• You should now have a new line of headings below the breadcrumbs that includes "Modify Profile".  Hover your cursor over "Modify Profile" and select "Forum Profile".
  
  
• Fill out the fields as desired and change any field at any time.  Click the "Change Profile" button in the lower right to apply the changes.  You may skip any field.  Personal text will end up on the left below your post counts.  Custom title will end up on the left below your moniker and above any automatic titles.  Signature will end up below all posts.  A little trial and error may help you get your posts to look as you desire.
  
  If you were active on the CHE fora and want to bring over your final tally from posting there, use the "CHE Posts" field and that post count will display as well.
  

[wanna_writemore]

FYI to those with tech knowledge/skills: My registration was approved and I tried to log in and selected 1 hour and got an error message. When I left it on the default forever option, the login worked.

[polly_mer]

Thanks, wanna_writemore!  I've put a copy of your post on the Things to Test thread to see if we can gather more data.

[eigen]

FYI to those with tech knowledge/skills: My registration was approved and I tried to log in and selected 1 hour and got an error message. When I left it on the default forever option, the login worked.

Did you try logging in at 1 hour more than once? I checked the error logs, and it says it was a redirect error, which isn't particularly helpful. I've gotten that occasionally logging in, but not consistently with any login type- it's always been on spotty wireless, though.

::edit:: Just went through and checked, and it lets me log in with no errors with all the time selections. If someone else wants to go though and see if they get errors, that might help.

The only other thing I can think of is that it has something to do with your cookie settings.

[polly_mer]

Q: How do I post and end up in thread view so I can see my new post?

A:

Quick version (on the user end):
1. Click "Profile" in the menu bar.
2. Choose "Forum Profile" from the drop-down menu.
3. Click the "Modify Profile" button.
4. Choose "Look and Layout" from the drop-down menu.
5. Check the box next to "Return to topics after posting by default."
6. Click the "Change profile" button at the bottom of the page.

[polly_mer]

Is there a way to set your personal time zone? I looked around on the profile settings but didn't see it.

Click Profile.
Hover over Modify Profile and select Look and Layout.
On the line marked Time Offset, try Auto Detect.  If you'd rather be a bit more sneaky, then choose a different Time Offset.

[namazu]

Q: How do I get my CHE post count (number of posts made on the old Chronicle of Higher Education forums/fora) to appear?

1. Click "Profile" in the menu bar.
2. Choose "Forum Profile" from the drop-down menu.
3. Manually enter your number of CHE forum posts in the box provided.
4. Click "Change profile" at the bottom of the page.
Voilà!

[polly_mer]

Q: What are my options for display AKA how can I make The Fora display better on my device?

A: The keyword is "theme".  Under Profile > Modify Profile > Look and Layout, the top line will state "Current Theme".  Everyone starts on the default.  However, some people on some devices might prefer Dani or one of the other choices.  Click the (change) link to see your options. 

At the bottom of each section are two links: one is [Use this theme] and the other is [Preview theme].   Clicking Preview theme will change the page with the theme choices to display the theme you're previewing.  Clicking away from the page without selecting [Use this theme] means you will still be using the current theme.

If you find previewing the theme insufficient, then try Use this theme and click around The Fora.  You can change back or try another theme after you've explored.

[polly_mer]

Q: I really just want text.  Is there a way to just see text like back in the good old days of Usenet?

A:  Try scrolling all the way down to the bottom of a page to where the lines

SMF 2.0.15 | SMF © 2017, Simple Machines
XHTML RSS WAP2

appear.  Click WAP2 and you get a text-based experience. 

You won't be able to see anyone's nifty titles or sig lines. 
The URLs embedded in posts are not clickable. 
Text formatting is eliminated (you see one font in one size with no bold, italic, or underline).

However, you can read and respond.  Every post is readily identifiable as who is writing* with quotes clearly marked**.

You can navigate the board hierarchies by clicking the item in the list.  For boards with new posts, the color of the number in front of the item is red instead of black.

You can click back to the full version of these fora using the "Go to full version" link at the bottom of every navigation list.

It's not Usenet, but it's a text-based option for those who like/need/desire text.

* Well, at least as identifiable as we get around here.
** Barring user error in applying the quote function.

[polly_mer]

Q: How do I partially quote from someone else's post?

A: To partial quote, click the quote link on the post.  Text will show up in the editing box and you can edit that text as you would any other text. 

Code Select Expand

[quote author=person...]
This is text.  You can do anything you like to it.

You can add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

[/quote]


The key thing is to leave the header/footer lines with the quote mark-up intact.

[namazu]

Q: How do I use the "ignore" feature to avoid posts by certain members?  (Asked in the "Thanks and more thanks" thread.)

A: To use the ignore feature:
1. Click "Profile" in the menu bar near the top of the page.
2. Click "Modify profile" and then select "Buddies/Ignore List" from the drop-down menu.
3. Click "Edit Ignore List".
4. Enter the moniker(s) of the member(s) you wish to ignore and click "Add".
Voilà!