Frequently Asked Questions
Login and Registration Issues
- Why can’t I login?
- There are several reasons why this could occur. First, ensure your username and password are correct. If they are, contact the board owner for help at info@mfwbooks.com.
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- Why do I need to register?
- If you want to post your own questions or comments then you must register. This helps prevent unwanted and inappropriate information from appearing on the board.
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- Why do I get logged off automatically?
- If you do not check the Log me in automatically box when you login, the board will only keep you logged in for a preset time. This prevents misuse of your account by anyone else. To stay logged in, check the box during login. This is not recommended if you access the board from a shared computer, e.g. library, internet cafe, university computer lab, etc.
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- How do I prevent my username from appearing in the online user listings?
- Within your User Control Panel, under “Board preferences,” you will find the option Hide your online status. Enable this option by clicking Yes and you will only appear to the administrators, moderators and yourself. You will be counted as a hidden user.
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- I’ve lost my password!
- Don’t panic! While your password cannot be retrieved, it can easily be reset. Visit the login page and click I’ve forgotten my password. Follow the instructions and you should be able to log in again shortly.
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- I registered but cannot login!
- First, check your username and password. If they
are correct, then one of two things may have happened. We require new registrations to be activated by an administrator before
you can login. We do this to help prevent spammers from posting
inappropriate information to the message board. Once your account is
activated you will receive an e-mail. During business hours we try to
approve new accounts promptly. If you register over the weekend it may be
Monday before you account is activated. If you have not received the
e-mail informing you that your account has been activated then please
e-mail us at info@mfwbooks.com. The second affects very few; COPPA
requires that we obtain written parental consent for those under 13. So,
if you specified being under 13 years old during registration, you will
have to follow the instructions you received before you can login.
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- I registered in the past but cannot login any more?!
- Attempt to locate the e-mail sent to you when you
first registered, check your username and password and try again. You can
also use the I forgot my password link on the login page to reset
your password if needed. You can also try registering again; we have
switched software twice in the past 10 years and it is possible that your
account did not get transferred during a conversion.
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- What is COPPA?
- COPPA, or the Child Online Privacy and Protection
Act of 1998, is a law in the United States requiring websites which can
potentially collect information from minors under the age of 13 to have
written parental consent or some other method of legal guardian
acknowledgement, allowing the collection of personally identifiable
information from a minor under the age of 13. If you are unsure if this
applies to you as someone trying to register or to the website you are
trying to register on then talk to your parents and ask them for
assistance.
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- Why can’t I register?
- It is possible your IP address has been banned or the username you are attempting to register is not allowed. Contact us at info@mfwbooks.com for assistance.
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- What does the “Delete all board cookies” do?
- “Delete all board cookies” deletes the
cookies created by the MFW Message Board site which keep you authenticated and logged into the board. It also provides functions such as read tracking. If you are having login or logout problems, deleting board cookies may help.
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User Preferences and settings
- How do I change my settings?
- Visit your User Control Panel; a link is available at the top of most pages.
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- The times are not correct!
-
If you are a registered user then you can set your timezone and DST
(Daylight Savings Time) options in your User Control Panel. If you are
not a registered user then you will see times based on Central Time. To
set the time settings for your account visit your User Control Panel, then
"Board Preferences" and change your timezone to match your particular area.
Also, check the "Summer Time/DST" setting.
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- I changed the timezone and the time is still wrong!
- If you are sure you have set the timezone and Summer Time/DST correctly and the time is still incorrect, then the time stored on the server clock is incorrect. Please notify us at info@mfwbooks.com.
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Posting Issues
- How do I post a topic in a forum?
-
You will need to register before you can post a message. To post a new
topic in a forum, click the "New Topic" at the top
or bottom of the forum home screen. "General--Main Board" and "Support
for Using the Message Board" are the only forums open to new topics. The
other "Current Discussion" forums allow you to post in current topics. A
list of your
permissions in each forum is available at the bottom of the forum and
topic screens. Example: You can post new topics, You can reply to
topics, etc.
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- How do I edit or delete a post?
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You can only edit or delete your own posts. You can edit a post by
clicking the edit button for the relevant post. If you edit your post
after someone has already replied to the post, the system will show the
number of times you have edited it along with the date and time.
Please note that you cannot delete a post once someone has replied.
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- How do I add a signature to my posts?
-
First you must create a signature by going to your User Control Panel,
then the Profile tab, then the Edit Signature option on the
left. As a courtesy to others, please limit the number of lines in your
signature. 4 or 5 long lines is much nicer than 10 short lines. Be sure
and click Submit after entering your signature.
To use the signature on all posts go to your User Control Panel, then the
Board Preferences tab, then the Edit Posting Defaults
option on the
left. Set the Attach my signature by default option to "Yes" and
click Submit.
To control whether you signature appears on an individual post you can
check (or uncheck) the Attach a signature box on the posting form
to add (or remove) your signature.
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- What is the “Save” button for in topic posting?
- This allows you to save passages to be completed and submitted at a later date. To reload a saved passage, visit the User Control Panel.
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Formatting and Topic Types
- What is BBCode?
- BBCode is a special implementation of HTML, offering great formatting control on particular objects in a post.
BBCode itself is
similar in style to HTML, but tags are enclosed in square brackets [ and
] rather than < and >. For more information on BBCode click on
the BBCode is ON link that is on the right side of the posting
page.
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- Can I use HTML?
- No. It is not possible to post HTML on this board and have it rendered as HTML. Most formatting which can be carried out using HTML can be applied using BBCode instead.
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- What are Smilies?
- Smilies, or Emoticons, are small images which can be used to express a feeling using a short code, e.g. :) denotes happy, while :( denotes sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen in the posting form. Try not to overuse smilies, however, as they can quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may edit them out or remove the post altogether. The board administrator may also have set a limit to the number of smilies you may use within a post.
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- Can I post images?
- Yes, images can be shown in your posts. You may
upload small images to the board using the Upload Attachment tab
on the posting page. Otherwise, you must link to an image
stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g. hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.
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- What are global announcements?
- Global announcements contain important information and you should read them whenever possible. They will appear at the top of every forum and within your User Control Panel.
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- What are announcements?
- Announcements often contain important information for the forum you are currently reading and you should read them whenever possible. Announcements appear at the top of every page in the forum to which they are posted.
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- What are sticky topics?
- Sticky topics within the forum appear below announcements and only on the first page. They are often quite important so you should read them whenever possible.
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- What are locked topics?
- Locked topics are topics where users can no longer reply. Topics may be locked for many reasons
and were set this way by a forum moderator.
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User Levels and Groups
- What are Administrators?
- Administrators are members assigned with the highest level of control over the entire board. These members can control all facets of board operation, including setting permissions, banning users, creating usergroups or moderators, etc.
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- What are Moderators?
- Moderators are individuals who look after the forums
from day to day. They have the authority to edit or delete ALL posts and
lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate.
Generally, moderators are present to prevent users from going off-topic or
posting abusive or offensive material.
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- What are usergroups?
- Usergroups are not used on this board, however, you will still see links for them in your User Control Panel.
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- What is “The team” link?
- This link that appears at the bottom of most
pages will show you a page that provides a list of board staff,
including board administrators and moderators and other details such as the forums they moderate.
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Searching the Forums
- How can I search a forum or forums?
- Enter a search term in the search box located on the index, forum or topic pages. Advanced search can be accessed by clicking the “Advance Search” link which is available on all pages on the forum.
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- Why does my search return no results?
- Your search was probably too vague and included many common terms which are not indexed by phpBB3. Be more specific and use the options available within Advanced search.
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- Why does my search return a blank page!?
- Your search returned too many results for the webserver to handle. Use “Advanced search” and be more specific in the terms used and forums that are to be searched.
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- How do I search for members?
- Visit to the “Members” page and click the “Find a member” link.
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- How can I find my own posts and topics?
- Your own posts can be retrieved either by clicking
the “Search user’s posts” within the User Control Panel or via your own profile page. To search for your topics, use the Advanced search page and fill in the various options appropriately.
To retrive your topics via your own profile page, go to the Overview Tab
and select "Front Page." At the bottom of this page will be information
on your total number of posts and a link to "Show your posts."
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Topic Subscriptions and Bookmarks
- What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?
- Bookmarking on the forum is much like bookmarking in
your web browser. You aren’t alerted when there’s an update, but you
can come back to the topic later by going to your User Control Panel,
selecting the "Overview" tab, then clicking on "manage bookmarks."
Subscribing, however, will notify you
when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your
preferred method or methods.
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- How do I subscribe to specific forums or topics?
- To subscribe to a specific forum, click the “Subscribe forum” link upon entering the forum. To subscribe to a topic, reply to the topic with the subscribe checkbox checked or click the “Subscribe topic” link within the topic itself.
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- How do I remove my subscriptions?
- To remove your subscriptions, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to your subscriptions.
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Attachments
- What attachments are allowed on this board?
- Attachments are allowed for files that are 256KB or
smaller. This is to allow users to upload small images to include in
their posts. There is a maximum of 3 attachments per post.
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- How do I find all my attachments?
- To find your list of attachments that you have uploaded, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to the attachments section.
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phpBB 3 Issues
- What is phpBB3?
- pbpBB3 is the software we have chosen to use to make this message board work. The phpBB3 group provides their software free of charge for others to use.
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- Who wrote this bulletin board?
- This software (in its unmodified form) is produced, released and is copyright phpBB Group. It is made available under the GNU General Public License and may be freely distributed. See the link for more details.
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- Why isn’t X feature available?
- This software was written by and licensed through phpBB Group. If you believe a feature needs to be added, please visit the phpbb.com website and see what phpBB Group have to say. Please do not post feature requests to the board at phpbb.com, the group uses SourceForge to handle tasking of new features. Please read through the forums and see what, if any, our position may already be for a feature and then follow the procedure given there.
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- Who do I contact about abusive and/or legal matters related to this board?
- Send an email to info@mfwbooks.com or call us at 573-426-4600.
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