Return to DMRF Dystonia Bulletin Board |
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QUESTION: I can read messages on the bulletin board but when I click on the "Post Message" link, I get a "Login DMRF Dystonia Bulletin Board" screen. What has this got to do with posting? ANSWER: The software has been configured such that anyone can read posted messages but only persons who have registered can post messages. A registered user must login each time he/she visits the board and wishes to post a message or followup. A user only has to login once per session, even if he/she wishes to post more than one message. |
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QUESTION: What does the "Register" link mean? ANSWER: Although anyone can read messages on the bulletin board, only those who have registered (Click on the "Register link" and follow instructions) can post messages. |
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QUESTION: Why do I have to register? ANSWER: The principal reason is to allow the moderators to identify anonymous troublemakers. The system has been configured such that persons who feel the need to post anonymously can do so (provided that they do not use anonymity as a shield to hide behind while making personal attacks). |
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QUESTION: What is involved in the registration process? ANSWER: When you go to the board for the first time, click on the "Register" link on the top or bottom navigation bar. Fill in the form and click on the "Submit" button. Note that in the "Name" field you do not have to enter your real or full name if you would prefer not to. However, you must enter your real e-mail address because part of the registration process involves responding to an e-mail sent to that address. The information on this form can not be viewed by other users but it can be viewed by the moderators. After you have received the validation e-mail message, gone to the URL provided in it, and read and accepted the conditions, you will be registered. Each time you visit the board and wish to post a message, you will have to login ("Login" link on the navigation bar), using the name and password you used to register. It is possible to register under more than one name but if you do so, your aliases will show in your posts. Note that you do not have to include your e-mail address when posting if would rather not. |
| QUESTION: I posted something, but it does not show up on the bulletin board. Why not?
ANSWER: The most likely explanation is that your browser is displaying a cached copy of the BB file downloaded before you sent your post. Many browsers are set to save a copy of every page you view on your hard drive and use that copy, rather than downloading again, if you return to the same page. If you press View>Reload (or CTRL+R) in Netscape or View>Refresh (or F5 or the Refresh icon) in Internet Explorer you'll get a fresh copy of the page and will usually see your post. A similar problem occurs with some ISPs - AOL is one - who cache messages on their server. Refreshing your browser will NOT help in this case; Unfortunately, there is nothing to do except to be patient -- the message will usually show up eventually. Please do NOT post a second time. |
| QUESTION: I posted something a few days ago. It isn't there any more. What happened?
ANSWER: It probably is still there, but is hidden. Our BB software displays the most recent posts at the top, and moves everything else down within a thread. Only the most recent posts are visible on the "main page." If the thread is still visible on the main page but your post isn't, it might be visible if you open the thread. If the thread is long, some posts may be split and drop to a later page within the BB. In rare cases, a post may have been deleted by the moderators if it violated BB policies on advertising, relevance or "good taste." For more information on those policies, see the message about Bulletin Board rules and etiquette. |
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QUESTION: I regret having posted a particular message or I would like it changed? What do I do? ANSWER: You can edit or delete messages that you wrote. Open the message. On the left side of the page, click on the word "edit". If you are not already logged in, you will be prompted to do so. Then a window will open in which you can edit or delete the message. If you alter the message, a note will be added at the bottom "--modified by your name at date and time". If the message were modified by a moderator, the moderator's name would show in place of "your name". Please note that only messages in the active Bulletin Board can be edited in this way. To keep file sizes reasonable, after about 3-6 months older posts are moved to a separate archive. Once a post has been moved to the archive, it can not be edited or deleted. |
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QUESTION: ANSWER: How do I send a private e-mail message to someone who has posted to the bulletin board? ANSWER: If the author of the post listed his or her e-mail address at the time the post was written, his/her name will appear as a link at the top left of the message. If you click that link, your mail program (Outlook, Eudora or whatever mail software you use) will open with the "to" field already completed with the person's e-mail. Authors have the option to not give their e-mail, in which case the name will be listed without a link. |
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QUESTION: Can I add a link to my post? ANSWER: Yes. Go to the bottom of the "Post Message" form. In the field labeled "Link URL", type in the URL of the link. In the field titled "Link Title", type in the name of the link. When the message is posted, what you typed in the "Link Title" field will appear as a link. If you wish to add a link, please be sensitive to our general "no advertising" policy. |
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QUESTION: What do the four fields at the bottom of the "Post Message" form mean? ANSWER: For the first two, see the FAQ above, "Can I add a link to my post?" For the last two, see FAQ below, "Can I include an image in my post?" |
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QUESTION: Can I include an image in my post? ANSWER: Yes. There are two methods:
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QUESTION: When I post a followup, how can I include all or part of the message I am responding to? ANSWER: To make it easier to read the BB and improve download speeds, we generally do not repeat the "parent" message in posts. If the reader feels the need to see the previous post, there is a link at the top of the page. Readers are slowed down if they have to wade through the previous message again before getting to the new one. If you do feel the need to include part of the previous message in your response, select the text with your mouse, copy it to clipboard and then paste it into your followup. |
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QUESTION: Each time I return to the bulletin board, all of the messages show as not having been visited (read). ANSWER: Somewhere in your browser setup or preferences there is an item about history or visited links. This allows you to specify the number of days that a visited link shows as visited. Typically, this is set for someplace between 15 and 45 days. The actual menu item to set varies not only with the browser manufacturer but also the version. The setup sequence for recent versions of several browsers are given below.
In Opera:
In AOL browser
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QUESTION: How do I make the messages display in larger print? ANSWER: In most browsers, you can increase the size of the font in which pages display.
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QUESTION: I don't like the colors of the bulletin board (background, text, unvisited links, visited links) ANSWER: Because there is no way to please everyone in terms of background, text, link & visited link colors, we have not defined the background color (the white part of the page), nor the Unvisited and Visited link colors within the BB software. This means that they are whatever you have set them to be on your browser. Note that you can not set the color of the navigator bar nor the individual message link backgrounds In Netscape 4 or later IN IE 4 IN IE 6 Tools > Internet Options > General >Colors |
QUESTION: I'm finished posting. How do I log out? ANSWER: There is no "log out" function in the bulletin board software. If you close your browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape), you should be disconnected from the BB. If you access the BB from a public computer, or if you are concerned about other people using your computer and logging in to the BB, make sure you don't save your password or login, and do not click "remember my password" when you log in. If your computer does remember your login and password, use the appropriate function in your browser to "delete cookies" and it should forget them.
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