GN8 Online Community User Guide

Beginners guide

Can I use GN8 without being a member?

You may visit board as a guest you can view the board and read the posts, but you will not be able to contact any of the members or post anything yourself.

Why register as a members?

In order to fully utilize the abilities of this board, the board will require that you register as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:

• Post new threads
• Reply to other peoples' threads
• Edit your posts
• Receive email notification of replies to posts and threads you specify!
• Send private messages to other members
• Set up a 'buddy-list' to quickly see which of your friends are currently online.

How do I register?

You will need to go to 'GN8 Online Community' home page first
go to http://www.GreenN8.org.uk/GN8 and click on Register at the top of the page

To register, you will need to specify a username and password, and a valid email address. Password can not be more then 8 letters.

Entering your email address will not leave you open to 'spam', as this board hides your email address, and messages sent to you via email do not reveal your address to the sender. (To verify this, you can try sending an email message to another user.)

What happened Next?

You will receive an email to validate your email address. And once the board administrator approves your membership, you are all set to go.

Keep a record of your username and password, you will need it to log in.

How do I log in?

You will need to go to 'GN8 Online Community' home page first
go to http://www.GreenN8.org.uk/GN8 and click on log in at the top of the page.

Input your user name and password and log in.

Problems logging in

Does this board use cookies?

We recommend that you select 'yes' to enable the cookie. After you have registered, you may alter your cookie options at any time by changing the settings on this page.

If you are using a shared computer, such as in a library, school or internet cafe, or if you have reason to not trust any other users that might use this computer, we do not recommend that you enable cookies.

more about cookies a the end

I can't log in after registration is complete

This could happened if you have selected a password longer then 8 letters. To solve this problem follow the steps described in the next section 'I lost my password, what can I do?'

I lost my password, what can I do?

If you forget your password, you can click on the 'Forgotten Your Password' link on any page that requires you to fill in your password. This will bring up a page where you should enter your registered email address, and an email will be sent to that address instantly, with instructions for resetting your password. Create a new password and log in using it. Make sure you password is no longer then 8 letters!

Using the Board

How can I change the information in my profile?

It is your responsibility to keep the information in your profile up-to-date. You should especially ensure that your email address is kept current. You can alter any of the fields in your profile, except your username. Once you have registered your username, it becomes yours for life. In extreme circumstances, you may request that the administrator change your username, but he will require a very good reason to do so.

What is the signature for?

After you have registered, you may set your signature. This is a piece of text that you would like to be inserted at the end of all your posts, a little like having headed note paper. If you have specified a signature, then the board will automatically append your signature to any messages you post. You can disable signatures on a per-post basis by un-ticking the 'Show Signature' checkbox when you compose your message. You may turn the signature on and off on posts you have already made by editing the post and altering the state of the 'Show Signature' option. You can set your signature by editing your profile.

How do I get a picture under my username?

These small images are called Avatars. They are displayed below your username on all posts that you make. There are two kinds of avatars: those provided by the administrator and those that you upload yourself.If the administrator has provided a set of avatars, and avatars are enabled, you may select an avatar that best describes your personality.The administrator may also have enabled custom avatars, which allows you to upload an avatar image from your computer.

What are the buddy and ignore lists?

The buddy list is used to keep track of the friends you have made on this board. By going to your "Home", you'll be able to see which of your friends are currently online, and be able to send them a private message. Adding people to your buddy list also allow you to send private messages to multiple board members at the same time. You may add any member of this board to your buddy list by clicking this button in a member's posts. Ignore lists are used for those people who's messages you wish not to read. By adding someone to your ignore list, those messages posted by these individuals will be hidden when you read a thread.

Can I search the board?

You can search for posts based on username, word(s) in the post, word(s) in the subject, by date, and only in particular forums. To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. You can search any forum that you have permission to search - you will not be allowed to search through private forums unless the administrator has given you the necessary security rights to do so.

Can I send email to other members of this board?

No! This board is set to hide all email addresses to give maximum security and privacy t all members.

How do I contact other members?

Registered members can send messages to other members of this board using the private messaging system. You can either locate the member you want to contact on the member list At the bottom of the most pages , or click the button on any post made by that member.

This will usually open a page that contains a form where you can enter your message. When you have finished typing your message, press the 'send message' button and your message will be sent instantly. Note that for privacy reasons, the email address of the recipient is not revealed to you during this process.

Another useful email function is the ability to send a friend a link to a thread you think they may find interesting. Whenever you view a thread, you will find a link somewhere on the page which will allow you to send a brief message to anyone you like. Your referrer-id is added to the link you send, so if your friend registers on this board as a result of viewing the link you sent to them, your referrals total will automatically be credited!

How do I know if I received a new private massage?

You can visit the board regularly, log in and click on the 'Member Centre' link at the top of the page and check out your inbox for new messages.

You can set up your Private Message ' Preferences' to E-mail you when you receive new Private Messages, from here you can Disable the Private Messageing all together and even enable Auto Reply.

Sending Private Messages

Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this board. You will be able to include html code, smilies and images in private messages that you send.

You may send a private message to a member of this board by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the button in a member's posts.

When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of the message in your Sent Items folder.

Private Message Folders

By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the Inbox and the Sent Items folders.

The Inbox folder contains any new messages you receive, and allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent the message to you, and the date and time the message was sent.

The Sent Items folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy of the message for future reference.

Creating more folders for Private Messages

You may create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Folders' link.

Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them completely. You may also have a button which allows you to forward multiple messages from a folder to another member of the board.

You will need to periodically delete old messages, as there is a limit of 500kb for each members private messages. If you exceed the number of messages specified by the administrator, you will not be able to send or receive new messages until you delete some old messages.

Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply to the message, or forward that message to another member of the board. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your buddy list.

Message Tracking

When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt for that message. This will allow you to check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient by viewing the Private Message Tracking page.

This page is divided into two sections: unread messages and read messages.

The unread messages section shows all messages that you have sent with a read-receipt request, that have not yet been read by their recipient. The time of the last activity of the message recipient is also shown. Messages in this section can be cancelled if you decide that their contents are no longer relevant, or for any other reason. Cancelled messages can also be restored to active status if the administrator has enabled this feature.

The read messages section shows all messages you have sent with a receipt request that have been read and acknowledged by their recipient. The time that the message was read is also shown.

You may choose to end the tracking on any message you choose by selecting the message and clicking the 'end tracking' button.

When you receive a message with a read-receipt request, you may have the option to read the message while denying the read-receipt request. To do this, simply click the 'deny receipt' link rather than the title of the message, if it appears.

How do I use the Member List?

The member list contains a complete list of all the registered members of this board. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the board, or by the number of posts the members have made.

The member list also has a search function, which allows you to quickly locate members according to categories you specify, such as searching for all members who have joined in the past week etc.

Clicking on members name in this list will take you to their profile and you can send them a private message from their profile click on send a private message.

Are there any special codes/tags I can use in my posts?

For the most part, your posts will contain plain text, but on occasions, you may want to emphasize certain words or phrases by making them (for example) bold or italic.

You may use HTML code to produce these effects.

Board Code/BC is a system much like html that lets you do things that HTML Code would do, but they are encased within brackets ([]) rather than a less than and greater than signs (<>)

To use BC, simply press the buttons on top of the Message part of the Posting Screen (For changing text colour, links and such, select the part you want made a link/colour-change). Eventually you will get used it and learn it quickly.

Can I edit my own posts?

You will be able to edit and delete your posts. To edit or delete your posts, click the button by the post you want to edit. If your post was the first in the thread, then deleting the post may result in the removal of the entire thread.

After you have made your modifications, a note may appear, which notifies other users that you have edited your post. Administrators and moderators may also edit your messages but this note may not appear when they do so.

Code Buttons and Clickable Smilies

These controls allow you to quickly and easily enter blahcode into your posts and messages. To use them, simply click the appropriate buttons or select items from the lists to enter blahcode.

There are two modes available: normal and enhanced mode.

When using normal mode, pressing a button will pop-up a dialog for you to fill with text. It will then enter the text with the appropriate blah Code tags at the end of your message.

When using enhanced mode, pressing a button will insert the appropriate STARTING tag for the code, leaving you to enter text into the message area. When you have finished the text and want to close the tag, simply press the Close Current Tag button (alt+c). You may also nest tags in enhanced mode, and then use the Close All Tags button (alt+x) to close all open mark-up. Please note that the 'close tag' buttons only close tags that have been entered using the code buttons.

To use the clickable Smilies, simply click the smiley that you want to insert into your message, or click the Get More link (if available) to access the
full list of Smilies.

Why have some of the words in my post been blanked?

Certain words may have been censored by the administrator. If your posts contain any censored words, they will be blanked-out like this: ****.

The same words are censored for all users, and censoring is done by a computer simply searching and replacing words. It is in no way 'intelligent'.


What is email notification?

If you post a new thread, or reply to an existing thread, you can choose to be notified by email when someone else replies to that thread. You can also choose to receive email notifications of new posts in a thread without posting in that thread, by clicking the 'Receive updates to this thread' link displayed in the thread page.

If you choose to stop receiving email notifications from a thread, you can turn off the option by either editing your post, or by unsubscribing from the thread here.

Only registered users may receive email notification, and they can set whether they want to receive email notification by default by editing their options.

Email notification is also referred to as 'Thread Subscription'.


How do I create and vote in polls?

You may notice that some threads on this board also include a section where you can vote on an issue or question. These threads are called 'polls' and this is how to create them:

Creating a new poll

When you post a new thread, you may have the option to also create a poll.

This function allows you to ask a question and specify a number of possible responses. Other members will then be able to vote for the response they wish, and the results of the voting will be displayed in the thread.

An example poll might be:

    What is your favourite colour?

       1. Red
       2. Blue
       3. Yellow
       4. Green
       5. Sky-blue pink with yellow spots

To create a poll when you post a new thread, simply click the 'Yes! post a poll' checkbox at the bottom of the page, and set the number of possible responses you want to include.

When you click the submit button, you will be taken to the poll creation page, where you can specify the question and the list of responses you want to include.

You may also want to specify a time limit for the poll, so that (for example) it only stays open for voting for a week.
Voting in and viewing a poll

To vote in a poll, simply select which option you want to vote for, and click the [Vote!] button. You may view the current results for a poll before you vote by clicking the 'View Results' link. Voting in a poll is entirely optional. You may vote for any of the available options, or cast no vote at all.

Generally, once you have voted in a poll, you will not be able to change your vote later, so place your vote carefully!

What Are Attachments?

You can use the attachment feature of this board, to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. There will be a limit to the file size of any attachments you make, as the board should not be used as an extension of your hard disk!

To attach a file to a new post, simply click the [Browse] button at the bottom of the post composition page, and locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive.

Only certain types of files may be attached: these are the valid file extensions for files to be attached to this board: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg and pdf .

After posting, the attachment will show up in the body of your message. To view the contents of the attachment (if it is not already displayed) simply click the filename link that appears next to the attachment.


What are Smilies?

Smilies are small graphical icons which you can insert into your messages to convey an emotion or feeling, such as a joke or embarrassment. For example, if you entered a sarcastic comment, rather than type 'that was a joke', you could simply insert the 'wink' smilie.

If you have used email or internet chat systems, you will probably be familiar with the concept of Smilies already. Certain combinations of text characters are converted into Smilies. For example,:) is converted into a smiling face. To understand smilie codes, tilt your head to the left and look at the text: you will see that :) represents two eyes and a smiling mouth.

On occasions, you may want to prevent the text in your message being converted into Smilies. You will see a checkbox which you can select when you make a new post, which will allow you to 'Disable Smilies'.

Code Specifications

Code to Type     Rendered Code
[face=Arial]Font Face[/face]     Font Face (Arial)
[size=2]Font Size[/size]     Font Size (2)
[b]bold[/b]     Bolded Text
[i]italics[/i]     italics
[u]underline[/u]     underline
[s]strikeout[/s]     strikeout
[sub]subscript[/sub]     subscript
[sup]superscript[/sup]     superscript
[url]http://www.greenn8.org[/url]     http://www.greenn8.org
[url=http://www.greenn8.org]Visit eblah.com Today![/url]     Visit eblah.com Today!
[mail]mysite@yourhouse.com[/mail]     mysite@yourhouse.com
[mail=mysite@yourhouse.com]e-mail me now![/mail]     e-mail me now!
[img width=50 height=20]http://www.site.com/picture.gif[/img]     
[img]http://www.greenn8.org/picture.gif[/img]     
[quote]Quoted Text[/quote]     
» Quoted Text
valign="top"
[hr]     
[flash width=200 height=200 url=http://www.greenn8.org/flash.swf] Flash Movie


What Are Moderators?

Moderators oversee specific forums. They generally have the ability to edit and delete posts, move threads, and perform other manipulations. Becoming a moderator for a specific forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly helpful and knowledgeable in the subject of the forum they are moderating.

More on Cookies

Does this board use cookies?

The use of cookies on this bulletin board is optional, but may enhance your experience of the site. Cookies are used to enable functions such as showing whether or not a thread or forum you are viewing has new posts since your last visit, or to automatically log you back in when you return to the site after being away for a while. When you register, you will be given the option to 'Automatically login when you return to the site'. This will store your username and password in a cookie, stored on your computer.

This board also gives you the option to use a cookie to track your current session, ensuring that you remain logged-on while browsing the site. If you choose not to store this information in a cookie, the session data will be sent through each link you click.

Choosing not to use a cookie may cause problems if your computer's connection to the Internet uses a proxy-server and you share links with other users behind the same proxy.

If in doubt, we recommend that you select 'yes' to enable the cookie. After you have registered, you may alter your cookie options at any time by changing the settings on this page.

If you are using a shared computer, such as in a library, school or internet cafe, or if you have reason to not trust any other users that might use this computer, we do not recommend that you enable cookies.

How do I clear my cookies?

You may clear all your cookies by clicking here. If you return to the main index page via the link provided and you are still logged in, you may have to remove your cookies manually.Here are the instructions for Internet Explorer 5 on Windows:

• Close all Internet Explorer windows.
• Click the "Start" button.
• Move up to "Find" and click "Files or Folders" from the menu that appears.
• In the new window that appears, in the "containing text" field, type in the domain name of the board without the "http://" or "www." part. For example, if the board's address was "http://www.pcfixzone.co.uk/index.html", I would type in "pcfixzone.co.uk" (without the quotes)
• In the "look in" box, type in "C:\Windows\Cookies\" (without the quotes) and press "Find Now"
• After it has finished searching, highlight all files (click a file, then press CTRL+A) and delete them (press the "delete" key or SHIFT+DEL)Your cookies should now be removed. You may want to restart the computer and revisit the board to be sure.