Introduction to Bulletin Board and tips

[Peace]

Just a little help for those who are new to the internet or bulletin boards.

Introduction to Bulletin Board

The entire messenging system here which members can communicate by exchanging text messages is called a bulletin / message board. It is often interchangeably(wrongly) used with the term forum.

Within a board, there can different categories to segregate different types of discussion, these are called forums. Here within each forum, users can create a topic(also known as "thread") for discussion. Each reply to a topic is called a post.

So the hierarchy should look something like this:
Bulletin / Message Board (eg. HLF)

• Categories / Forums (eg. The Common Fishing Hole)
  • Threads / Topics (eg. Fishing Trip to Sedili)
    • Posts (eg. Re: Fishing Trip to Sedili)

Common Terminology

Image hotlinking: To embed a picture in a post (often resided/stored in another website location)

Emoticons: They're smilies or small little faces/icons to add a little life to your posts. Don't overuse them.

Username: Your unique identification here on the bulletin board, you choose your username upon registering as a member.

Avatar: A small picture that appear just under your username. They don't mean much, more for decorative purpose and to fill up an empty space. You can choose an avatar in the galleries from your "profile".

Signature: A signature is something you added just below every post you make. You can place your name, some inspirational quotes, a link to your web or just leaving it blank. You can edit your signature in your "profile".

Private Messages (PM): A internal message system much like an email system where you can send to members of the bulletin board in private. Use it to discuss matters that only concern you and another party.

Moderator: They are members (usually volunteers) who help look after the forums. Ie. Making sure there are no inappropriate topics/posts.

Administrator: Takes care of the entire bulletin board, especially with its technical aspect, making sure that the board is up and running smoothly.

[Peace]

Here are some tips to make browsing HLF forums easier. It may apply to other forums/website as well.

• All links in the forum opens in the same window by default. To make it open in a new window, hold down [Shift] key and click on that link.
• If you want to link to a particular post in a thread, right click on the title of that post (not thread) and copy the link location for use. The link will end with #pxxxx (where xxxx=post number).
• View new post' is a good way to filter out posts since your last visit. Unread new posts will still be marked 'unread' even if you log off, to clear the flag, you need to click on the 'Mark forums read' at the forum index.
• You can subscribe to thread(s) you're interested in by clicking on the 'Subscribe topic' at the very bottom of the thread. You will receive email notification if there is a new post in that thread.
• Threads can also be bookmarked by clicking on the 'Bookmark topic' at the bottom of the thread. Bookmark list is then stored in your user control panel.
• You can bump your own thread without having to repost in it. Just click on the 'Bump topic' at the bottom of the thread and it will bring the thread to the top of the forum topic list. However, you can only bump a topic if there is no reply after 24 hours.
• You can go directly to the first unread post of a thread by click on the small little document icon beside the thread title listed in the forum as shown below:
  
• You can also go directly to the latest post of a thread by click on the small little document icon located after the thread author's name listed in the forum as shown below:
  
• An easy way to apply bbcodes to a string of text such as b,i,u, quote, code, url, font colour, etc, is to highlight the desired text/link first followed by pressing the bbcode button you want to use.
• You can access HLF main site by clicking on the forum logo or through the links located on the last item on the forum list.
• You can save a draft when composing a new post so that you can continue at a later time. Saved drafts can be found in the user control panel. Clicking on 'load draft' will return you to the exact state where you are able to preview your post prior to submitting. Clicking on 'view/edit' allows you to make changes to the draft and is able to overwrite this draft on 'save'.
• When sending a private message, message submitted goes into your outbox as well as to the recipient's inbox. Only when the the recipient has read the message you sent to him, that message in your outbox will be transferred to 'Sent Message'.