Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for the Forum

Here is a brief explanation of some of the questions you may have about using the Discussion Forum.

How can I search the forum for specific information?

The search function is based on the browser, but for IE and FireFox, you use it the same way. To open "Find" option click F3 key, or find it under "Edit" then "Find" from the browser menu.


When you open "Find", you will see the Find textbox in the bottom row of your browser.
"Find" searches for the word you enter in the text box, but only within the visible web page. This means you will be finding your word in subjects that are displayed in forum web page.

There is no way to search for a message that contains a keyword, unless that keyword is in the subject.

What is menu item [Most Recent] about?

As postings are added to the forum, a short list of the most recent postings is available. By clicking on [Most Recent] you can easily view the latest topics and answers. This is a quick way to see if your question (no matter how old) has been answered rather than scrolling down the long forum page to find your question.

As a visitor, you may see a thread of interest to you. By coming back from time to time you can easily click on [Most Recent] to see if the thread has new responses without searching for it in the main forum.

What does the [View Thread] button do in "Most Recent" page?

Cursor to a message subject in the Most Recent page and click the [View Thread] button. This will display all messages posted under a common subject. This makes it easy to read the complete conversation for a single topic without having to click and view each message one at a time.

Quarantined? Why was my message quarantined?

Spam attacks on the forum are no longer just a nuisance, but have devastating consequences. You may have visited other "open" forums that have been attacked and basically rendered useless to their communities. To keep this forum healthy, automatic spam filters are used to keep spam away. But sometimes filters make a mistake and flag your message as a possible spam. If this happens, you will see a "quarantine" screen explaining what just happened.

If you post and get the quarantine screen, don't worry - your message is safely recorded - you don't need to repost. Quarantined messages are reviewed 4-5 times daily and are reposted when determined to be authentic.

FYI
So far, approx 99.5% of all quarantined messages reviewed are spam, amounting to approx 20-30 messages daily. The odds are about 1 in 100 that your message will be quarantined. All the rest are scams about drugs, mortgages, obscenity, etc. As you can imagine it's easy to judge the difference.

If you hate spam, appreciate a quality open forum on gear topics, and have some spare time, please contact me about being an And oh yeah, spammers need not apply!


How do I post my question?

You need to be in the first screen you see when you enter the discussion forum. Click onPost Message at the top menu and the Post a Message screen will appear. Enter your name, Email (optional), subject of your message, and the message or question text.

Don't use this screen to reply to a question from someone else. See the next FAQ to reply to an existing message.


How do I reply to a posted question?

There are two ways:
(1) Forum Reply and (2) E-mail Reply.
In either case you must start from the first screen you see when you enter the discussion forum. Find the subject of the message you want to read and click on it. Another screen appears with the subject's message text for you to read.
(1) Forum Reply. Input blocks for your reply are below the message text. Here you can enter your name and your reply.
Don't change the subject appearing there. The subject keeps your reply together with the original post to form a "thread". Threads are a series of posts that all relate to the original post, or topic theme.
(2) E-mail Reply. Click on the poster's name. If the poster had entered his E-mail address, you will be able to reply to the poster directly. If not, simply make a forum reply.
If your response could possibly benefit others, or your response is not limited to the individual that posted the question, please use the forum reply. If you want your answer to be private to the poster, then E-mail your reply. When in doubt, send a forum reply so that other visitors can see the question and answer.


I tried to post to the forum, but I get an error message instead. Why?

If the error window indicates that there was objectionable content, that may not be your fault. The forum filters make every effort to prevent objectionable posting (spamming, vandalism, etc.) but sometimes you might use a word or phrase innocently that gets caught in the filter. If that is the case please send me the text of your message so that I can either point out the problem or repost the message for you. The filter is constantly changing in an effort to prevent unwanted posts. Sending me the message gives me the chance to adjust the filter when it is too restrictive.


When I reply to a post, why is the subject block filled?

You may notice that questions and answers appear grouped together in the main forum screen. These groups are called "threads". Threads are identified by "RE:" and the subject automatically entered with a response. Don't change the automatic subject entry appearing in your response. If you do, your response will not appear with the question.


Can I use html tags in my posts?

No. You can use HTML tags in the body of the message body only. For example, you can italicize a word with word, or make a word bold word by using HTML tags.


Can I use image graphics in my posts?

Yes, please do if the image adds explanation or value to your message. But don't include advertising images or logos for your business. For instance, a schematic of gear teeth in mesh or an animation of unusual gear forms rotating are welcome images that can benefit the community, but a business logo has no place in the forum.
Images that you refer to in your message must be hosted by you or must be hosted on a server that you have permission to link to, e.g.

http://www.yourdomain.com/images/yourimage.gif

See the next FAQ with directions.


How do I post an image in my message?

First of all, the image file itself cannot be part of the message, only a link to the image can be entered in the message. This means that the image file (e.g. myimage.gif) must be hosted on your server, or a server that you have permission to link to.

your link must be encoded in html according to the following example:

<img src = "http://www.MyDomain.com/MyImageDirectory/MyImageFile.gif">

If you don't have access to a server or a photo sharing website, then Email the image file to the and include the text of the message which goes with the image. If a review shows that the message and image are on topic, we will save the image and add the link into your message.


I posted an advertisement on the forum, but it disappeared later. Why?

The forum is not for advertisements. If an advertisement is posted to the forum, it will be deleted. Admittedly, this is a judgement call in some cases, but as the moderator says, the judgement is final.
But don't worry, there is a place to advertise. It is called the Buy/Sell page, and it is free to all. If you want to buy or sell equipment, tooling, open time, etc. then click here.


Why didn't my post show up?

Your post posted correctly, unless you received an error message. However, your browser does not display a new post immediately because your browser does not reload the forum page when you go back. It simply pulled the old forum page out of your machine's cache memory when you went back to the forum page. Click on the Reload or Refresh button in your browser and your new post will appear.


Where can I get the scripts for this program?

Acknowledgement
The WWWboard scripts are written in Perl and were originally created by Matt Wright. The version used here has been highly modified to address security issues and to reject spam insofar as possible.
Matt's WWWboard script is certainly appreciated for all the work he has done, but is widely deprecated for its lack of security against attacks. To be fair, the design was excellent for its day but is now considered outdated for today's web environment. If you are considering Matt's WWWboard script for your first forum, do some serious web searches looking especially for the "NMS" keyword. Here is a good place to look for your first forum that has the "look and feel" of this forum. There has been much work done by others to "toughen up" his scripts.
With that said, his scripts are free to anyone who wishes to use them (you've been warned!) and you can get WWWboard as well as other scripts at: http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/. Enjoy!


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