Information on How to Use the Message Board
This page is unformatted for easy printout. Some basic tips are given here
on using the SPAFER message board.
- Reading messages: You can read the messages that are posted without
registering or logging into the site. The box in the center of the screen
shows the forums for the site. A forum is just a collection of messages on
a given topic. Right now we have only one forum on the SPAFER site, and that
is "SPAFER Shadetree Saints Message Board." To see the messages
posted under this site click once on that forum. The screen that opens shows
who has posted messages, the subject, author, and how many times that message
has been read, or "viewed". You can only read messages unless you
register and log in.
- Registering: You must register one time only to be able to log
in. Register with the message board by clicking on the "Register"
button in the upper left-hand corner. You must give your name. Please use
your real name and not a pseudonym for the SPAFER message board. This name
will be your log in name! Remember what you put in this box! Provide your
email address, and choose a password you can remember. Write the password
down. You may enter a "signature" if you choose. A signature is
a phrase or other piece of text together with your name that will be used
to "sign" each message that you post. You are not required to add
a signature unless you choose to do so. You will have to log in each time
you enter the message board if you wish to reply to any messages, but you
ONLY REGISTER ONCE!
- Logging in: When you register the first time you will automatically
be logged in. To log in on subsequent visits to the message board, just click
once on the login button at the top of the screen and type your login name
and password into the form as requested. Note that your log in name is just
the full name you entered when you registered.
- Details of the Forum window: Once you log in you will see a display
of the forums. Again, presently we only have one forum, but we may add more
if there are topical discussions that branch off of this main forum. The "Forum
jump" pull-down menu will only have one entry until we start more forums.
- Reading a message: To see who sent messages to the forum and see
the topics that are being discussed, click once on the forum name. You can
then click once on the subject name to read any one of the messages.
- Reading your own message: Note that once you open one of your own
messages, you can delete it, modify it, reply to it, or reply to it and include
the previous message as a quote. This allows you to manage your old messages
by deleting them off of the board. You will not be able to delete or modify
the message of others. But, you can reply to it, or reply to it and include
the message you are replying to as a quote. Note that at the bottom of the
page you can jump to other message topics directly without have to back up
by going to the right-hand pull-down menu, "Topic jump."
- Posting a new message: You can add a new message by clicking once
on the "Add new message" button on the top right-hand side of this
window. This will add a new message to this thread of messages, but it does
not create a new subject. So, if you add a new message here, it will not show
up as a different subject in the forum window. It will show up underneath
the previous messages on the current subject (see message 1 as an example).
- Posting a new topic: You can post a new subject by clicking on
the "SPAFER Shadetree Saints Message Board" at the top of the page.
This takes you back to the forum page. There on the right-hand side you will
see the "Add new topic" button. By clicking once on this, you can
create a brand new subject. The forms for entering messages is rather straightforward.
If you are not sure about some of the choices, leave the default value there
that was set up for you.
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