Limits on Posting

These may change as time goes by, but at the moment:

Posts must contain at least 5 characters

You have to wait at least 15 seconds after making a post before making your next post (that is to slow down spam bots which open one thread after another and post their ads or whatever - the default was to wait a minute, and this is a compromise to allow people to post activity on the nests fairly quickly)

Members should be able to edit their posts for 5 days, after which they are locked against further editing. At the moment, it appears that the limit is 2 hours (7200 seconds) instead of 5 days (7200 minutes), something we need to discuss with the folks who designed the software.

We're not sure what the limit is, but some very long posts - especially those with lots of colored fonts - will appear to be empty. If you use the Edit or Quote buttons you'll be able to see the content. If this happens, the easiest solution is to move part of the post to another post, or delete the colors.

How to Link Back to an Individual Post

Go to the title bar of the post in question - click on the 'page' in the top left!



You will see the page refreshing - when it has - the URL in the top address bar is what to copy and post - and it will link back to just that post!!

~~~~~

Another option - at least for PCs - is to right-mouse-click the 'page' and chose either "copy shortcut" (Internet Explorer) or "copy link location" (FireFox) or whatever similar option your browser offers

How to use your Message Centre!

First - where is it??
Unless someone has sent you a pm you will not see it at the top!!
Fear not - Click on your "My Account" at the top - and the Message centre will be in the list!



.
Your Pm screen looks like this:



You can:
1. Compose a New Message
2, Select your inbox, sent, or saved messages from this drop down menu!
3. Choose what to do with selected Pms!!

Let's tour the Compose Message screen - it has some handy features - You will like this!!



You need to put the name in the box - and you can choose that from the list of members in the drop down menu, if you want - then click on 'Add User'!
Now - the beauty of this is that you can select several names - just click on "Add User" to include the other names in the box!!
I said you will like this

Make sure you put a title in the Subject line - and send!

Not shown in this image are a wide range of emoticons!

Now - a word of warning - in the old forum, if you went back and deleted a pm - it would leave a message - "John Doe PM'd you, but deleted", annoying but at least you knew!

In this forum - if you delete a message it will just go - no problem you think!!
But if any one has asked for an e-mail when they get a PM - they will still have the e-mail
so please use this feature sparingly - there does not appear to be an edit facility here!!
----------------------------
Now - where are your Outbox - sent and archived PMs!

When you are in your inbox - at the top right you will see the word Folder
Beside it is a drop down arrow -they are in there.

How to use your Message Centre (Part two)

Manage friends:
If there are other members who you PM frequently - you can list them in your Friends Box!
Click on "Manage Friends" at the bottom left!


Scroll through the member's list till you come to a name you want - click on "Add User" - to the right!
Keep doing this till you have your friends listed - click on Submit!

Next time you Compose a Message - your friends will be listed in the Friends box - top right!
Click on the name/names you want and click on "Add user"

How to Enter your Avatar and Signature

In this Forum it is called a Photo!!

Click on "My Account" in the top bars - Pic in the Message Centre instructions - and from there select "Account Settings"
On that page click on the "About You" Tab!


The procedure is the same as you are used to!
Click on 'Browse' - select the photo from your computer - click OK or open
Then you must scroll down to the bottom to Click on "Save Information - so it will take effect!

But on the way - why not add your signature line - just text - no Pictures! (Buttons allowed!)

How to Change Your Password and Privacy Settings

Click on "My Account" on the black bar at the top of the page, and choose "Account Settings":



It should open to the "Username & Password" tab - if not, click on that:


Put the password you got in the email in the "current password" box (it may be easiest to copy and paste), then type the new password you want twice, once in each box. The "password strength" listing underneath tells you how hard the password would be for a computer to guess - interesting, but not that important.

Under that, you can pick how long the website will remember you before you need to log in again. The maximum is 30 days, so you will need to log in at least once a month. A bit of a nuisance, but it may help me remember my password!

I didn't include it in the picture because I don't really want to publish my personal email address for the world to see - but also on this tab is the place where you'd change your email address - you just need to type the new email address in two boxes, the same as you did with the password.

While you are in here:
Your Privacy Settings
You may not want a link to your e-mail to appear in your posts!
This is how to keep that Private!
Click on the privacy tab - and this window opens

As you can see - you can untick the box that lets any members e-mail you!
Leave the next box ticked - so Admin cand send you a message - this will happen rarely!
The nest box is where you can choose to have your name taken off the "Who is on-line" list - but of course as soon as you post you can be seen!!
The last box is where you can stop having an e-mail to alert you that someone has PM'd you!!

Go to the bottom and click "Save Information"

I must stress that your e-mail address is never on show - members can click the link and the e-mail will be sent on to you at the address you registered with!!
So far - so good!
If you then reply to that e-mail - it is now going from your e-mail account to the other member - so they can now see your address!!


If you run into trouble, you can contact jkr, PEB or me - either by PM'ing us on either forum, or by sending an email to forumadmin@hancockwildlife.org

How to post a large Picture from Media Gallery!

We want to keep our posted pic to around 500 pix wide - but it is nice to see the full size - How to do this!
Follow me to one of my favourite pics in the media gallery - Beautiful Morning

That is the basic address of the small pic in the Album - It starts off - http: //archive.hancockwildlife.org/mediagallery/mediaobjects/tn

If I click on it to see the next size - it will start off -
http: //archive.hancockwildlife.org/mediagallery/mediaobjects/disp

If I click it again to get the largest possible size -it will start off - http: //archive.hancockwildlife.org/mediagallery/mediaobjects/orig/

tn = Thumbnail
disp = Display
orig = Original size

And that is the secret to getting a huge picture posted - but only a small pic in your post!

So Let's post a thumbnail - that leads to an original sized image!!

It's a bit like a posh link!!
Go to the picture in your album you want - click on it twice to get original size - then right click on it and select Properties at the bottom - copy the url of the picture - (In FireFox it is called location)

Come back to your post - select where you want the picture to show -
Type [ URL= and paste the pic url there - type ] - then click on IMG from the tool bar and paste in the link again.
Now look for where the code says 'orig' in the second one - and change it to 'tn'
Type [ /url] to finish off
Type "Click" underneath - so everyone knows there is a bigger picture hiding there!

(I have had to leave a gap in the [ /url] brackets - so it will show - you won't do that!

This is a long winded account - but I find that it helps if you know why you are doing this - it will soon become second nature!

And here is the finished result:

Click

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