How
do I start a new subject?
If you are
using the frames
version, find the the 'Post Message' link on the nav frame
on the left side of the screen. If you use the no frames version, the link
is at the top of the page below the date entry bar.
The 'Post Message' link will take you to a screen where you can fill in you name, e-mail address (optional but handy as some people are more apt to send you a private e-mail than post on a public board), the subject and a text entry area to write your message. Fill all of these in before pressing the submit button at the bottom of the screen. Once the post is submitted it is posted. There is no way to change or modify it once it is posted.
How
do I post a response (follow-up) to a message already on the board?
At the bottom
of the message you wish to respond to you will find a section labeled "Post
a Follow-up". Fill in your name and optionally your e-mail address. Below
that, you'll see a text entry box labeled "Comments". This box will have
the message you are responding to already in, with a ":" added at the beginning
of each line. You can edit the text in this box anyway you wish. You comments
can be interspersed with the original poster's comments, or you can go
to the bottom and add your comments or you can delete the original comments
(drag the mouse from top to bottom and then hit the backspace key". Either
way it's a good idea to leave a blank line between the original comments
and your own to make it easier to read.
When you are editing in the message box, make sure that when you're done, each of the lines from the original message start with a ': '. The program uses this information to sort out your remarks (rendered in black) from the previous remarks (rendered in color). See the example below.
After you have filled in your response, press the Submit Follow Up key.
How do
I get around in this thing?
Notice the
window is split into three frames
. We'll call the left hand frame the nav frame, the upper-right-hand
frame the control frame and the lower-right-hand frame the main
frame.
In the control frame you should see two selection menus and a button labeled "Get Threads". Use the selection menus to control how many days post you want to see in the main window and how you want the data sorted. If you choose sorted by thread, the threads are shown in the order they were started, that is by the date of the original post. Choosing sorted by date sorts the threads according to the most recent response (follow-up) in the thread. The sorting option only controls the order in which threads are displayed not which threads are retrieved.
To see all messages posted within the past 24 hours, make the sentence in the control frame read "Display threads from the past day sorted by thread" and press the "Get Threads" button. To see all the posts available on the main board (non-archived), set the time period to all days and press the button.
When reading messages, note the navigational links at the top and bottom of each message. The 'next' link takes you to the next message below the one you are reading (as viewed from the main bb page), even if that message is not part of the thread you are reading. That is, it will take you through all the messages in the current thread and then onto the next thread without ever having to return to the main page. When you want to return to the main page, click on the 'Bulletin Board' link.
When posting a follow-up it is important to pay attention to the ': ' (colon-space) at the beginning of each of some of the lines in the text entry box. These colons are how the program sorts out which comments are yours and which belong to the post to which you are responding. Be sure to start your post on a blank line and if you break a line of the original message add a ': ' to the beginning of the line following the break. An example will illustrate:
Suppose the message you are responding to read ': what do you think about this? I think it's stupid?'. You break the line in two to answer the question: ': what do you think about this?' and insert (on a blank line below!) 'I think it's great.'. But the line below you now reads I think it's stupid.. The leading ': ' that tells the program that this was part of the original message is not there so the program will incorrectly attribute this comment to you. Add the ': ' back so it reads : I think it's stupid so that the program can render each part of the message in the proper color.
How
do I access the archives
When you click
on the archive link in the nav frame, notice the control
frame changes to allow you specify a range of dates as well as the
sorting option. Simply select the range of dates you're interested in seeing
and press the "Display" button. Posts between the time you've selected
will appear in the main window.
Please do not post follow-up messages to messages on the archive.
What are the posting policies of this board?
The purpose of the MPIP BB is to provide support and information to people who are facing a difficult time in their lives. Toward that goal, the following guidelines will be strictly enforced:
What is that blue rectangle on the navigation frame for?
It shows you who is in the chat room. If there are people chatting, their nicknames will show on the screen. The screen will be automatically updated as people enter and leave.
To join a chat, click on the Chat Room link on the nav frame. A new page will pop up with the chat room on it. After it loads, type a nickname in the box at the top and press "log in".
How can I send a private message to the author of a post?
If the author filled in his e-mail address when he posted, his name will appear underlined (hyperlinked) in the line at the top of the post that starts with "Posted by..". To send an e-mail message to that person, simply click on the name. Your browser will pop-up a window to type your message in. Please do not write the BB administrator asking for e-mail addresses.
Can I put html tags anywhere in my posts?
No. You can not use HTML tags in any field except body of the message.
Why are there colons in the message when I try to post a follow-up?
Colons appear in the message dialog box when you try to follow-up up on a message to indicate that those lines are quoting the previous document. The owner of the WWWBoard can decide whether they wish to enable or disable the quoting of previous messages.
If you followed the instructions on posting a message of a follow-up above, you message was posted. It is there but often you can not see it because your browser has not updated the page. Instead it's getting it from a storage area on your harddrive called the cache. Please do not repost your message. Double post are an annoyance. Just click on the Reload (called Refresh on Internet Explorer) button of your browser to force it to get the latest version of the BB and it should then appear.
How can I delete all or part of the original message when posting a follow-up?
The original message will appear in the comment box where you type your response. You can edit the original text in anyway you wish. You can delete all or part of it or insert your remarks in the middle (a nice way to respond to multiple questions).
Where can I get the scripts for this program?
The scripts are written in Perl and created by Matt Wright. They are free to anyone who wishes to use them and you can get them as well as other scripts at: http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/. Enjoy!
Matt's scripts have been heavily modified for use here at the MPIP. I'm sorry but the modifications are not available for use by others.
A thread
is a collection of messages (also called "posts") grouped under a single
heading. A thread is initialed when a user posts a message to the main
board. Readers may respond to that message with a follow-up message
which is posted underneath the original post in outline form. The original
message and all the follow-ups make up the thread.
The date of
a thread is set by the most recent follow-up message in the thread regardless
of when the thread was started. If you select all threads within the past
2 days then any thread with a follow-up message newer than 24 hrs old will
be displayed, even if that thread was started weeks ago.