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3. Forums·What are the Rules on Posting?
·How Does VOTING Work?
·Thumbs-Up
·Why did my forum post not appear?
·What's 'post jail'?
·Setting your Favorite Forums
·Voting
·Subscribe & Unsubscribe in the Forums
·All Forums page - what is all that stuff?
·Clearing threads from forum view
·Forum Views: Text? Flat? Nest?
·Why are some posts green?
·My posts have a GREEN box around my name!
·Submitting Forum News
·Google News Links in Forums
·How do I print the entire thread?
·Forum Frequent Posters
·Finding My Place in a Thread - Just new posts
·How do I make a POLL?
·Can I vote up a post written by a mod?
·ISP Forum List, all ISPs
·Ignore Topic Updates
·What is a sticky topic?
·Modification of Default Forum Style
·Unreplied Forum Questions
·Special Forums - Denied Access?
·Topic Rating Function
·Color definitions for the "Last Post" column
·Sorting Topics in Forums
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In addition to the terms of use of the site, all posts are accepted at the discretion of broadbandreports.com.
 No user of the site has any right to post anything they feel like posting. If a user posts, they have to live with any editing or deletion or other moderator action without public complaint. Private complaints can be addressed via the contacts page.
Any poster who flames others is not posting according to the rules. Similarly, any poster who "trolls" is by definition trying to induce flames by others and is guilty of flaming by proxy. Neither is allowed here.
The discussion of "warez," "cracks," "malware" or the "how to" of uncapping modems is not condoned on the site. Period.
Do not take it upon yourself to point out where other members do not follow guidelines, because that leads to more off-topic posts and even arguments. Use the "Hey Mod" button.
Posting off-topic, or against the letter or spirit of the forum description, is not posting according to the rules.
"Thread Crapping" occurs when a person comes into a thread and posts something contrary to the intent of the thread, often derailing the discussion or turning it into an argument. If you feel the need to turn a discussion into a debate, start a new thread instead.
Any poster who follows up ISP reviews and flames or insults the reviewer, rather than commenting on the subject of the review, is not posting according to the rules.
Any poster who sends obscene, threatening or insulting messages to any other users of the site is not posting according to the rules.
Any poster who uses a posting tag or sig line in an offensive manner, such as commenting negatively on another user, is not abiding by site rules and may cause such sig or tag to vanish.
You are prohibited from posting instant messages in the forums without the express consent of the author.
The above also extends to the 'What are you doing' list located on the member pages of buddies.
Referrals are never permitted anywhere on this site.
Any poster may be banned at any time by name, IP address or other identification without any prior warning and without any explanation given.
| Here is the kinder description: |
If you are not disruptive, and you express your opinions in an intelligent way, your contributions will not be edited or deleted, and you will not be banned. 99.999% of our users do not run afoul of any of the "hard rules."
| Moderators are instructed not to argue over actions they take! |
If you have any issue with forum moderation, please do not raise your gripe in the public forums. Do not pursue a moderator via instant message or email. To the best of their ability they follow guidelines but are not robots, and they are all volunteers (or they are volunteered).
If you have issues with site moderation, please take it up only with
fatness
email: fatness@dslr.net
You ruin any chance for a hearing by seeking explanations any other way. |
 feedback form
 feedback form
edited by KeysCapt 
last modified: 2007-08-03 08:32:41 |
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 TWO SECTIONS: THREAD VOTING AND POST VOTING |
Thread Voting: This option is provided to enable users of the site to mark a particular thread as noteworthy -- meaning that it is worthy of being archived. Obviously, this should not include joke threads, happy birthday threads or similar topics.
When you are reading a thread, there will be a colored bar at the top that looks like this:
Clicking that area will bring up this window:
Clicking the "Best of Forum" button will add a vote for the thread, and the bar at the top will change to look like this:
(This one has had 21 votes)
The topic line in the forum page view will change colors for that thread, but only for a day or two. After that, the color will revert, but the votes will not change, unless they are inappropriate for that thread (not archive-worthy).
 Please use this feature sparingly. Only the most archive-worthy topics should be voted. |
Individual Post Voting: Also referred to as "thumbs up," this system has been provided to enable you to encourage another user. This is a function for registered users only.
| Registered User | | Anonymous User |  | |  |
When you click on the  under a post, you are presented with the screen above. (Unless the user is on your "buddy list," in which case you will see only the "encourage" button.)
| Encourage | | That person receives a "thumbs up" from you. | | + Watch | | Adds that person to your buddy list. | | Ignore | | Causes that user's posts to be omitted from threads that you view. | | Thumbs down | | Only appears when the under unregistered users' posts are clicked, and it allows voting down of their posts. Also notice that there is an "Ignore" feature for anonymous users as well. However, there is currently no means of "un-ignoring" these users. | | | | (The "Ignore" function is available to premium and grandfathered, original members.) |
Careful!
If you use the "ignore" feature on an anonymous post, you will not be able to see other posts started by anonymous users in any forum! |
You will be able to see the thumbs in your posts that are "encouraged." They will be highlighted to you within a thread, and the names of the users who gave them to you will be shown to the left of the post, like this:
If you are the voter, you will be able to see that you have given a vote up for that post. Also, the person who received your vote will see that it came from you. No one else sees the votes.
By the way, if you spot a post which you consider spam or inappropriate, you may also use the "Hey Mod" link to bring it to the attention of a moderator. Bringing a post to the attention of the moderators does not guarantee any action will be taken.
feedback form
feedback form
edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:11:13 |
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See this FAQ entry for information on the "thumbs-up" feature.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:11:31 |
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Usually because it was caught in a system queue for a moderator to check because of catch words.
If it doesn't appear right away, it'll turn up within a few hours to a day (maximum), unless it runs afoul of the site rules.
feedback form
feedback form
edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:11:43 |
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The Post Jail Forum, now known as "Out of Sight," is for posts that do not serve any of the purposes that DSLR was created for, such as flame wars, personal attacks on individuals, profanity and/or obscenity, childish acts of attempting to stir up trouble between users and generally negative and counter-productive content, including SPAM.
DSLR was founded in the spirit of teamwork and for positive exchanges of information -- the posts sent to Jail do not meet those standards.
The Post Jail Forum is for moderator reference, and in the interest of keeping the site experience a positive one, it's reserved for moderator access. Content is kept in case someone needs to refer to it to make a decision, to help resolve conflicts or provide an opportunity for the moderators to get a consensus on whether a questionable posting should remain in Jail or be placed back in the public view.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:11:56 |
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On every page of the site, there is a link to your fav forums.
In any forum, you can click on +fav to add that forum to your favorites.
To select several favorites as pictured below, go to the »/forums/all page. Click on the "pick favs" link (#1), and the page will change to show the "Remember Fav Forums" button (#2), along with checkboxes beside each forum (#3). Select yours, then hit the button.
Another way to add a forum to your favorites is to click on the oval graphic next to the forum name on the "All Forums" page:
Removing Favorites:
To remove a forum from your favorites, there are several methods.
Go to "Your..." page, using that option in the blue navigation bar, then select "quick" below it, as in the image. On the next page, you can use the "x" at the far right to quickly delete that selection.
Or, simply go to that forum, click on Forum Info, and then click on Unset Favorite in the same location as in the example below ("Set" will appear as "Unset").
Adding and Removing Forums from the A to Z List: Update: The method for these forums is now the same as above.
The same situation applies to selecting and deselecting news articles as favorites.
You can also remove an A to Z forum from your favorites by constructing your own link to unset it as a favorite. Follow the example below, inserting the correct forum number for the one to remove. You can obtain the forum number by mousing over the +fav link in the forum header.
or,
Where NNNN is the number obtained by mousing over the "forum."
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-06-26 16:50:37 |
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Please see: /faq/327
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:12:14 |
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A "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" link has been added to the forums.
This feature coincides with a new option provided to all forum hosts, enabling them to send out a forum newsletter as often as each week. This newsletter is intended to be a brief alert to what's going on in the forum, and it will include links to some pertinent threads.
To utilize this option, click on the "forum info" link at the top of the forum:
On the next page, use the "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" as required.
The purpose of the "subscribe" link is to allow forum users to either receive these newsletters or to opt out of receiving them. If the forum is in your "favorites" list, you are probably already subscribed.
You can unsubscribe from any forum newsletter by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom.
Unsubscribe from Software Newsletter: »Software
Unsubscribe from Microsoft Newsletter: »Microsoft help
You can obtain the number used above by hovering your mouse over the "clear" link next to the forum in your favorites page.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:12:27 |
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When you view the All Forums page, you will see some icons as in this graphic:
You can click on any header that is in Bold Blue, which will take you to a page for that section of the forums.
Clicking on the Lighter Blue forum names will take you to that forum.
 The green bubbles indicate forums that are in your favorites.
 The red bubbles are forums that you have selected as favorites that have recent activity.
 The gray bubbles are forums without recent activity.
123 The gray numbers next to the bubbles indicate the number of regular visitors to that forum.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:12:37 |
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When viewing the forums you have selected as your favorites, you will see a list of current threads that contain messages you have not viewed.
Each forum USED to have a "clear" option at the top, since removed. To clear an individual forum, just click on either the first red or yellow envelope on your Favorites page. That will mark all messages read and will clear them off your Favorites page until a new post is made in a thread. (Thanks to Sashwa for posting this info.)
There is also a feature to clear all of the forums in your favorites, as seen here:
NOTE: If you don't see the "clear all" links, try changing the Slow / Quick links above the forum list on the left.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-11-08 09:04:26 |
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The normal view for the forums is "flat." This means that all the threads and posts in them are visible in chronological order, according to time posted.
An alternative view is "nest," which shows the posts in a thread in such a way that posts which are replies to another post in the thread appear below them -- posts with their "children."
Text is like flat, but in a tree-like structure.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:12:54 |
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The posts of users who are in your buddy list will appear highlighted to you when viewed in the forums.
Like this:
The color may vary if you've chosen something other than the default color scheme on the site.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:13:13 |
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New site feature.
Your own posts will now have a green field around your name and user info. That way, when you return to long threads you will be able to easily spot your own posts:
In this case, Fast Eddie would be looking at a thread he posted in, and the other green users would be on his buddy list.
Note: This may vary according to your selected theme, if any, as well as the properties of the forum you are in. The field may be blue or some other color. In other words, "your mileage may vary."
Also, not to be confused with your buddies, who will also have the green field in threads that you view.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:13:23 |
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Please see: /faq/9459
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:13:34 |
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August 2003
Some forums now have a Google Headlines link displayed in the header.
This search is predicated on search words entered by the forum host(s). If you think additional search terms should be added, please contact the host or hosts of the forum.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:13:52 |
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Well, you really cannot.
You can add a ~printable=1 to the end of the URL when viewing a long thread. This will make the page you are looking at more suitable for printing, but it will not deliver all of the posts in a long page.
feedback form
feedback form
by mjf edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:14:03 |
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A user is listed as a frequent poster in a forum if he/she is one of the top 20 posters or so, depending on the forum. The order is not determined by number of posts.
You can see this by clicking on the "About" link at the top of every forum:
On the next page, click on "view frequent posters."
feedback form
feedback form
by MrFixIT edited by JMGullett
last modified: 2007-03-01 11:39:53 |
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To find your place in any thread you've visited before, if it has new replies since you last visited it, use the blue arrow at the right side of the forum view:
This will take you to the first new post since you last viewed the thread.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:14:23 |
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To make a Poll:•You need to have reached at least level two. (See /cap)
•The poll has to be the first post in a thread.•There is no editing of a poll once you submit it.•Use lower case for the poll command. The format for a poll is:
[poll]Ask your question?,Choice 1,Choice 2,Choice3,etc.[/poll]
It should look something like this:
[poll]What color is the sky?,red,blue,green,yellow[/poll]
If a poll is accepted, during the preview stage it should display:
[Your poll will appear here after topic is created]
Want to use commas in your poll? See this faq entry.
Want to use a link or URL in your poll? Do it like this:
[poll] TEXT TEXT TEXT?,YES,NO [/poll]
Images may be used for choices:
[poll]Ask your question,  ,  ,  ,  [/poll]
Note: There is a 255 character limit (including html tags) for each choice.
FYI: The poll function works even after the thread is locked. That is, users are still able to vote even when threads are locked.
---
Thanks JerryC23, kadar, raw102 and mballard for the posts that went into this entry.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:14:33 |
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User Samburgers answered this question in this post by saying: "Yes! Of course! Mods are people too, you know! They like those little encouragement thumbs-up as much as you do!"
fatness answered the same question this way: "Sure, if you think it's worth a thumb, vote up their post. You'd be surprised how much those thumbs mean to us."
feedback form
feedback form
by trinity edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:14:53 |
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The "all forums view" page (/forums/all) has been changed so that it now displays a folder listing the boards associated with ALL ISPs, indexed by first letter.
Any entries found by drilling down in this index are either:
• A link to the existing popular forum with site, host, etc OR
• A link to a generic display of whatever comments have been previously left lurking inside the ISP listing itself
The entries in the index are tied to ISP listings from the DSLR front page. If your ISP doesn't have a listing yet, it's because there are no reviews for it. You can rectify that by doing a review here on the site or, if you don't locate your ISP, by emailing the review. Then send an IM to cabana .
You can add/subtract to your favorite forums page, but they only show up in the default fav forum view, not the alternative one.
Posts attached to ISPs that do not have a regular forum are culled from other locations and can be viewed by clicking on the ISP name. There may be no existing posts for a certain ISP.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:15:05 |
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If you want to ignore updates to a topic that is appearing in your "UPDATED FOLLOWED TOPICS" page,  use the "stop" link next to that topic in your posts view (see graphic below). Or, use the "STOP FOLLOWING" link at the bottom of the topic.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:15:15 |
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A sticky topic is one which the forum host has decided to "stick" to the top of the forum so that it will not fall down the list. An example of a sticky would be a post that contains guidelines for posting in a particular forum or one that announces an important event for a particular forum, such as a new version of a popular software package or a birthday. A sticky topic is indicated with this  icon.
If you post in a sticky topic, you may find that the topic becomes "stuck" on your "New Posts" page as well. If you use the "stop following" feature and the view "updated followed topics," then you will not see updates to stickies.
Learn more about that feature here.
feedback form
feedback form
by pike edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:15:34 |
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By going to this page you can customize the way the site displays the forums for you under Modification of Default Forum Style.
You may change the number of Topic/Posts displayed per page. The default is 20, but you may change it to 30, 50 or 100 posts/topics per page.
Depending on your capabilities, you may also change how many days worth of topics are displayed in each forum.
You may also change the default color theme that is displayed. A list of themes is available here. You may change to any of these themes by selecting the theme in the "Theme Override" dropdown box. It is also recommended you type in the name of the theme in the box below the theme override labeled "If choice is not on menu."
There are also additional themes listed here. To use any of these alternate themes, make sure the "Theme Override" box is blank and enter the name of theme in the "If choice is not on menu" box.
By checking the box next to "Show no smiles," the view of site emoticons will be disabled. By checking the box next to "Show no trinkets," the view of club spinners will be disabled.
To activate any changes you make, click the "Update Forum Preferences" link.
feedback form
feedback form
by ColdinCbus edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:15:56 |
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Every forum on the site has an "Unreplied" link in the forum header.
This feature, if selected, will highlight every post in that particular forum which has gone unanswered.
Everyone is urged to check these now and then in your favorite forum(s). It may be that you can help the original poster, or you might consider "bumping" a recent but scrolled-off post so that it can be seen again. (Note: Bumping is frowned upon in some forums. Please check before jumping into the frying pan.)
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:16:06 |
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There are certain social forums on the site that you may see references to, but you are unable to access. These are forums such as the Watercooler and The Stars Pub.
Access to such forums used to occur over time -- and was tied to participation on the site, the earning of points and other criteria. Today, access is automatic with the establishment of PREMIUM membership, and basic members still gain certain privileges over time.
Learn more about PREMIUM membership here: /join/new
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-12-13 09:16:17 |
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Introducing a more compact way of rating topics: Any topic can be rated from 1 to 5 stars right there on the page with one click. Topics that have been rated show the current rating in the topic header, expressed as a percentage. Clicking on the [+] symbol reveals which users have rated the topic, as well as the rating each has given.
This topic rating system has replaced the topic "thumbs-up" function.
If you want to see which topics are rated highly, use the RATED link which is just after "See: Unreplied" at the top of any forum page. Only rated topics will show -- listed in order of their rating.
feedback form
feedback form
edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2008-02-23 09:49:23 |
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The background colors on the "Last Post" column are used to identify the age of the last reply to the topic or subthread. Depending on the theme you're using there can be up to three different colors.
•One for topics updated today
•One for topics updated this week
•One for topics older than a week
In the "default theme" those colors are pink, light yellow and white:
In the "dark theme" those colors are light red, dark blue and black:
In the "dimaging theme" they're light blue, dark blue and black:
If you're not using one of the above themes, you can click here to access the main theme settings page, select the theme you're using and view the settings for topic age.
feedback form
feedback form
by state
last modified: 2007-06-26 23:07:43 |
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Each forum has the ability to install often-used or helpful descriptors that display across the top of the main page, and which can be used to quickly sort the topics in the forum. A good example is the Microsoft Help Forum. The line of topic descriptors is right above the start of the topics. Clicking on any one will sort the forum putting topics with that subject at the top for quick and easy viewing.
These may not be used in all forums, at the discretion of the forum host.
feedback form
feedback form
by KeysCapt |
