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FAQ
Feb 9, 2006 13:35:06 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 9, 2006 13:35:06 GMT -4
Note: This FAQ is old, and I update it as often as I can. It's still in the process of being updated, though.If you have any questions you'd like added to this list, you can PM me or put a message in the help section of the forum. Note: To save posting space, I have these arranged by fives. If you click on a link, it takes you to the first question in that set of five. Just scroll down a little to see the question you're looking for. If I have to add new questions, though, I'll shove them into a group of five rather than moving all the questions down. Assorted QuestionsFirst off, what does FAQ mean?!What's this forum for, anyway?What does MFoMT mean?Who made up this forum’s rules?How was this forum put together?What’s with the admin’s avatar?Problems with Logging in, RegisteringDo I have to register?What benefits do I get from registering with this forum, anyway?I didn’t receive an activation email! Why?I can’t log in!! Whyyyy?I don’t want other people to know I’m online! What do I do?I lost my password! What do I do?Someone hacked my account and changed my email and password! What do I do?Posting ProblemsHow do I make posts?How to I edit or delete my post?Why can’t I reply to this thread?Why can’t I vote in this poll?Why won’t this board let me in?I’m logged in, but I still can’t view this board. Why?There are topics and posts on this board, but there’s nothing written under “Last Post”! Why?What are Announcements, and how do I get rid of them?Profile IssuesWhat are avatars? How do you get them into your posts?What are signatures? How do you get them into your posts?Like, what's with the funky hearts under my display name?Why do some people have their names in different colored text?Why do some people have text underneath the hearts in their profiles?The clock shows the wrong time! How do I fix it?What if I don’t want anyone to see my email?What’s the difference between a “username” and a “display name”?Users and Member GroupsWhat are Administrators?What are Moderators and Global Moderators?What are “Assistant Staff” members?What's "Super Moderator" status?Can I be a mod/admin?What are Post Rankings?How do I change my ranking?What is the "Moderators: ..." thing listed under each board for?I was made a moderator, but I have no powers! Why?Various Forum HasslesWhy does it say “Logged” at the bottom of my posts?What’s PMing? How do I do it?What's "banning"?What the heck is maintenance mode?What’s “Report to Admin” for?Help! I've been banned from the forum and I want to get back on! What do I do?What's IP banning?How come I don't have any Karma?Can the administrator modify people’s post counts?I want to see a board on *insert subject here* on this forum! Who do I ask?I'll be adding more questions later. ^-^
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FAQ
Feb 25, 2006 23:09:37 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 25, 2006 23:09:37 GMT -4
Assorted Questions
Q: First off, what does FAQ mean?! A: Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: What's this forum for, anyway? A: It's a MFoMT-themed forum. Talk about anything and everything related to the game. ^-^ If you want to talk about something else, though, I have off-topic boards on the forum for that purpose.
Q: What does MFoMT mean? A: More Friends of Mineral Town. The girl's version of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.
Q: Who made up this forum’s rules? A: There is a set of rules known as the Terms of Service that the forum admin and the members of her forum have to follow. Those Terms of Service are included in my rules list. Any rules that don't have anything to do with the Terms of Service were added by me.
Q: How was this forum put together? A: The boards, colors and everything else regarding the forum's appearance are all taken care of in the administration area of the forum. Most of this work is done by the administrator, but certain staff members have the ability to access some options in the admin area.
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FAQ
Feb 25, 2006 23:17:48 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 25, 2006 23:17:48 GMT -4
Q: What’s with the admin’s avatar? A: I recently entered a new code that makes my profile randomly display one of eight different avatars instead of one set avatar. That's what's with it. ^-^ Why did I do this? Because I'm a horribly indecisive person. I used to change my avatar countless times a day and I still wasn't satisfied. Edit: Actually, as of now I've taken off the random avatar generator for a while. But there is a code that causes random avatars to appear that can work for any member on the forum, not just the forum admin. ^^
Problems with Logging in, Registering
Q: Do I have to register? A: Nope. You can view almost all the areas on the forum as a Anonymous Farmer. Two boards, as well as the calendar and the administration area, are strictly off-limits to Anonymous Farmers though. Anonymous Farmers can post on any board in the forum that they are allowed access to. Registration is pretty easy and you only have to go through the activation of your account once. They ask for some information, but you don’t have to fill it all in. The information you fill in during registration is not given out to anyone. You can even hide some of this information from the rest of the forum members. Really, the only things that absolutely have to be displayed to the rest of the forum are: -Your display name/username -Your post ranking or staff position -The number of posts you made -The date you registered with the forum (i.e. “Nov 2005”) -The last login date All the rest of the information you enter can be completely hidden to other forum members if you choose to do so.
Q: What benefits do I get from registering with this forum, anyway? A: Loads. Here’s the list… -You can upload your own avatar or signature to include with every one of your posts. -You get a post ranking which can be upgraded as you make more posts on the forum. -You can access the members hangout board which is off-limits to unregistered members. -You can create polls. Anonymous Farmers can’t. -You can access the forum’s calendar and find out about monthly events. -You can PM other members. Anonymous Farmers can’t do that… -You can modify or delete your own posts if you don’t like them. If you were a Anonymous Farmer, the only way to modify or delete your posts is to ask a mod or admin to do it. So yeah. Registering with the forum is a good thing. The only places you can’t get into are the staff room and the administration area. But who wants to go there anyway…?
Q: I didn’t receive an activation email! Why? A: For starters, Proboards doesn't let you create an account if you're under 13. That could be one reason. Or, the fault may lie with your email address. In this case, try re-sending the activation email to a different email address.
Q: I can’t log in!! Whyyyy? A: There may be several reasons. You may be putting in the wrong password/username combination. Watch out, because if you do this 10 times it will result in a 1-hour ban. Also, the forum might be in maintenance mode. When this happens, only staff members can get into the forum. The final reason why you probably can't log in is because the admin banned or deleted your account. That denies access for sure.
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FAQ
Feb 25, 2006 23:29:50 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 25, 2006 23:29:50 GMT -4
Q: I don’t want other people to know I’m online! What do I do? A: There's an option in your profile which allows you to set yourself to "invisible". When you do this, no one will be able to see you on the users online list... well, except for the forum administrator, that is, but as you know, she sees everything.
Q: I lost my password! What do I do? A: Cool your jets, it's no biggie. Just click on the "Forgot your Password" link and it will send an email to your email account containing the new password.
Q: Someone hacked my account and changed my email and password! What do I do? A: Do not freak out. Let the admin know immediately. I will go and change your password so that the hacker can't get into your account. Then I'll change the email back to the original one. Go and retrieve your password using the "Forgot your Password" link and then you'll have the opportunity to change your password to whatever you want.
Posting Problems
Q: How do I make posts? A: First, you find the thread you'd like to post a reply to. Open the thread, and look for the button marked "Reply" near the top of the page. Click on that button to open the Reply screen. Type the reply, and when you're finished with it, click on the "post reply" button to post the reply. (You can preview it first if you want) If you're too lazy (like me) to open the Reply screen, you can add a Quick Reply. The Quick Reply box is at the bottom of the page when you open a thread. The Quick Reply is the exact same as a regular reply, except that you can't access smilies, tags or other optional additives to the post. If you want to start a whole new thread, go to the board you'd like to post on and look for the button marked "New Thread". Starting the new thread is the same as posting a reply, except you have to enter a title for the thread you are making.
Q: How to I edit or delete my post? A: If you don’t like a certain post you made and want to change it, you can select the “Modify” or “Delete” buttons from the top-right corner of your posts. No one else on the forum can modify your posts, except for a mod or the admin. When you edit a post, a message will be shown at the bottom of the post which shows who last edited the post and at what time they edited it. If you delete a post, it will disappear from the thread completely. No one else on the forum can delete your posts except a mod or the admin.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 0:29:17 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 0:29:17 GMT -4
Q: Why can’t I reply to this thread? A: The thread has been locked by a mod or the admin. Further replies to the topic are disabled. This happens when a thread gets out of hand or to a point where people shouldn’t reply to it. The only people who are able to reply to topics that have been locked are people who have been given permission to do so by the forum admin.
Q: Why can’t I vote in this poll? A: There are two reasons this occurs. The first is because you're not logged in. Guests aren't allowed to vote in polls. The second is because someone locked the poll. No one can reply to locked polls except people who have permission to reply to locked topics.
Q: Why won’t this board let me in? A: Probably because you're not logged in. Most boards are able to be viewed by guests, but there are a couple of boards that can only be viewed if you log in.
Q: I’m logged in, but I still can’t view this board. Why? A: Two reasons this may happen. One is that the board is restricted to staff. If you're not a staff member you're not allowed in. The second reason is that the admin put a password on the board. This is what I do when I want to temporarily close individual boards - I put a password so that only the people who know the password (i.e. only me) can get in while the board's under construction.
Q: There are topics and posts on this board, but there’s nothing written under “Last Post”! Why? A: On the main page, if there is nothing written under the "Last Post" column, but the threads and posts columns show that there are indeed posts on that board, that board isn't able to be accessed. This occurs in 3 situations: -When you're not logged in, any boards that require you to log in before viewing will display an empty box under "Last Post". -If you're not a staff member, all staff-only boards will display an empty box under "Last Post". -When the board is password-protected, the "Last Post" column for that board will be empty.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 0:37:10 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 0:37:10 GMT -4
Q: What are Announcements, and how do I get rid of them? A: Announcements are very important threads that appear on all boards in the forum. Only the admin can get rid of them by removing the announcement option from these threads - so you'll have to put up with them until I decide to take them down...
Profile Issues
Q: What are avatars? How do you get them into your posts? A: Avatars are those little pictures that are displayed below your name and post ranking. They can be up to 100x100 pixels. I have a list of avatars that I uploaded to the forum, but you can upload your own avatar to the forum if you want to. To do this, get a site like photobucket.com to host your picture, then copy its URL and paste it into the “Avatar URL” box when you go to edit your profile. You can also adjust the size of the avatar (it can’t be more that 100x100 pixels though).
Q: What are signatures? How do you get them into your posts? A: Signatures are displayed at the bottom of every post you make. They can be all text, a picture, or both. When you edit your profile, look for a slightly large box where you can edit your signature. The signature can be up to 400 characters long. If you want a picture, get a site like photobucket.com to host the image, then copy and paste its BBcode into the signature text box.
Q: Like, what's with the funky hearts under my display name? A: Those "funky hearts" represent your current post ranking. The number and color of hearts changes as you make more posts. Members can have anywhere from 1 Black Heart to 5 Red Hearts, depending on how many posts you've made.
Q: Why do some people have their names in different colored text? A: All staff members on the forum have colored display names. The color represents what staff position they currently have. For example... all moderators have their name in dark blue text, while all global moderators have their name in dark green text. Stylists have lime green names, assistant admins have deep yellow names while the admin has her name in bright red text.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 0:59:01 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 0:59:01 GMT -4
Q: Why do some people have text underneath the hearts in their profiles? A: That text is referred to as “custom text”, and for some reason beyond my understanding, they decided to make it an admin function to change this text. Don’t ask… If you’d like text under the hearts in your profile, you can let the admin know and she can put whatever custom text you want into your profile for you.
Q: The clock shows the wrong time! How do I fix it? A: The clock shows the wrong time because you probably forgot to set it to your own time zone. You do that when you go to edit your profile. Default RMR time is GMT - 4. Unless you live in the same time zone as I do... you'll probably have to change the clock. It may be that you're just not logged in. When you aren't logged in, the clock goes back to GMT - 4.
Q: What if I don’t want anyone to see my email? A: When you go to modify your profile, make sure you choose to hide your email. It will show up as "hidden" when people go to see your profile. *ahem* Well actually, the admin can still see it regardless, but as I said she can see everything.
Q: What’s the difference between a “username” and a “display name”? A: Your username is the all-lowercase-letters word you use to log in to the forum. Your display name is the name that's displayed in each of your posts. Sometimes people's username and display name are the same. My display name is 'Roku Megami" while my username is "admin" (notice how it's all lowercase letters).
Users and Member Groups
Q: What are Administrators? A: The A-dudes have the highest ranked control over the whole forum. They design the forum, recruit staff, manage members, make rules, run the forum, and fully moderate all boards on the forum. There are two kinds of Administrators, actually - Root Admins and Secondary Admins. Both of them have the rank "Administrator", but their abilities differ slightly. The Root Admin is the person who created the forum. Secondary Admins are people who are given Administrator ranks, but aren't the original forum creator. Secondaries are able to do just about anything, with a few exceptions - they can't recruit staff, modify member groups and view the security log, manage ad-free settings, or do anything to the Root Admin's account. The Root Admin, however, has complete and global access to the entire forum (which does include everyone's profiles, I know that's scary but it's true), and there is no way for them to lose any of their powers, not even if they demote themselves. Some forums have more than one admin. RMR, however, has only one admin and always will. Why? Because this is the Internet, and after reading what can happen to forums if they're left in the wrong hands, I simply don't trust anyone enough to give them an Administrator ranking. Administrator ranking, in my opinion, should be restricted to the original forum creator.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 1:15:21 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 1:15:21 GMT -4
Q: What are Moderators and Global Moderators? A: These people manage boards, making sure people behave themselves. They can lock and move threads, and even modify people's posts. The main diff between Mods and Global Mods is that Mods have to be assigned to boards in order to moderate, while Global Mods can moderate any board on the forum.
Q: What are “Assistant Staff” members? A: These include Stylists and Assistant Administrators. Stylists are able to mess with the forum's color schemes. Assistant Admins can fully moderate like Global Mods, and have a number of administrative functions to boot.
Q: What's "Super Moderator" status? A: That's the ability to moderate on all boards in the forum, possessed by anyone with an Assistant Admin, Global Mod or Admin ranking.
Q: Can I be a mod/admin? A: If (yes, if) my forum gets loads more members, I will consider re-opening the "Who Wants to Be a Moderator?" board that I closed down last January. If you think you have what it takes to be a moderator... you might want to think about this... And sorry, but admin status isn't up for grabs. The powers are horribly dangerous and in my opinion they should be restricted to just the forum creator.
Q: What are Post Rankings? A: That's what those funky hearts under your display name represent. The more posts you make, the higher your ranking will climb. Don't go and make a truckload of spam posts to get your ranking up, though - I have control over post counts and will dock posts if I see this happening. Staff members don't have post rankings. Instead, they have their own fixed rankings to represent their positions. For example, the admin has 6 red hearts while the global mod has 6 green hearts.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 1:23:28 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 1:23:28 GMT -4
Q: How do I change my ranking? A: Simple. Make more posts. That's all there is to it. People will also change ranks when they are moved into a different member group. But you have to ask the admin to do that.
Q: What is the "Moderators: ..." thing listed under each board for? A: That's just a list of who has moderation power over that board. The only real purpose of that list is to assign non-global mods to the boards they're supposed to moderate. Global mods and admins don't even have to have their names up there - they have full moderation power regardless. Guess it's just there for show or something.
Q: I was made a moderator, but I have no powers! Why? A: Because the main admin forgot to go to the admin panel and modify your member group. I didn't forget though, so this problem shouldn't come up anywhere on this forum.
Q: I'm in a high-ranking member group, but the admin area is almost completely bare! How come I hardly have any powers? A: It's because the admin of this forum is a security freak. I have restricted the admin powers of just about every member group on this forum to a very select few powers. The powers are so restricted, it's impossible for anyone to do very much damage to the forum if the powers happen to fall into the wrong hands. I will give out more powers when the time comes, but first I have to make sure that members will not abuse these powers. However, there are certain powers that I can't give out, because if these powers end up in the wrong hands it could result in serious damage to the forum. These are the powers that I'm not giving out no matter how much people beg or bribe me. Sorry, but it's for security reasons. General Forum Settings - Overall settings for the forum. I don't want these messed up... Headers and Footers - Hundreds of lines of code are contained in this part of the admin area. Messing with these yields pretty bad results. Managing Boards - Think about what could happen if someone was able to go and modify and delete the forum's boards... the boards ARE the forum, guys! Managing Categories - If categories are deleted, the boards go with them, and the threads go with the boards. Therefore, I can't let anyone have this power because it's way too dangerous. Email/PM All Members - When people abuse these powers... well, let's just say I have experienced it and IT ISN'T NICE. Abuse of these powers can result in flame mail being sent to everyone on the forum! Modify Rankings - I've set these from the beginning and except for a couple of added ranks to the top of the list, they haven't changed since I opened the forum. They aren't going to, either. Ad-Free/Attachments - Critical Admin Power. Enough said. View IP addresses - Although no one will ever be able to see the main admin's IP, I'm still not handing this power out. Because it could lead to IP banning the wrong people. Delete Posts by User - I can see it now... if this gets into the wrong hands... Person: Hey, I think I'll go and delete all the admin's posts just for fun! Hoo hah! *click* All gone! No thanks. Assign Member Groups - Baaad thing if this power gets out to anyone but the forum owner. Can't you just imagine what would happen? Person: Meeh, I'm sick of being a moderator! (goes to profile) Let's make myself an Administrator instead! *click* Mwahahaha!! Now I have control over the whole forum, including all those powers listed above that Roku Megami's never going to give out to anyone!
Other than those, I will consider giving out other admin powers to those who truly earn them. ^-^
Various Forum Hassles
Q: Why does it say “Logged” at the bottom of my posts? A: That "Logged" really has no function, unless the forum is accessed from my admin account. Then, that "Logged" is replaced with the user's IP address. The IP address is a series of 4 numbers associated with the computer you're logged into. If the forum is accessed from any account other than the admin one, it just says "Logged" in every post. The IP address is useful in IP banning and determining whether someone has created a duplicate account.
Q: What’s PMing? How do I do it? A: PMing is the personal messaging system on this forum. When you want to send a message to a member of the forum, and don’t want anyone else to see it, you can PM them. You can send someone a PM by clicking on the PM icon in their profile (it looks like a folder with a sheet of paper in it). It’s like email, sort of.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 1:30:04 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 1:30:04 GMT -4
Q: What's "banning"? A: That's when the admin kicks people who severely misbehave out of the forum for a period of time. If banning is temporary, it is referred to as "suspension". Permanent ban is when your account is completely deleted from the forum.
Q: What the heck is maintenance mode? A: Maintenance mode is when the forum is on lockdown to all non-staff members. I shut down the forum for an approximate 2-day maintenance on the 7th of every month.
Q: What’s “Report to Admin” for? A: If you see someone misbehaving and no staff are around, then it's time to put that "Report to Admin" link to good use. It's used to report users for what they did in a certain post. It's located in the bottom-right corner of every post. Find the offending post, then report it. I'm online every day, so I'll be sure to hear about it.
Q: Help! I've been banned from the forum and I want to get back on! What do I do? A: If you've been banned from the forum, it's probably for a very good reason, and it's not likely that you'll be allowed back. You can still post as a Anonymous Farmer but if you create another account under a different email address, it'll probably be banned as well (I have ways of knowing whether people are creating duplicate accounts.). However, if you are banned, you may want your posts deleted from the forum. In that case, contact me somehow, through my email or whatever, and I'll delete all your posts from the forum.
Q: What's IP banning? A: It's when I ban people just on the computers they're logged into. This prevents them from accessing the site, period. Until they move to a new computer. IP banning is dangerous because the admin could end up banning herself by accident this way.
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FAQ
Feb 26, 2006 1:32:59 GMT -4
Post by Roku Ni-San on Feb 26, 2006 1:32:59 GMT -4
Q: How come I don't have any Karma?A: I don't do Karma on this forum. I'm afraid it will result in popularity contests. If forum members do good things, I award them free posts to their post count. Forum members can still gain respect through their post rankings, which increase as they make more posts. Q: Can the administrator modify people’s post counts?A: She sure can! People who do good things get awarded with additional posts. People who make loads of spam posts get their post counts docked. Q: I want to see a board on *insert subject here* on this forum! Who do I ask?A: The request central is one of the sub-boards in the "Complaint Central" board, listed under the "Forums in General" category. I believe that sub-board is named "The Administratress' Office" or something like that. Post requests there and I shall see to them. Q: Can the admin monitor the PMs that other members send to each other?A: Indirectly, yes. It's difficult, though, and I would never, EVER do it. In order for me to see what PMs members are sending to each other, I would have to access someone else's account by changing their password, then using it to log in. I could then view the PMs in their inbox and outbox. I would never do this, though. I have morals, and I would never try to log in with someone else's account.
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