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Using the EON FORUM


CHILL

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EON Forum Guide

This help guide is for guests, new members and existing members of the EON Forums.

This guide contains the following:

  • Guest and Member Status (including how to register)
  • Forum Display description
  • Forum Map
  • Your User Control Panel & User Tools
  • General Tools
  • Categories, Subcategories, forums and topics illustration
  • How to start topics and reply to topics
  • Posting from a current topic & What a Post Contains
  • Forum Moderation Information
  • Additional Help
Guest and Member Status

When you visit the EON Forums for the first time, and until you register your status is automatically 'Guest Status'.  Regsitering gives you 'Member Status'.

Guest Status

Guests do not benefit from many of the features of the EON Forums, specifically Guests:

  • Cannot view Member Only forums (they will simply not appear on your screen)
  • Cannot start topics or reply to topics
  • Do not have a personal profile
  • Do not have a Private Messenger
  • Cannot vote in polls
  • Cannot use the search general tool
  • Cannot report posts to moderators
Guests can only:
  • Read Topics
  • View member profiles
Registering as a member only takes a couple of seconds (follow this link to register) and provides you with the benefits of Member Status.

When you register your e-mail address is logged by the Admin, and is not passed to 3rd parties.  A condition of membership is inclusion into the EON Updates Mailing List, which is sent out only when there are new articles or additions to EON.

Member Status

Members benefit from access to all the features of the EON Forums, specifically:

  • View all forums (although some are password restricted for particular members only, such as EON Staff)
  • Start topics and polls, reply to topics and polls
  • Create a personal profile including avatar, personal information, signature file, add instant messenger info, add a link to your homepage, add your birthday details, add a personal photo and more
  • Access a Private Messenger to send and receive messages to and from other Members
  • Members can 'track topics' and get email notifications when selected topics have received replies
  • Fully use the search general tool
  • Can report posts to a moderator
  • Can edit your own previous posts
Forum Display description

We've created a handy screenshot to illustrate how the forum is displayed.  

Click here to open this screenshot in a new window

Each area on the screenshot is detail here:

General Tools

The General Tools buttons are:

  • Search: Click to search through posts, topics and members
  • Members: Click to view the complete list of members and access member profiles
  • Help: Click for additional help beyond what this guide provides
Personal User Tools

This toolbar is a feature for Members.  This toolbar provides:

  • A link to your Control Panel (manage your personal profile here)
  • A link to Log Out, which resets any 'cookies'
  • A link to 'New Posts' - see all new posts since your last visit - this should be your first action when you come back to the forum
  • A link to your Private Messenger - write, reply to and read personal messages
Navigation Guide

A series of links that show you exactly where you are on the EON Forums.  You can click these links to jump back and forth

Main Categories

The EON Forum is organised into Main Categories, Subcategories and Forums.

Last Activity

This shows you the most recent activity in (if you are on the front page fo the Forum) each Subcategory.  It is important to remember that there may have been several posts in multiple forums in each subcategory since your last visit - this shows you only the last activity.

Subcategories

Each Main Category contains subcategories, which in turn contain all the forums.  A description for each subcategory is availble.  To view forums in a particular subcategory, simply click on the name of the subcategory.  The icon for a subcateogry turns 'blue' if there has been a post in one of that subcategory's forums since your last visit.

Active Users

This shows you the details of any members who have been active on the forums in the last 15 minutes and provides a total for yhe number of Guests active in the last 15 minutes.  'Anonymous Members' are members who have chosen to keep their details hidden from other members when active on the forum.

Member Birthdays

When it is the birthday of a particlar member, their username will show.  You can click on the 'View Calendar' link to see a calendar view of all member birthdays (with links to each member profile included).

Forum Statistics

This shows the most recent new member, the total number of registered members, a breakdown of the topics and posts on the forums and details of then the highest nunber of members were online all at once.

Invite A Friend

This facility allows you to send an email to a friend letting them know about the EON Forums - the forum does the work for you!

Forum Map

The EON Forum is organised as follows:

Guests and New Users (Main Cat)

:: A warm welcome and guided our (forum)

Aeon Continuum (Main Cat)

- General (Subcat)

:: General Discussion (forum)

:: Polls (forum)

:: Surveys (forum)

:: Rewview the Books (forum)

- Adventure! (Subcat)

:: General Discussion (forum)

:: Help for Newcommers (forum)

:: In Character Games (forum)

- Aberrant (Subcat)

:: General Discussion (forum)

:: Help for Newcommers (forum)

:: In Character Games (forum)

:: Cult of Mal (forum)

- Trinity (Subcat)

:: General Discussion (forum)

:: Help for Newcommers (forum)

:: In Character Games (forum)

EON Community (Main Cat)

- EON Website (Subcat)

:: EON Updates (forum)

:: Feedback & Suggestions (forum)

:: System Status (forum)

:: EON Staff (forum)

:: Private test Area (forum)

- Community Center (Subcat)

:: General Discussion (forum)

:: EONCON (forum)

:: White Wolf's RPG's (forum)

:: Other RPG's (forum)

- Current Projects (Subcat)

:: Adventure! Trial by Fire (forum)

:: Aberrant: WAR (forum)

:: Aberrant: Terminal (forum)

:: Trinity LARP Project (forum)

:: Trinity: India Underground (forum)

:: Trinity: UK Sourcebook (forum)

:: EONCON Organisers (forum)

Your User Control Panel & User Tools

The Personal User Toolbar provides access to several features as already discussed.

Three key tools on this toolbar are:

Your Control Panel

This link takes you to a screen to manage your personal profile.  We suggest that once you have registered and become a member, follow this links and fill out the optons available.  Options are available from the tabs on the screen provided when you follow this link.

- Personal Profile.  This lets you edit your profile and add or modify your avatar.  Your profile is available from the Members list once you have filled it in and your chosen avatar shows in any posts you make.  This is a fun way to customise your information on the forum.

- Email Settings.  This lets you hide your email address from other members (the site admin and the moderators can _always_ access your email address for obvious reasons).  You can also choose to get email alerts for any topics you are tracking

- Topic Tracker.  This shows you any topics you have chosen to track, and you can cancel any tracks you have set up.

- Account Options.  You can modify your timezone here so the board displays all information in your own timezone. Click here for a primer by forum member Nerdvana on how to do this.  You can also slect some basic preferences such as opting to not view member avatars and other images when viewing the forum.

- Modify Account.  From here you can change your email addres and your password.

New Posts

This is an essential tool.  When you revist the forum, click this link to see EVERY topic that has had activity since your last visit.  This is a quick way to catch up with all the traffic on the EON Forums.

Your Messenger

All members benefit from access to a Privtae Messenger facility.  It isn't an instant messenger facility, it takes a couple of minutes for a messege to be received by another member.  You can only use this facility to send messages to other members of the EON Forums - it is not email.  When a member revisits the forums they will receive a pop-up notification letting them know they have new messages.

Again this facility is organised with 'tabs' in a similar fashion to the 'Your Control Panel' feature:

- Inbox

Not a very descriptive tab actually - the 'inbox' lets you view both your inbound _and_ sent private messages.  There is currently a limit of 50 private messages.  Remember to clean down your private messages from time to time incase you reach your limit (and would not be able to receive new messages)

- Address Book

From here you can add members directly to a personal address book to save time when creating a new message

- Preferences

From here you can manage the names of your 'folder's ( such as 'inbox' and 'sent items' ) and you can create extra folders if you like.

- Send New Message

Simple enough.  This allows you to send a private message to a member.  Either selct a username from your address book or type the username of a member.  Messages can include smileys.

General Tools

There are three general tools:

- Search

This lets you search posts and post titles by keyword and/or username across across single or multiple forums (or ALL forums).  You can also search just across just this month or from the very beginning (back-end of 2001)

- Members

This facility shows you a list of all the registered members of the EON Forums.  The table that is displayed after clicking on this link shows you:

: Member Name (username)

: Member Post Level

: Member Group (Member, Staff and others)

: Date Joined

: Total Posts

: Email Link

: AIM Link

: ICQ Link

Click on the member Username to view their complete profile.  From the complete profile you can see all details about that member, including links to add them directly to your Private Message address book.

There are also several drop down menus that will modify what you see on the Members list.

- Help

The Help General Tool shows you mopre detail about the various functions specific to the EON forum and is a good place to learn about how forums work in general terms.  If this guide hasn't answered your questions, try the Help General Tool.

Categories, Subcategories, forums and topics illustration

We have another screenshot for you and some description below to help you in navigatin around the sections fo the EON Forums.

Click here to see the screenshot of a Subcategory.

Once you have selected a Subcategory from the front page of the EON Forums, this is what you can expect to see.

Navigation Guide

Along with General Tools and the Personal User Tools - the navigation guide remains a constant no when navigating around the EON Forums, and it changes to reflect which category, subcategory, forum and topic you are currently viewing.  Click on any section of the navgiation guide to jump back through the tree of your current location.

Last Activity

This column shows you the last activity within each forum contained by this subcategory.

Forums

Here you will see all the forums within the current subcategory.  There is a forum title and a description - simply click on the title to see all topics of discussion within that particular forum.

Users in Forum

A total of users (including guests and members) having viewed that forum in the last 15 minutes (this keeps updating itself automatically).

Forum Moderators

Although all EON Staff have the authority to deal with any potential problems, such as abusive language, spam posts and the like, two of the EON Staff have access to moderation features.  You can contact either moderator by clicking on the links presented here.  If you report a post to a moderator, the moderators listed will be contacted.  See further below for information about EON Forum moderation.

How to start topics and reply to topics

Again we have a screenshot for you.

Click here to view the screenshot.

This screenshot illustrates what you can expect to see when you have selected a forum to view from the Subcategory screen.

Navigation Guide

Again the navigation guide is present.

Forum Page Nav.

If the forum  has more than 15 topics, then a page count appears.  Recent topics are shown first.  Click on a page number to view older topics in this forum.

Start New Topic Buttons

Use these buttons to start a new topic or poll in this forum directly from this screen.  These are shortcuts to features described further below under 'Posting from a current topic'.

Topic Summary Info

The 'view' shows several columns detailing summary information about each topic.

Topic Titles and Descripts.

Each topic has a title and a description (if the topic starter added a description).  Topics with more than 15 replies also show a page count.  This works in the same way as the Topic View (as shown on the screenshot).  You can click on the topic title to view the first post in the topic or a page number to jump ahead.  Clicking on the last page number shown will display the most recent messages in that topic.

Topic Status

Ech topic has a different icon to help illustrate the topic status .  See 'Topic Status Key' below for more information.

Sort Display

You can change the view of the current screen by selecting from these drop down menu's.

Jump Between Forums

If you know your way around the EON  Forums this facility is a quick way to jump to any point on the EON Forums.

Topic Status Key

This key illustrates the individual topic status.  Icons such as 'new replies' appear due to the forum's use of 'cookies' - essentially the forum notifies you individually if there are new topics in a thread since your last visit.  If you use the link ont the Personal User Tools to log out then this facility will not work until you next log in.  If you have multiple people using the same computer to access the EON Forums then this facility will quickly become a little confused and pretty much becomes redundant.  It is, however, ideal if only you access the EON Forums from the same computer.  If you use a public computer to access the EON Forums this facility will still work for you.

Posting from a current topic & What a Post Contains

Now that you can navigate around topics in a forum, here's how to post to the forum.  Again we have a screenshot.

Click here for the screenshot.

It is important to remember that the 'New Topic and New Poll' buttons are available in the Forum View and in the 'Topic View' (the screenshot we just showed you).  The functions are described in this part of the help guide for ease of reference.

Navigation Guide

Yup, our friend the navigation guide is here again.

Posting Buttons

Click to reply to the thread or  start a new topic or poll in the forum that this thread is contained.

Title of Topic

The topic title and its description

Date of Message

The date that a particlar post was made (this is modified if you have selected a local time from your control panel).

Edit & Quote Post

You can only edit a post _you_ have made.  Moderators can edit any post (see below for more information on Moderators).

To quickly create a reply which automatically includes the post of another member, hit the 'quote' button.

Body of Post

The actual post itself inluding all text, smileys links and images.

User Info.

Shows you details of the member who made the post, including:

- Username

- User Rank (depends upon the number of posts made)

- Member Group Icon

- User Group Title

- Total Posts by that member

- Date that the member registered on the EON Forums

Sig. File (if any)

If a member has opted to include a signature in their user profile (from their control panel on the Personal User Tools manu) then the sig is automatically shown at the end of the post body.

Profile Shortcuts

You can quickly jump to profile information and fetures for that particular member:

- Profile: View the member detailed profile

- Send Msg: Send a Private Mesage to that member

- E-Mail: Send an email to that member

- Homepage: Visit the homepage of that member

- AOL: See the members AIM status and message them

- ICQ: Same as AIM.

Not all these buttons show for every member, it depends upon if the member has included this information in their personal profile.

Topic Page Jump

You can navigate through the pages of this topic by clicking on a page number if there are more than 15 messages in a thread.

Topic Features

You can add a topic to your topic tracks, email a topic notification to a friend or print this topic by clicking on these buttons.

Forum Moderation Information

The EON Forums are moderated.  Although we tend to have a relaxed approach to moderation (no forum nazi's here), all members are required to take note of any suggestions and guidance offered by EON Site staff.

EON Staff may from time to time suggest toning down your comments, or reminding you that smileys can take the edge of what might otherwise be considered an abusive comment.

Here are the staff in alphabetical order:

Aeon - EON Staff

Aninemity - EON Staff, Forum moderation access

CHILL - EON Staff, Forum Administrator

Harlequin - EON Staff - forum moderation access

Joseph - EON Staff

Senior Mal - EON Staff

All of the Staff are moderators, and may provide guidance as mentioned above.  Aninemity and Harlequin have wht we call 'moderation access'.

Moderation access means that Aninemity and Harlequin are notified if you report a post to a moderator, their details are listed as moderators on each forun, they can also edit and delete any post or thread.

The decision to edit or delete posts or threads is the responsibility of Aninemity and Harlequin, and their judgement  is final in this regard.

Only the forum administrator can delete a user account and block access to the Forums - yes we can do this, but prefer not to.  

Although we dont have a 'set of rules', we have some fairly basic guidelines, if you can keep these guidelines in mind then we would be very greatful:

  • Foul language to a minimum - the board filters bad words, and if you do annoy other members by continualy trying to get around this then a moderator might have a little chat with you and ask you to tone it down.
  • Remember the smileys, don't forget the general netiqutte rules on this forum.  A smiley can make all the difference.
  • Flaming and abusive comments.  This is a community site - everyone is expected to get along.  You _will_ have differing opinions but if we had a 'rule' this would be it - do not start or take part in flames - there are other forums out there that put up with flames, we don't - we work very hard to make sure the EON Forums are as friendly as possible.  What you may not consider a 'flame' may still offend others.  The EON Site Staff make the final call as to what they deem a 'flame' - and their judgment is final.  If you don't like this, then, we'll be sorry to see you leave, but leave you will, k?
Additional Help

More help is available by contacting any of the EON Staff, reading through the General Help Tool or simply by posting messages to ask other members!

There you go, we hope this guide is of help

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