Clicking the "Forums" button displays the Forum List page, which contains a record of all forums that are available for viewing and/or posting. The average rating, number of posts, number of reads, and date created are listed for each forum. Mousing over a forum name shows a tool-tip describing the forum's focus. Clicking a forum link brings you to that forum's Message List page, displaying all of the messages within that forum.
Forums Page
Message List
The Message List page displays the
forum's messages as well as the message's subject line, poster, rating,
and date of posting. Clicking on a column heading (i.e. subject,
rating, poster, etc.) will sort by the
heading.
To view related items
(surveys, waters, calendars, etc.), click the underlined item name.
The user has the option to show or hide certain aspects of the message
list. Show options include:
Top level posts only: Only shows the top level message of a forum
Message bodies: Allows user to view message
text in the message list window.
Banned users' messages:
Displays messages from banned users.
Poster's User
Profile
Clicking on the Poster's name will bring up the Poster's user
profile.
Poster's User Profile
While viewing the Poster's user profile you can:
Post a private message to the
Poster
Download the Poster's V-card for use with Microsoft
Outlook
Rate the Poster on a scale of 1 to
10
Forum Summary
Clicking
on a forum name brings up the Forum Summary page, which contains a
description of the forum and pertinent statistics (date started, # of
posts, # of reads, # of users). Users may rate the forum from this
page by selecting a number from 1 (least favorable) to 10 (most favorable)
and then clicking the Rate button. Clicking the "add forum to
favorites" link will cause the forum to be listed on the My Favorites page
of the My VAflyfish section. Additionally, users can post
messages to the forum, search the forum, or subscribe to the forum.
Reading Messages
Clicking on a subject from the
Message List displays the message.
Message Page
From this
page, a user has several options:
Reply: To respond to a message, click on the "Reply" link and a page similar to the Post Message page appears. Fill out the form, click Reply, and the reply will be sent to the moderator to be posted.
Rate
Message: To rate the message, select a number from 1 (least
favorable) to 10 (most favorable) and then click the "Rate"
button.
Favorites: Any link selected here will add
favorites information to the My Favorites page of the My VAflyfish
section.
Navigate:
A user can navigate to the next/previous
message in the thread or navigate to the next/previous thread. All
of the threads in a message can be viewed by clicking on the "view thread" link.
Moderated
Forums
In a moderated forum, all new messages are
funneled through one or more users who have been designated as forum
managers. These forum managers have the ability to edit, approve,
reject, delete or move messages. Forum Managers are provided with a
special interface that allows them to manage the messages in a forum.
Moderated
Forum Interface
Using the Moderated Forum interface, forum managers
can view messages in three different categories:
Approved Messages – Messages that have been approved
for posting to the forum.
Unapproved Messages –
Messages that have been neither approved nor rejected. Incoming messages in a
moderated forum are by default Unapproved.
Rejected Messages – Messages that have been rejected
and are not posted to the forum
After selecting messages by clicking the check-box, Forum Managers can:
Approve – Categorize selected messages as Approved
Messages.
Hold – Categorize selected messages as Unapproved
Messages.
Reject – Categorize selected messages as Rejected
Messages.
Delete – Delete selected messages. Messages are
no longer available for posting.
Move – Move all selected
messages or threads to another forum.
All administrators are given
forum manager status over all forums. Email notification is
made to
users when their messages are being considered for posting as well as when
the
messages are approved or rejected.
Searching a
Forum
To
search for a particular message in a forum,
click "Search this Forum" in the message list. A search page similar
to the Search Messages section that is accessed through the "Search"
button appears. However, the search will only return
messages from the current forum.
Subscribing to Forums and Mailing
Lists
Users with a special interest in a forum may subscribe to
a mailing list and/or elect to receive a periodic email digest containing
all new messages from that forum. This is accomplished by
clicking "Subscribe to Forum".
Forum Subscription Page
1) To subscribe to a forum's mailing list:
a) Check
the checkbox "Subscribe To Mailing List."
b) Enter an email
address to which the mailing list messages should be sent.
2) To
subscribe to a forum digest:
a) Select the desired digest format from the
dropdown menu. To preview a format, click the "Preview"
link.
b) Enter the email address to which the digest should be
sent.
3) Click "Subscribe".
Sending Private Messages
1) From the Private Messages Tab on the
Home area or from a member's User Profile page, click on the link "Post
Private Message". The Post Private Message page will appear.
2) Enter the user name of message recipient (if
necessary)
3) Enter the message's subject and body
text. HTML can be used here as long as HTML tags are not filtered out in the
forum configuration.
4) If a file is to be attached, click "Attach
File".
a) Enter a description for the file.
b) Enter the directory path for the file or
click "Browse" to locate the file to attach.
c) Click "Attach File" to attach the
file.
5) Click "preview" to preview the message.
6) Click
"sign" to insert the user's stored signature.
7) Click "Clear" to erase the message
or click "Post" to send the private message.
Posting Messages to a Forum
Messages can be posted to forums by using
VAflyfish's post-message interface or by using email for forums that are able to receive email
messages.
Via VAflyfish
1) In the message
list, click "Post". The Post page will appear.
Post Message
Page
2) If desired, select an icon to describe the intention of
the message.
3) Select the check
box if the user wants to be notified when a forum member replies to this post.
4) Enter the message's title (subject)
and body text. HTML can be used here as long as HTML tags are not filtered out in the forum
configuration.
5) If
there are any extended message attributes for the current forum, select
the desired values.
6) If attachments are allowed
in the current forum, click "Attach File" to send an attachment with the message. The File Attachment page
appears.
a. Enter a description for the file and select the file
to be attached.
b. Click
"Attach File". The
Post page reappears with a listing for the attached file
information. Steps 6a5 through 6b can be repeated for an unlimited
number of
attachments.
7) Click "preview" to preview the
message.
8) Click "sign" to insert the user's stored
signature.
9) Click "Post" to post the message
or "Clear" to reset all fields. After clicking Post, the message
list reappears and the newly posted message is displayed according to its
appropriate place in the current sort order.
Via
Email
1) Address an email message to the forum where the message
is to be posted.
2) Enter a subject in the "Subject"
field.
3) Enter the message text.
4) Depending on the security
level that is set for the forum the user will have to do one of the following:
a. Send the message upon
completion
b. Ensure that the "From" field of the email address
matches the email address
specified in the VAflyfish user record
before sending.
c. End the message with the following
line:
User:<username>, <password>
Where:
username is
the login name used by the VAflyfish user.
password is the password
that matches with the login name.
Note:
This must absolutely be the last line of the
message. It must come after any signatures that
an email program will append to the message.
Notes:
Email messages can only be sent to forums that are
capable of receiving email messages. When a user has selected to be
notified via email for replies to a post, VAflyfish will send the notification with a line similar to
this:
BPSIGNkjfg95jg953jg95jg95
This line contains information that must
be preserved and inserted at the end of a message if the user wishes to
post a reply to the received notification. If the user has "include
original message" option off, the BPSIGN tag must be pasted to the last
line of the reply message.
Replying to Messages in a
Forum
1) In the message page, click "Reply
to Post". The Reply page will appear.
Reply Page
2) Enter the
message's subject and body text. HTML can be used as long as HTML
tags are
not filtered out in the forum configuration.
3) Select the check boxes to notify the Poster or
to be notified when a user replies to this post.
4) If desired, select an icon to describe the intention
of the message.
5) If there are any
extended message attributes for the current forum, select the desired
values.
6) Click "Quote Original Message" to
insert the contents of the original message into the reply.
7) If attachments are allowed in the current forum,
click "Attach File" to send an attachment with your
message. The File Attachment page appears.
a. Enter a
description for the file and select the file to be
attached.
b. Click "Attach File". The Post page reappears
with a listing for the attached file information. Steps 6a and 6b
can be repeated for an unlimited number of attachments.
8) Click
"preview" to preview the message.
9) Click "sign" to insert the
user's stored signature.
10) Click "Post" to post the
message or "Clear" to reset all fields. After clicking ,
the message list reappears and the new reply message is displayed
according to its appropriate place in the current sort
order.
Forwarding Forum Messages
Clicking on the "Mail To"
link from a message page allows a user to forward a forum message
to a friend.
Mail To A Friend Page
1) Enter a
destination address in the "Send to" field. Multiple email addresses
can be entered by using a semicolon between each
address.
2) Enter any addresses that should be CC'd in the "Cc"
field.
3) Type any additional text in the subject or message
field.
4) Click "Mail" to send the message or "Clear" to
erase all of the fields.