Some forums allow guests to post messages, but to keep down the number of troublemakers or trolls wishing to harvest information from our members, we require participants to register with valid email addresses and go through an activation process.

phpBB 2.0 is based on a user system.  When a user is logged in, his/her username will be shown with each post he/she makes.  Each user has a few custom settings they can set which allow them to control the look and feel of the board as they use it.  When you log in, you are automatically assigned a session ID so that the program can help you keep track of what messages up have and have not read since the last time you were logged in.  

The session ID requires that you allow the program to set a cookie on your computer and that you have the same IP address while using the forum.  This means that AOL users generally need to open a different browser after logging onto the Internet and before logging into our forum.  Pop-up blockers may also keep you from being able to log in, so you may need to turn them off first.

In order to log into the board as a user, you must register be a registered user.  To do this, click the small Register link at the top of any page. Depending on the style the forum is using, it may look something like this:

You will be taken to the Registration Agreement Terms, which you must agree to in order to register. Make sure you click the correct agreement indicating you are an adult and not a child requiring verification.

You will then be taken to the registration information form. 

NOTE:  If you have already registered and are logged in, you will NOT see a registration link.

Fill out each of the required fields, and any of the optional fields you like.  The settings on the registration form are identical to those in the Profile Settings form, for more details see 4.7 Profile Settings. 

When you register, you must specify a valid, working email address.  An activation link will be sent to the email address you provide.  If it is not working, you will be unable to activate your account. All email from the board to you will be sent to that address. 

After you register, a Confirmation Email will be sent to you.  This helps make sure that no one else can sign anyone else up without their permission.

Your confirmation email will have a Hyperlink in it that you need to click on to ACTIVATE your user account. 

If you do NOT activate your account, you are not considered an active user.  If you do not activate your account within a week, your registration may be deleted and you will have to register again in order to participate on our forums.

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In order to post using your username and use your custom settings on the board, you must log in.  To log in, you click on the LOG IN Link at the top of the page.  You will get a screen that looks something like this:

Enter your user name and password, and click Login.  You will be taken to the page you were previously using, but will now be able to post with your username, change your profile, check private messages, etc.  To log out of the board, click the small Logout [<your username> ] (do NOT click) link at the top of any page.

If you always use the same computer, you can click the box beside "Log me on automatically each visit".  Don't log out when you leave the forum and you will not have to remember your username and password.  We suggest that you do NOT do this if you are using a shared computer at a lab or library.

If you are not logged in and attempt to do anything that requires a login, you will be taken to the login screen.  After you log in, you will be taken to the page you were attempting to go to before logging in.  Things that require login include changing your profile, checking your private messages, and posting to forums.

If you forget your password, go to the Login Page.  Click I forgot my password. 

You will be taken to a form to enter your username and email address.  A new password will be created, and sent in an email to you. 

When you receive the email, you need to click the new password activation link.  The new password activation link exists so that if someone else enters your information into the Forgotten Password form, your current password will remain intact.  After you have activated your new password, you may log in with it.  It will not be a very user friendly password so you may change your password to what you like in your profile.  For more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings.

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There are two primary ways to create a post.  In the View Forum (a sub-section of the Index) and View Topic pages, you may click New Topic. 

This will take you to the posting form, and, when you have posted, will create a new topic with your post as the first one in the topic. 

Our Forum Rules ask that you check to make certain that the subject you want to post a message about is not already a topic under discussion.  If a topic already exists, then we ask that you reply to that topic instead of starting a new one.  If you do start a new topic when the subject is already being discussed, an administrator will probably lock it to keep others from replying there.  This is simply a matter of trying to maintain a forum that is easiest to use by others. 

When creating a New Topic, you also need to make the subject line clearly reflect what is being discussed and do so as broadly as possible.  Forum Administrators may edit your subject line if they believe they need to do so to let other users know what is being discussed in that topic.

In the View Topic page, you may also click New Reply.

This will take you to the posting form, and, when you have posted, it will add your post to the topic you replied to.  To reply to a specific post, you may also click the Quote button ( ) in the lower right corner of that post.  For more information, see 4.2.6 Quoting Messages.

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When you post a New Topic or post a New Reply, you are taken to the posting form (shown below), where you enter your post/message.
NOTE - This form may appear slightly different when viewed with certain browsers.

Subject - The subject of your post.  If this is a New Topic, the subject is required, and it will be the name of the topic.  If the post is replying to another post, the subject is not required, but may be added, and will be shown at the top of the post.  Please be certain that your Subject line clearly reflects what is being discussed so other users will know if they wish to read it.   Again - please make certain that what you want to talk about is not already being discussed somewhere else.  If it is, then REPLY to that discussion instead of starting a NEW TOPIC.

Subject Description - The subject description allows for a more detailed description of your New Topic or New Reply. The number of allowed characters is slightly more than the Subject, therefore offering more information to other members on the subject matter of your post. This field is optional in both New Topic and New Reply.

Message Icons - These icons can be used to quickly identify the 'mood' of your New Topic or New Reply. There are default icons for certain types of topics and posts, unless they are otherwise chosen, these are as follows:

• - Normal Post or Reply
• - Sticky
• - Global Announcement or Announcement

Message Body - The Message body is a large text area where you enter your message.  Plain text is the only thing allowed in this text area, but special formatting, links, smilies (emoticons), images, etc. may be added through the use of Smilies, and BBCode.  The use of HTML in posts is NOT enabled on our forum.

Options - The following options can be set up globally in your Profile or Preferences but you can also change for a particular message at the time you are creating a post. NOTE - Some of these options may or may not be available, depending on what the Admin(s) of this board has allowed.

Smilies - Smilies (also called emoticons) can be added to posts.  If you would like to disable smilies in your post, check the box next to Disable Smilies in this Post.   For more information, see 4.2.6 Smilies

BBCode - BBCode allows you to add special formatting to your posts.  If BBCode is enabled and you would like to disable it in your post, check the box next to Disable BBCode in this Post at the bottom of your posting form.  If you disable it, you will not be able to format your message.  For more information, see 4.2.5 BBCode.

HTML- Again, we do not allow users to post HTML code in our forums, so what you select here will not make any difference.

Signature - You may add a signature to your post.  To do this, check the box next to Attach Signature.  You may change your signature by editing your profile.  For more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings.

Reply Notification - When you post, you may be interested in knowing when that topic is replied to.  If so, you may check Notify me when a reply is posted.  You will then receive an email the next time someone posts a reply to that topic. For more information, see 4.6 Watching Topics.

The following options may be available in a small Options box to the left of the Posting Form itself.

Post topic as:  - You may or may not see these options, depending on what permissions an administrator has given you.  Most registered users will not see them.  Moderators may see them for the forums they are responsible for.

Polls - To add a poll, look to the bottom of the posting form.  These options will only be visible to a user if they have permission to make Polls. For more information, see 4.2.4 Polls.

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Global Announcements and Announcements are a special type of topic.

On almost every page, at least the ones that display the various Categories and Forums (like the Index and all it's various sub-types), you will find a section near the top of the page labeled Board Announcements that displays the available Topics that are defined as Global Announcements, it looks like this:

These special topics are those that the Admin(s) of the board feel are very important and wants everyone to read. You are responsible for reading the Board Announcements, and it is encouraged to read them before making any posts. Most Board Announcements can be found in the ZCrew Announcements forum.

Global Anouncements can be set to displayed indefinitely or for a period of time (determined by the Administrator that created the global announcement). Those that have expired will be still available in the ZCrew Announcements forum.

It is your responsibility to read the all the Topics in the ZCrew Announcements forum.

Announcements

  In the View Forum page, Announcements appear above all other topics (at the top of the forum).  Announcements will also appear on every View Forum page.  For instance, if you had 75 topics in a forum and 50 on each page, announcements would appear on the page with the first 50 topics and on the page with the last 25 topics. Only Administrators and Forum Moderators may create announcements.

NOTE: On our Forums - Announcements are things about the forum your Administrators want you to know.  If you use our forums you are responsible for reading the Forum Policy and all Forum Announcements and Stickies before you post a message.

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Sticky topics are another special type of topic.  On the View Forum page(s), Sticky topics appear above all other topics except for Announcements (Global Announcements are always displayed in their own section).  Sticky topics only appear on the first View Forum page. Only Forum Administrators and Moderators can create stickies.  They can also edit a members topic to make it a sticky if warranted.  Forum users are responsible for reading stickies before posting in a forum.

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Polls are a special type of that allow community members to vote on an idea or issue.  Polls can only be made from the top post in a topic before someone replies to it.  Polls cannot be changed once someone votes in them.  In some areas of our forum, only Administrators may create Polls.  In other areas, any registered user can.

Creating a Poll

Poll Question - This is the subject of the Poll, the question that is being answered by the poll.  The poll question appears at the top of the topic, above the poll options.  This is required for the poll.

Poll Option - Poll Options are the possible answers to the poll question.  To add poll options, type the option into the text field and click Add Option.  To have a valid poll, at least two options must be offered.

Run Poll for - Number of days to run the poll for.  After the specified time has passed, the results of the poll are displayed in the topic, and no one else may vote.

Fill in the rest of the posting form as previously described.

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BBCode is a system that will allow you to format your posts in special ways.  The BBCode system uses tags in a way nearly identical to HTML.  The primary difference between BBCode and HTML is that BBCode uses square brackets [ and ] instead of angle brackets < and >.  For a more detailed description of how BBCode works, click the small BBCode link on the lower left corner of the Posting Form.  You may also go to ../faq.php?mode=bbcode.

If the box by Disable BBCode is checked, you cannot use BBCode to format your messages.

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Here is a list of sample BBCode and its output:

[b]Bolded Text[/b]: Bolded Text

[i]Italicized Text[/i]: Italicized Text

[u]Underlined Text[/u]: Underlined Text

[color=red]Red Text[/color] or [color=#FF0000]Red Text[/color]: Red Text

[size=24]Bigger Text[/size]: Bigger Text

[quote]This cheese is delicious[/quote]:



[quote="The Cheese Man"]This cheese is delicious.[/quote]
(Note the use of quotation marks around the name):



[code]if ($cheese == "tasty") { return true; }[/code]
HINT - The use of the [code]..//..[/code] BBCode can also be used to maintain text that has already been formatted with tabs and extra spaces, much like using the HTML tag <pre>.



[list][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]

• Cheddar Cheese
• Limburger Cheese
• Cottage Cheese

[list=1][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]

1. Cheddar Cheese
2. Limburger Cheese
3. Cottage Cheese

[list=a][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]:

1. Cheddar Cheese
2. Limburger Cheese
3. Cottage Cheese

[url=http://www.phpbb.com/]Visit phpBB![/url] = Visit phpBB! 

[url]http://www.phpbb.com/[/url]: http://www.phpbb.com/ 

[email]no.one@domain.adr[/email]: no.one@domain.adr

[img]http://www.craterz.com/images/links/ZCrew.gif[/img]: =

Again, for more info, see the BBCode section of the FAQ.

We urge members new to phpBB forums to use our "Introductions" forum to practice using BBCode until you are sure how it works (of course, while introducing yourself at the same time).

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Smilies are small images that appear in posts.  Usually they are small images of faces, and are often used to show emotion.

To use smilies in your posts, you need to enter a series of characters.  Common character series are
:) for a happy face ,
:( for a sad face , etc. 

Another common style for smilie character sequences is :emotion: (i.e. the emotion the smilie shows, with a colon ":" before and after this).  Examples of this are
:wink: for a winking face ,
:lol: for a laughing face , etc.

When you go to post a message you will see a block of the smilies available at the left side of the form.  You can simply click on the one you want to insert the appropriate character sequence in your message.

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Quoting messages allows you to include other's posts in your own.  It is useful for showing that you are replying to a post, or part of a post or to show that the text of an article you are posting part of, is not your own words.

To quote all of someone's post, look at the bottom right corner of their post and click .  This will take you to the posting form, and will allow you to reply to the post.  It will also automatically add the appropriate BBCode to your post to quote the post you are replying to.

The proper syntax to quote a post is:

[quote="<name to quote>"]<text to quote>[/quote]

<name to quote> is the source of your quote, and <text to quote> is what you are quoting.  So to quote the user Cheese Man saying "Power the behold of cheese."

[quote="Cheese Man"]Power the behold of cheese[/quote]

When quoting someone else's message, be sure you delete everything but the part you are responding to.  Do not requote their entire message to reply only to a line or two.

To reply to multiple points, you can break the quotes up so your responses are just below the point you are replying to.  Just be certain you use the Preview button (shown below) at the bottom before you submit so you know that your message will actually appear the way you intend and that you did not leave out an ending code somewhere.

For more information, see 4.2.5 BBCode.

We urge members new to phpBB forums to use our "Introductions" forum to practice using BBCode until you are sure how it works (of course, while introducing yourself at the same time).

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Editing posts allows you to go back and fix errors, remove incorrect information, or add new information to your posts.  To edit a post, look at the bottom right corner of your post and click .  You will be taken to the posting form to edit your post, and then click Submit to enter it into the database.  If you edit a post after it has been replied to, a small message will appear at the bottom of it indicating how many times it has been edited, and when the last edit occurred.  You may not be able to edit your message after someone has replied to it, it depends on what the administrator allows.

To delete a post, click .  Click Submit to finish deleting the post.  You may not delete a post if it has been replied to (i.e. it is not the last post in the topic).  You will have to ask one of the moderators for help deleting it.
NOTE - Members of ZCrew.net are not authorized to delete their posts! We feel that everything you post is important, and don't want the risk of someone accessing your account without your knowledge deleting your posts. If you require a post to be deleted, contact the Moderator of the forum that you made the post in.

Regular users may not be able to edit a post after someone has replied to it.  If you need to correct something but lack the proper permissions to edit or delete, notify a moderator or administrator by Private Message or leave a note in the ZCrew.net Support and Information Forum.

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Private messages (PM), allow users on a board to contact each other out of the public eye.  Private messages can be described as a cross between email, instant messaging, and phpBB 2.0 forum posting.

To use private messaging, you must be logged in to the board.  Look at the top of any page, and click:

You have no new messages -- If you have no new messages.
You have X new message(s) -- If you have any new messages.

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There are three primary ways to send a private message.

First, you may go your private messaging center and click .

Secondly, you may click from a private message you are reading.
Hint - You can also Quote the PM you are reading by clicking

Finally, you may click the PM link ( ) on any user's profile or post (located at the bottom of the user's post).

The posting form is identical to the normal posting form with a few exceptions:

Username - The username of the person you want to receive the message.  If you are replying to a PM, or clicked the PM link in someone's profile, this field will be automatically filled for you.

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There are three ways that one may be notified of a new private message:

1. Most obvious is the Private message link at the top of every page.  It will display You have X new message(s), where X is the number of new message(s) you have.  You may click this link to take you to your Inbox.
2. You may be informed of new PMs by an email sent to the email address your username is registered to.
3. You may also be informed of a new PM by means of a small window that pops up while you are viewing the board.  Email and pop-up notification will contain a link to your Inbox.  Email and pop-up notification may be enabled/disabled in your Profile (for more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings).
   NOTE - You must have javascript enabled and pop-ups allowed for your browser in order to see this pop-up.

Sometimes you may be informed of a new PM, but when you go to your Inbox, there is no new message.  This is not a bug, it simply means that the sender must have deleted the PM before you read it.  For more information, see 4.3.3 The Outbox.

You may delete messages by selecting them and clicking Delete Marked.  Alternatively, you may delete all messages by clicking Delete All at the bottom of your message list.  You may also sort/display messages by age by using the dropdown list box in the upper right corner.

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When you send a PM, the message goes to your Outbox.  It remains in the Outbox until the recipient visits his/her Inbox, at which point it is moved from your Outbox to their Inbox.  While the message remains in your Outbox you may edit or delete your post if you like.  The message remains in your control until it is received.

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The Savebox is provided as a place to keep important PMs.  Often it is used to save valuable messages from the Inbox, and then you can use the Delete All function to discard the rest.

You may save messages in your Inbox by selecting the messages (with the checkboxes next to each message) and clicking Save Marked at the bottom right side of the list.

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Note that the following section about usergroups is not generally relevant to most forum members - it is included in case Administrators decide to open the option later on.

Usergroups are a powerful feature of phpBB 2.0.x, but most often used by Administrators or other group moderators to make assigning access to certain forums easier.  If you don't see any usergroups, it is because the Administrator has not made any publically available.

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There are two ways to join a group.  First, you may be added to the group by the group moderator.  This is not controlled by the user, but by the group moderator through the group control panel.  This is the only way to become a member of a Closed or Hidden group.

To join an open group, click the small Usergroups link ( Usergroups ) at the top of any page.

Choose the group to join from the Join a Group dropdown list shown, and click View Information .  This will take you to the Group Control Panel .  Click Join Group to request membership in the group.  The Group Moderator will receive an email informing them of the request, which they must approve before you become a member of the group.  For more information, see 4.4.2 Moderating a Group .

NOTE: most of this informaton about Usergroups will not be relevant to most users - It remains, just in case we do need it at some time.

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For each group, there is one Group Moderator .  The group moderator may control membership to the group by adding and removing members.  The group moderator is specified by an Administrator in the admin panel. 

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To add members to a group, go to the Group Control Panel .  In the lower right corner, there is a text field.  Enter the username to add, and click Add Member .  Additionally, you may use Find a username if you are not sure of the name of the user to add.

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To approve a user's membership to a group, go to the Group Control Panel .  Look at the bottom of the page at the Pending Members section.  Check the box next to the member(s) to approve and click Approve Selected .  You may similarly select and deny a user's membership to the group.

When a user requests to join a group, email will be sent to the group moderator with a link to the Group Control Panel .  This allows the group moderator to be notified, speeding the approval process.

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To remove members from a group, go to the Group Control Panel .  Check the boxes next to the names of members to remove, and click Remove Selected .

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Group types may be changed by the group moderator or a board administrator in the Group Control Panel .  They may also be changed by board administrators in the Group Management section of the admin panel.  For more information, see 3.3 Group Administration .

• Open - All users may see the group and group members.  Users may request membership to this group.  For more information, see 4.4.1 Joining a Group .
• Closed - All users may see the group and group members.  Users may not request membership to the group, but may be added by the group moderator.
• Hidden - The group and its members are not visible to normal users.  Users may be added by the group moderator.  If a hidden group is moderator of a forum, the group will show up in the Moderators list.

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phpBB 2.0 has a search system that will allow you to find topics you are interested in.  To get to the search page, click the small Search link at the top of any page.
NOTE - This board uses an enhanced Search system that is far superior to phpBB's generic search system. Some aspects may differ than what is normally found on another phpBB board.

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Search for Keywords - You may search for words in the content of topics.  Enter the words to search for into the text field. 

If you select Search for any terms or use query as entered, then topic containing ANY of the words you entered will be displayed.  You may use the AND, OR, and NOT operators to indicate which words you want to search for.  Use AND to indicate that multiple words MUST be found.  Use OR to indicate that a word is optional/alternate.  Use NOT to indicate that a word should not be present in the topics displayed.

If you select Search for all terms, only topics containing all of the words in the query will be displayed.  Selecting this option has effects comparable to using Search for any terms or use query as entered, with the AND operator between each term.

You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard character to broaden your search.  The asterisk will match any number of characters.  So *cheese* will match cheese, cheesewheel, wheelcheese, or wheelcheesewheel.  Likewise cheese*fudge will match cheesefudge, cheeseyfudge, or cheese597fudge.

To increase the speed and decrease the overhead of the search utility, only words may be searched for.  Phrases (such as "cheese wheel") may not be searched for, except by their component words.  The minimum size for words is four characters, and the maximum size is twenty characters.  Any non-alphanumeric character (e.g. white space and punctuation) is a word boundary. 

Search for Author - You may search for posts by post author.  Simply enter the author's username into this text field.  You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard in author's names to broaden your search.  Again, the asterisk will match any number of characters.

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Forum - Select the forum you wish to search in, or All available. To search multiple forums, search by Category.

Category - Select the category you wish to search in, or All available.

Display Results as Posts - Search results will be displayed as a list of the posts.  Part of the post that matches the query will be displayed, and the search terms highlighted.  For each post there is a ling

Display Results as Topics - Search results will be displayed as a list of Topic titles.  For each topic there is a link to the forum it is in, the topic itself, and the author of the topic.

Search Previous - This dropdown box will allow you to specify the maximum age of posts to display as results of the search.  There are also radio buttons here that will allow you to search only the body of posts, or the subject(title) of the posts as well.

Sort by - This will allow you to specify how search results are organized.  You may sort by Post Time, Post Subject, Topic Title, Author, or Forum.  The sort may be in ascending or descending order alphabetically (or chronologically where appropriate)

Return first - When Display Results as is set to Posts, this dropdown box will allow you to control how much of the post is displayed in the search result.

Search in forum - This drop down box allows you to limit (and therefore slightly speed up) your search to a particular forum.  

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You may subscribe to topics in phpBB 2.0.x.  When a topic you are subscribed to is replied to, an email will be sent to the email address that your username is registered to.  The email will contain a link to the topic that has been replied to.  You will only receive one email per topic until the next time you log in to the board. 

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To subscribe to a topic, look at the upper and lower left corners of the Topic View page.  Click the small Watch this topic for replies button ( ). This button can be found at the top and bottom of the topic, in between the Previous Topic ( ) and Next Topic buttons ( ). Also found in the same location is the Mark this Topic unread button ( ).

Additionally, if you post or reply to a topic, you may check Notify me when a reply is posted to subscribe to a topic. You can set this option globally (for all topics you post in) in your profile or in your preferences settings; select "Privacy Choices" on the left side to see your options.

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To unsubscribe from a topic, look at the upper and lower left corners of the Topic View page.  Click the small Stop watching this topic button ( ). This button can be found at the top and bottom of the topic, in between the Previous Topic ( ) and Next Topic buttons ( ). Also found in the same location is the Mark this Topic unread button ( ). 

Alternatively, you may look at your notification email.  At the end of the email (right above the signature) there is a link that will unsubscribe you from the topic.

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To edit your profile, click the small Profile link at the top of any page ( Profile ). Note that some of the profile options are duplicated.

NOTE - The Profile and Preferences on this board are integrated with each other, so you will have to refer to each section of this Quick Help Document to get a grasp on all the available options to you.

You must be logged in to edit your profile.  To make changes to your profile or preferences, change the values on the form and click Submit at the bottom of the page.

Username - Your username on the board, the name you use to log in.  You cannot change this name, but upon request an administrator can manually make the change for you.  Capital letters and spaces are allowed.

Email - The email address your account is registered to.  All emails from the board to you will go to this email address.  You may change the email address if you like, but the address must be working.  If you change your email address, be sure you come back and make that change here as well. 

Password - The password you use to log in.  If you change your email address or password, you must enter your current password.  If you are changing your password you will need to enter the new password twice to verify it.

Most of the fields in the Profile Information are self-explanatory.

Always show my Email Address - If Yes a link to email you will appear in your profile.  If set to No, the link will not appear.  Users will not actually see your email address unless you reply to an email they send you.  This helps protect our users from spammers.

Hide your online status - If Yes you will not be visible to normal users in the Who is Online? list at the bottom of the Forum Index.

Always notify me of replies - If Yes then the Notify me when a reply is posted checkbox on the posting form will be checked by default.  You may still uncheck it each time you post.  When selected, you will get one email to notify you that someone else has posted a reply to a topic you have posted in or that you are "watching."  You won't get another email until you return to the forum to read the current replies.  Meaning that even if five other people post replies, you will only get one email until you read that topic.

Notify on new Private Messages - If Yes an email will be sent to your registered email address each time you receive a private message.

Pop up window on new Private Messages - If Yes you will see a pop up window notifying you of new Private Messages you receive while browsing the forums.  Note that this may not work if you have a pop-up blocker installed in your browser.

Always attach my signature - If Yes then the Attach signature checkbox on the posting form will be checked by default.  You may still uncheck it each time you post.

Always allow BBCode - If Yes then the Disable BBCode in this post checkbox on the posting form will be unchecked by default.  You may still check it each time you post.  If selected, it also means that you may not see messages others have posted formatted properly.

Always allow HTML - Our forum does not allow members to use HTML so you can leave this one unchecked.

Always enable Smilies - If Yes then the Disable Smilies in this post checkbox on the posting form will be unchecked by default.  You may still check it each time you post.

Board Language - Selects the language of board messages/text.  Any text from other users or administrators is unaffected.  If only one language is available, that is because it is the only one currently installed.

Board Style - Selects the style that the board.  This setting will not work if the administrator has turned on Override user style or if there is only one style available.

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phpBB 2.0.0 allows you to specify the date format that you see on the board.  This is done by allowing you to specify the format using the PHP syntax.  For full details on how this works, see http://www.php.net/date.

-> Note that the Preferences option on our forum gives you a much easier method of setting your date format. So you really don't have to pay a lot of attention to setting it in your profile.

The date string is a series of letters and punctuation.  Each letter will be replaced with a part of the current date and time, and the punctuation is used to organize this information in a way that makes sense to you.

The default string for this field is "D M d, Y g:i a"  This will display your date in the form Sat Apr 09, 2002 4:09 am.  All of the punctuation and spacing remains intact, and each letter is replaced with part of the date/time. 

D is the first three letters of the day of the week.
M is the first three letters of the month name.
d is the numerical date, with leading zeroes.
Y is the year, four-digit format.
g is the hour, 12-hour format without leading zeroes.
i is the minutes, with leading zeroes.
a is am/pm, in lowercase letters.

To see the complete list of letter substitutions, go to http://www.php.net/date.

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All times on this board are displayed in UTC. Universal Time Co-ordinated (UTC), the international time standard (for comparison purposes) it is identical to Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT). Daylight Savings Time is also supported, which can be enabled and/or disabled in your Preferences, leaving it enabled is the recommended setting since it will adjust the time properly for you.
The default time zone for this board is UTC -6 (negative six), which is Central Standard Time.

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Our forum also has a menu for setting some personal preferences in addition to the standard preferences listed in the user's Profile.  Some of the items in the Profile page are duplicated in the Preferences tool.

NOTE - The Profile and Preferences on this board are integrated with each other, so you will have to refer to each section of this Quick Help Document to get a grasp on all the available options to you.

The options you can set in Preferences, include settings for:

» Internationalization: One of the settings here gives you a much easier method of setting how the date is displayed.

» Reading topics: 

-  You can decide whether all topics are marked as having been read when you leave the forum - whether you have actually read them all or not.  This is a nice option if you often only have short periods of time to check the forum.  You still have the option to mark all forums or topics read as you browse the forum.

- You can set the default sort order for topics you are reading.

» Board layout

- If more that one Board Style is available you can pick the one you like best.

- The forum Administrator has the option to set some announcements so they appear as "Board Announcements" at the top of all forum pages.  This helps make sure that members see important information.  The administrator also has the option to override your choice about whether to have them always appear or not. 

- Pack sub-categories  and Split sub-categories change the way pages are displayed on the Index and subCategories pages.  Experiment to find the settings that work best for you.

» Privacy choices

- The options here duplicate options in the Profile page.

» Posting a message

- The options here are also duplicates of settings that used to only be available in the Profile page.

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