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| Forum Index |
| Login and Registration Issues |
| Why can't I log in? You must be registered and enter your correct username and password to log in. See this thread for further assistance. Back to top |
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| Why do I need to register at all? You are not required to register to view the site. However, you must be registered to post Gallery photos, Classified Ads, or participate in the Forums. This helps prevent abuse, and registration is free! Back to top |
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| How do I change my username? Contact Everett to make this change to your account. Back to top |
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| How do I change my email address in my account? Log in to your account and click on Control Panel in the upper left of the site. Enter your new email address in your profile and click submit. You will receive an automated authorization email within a few minutes to the new email address. You must follow the directions in that email it re-activate your account. Back to top |
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| Why do I get logged off automatically? If you do not check the Log me in automatically box when you log in, you will only remain logged in for a preset time. This prevents misuse of your account by anyone else. To stay logged in, check the box during login. This is not recommended if you access the site from a shared computer, e.g. library, internet cafe, or school. Back to top |
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| How do I prevent my username from appearing in the online user listings? In the Control Panel you will find an option Hide your online status; if you switch this on you'll only appear to administrators or to yourself. You will be counted as a hidden user. Back to top |
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| I can't remember my password, what do I do? Go to the login page and click I've forgotten my password. While your password cannot be retrieved it can be reset. Expect an automated email giving you a new password. After you login, you are free to reset your password in the Control Panel screen. Back to top |
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| I can't remember my username, what do I do? Go to the login page and click I've forgotten my username. Back to top |
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| I can't log in to the Forums, am I banned? If you are banned, you will receive a message on login that you are banned for abuse. Make sure your caps lock key is not on when you are entering your password. Back to top |
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| I think I used to have an old account, what do I do? Check out this helpful thread. Back to top |
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| When I try to register, I get an "email is in use" message, why? Check out this helpful thread. Back to top |
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| I registered, why can't I log in? First check that you are entering the correct username and password. If they are okay then you either didn't receive or didn't read the automated activation email. Activation is required to reduce the possibility of users abusing the board anonymously. Please do not create another account, contact Everett Barnes to activate your existing account. Back to top |
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| I registered in the past, why can't I log in anymore? The most likely reasons for this are: you entered an incorrect username or password (check the email you were sent when you first registered) or you changed your email or username and didn't read the automated activation email from the site. Back to top |
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| I received an email saying my account has been deleted due to inactivity, why? It is our policy to periodically remove users who have not activated their account within 30 days of registering. Back to top |
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| User Preferences and settings |
| How do I change my settings? Click the Control Panel link in the upper left of the site. Back to top |
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| Why are the times incorrect? You may need to change your Profile setting in the Control Panel for the default timezone to match your particular area, e.g. New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, etc. Back to top |
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| I changed the timezone, why is the time still wrong? If you are sure you have set the timezone correctly and the time is still different, the most likely answer is daylight savings time (or summer time as it is known in the UK and other places). The board is not designed to handle the changeovers between standard and daylight time so during summer months the time may be an hour different from the real local time. Back to top |
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| How do I add the picture/avatar below my username? Click on Control Panel to upload your own avatar. Check out this thread for tips. This privilege can be removed if abused. Back to top |
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| When I click the email link for a user why does it asks me to log in? Only registered users can send email to people via the built-in email form. This is to prevent malicious use of the email system by anonymous users. Back to top |
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| What is a watched topic? It is a thread you have selected to watch by clicking the link at the bottom left of a given thread. You can access your watched topic threads on a screen in the Control Panel. New posts in these threads will result in a notification email being sent to your email account. Back to top |
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| What is a bookmarked topic? It is a thread you have selected to bookmark by clicking the link at the bottom left of a given thread. You can access your bookmarked threads on a screen in the Control Panel. This differs from watching a topic in that new posts in these threads do not send you a notification email. They are simply for you to keep a running list of useful references. Back to top |
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| Can I ignore Forum posts from specific users? Yes. In the Control Panel there is an Ignore feature. When you are ignoring a user, you will not be able to see their Forum posts or receive Private Messages from them. You cannot add Administrators or Moderators to your Ignore list. Back to top |
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| Can I use an image in my signature: No, images in signatures are annoying, waste bandwidth, and are just one more thing we would have to monitor for abuse. Back to top |
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| Posting Issues |
| Where are the Forum Rules posted? The rules are posted in the Site Forum here. Back to top |
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| How do I post a topic in a forum? Enter the specific Forum section in which you want to post. Click on the New Topic button to start a new thread or the Post Reply button to post in the existing thread. You must be registered before you can post a message. Back to top |
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| How do I edit or delete a post? Unless you are an Admin or Moderator you can only edit or delete your own posts. You can edit a post by clicking the edit button in the upper right corner of the post. If someone has already replied to the post, you will find a small piece of text output below the post when you return to the topic that lists the number of times you edited it. This will not appear if no one has replied; it also will not appear if moderators or administrators edit the post. You cannot delete a post once someone has replied. Back to top |
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| How do I quote a previous post? Click the Quote button on the post you want to quote. Everything should be correctly formatted, just add your message, press preview to check it, then hit submit. Back to top |
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| How do I add a signature to my post? To add a signature to a post you must first create one in the Control Panel. Once created you can check the Add Signature box on the posting form to add your signature. You can also add a signature by default to all your posts by checking the appropriate box in the Control Panel. You can still prevent a signature being added to individual posts by un-checking the add signature box on the posting form. Signatures are a privilege which will be removed if abused. Back to top |
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| How do I report a post/avatar/signature that violates site rules? In the upper right corner of every post is a Report button. Click on it to alert the Administrator privately of a problem post, avatar, or signature. (You will have the opportunity to include comments about the post). Back to top |
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| How do I create a poll? When you post a new topic you should see a Add Poll form below the main posting box. Enter a title for the poll and then at least two options -- to set an option type in the poll question and click the Add option button. You can also set a time limit for the poll, 0 being an infinite amount. Back to top |
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| How do I edit or delete a poll? As with posts, polls can only be edited by the original poster, a moderator, or administrator. To edit a poll, click the first post in the topic, which always has the poll associated with it. If no one has cast a vote then the creator can delete the poll or edit any poll option. However, if people have already placed votes only moderators or administrators can edit or delete it; this is to prevent people rigging polls by changing options mid-way through a poll Back to top |
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| Can I place Ads in any Forum? No, we don't allow Ads in the Forums, please use the free Classifieds to post either For Sale or Wanted Ads. Back to top |
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| People keep telling me to "Use the Search!", why? Well, did you use the Search function? Most questions have already been asked repeatedly; posting a question without first searching for an answer just wastes people's time. Plus it is often quicker to search than to wait for a reponse to your post. Back to top |
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| Why is my post count dropping? Check the quality of your posts, if they don't follow the forum rules, they will be deleted. Back to top |
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| What are some tips for creating a good Forum thread? Start with a good subject line. "@@@[email protected]@@" is unacceptible and will probably be deleted by a moderator. Something like "Bus stalling at stop lights, please help" will get a better response. Make sure to provide enough information in your post so people can help you. Year and type of VW are important, make sure to be specific. Finally, if/when the problem is resolved, please return to the thread and let others know what worked. Back to top |
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| Formatting and Topic Types |
| What is BBCode? BBCode is a special implementation of HTML used on bulletin boards: tags are enclosed in square braces [ and ] rather than < and > to make text display in bold, italics, etc. You can disable it on a per post basis from the posting form. Back to top |
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| Can I use HTML? That depends on whether the administrator allows you to; they have complete control over it. If you are allowed to use it, you will probably find only certain tags work. This is a safety feature to prevent people from abusing the board by using tags which may destroy the layout or cause other problems. If HTML is enabled you can disable it on a per post basis from the posting form. Back to top |
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| What are Smileys? Smileys, or Emoticons, are small graphical images which can be used to express some feeling using a short code, e.g. :) means happy, :( means sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen via the posting form. Do not overuse smileys, as they become annoying and make your post difficult to read. Back to top |
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| How do I post a picture in a Forum? Check this thread for help. Back to top |
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| How do I post a link in a Forum? Just type the link in your post (including the http://). For example: http://www.thesamba.com, and it will highlighted automatically after it posts. Back to top |
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| What are Announcements? Announcements contain important information; they appear at the top of every page in the forum to which they are posted. Back to top |
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| What are Sticky topics? Sticky topics appear below any announcements in viewforum and only on the first page. They usually contain useful technical information relating to the particular forum. Back to top |
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| Why is a topic Locked? Topics can be locked by the forum moderator or administrator. Topics are usually locked when a topic has been resolved and no further discussion is necessary, or when there are multiple threads on the same topic. Back to top |
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| User Levels, Ranks, and Titles |
| What is an Administrator and who are they? Administrators are people assigned the highest level of control over the entire board. TheSamba.com has two Admins, Everett Barnes and Jennepher. Back to top |
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| What is a Moderator? Moderators look after individual forums. They have the power to edit or delete posts and lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics only in the forum they moderate. Generally moderators are there to enforce the rules and to prevent people going off-topic or posting abusive or offensive material. Back to top |
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| What is a Super Moderator? Super Moderators have moderating powers in all forums. Their roll is secondary to the primary moderator for each individual forum, they do not have additional powers. As the size of TheSamba.com Forum grows, more eyes are helpful to clean up spam and remove offensive material quickly. Back to top |
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| How do I contact a Moderator? All Forums have a specific Moderator listed at the top. Clicking on his username will provide contact info in his profile. Back to top |
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| Why are some usernames a different color? Administrator names are orange, Super Moderator names are yellow, Moderator names are dark green, Premium Member names are dark blue, and Bots are light grey. Back to top |
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| What does that star icon next to some usernames mean? It indicates that the user is a Premium Member. Back to top |
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| How do the rank titles work and can I change mine? Your title will be Samba Trainee up until your 5th post. After that, all users are Samba Contributors. Intead of generic higher ranking titles, we at TheSamba.com like to assign a specific title to users who desire it. Contact Everett with your request. This is considered a privilege and all titles are granted at the discretion of the Administrators. Back to top |
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| Private Messaging |
| Why can't I send private messages? You must be logged in to send Private Messages. Back to top |
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| I have received a spamming or abusive email from someone on this forum, what can I do? The email form feature of this board includes safeguards to track users who send such posts. Please email Everett Barnes immediately with a full copy of the email you received and it is very important this include the headers (these list details of the user that sent the email). Back to top |
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| I just sent a private message, why is it still in my outbox? Messages remain in your outbox until, the recipient logs in. Once the message shows up in the sent folder, it has been received. Back to top |
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| What is the code option in the tool bar? It displays text in a fixed width font which allows you to show bbcode without having it effective in the post. Back to top |
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| Can I block Private Messages from specific users? Yes. In the Control Panel there is an Ignore feature. When you are ignoring a user, you will not be able to see their Forum posts or receive Private Messages from them. You cannot add Administrators or Moderators to your Ignore list. Back to top |
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| My inbox, outbox, and sentbox are full, should I delete the contents? Don't delete any message from your outbox - they haven't been picked up yet (the recipient has not logged on to the site yet). You should periodically delete older messages from your inbox and sentbox to make room for new mail. Back to top |
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