Chickscope 1.5: Schools: Scratchings: Help

Chickscope Scratchings:
Help: Deleting, Copying, and Moving Messages

Messages are not static: once they are posted, you can copy them to other forums, move them around, or delete them if you change your mind.

There are two ways to initiate a copy, move, or delete: by clicking the "Admin" button on the Scratching forum's front page, or by clicking on the "(Re)Move" button while reading a message. The instructions for each are very similar, though selecting the "Admin" method requires an extra step.

The administration method allows members to select multiple messages at one time to be deleted, copied, or moved. The forum page expands to include a checkbox beside each message. Checking the box on a particular message signals the software that you wish to process that message.

Some care must be taken when selecting messages for processing: Should a message that has responses be deleted, then the entire thread gets deleted. However, one member cannot process a message by another member, unless it exists as a response to the owner's message. This security feature helps prevent accidents.

Once the messages for processing have been selected, press the "Copy/Move/Remove..." button. From this point on, the instructions for processing groups of messages are exactly the same for processing a single message.

To exit from administration mode, click on the "No Admin" button that has replaced the original "Admin" button on the page.

The form for processing the messages has four fields for your use:

Administrator:	The author of the message - which should be you. This field cannot be changed.
Selected Message(s):	The list of message selected for processing. If you made a mistake and chose too many, you can toggle the message off by unmarking the checkbox. By default, all selected messages a toggled on.
Deleting Messages:	There are two options here, but you can choose only one. If you want the message and any responses deleted, select "Delete Source". If you wish to copy the message, leaving the source in the current forum, select "NO". Remember that once a message is deleted, it is gone for good!
Copying Messages:	If you want to copy a message, you must know the name of the forum and the destination path for the message. For example, "/test.html". Each forum name is related to the title of the article. You can usually determine the exact title by looking at the URL of the article you are processing. Because this requires some knowledge of how we have implemented Scratchings, you may not want to mess with this. Your best bet will be to experiment first by using the test forum. If you wish to notify members by email that your article (and any responses) has been processed, check the notification box. The default is "NO" since it generates less junk mail.

Moving Messages
Moving messages involves two steps: copying the message and then deleting the message. Both of these steps can be accomplished using the same form. Simply mark the message for deletion and specify a destination location for the copy. The article will be copied before it is deleted.

If you do not understand how to copy a message, do not attempt to move a message. Because moving involves deletion, if you make a mistake your original message will be gone, gone, gone!

Detailed Help
More specific help is available on the following subjects:

General Help	Membership Info
Reading Messages	Posting Messages
The Forum Layout	Further Help

Returning to Scratchings
You can either use the "back" feature of your browser, or you can go directly to the Scratchings main page by following the hyperlink.