Chickscope Scratchings:
Help: Posting Messages
Posting a message is a relatively simple process. The message
posting page has nine fields for you to work with, and while they
are pretty self-explanatory, a brief explanation of each is in
order.
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Edit Message
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This field requires no input: it merely indicates the
message you are responding to. If you are at the top
level of all message threads, the message name should
match the Scratchings forum name. If you are responding
to a message, it should match the title of the message
you are responding to.
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Administrator
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This field requires no input: it should indicate your
name as being the author of the message.
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Title
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The default for this field will be "Re: TITLE", if you are
responding to an existing message, or nothing if you are
creating a new message thread. You can always change the title
to anything you want.
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Message Format
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When choosing a format for your text, you have five different
options:
- Smart Text
- HyperNews will format paragraphs separated by blank lines.
Do not begin paragraphs with empty spaces or with a common
prefix (for instance, " > ") unless you
want the paragraph unformatted, and the right margin set at its
end. URLs and email addresses will be made into links.
- Word Processor
- HyperNews will wrap long lines, break lines at hard Returns,
preserve leading blanks and tabs, and use a fixed-width font.
URLs and email addresses will be made into links.
- Plain Text
- HyperNews will not change your formatting. Be sure to break
up your lines with Returns. URLs and email addresses will be
made into links.
- HTML
- Enter any HyperText that goes between <BODY> and
</BODY> Image tags and other multimedia references will
not work unless they point to a fully qualified http URL
(such as "http://mysite.com/image.jpg").
- URL
- Enter only an http URL that points to an accessible HTML
document. The entire HTML document will be embedded in
the body of the forum. For an example of why this can
get really confusing really fast, see the test post
What does the URL look like?.
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Your Message
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Type your message following the rules for the format you have
chosen. The window will scroll if your message is long.
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Keywords
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If you want to add keywords, feel free to do so.
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Kind of Message
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You can choose to indicate the kind of message you are writing
by checking one of the icons out of the set. The icons are more
for fun than anything else.
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Notification
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If you want notification via e-mail that your message was
posted, check the box. Since the messages are posted
immediately and you can see that your post arrived, this
provides no additional benefits and clutters up your mailbox.
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Submit
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You have two methods of submitting your message. You can post
the message directly to the forum, or you can preview it
first. If you want to see how your message will look before
posting, choose to preview the message first. If you are mad
about something - maybe your ever-lovable Chickscope staff have
offended you in some way - then press preview, get a cup of
coffee, reread your message and make changes.
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Detailed Help
More specific help is available on the following
subjects:
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.
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