WWII Forums User Guide - Version 1.1

[Otto]

This is a general guide to the WWII Forums and how to optimise your visits here. If you have questions on the technical aspects of posting or how to use a specific feature of the message boards, please see the WWII Forums FAQ. Note that this document is a work in progress, so updates and additions will be continually made, please check beck often.

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Table of Contents:
1 - Getting Started (this post)
2 - About this Site
3 - Forums Etiquette
4 - Signature Guidelines
5 - Avatars
6 - Miscellaneous Items
7 - Final Thoughts

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1 - Getting Started

Welcome WWII Historian! Welcome to the WWII Forums. You've made it this far, so you are obviously interested in participating in this community. If you've never been on a message board before or never to this one, I highly recommend you read this document. Once you're done this, you're ready to begin.

[ 22. June 2005, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: Otto ]

[Otto]

2 - About the WWII Forums


What is ww2f.com?


The short answer in that it is a discussion board and research tool dedicated to the Second World War.

The long answer is that it is a project oriented Second World War research and discussion community. It is a convergence of people with a similar interest in military history, many of whom are working toward some goal within the field of World War Two. The members here include authors, researchers, game designers, hobbyists, militaria collectors, living historians, veterans, students, teachers, gamers and many others. There are members from all over the globe, representing each continent and many nations. The site was designed to be a nexus for productive research, and by becoming a member you can help out with some of the work going on, or simply sit back and discuss your preferred topic of iterest, the choice is yours.

In terms of function, the WWII Forums fills two roles.

First, it is the dedicated discussion area for the WWII Network. As such, it provides a place to discuss the activities within the WWII Network and contact point to members who are involved in some form of Second World War related undertaking. The project you are working on might just be as simple as an essay for class, as complex as a study of bomber formations throughout the war, as light as the mp40 Project, or as profound as a search for a missing relative. All projects are taken seriously with the goal of producing significant results.

Second, the WWII Forums is designed to be a stand-alone nexus for communication, a website that is worth visiting on it's own merits. Unlike most websites where the content is supplied by the Webmaster or a limited pool of contributors, all members create the content on the WWII Forums. With this in mind, we will always strive to provide an on-line environment that is civil, reliable and user friendly.

We encourage all members to become involved in some type of endeavor, but this is by no means mandatory. You need not be working on a project to be a member here. Most members join the WWII Forums purely for discussion, and most members are not involved in a project.

Who is behind all this?


Every member of the forums is a major contributor to the environment that we call the WWII Forums, however, Otto is the WWII Forums founder, webmaster and administrator.

[Otto]

3 - Forums Etiquette

We keep things fairly lenient here, but with so many members, there have to be a few general rules and regulations. The basic philosophy's pretty simple: Be Civil! If everyone relaxes and tries not to overreact to things, the forums run a lot more smoothly. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of people who visit here will never come into conflict with the guidelines of this section. There are very few rules, and as you will see, these rules are not very restrictive. The WWII Forums has a long-standing policy of non-intervention and freedom of expression, so if you follow your own sense of courtesy and common sense you will be fine. Unfortunately, these guidelines of courtesy and etiquette must be clearly defined for the few people whose sense of respect may have eluded them. Take a quick look and familiarize yourself with the rules of etiquette here, some rules are more serious than others, and it is good to know exactly what the rules are so that you can help others with them.

As a WWII Forums Member, you are expected to read and be familiar with the Forums "Etiquette" (this document), and FAQ sections. Moderators and Administrators reserve the right to close/delete topics or posts that go against the rules, or ask questions that are clearly answered in the latter two documents.

Posting Guidelines:

Posts may not contain or have links to any one of the following:

-Pornography or sexual material
-Illegal Files / Links (music, warez, CD cracks/codes, etc.)
-Hate speech (racism, sexism, etc.)
-Excessive profanity. No profanity is allowed in subject lines. (see "Use of Profanity" below)
-Spam, scams, or commercial messages. The moderators and administrators reserve the right to decide what qualifies as "spam". You're certainly allowed to link to outside websites, or put them in your signature, but please do not start topics dedicated to promoting them.

General respect for others:

People are going to ask questions that have already been asked, bring up topics that have already been discussed, and so forth. These things happen. If you're not interested in the topic at hand, simply don't post! Flaming and bashing are not necessary under any circumstances. You do not have the right to insult or attack someone for any reason. Abuse of other members will not be tolerated, anyone found to be trolling, and making inflammatory posts will be warned. Any further infractions will result in summary banning of both the user's email address and IP address. Banning is permanent; there is no appeals process or reinstatement of banned users. Save "flamewars" for other message boards.

Respect for Veterans:

This is the most strictly protected rule of this site. Veterans of both sides of the Second World War often visit these forums, when they do, they must be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. Any infraction here will result in a permanent ban without warning.

Use of Profanity:

No profanity is allowed in the subject of a thread, your posting Signiature or your Avatar. However, profanity is not absolutely banned from this site. The subject matter here sometimes does include the use of curse words and "forceful" language. Always be tactful when "being forceful", careful placement of an asterix or two can make the difference between a forceful post or an outright offensive post. Remember, anyone can access the site, regardless of age, so keep this in mind. It is good practice to write as if you knew there were school students present, because they often are.

Multiple Accounts:

Under no circumstances is it acceptable for one user to use multiple usernames and multiple accounts simultaneously. This activity is actually quite easy to detect, and persons doing this will have both accounts banned and their IP blocked. If you are a member who has returned after a long period away, there is no need to start a new account, the Admin team can restore your former account if you are having trouble reactivating it yourself.

Birth Dates:

This discussion board must comply with US federal law that dictates how children (13 or younger) must register for the discussion boards. As such all members must supply their true birth date in their user registration profile. You are free to make your your birth date private (actually I recommend it), but you must supply your true birth date. Failure to do so is a bannable offense.

Thread Hijacking:

This is a simple rule; try to stay on topic. Occasionally members inadvertently post a message that deviates from the already established topic in a thread. This makes searching for information difficult and will impede the flow of a conversation. No one is saying you cannot post your new or different information, simply create a new thread and post it there.

Post Inflation:

The WWII Forums rewards members for their total number of posts. The number of posts you have corresponds to your rank and will earn you medals. Posting purely for increasing your post count will not be tolerated. This practice ads useless clutter to the forums and is frustrating to members who may have to scroll through several pages for nothing. Again, use common sense, post as often as you like, but ensure there is at some relevance in the post. Members who engage in inflation will have their post total reduced.

Spelling & Grammar:

Pointing out spelling and grammar errors isn't necessary. The best way to improve the overall presentation of the forums is not to post in every poorly written thread complaining about it. Instead, practice what you preach: Try to write reasoned, well-thought out, well-written posts.

Soliciting:

There is none allowed. If you join the Forums and begin to immediately post about your fantastic deals on eBay, or your cut-rate battlefield tours, your account will be banned and your posts deleted.

General Thoughts:

Your post count, the length of your forum membership, or any other means of measurement does not absolve you of responsibility for your actions. If anything, we expect long-term members to behave more maturely, and help make these forums a great place for discussion amongst all members.

If you are not a moderator, please don't try to be one, there's no need to post in someone's topic saying "this will be closed soon!" or "why did you write this?" or publicly demanding that the moderators close the topic or ban the member. However, if someone is being exceedingly disruptive, feel free to bring it to a moderator's attention (via private message or the "report post" icon).

The moderators and administrators hope that everyone can adopt these rules as being what they are: straightforward, concise, and damn simple. If anyone has a question concerning these rules, please e-mail or private message your nearest moderator. They will see you are taken care of. Please keep in mind that the moderators are here to only enforce these rules to keep the forums a fun and healthy place to visit. If you have a problem with how a moderator is helping to run the forums, please private message or e-mail them and talk to them privately. Do not start a new topic and turn it into a bashing.

Not happy with the rules? No one's forcing you to post, and you're free to leave at any time. We think though, that you'll find staying within the boundaries of the rules is pretty easy, and that on the whole they will help keep the quality of discussion in these forums high.

[Otto]

4 - Signature Guidelines




Overview:

• Graphics are allowed in signatures.
• Total signature graphics should not exceed 550 wide by 90 pixels high.
• You may have three lines of text with any image, if no image is being used, you can have eight lines of text.
• A one pixel/line violation will result in the removal of the signiature.

The above is our policy in a nutshell. To save space on the forums pages and to give our dial-up members a little break, no signature image can be larger that 90 pixels high by 550 pixels wide, and no larger than 200 Kilobytes (200,000 bytes) in file size. This is quite large, and great sigs can be made with plenty of room to spare. There is of course no need to use the full dimensions for your sig image, the most interesting sigs are often quite diminutive in both dimensions and file size.

Supported Formats
Supported image formats are JPEG, JPG, still and animated GIF's, PNG and BMP. Flash signatures are currently unsupported.

Image Rules
You may use more than one image in your signature but the total dimensions of the images combined must not exceed 550 pixels wide and 90 pixels tall. The total file size of all images in your signiature cannot exceed 200 KB.

Text Rules
If you are using an image in your signature then you can have a maximum of three lines of default size text in your signature, if you are not using an image then you can have up to a maximum of eight lines.

Appropriate Content
Images or text of an explicit sexual nature, that contain expletives, are racially prejudiced/insulting, are hateful or contain inappropriate language or are religiously offensive are not permitted for use here. Any such signiature will be promptly removed.

These rules are effective across all sections of the forum and signatures that do not follow these rules may be removed without notice. If your signature has been removed it will be replaced with the below image and/or text from the staff member who removed it explaining why. If your signature has been removed then please re-read these guidelines and correct the signature. Repeat offenders will be warned and/or banned.

[Otto]

What the heck is an Avatar anyway?

Avatars are those small images of people and things you see directly underneath a members name when they post. Avatars are an eye-catching way to show who or what you are interested in. Sometimes it is just fun to browse the Avatars and see what kind of things are available. There are currently over 500 different Avatars to choose from, with more added all the time! Currently, the overwhelming majority of Avatars are characters, from historical personalities, and film characters to animated figures. Plans are in place to include vehicles, aircraft, weapons and even insignia, but the emphasis will always remain upon characters and personalities.



What do I need to do to have an Avatar?

You must be a registered member and have at least 100 posts to be able to select an Avatar.


How do I select an Avatar?

This is easy, just follow these steps, (You must of course be a registered Forum member with at least 100 post and logged in):


1) Click on the my profile link located near the top of all WW2 Forums web pages.

2) Click on the " View/Update Profile " link located near the upper left of your personal profile page.

3) Scroll down to about the middle of this new web page, you will see a heading that says: "Avatar Image:", to the right of this you will see a link like this Select a different Avatar Image, click it and a new window will pop-up.

4) You will see a page of 30 or so Avatars, if you want to see more options, select the next link at the bottom right of this pop-up window. Once you se an Avatar you like, simply click on it.

5) Click the Select This Avatar button, (the pop-up window will disappear).

6) You will now be back at your View/Update Profile page, scroll to the bottom and click the Update Profile button.

7) Enjoy your new Avatar


You can change your Avatar as often as you like, just follow the above process.


Is there any organizational system with these Avatars?

Yes, for little more details on the Avatars, this is how they are organized:


-Historical Personalities, grouped by nation and then branch of service
-Films, grouped more or less by title, (IE Saving Private Ryan is SPR), in most cases images from the movie poster(s) have been included before the characters of that film
-TV shows, including cartoons
-PC and Console games
-Custom Living History Avatars, grouped by nation, (feel free to submit yours!) It is generally accepted that you do not select from among these custom Avatars unless you are the person depicted in the image.
-Military Insignia


I saw someone on the Forums with a cool Avatar, but I couldn't find it in the Avatar Depot, what's going on?

Forum moderators and administrators can define their own Avatars from off the site. Regular members can select only from the Avatar Depot.


Where do the Avatars come from?

All Avatars were created by the WWII Forums membership.


Can I set my own Avatar path?

No, we don't allow off-site linking to Avatars. We do this to prevent links to Avatars that may be too large, (in both dimensions and file size), or avatars that may contain questionable content.


Can I make an Avatar and send it in, or send in an image to be made into an Avatar?

Sure, we would love to add your images to the Avatar Depot. Just keep a couple things in mind when you do this:


-The image must be in some way related to the Second World War
-Make your Avatars 100 pixels high by 100 pixels wide.
-Avatars must have a 1 pixel wide border
-For classification purposes, we will need to know exactly what the picture is of and where you got the original image. *note: We do not unilaterally accept all Avatar submissions, please don't be offended if we don't use yours
-For the time being, send all avatar related communication to Otto.


What if I don't like your Avatars? What then?

While most people enjoy seeing everyone else's Avatars, there are some who would rather not. Sometimes it is because people have a little bit slower computer, and sometimes it is just because people simply don't like them, in any case users can select whether to see other user avatars or not.


How do I hide other members Avatars from my view?

This is easy, simply go into your profile by selecting the my profile link, then click on " View/Update Profile ". On this page you will see a question: Hide Avatars of Other Users?. The default option for this is no, meaning no Avatars will be hidden, if you select yes, then no Avatars will be shown to you.

[ 11. November 2006, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Otto ]

[Otto]

6 - Miscellaneous Items


What does Otto look like?

He looks like this: , only bigger.

What is the answer to Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?



[ 22. June 2005, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: Otto ]

[Otto]

7 - Final Thoughts

If you have any questions or comments about these rules or any other then please feel free to PM either myself or another moderator.

Thank you, for reading these rules and please ensure that they are followed at all times.

[ 22. June 2005, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: Otto ]

[Otto]

Too much old info that was applicable to the old solfware, so this userguide is getting a revamp. This will happen along with the Forum structure overhaul. Lots to do, lots to do!

[Fred Wilson]

Edit Button: Time Limited.
My wish is for the Time Limited function be eliminated or at least drastically extended.
Other forums where this editing function is allowed keeps threads from years gone by kept current, accurate and therefore consistently useful
- and thus see scads of ancient posts reappearing frequently at the top of the "Latest Post" list as new queries and responses are added. This versus other forums without the edit feature which eventually get bogged down by loads of old posts that are long since out of date / inaccurate / full of broken links and so forth and so on.

I've already noted this creeping in here on this forum, one example only: the 2002 Monte Cassino thread who'se links are 99% dead

Tnx Fred

[Fred Wilson]

Re: Avatars.
Took a peek:
A. Only saw three available as of now. Correct?
B. Seems that inserting your own is now permitted. Correct?

NB. Smilies Available for this post!

PS re Smilies:
A box of smilies apprears to the right of the post (text) box.
- Ok. Figured that one out easily.
A second selection of smilies etc apprears below it, each with a botton beside it allowing you to "Post Icons. You may choose an icon for your message from the following list:"
- This has me a tad puzzled. What are these for? aka Where would they go and why?

Tnx Fred

[Von Poop]

Fred,
I can't help you on the other issues, that's for Otto to deal with but I can at least assist with the smilies:

If you click to reply with this small button on the bottom right of a post:

You get a plain text box with no smilies.

If, however you click on this to reply :

(or click 'go advanced' below the posting box)
You get a few smilies to choose from (click 'more' below the smilies to see the entire huge selection. It opens in a new tab.)

The smilies below the posting box will crop up in the posts header, see lightbulb above.

Also be sure to check your user cp. Go to 'User CP'>'edit options' and set the final box to 'enhanced interface - Full WYSIWYG editing' which gives you the most complete set of tools.

Hope that helps a little.

Cheers,
Adam.

(oh yes, you can indeed choose your own avatar from wherever)

[Fred Wilson]

Adam:
The "post reply" function comes up without the smilies selection box 1/2 the time for me. aka right now, with this new post.

Didn't know that re quick reply.

>PzJgr said:
> Smilies will not automatically appear under edit. You have to select the 'Go Advanced' button and then they will appear.

GREAT stuff for updated user guide info. Tnx PzJgr

[PzJgr]

they will not automatically appear under edit. You have to select the 'Go Advanced' button and then they will appear.

[macrusk]

I would like to start a thread that contains information on Canada's artillery in WWII. My information comes from the history of the Gunners of Canada and the regimental history of the 3LAA.

What are the forum's rules on using information directly from histories re I have no way of getting the author's permission to disseminate the contents here.

Thanks,

[Otto]

An FYI for all you Rogues, this User's Guide is a bit outdated now and will be updated in the coming weeks.