-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
Expand file tree
/
Copy pathadmin.html
More file actions
1058 lines (862 loc) · 42.5 KB
/
admin.html
File metadata and controls
1058 lines (862 loc) · 42.5 KB
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
<html>
<head>
<title>DCForum+ Administration User's guide</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="docs.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>
DCForum+ Administration User's Guide
</h1>
<P>DCForum+ Version 1.27<BR>
© 1997-2005, DCScripts<BR>
Release Date 7-31-2005</P>
<P><BR>DCForum+ offers a set of comprehensive administration tools
to help you effectively manage your discussion forum. This user's guide assumes
that you have already successfully installed DCForum+ on your web site.
If you have not yet installed DCForum, please refer to <A href="../readme.html">readme.html</A>. </P>
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ol>
<li><A href="#1">Getting started...</A>
<li><A href="#2">Post-installation configuration</A>
<li><A href="#3">Setting up forums</A>
<li><A href="#4">Managing user accounts</A>
<li><A href="#5">Managing conferences and forums</A>
<li><A href="#6">Managing private forums</A>
<li><A href="#7">Managing topics and messages</A>
<li><A href="#8">Using special administration feature</A>
<li><A href="#9">Forum Statistics</A>
<li><A href="#10">Using Data Utilities</A></li>
</ol>
<h2>1. <a name="1">Getting started...</a></h2>
<p>
DCForum+ administration utility is purely
browser-based. After you have successfully installed DCForum+ on your
server, you'll need to perform the following tasks to complete your forum setup:
</p>
<OL>
<li>Post-installation configuration
<li>Create forums
<li>Customize interface</li></OL>
<p>
Carefully read and follow
the direction in Section 2 (Post-installation configuration) and Section 3 (Setting up conferences and
forums) to complete your setup. Other sections can be used as a reference.
</p>
<h2>2. <a name="2">Post-installation configuration</a></h2>
<P>After the initial installation, the first thing you'll
want to do is to specify the title, select time/date format, and define other forum
options. These options can be specified using the <STRONG><EM>Forum
Settings Manager</EM></STRONG> which is located in the top right section of the admininistrator interface. It contains the
following sub menus:</P>
<UL>
<li><STRONG> Date, time, and language setting</STRONG>
<li><STRONG>Security Settings </STRONG>
<LI><STRONG>Email and Registration Settings </STRONG>
<LI><STRONG>General Setup Parameters </STRONG>
<LI><STRONG>User Option Settings </STRONG>
<li><STRONG>Forum-level Style Settings </STRONG>
<li><STRONG>Topic-level Style Settings </STRONG>
<li><STRONG>User Input Form Settings </STRONG></li>
<li><STRONG>Modules and add-on Settings </STRONG></li>
</UL>
<P>Each sub menu will allow you to set specific forum options. It is
recommended that you familiarize yourself with each option before going live
with your forum. The options
in each sub menu are listed below:</P>
<h3><U> Forum Date, time, and language Settings</U> </h3>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Time Zone</STRONG> -
Default time zone. If the user doesn't
set their local zone, this is the default used for all date and time.
<BR>
<li><STRONG>Date format</STRONG> - Choose
between US or European format <br>
</li>
<li><strong>Default lanuage</strong> - Choose a default language module for
your users. You may add additional modules by translating files in /lang/english
directory. As additional language modules become available, you will be
able to download them from our site.</li>
</OL>
<P><U><STRONG><FONT color=#990000>Security Settings</FONT> </STRONG> </U></P>
<OL>
<LI><STRONG>Check HTTP_REFERER before allowing certain functions? -
</STRONG>Checking referer URL can enhance forum security.
However, some internet PC software disables referer by default. Therefore, HTTP_REFERER checked if
and only if it is not an empty
string.
<LI><STRONG>Session durationg in minutes</STRONG> - <!--StartFragment --> Session duration while
it is inactive. If the session is inactive for a longer period of time,
then the user is forced to login again. However, if the user has set
"Remain Logged in" option, then this session is not affected.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Extended login session option</STRONG> - If you want to allow
users to use "Remain logged on..." option in their user menu, then set this
option to "yes". In this case, the user remains logged logged regardless
of whether this user is active or not.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow Users to Modify Their Account Information</STRONG> -
If this option is 'yes', users will be able to change their
account information. Usually, these will include name and email. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow Users to Change Their Password</STRONG> - Set this option to "yes" if you want to allow
your registered users to change their password. If you are using the
email registration (wherein the password is generated by the program), you may
want to allow users to change their passwords to something easier to
remember.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow users to retrieve new
password</STRONG>
- If you set this option to "yes", users will be able
to generate a new password if they can't remember the old password.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Enable alert function?</STRONG>
- If yes, users will be able to
send you alerts<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Hide restricted/private forums from users who do not have
access?</STRONG> - The restricted and private forums are not accessible by
everyone. Set this option to 'yes' if you do not want them listed in the
lobby to unauthorized users. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Bad Word List</STRONG> -
List of words you want to censor from your forum. The words in this list are
replaced with ###### in the body of the message. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow users to view IP address of other users?</STRONG> - If you want to let your
users view other posters' ip addresses, then select 'on'. Otherwise,
select 'off'. It is recommended that this option be set to 'off' for privacy
reasons.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Turn on IP blocking?</STRONG> - If you set this option 'on',
all the postings from ip addresses listed in your bad_ip.txt will be disallowed.
The administrator can add selected addresses to this list from
the IP lookup link in each message.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>IP Blocking Pattern</STRONG> - Select at which level you wish to block bad IP addresses.
Keep in mind that selecting any pattern other than the "exact match" will
result in the indiscriminate banning of multiple ip addresses from the same
provider<BR></LI></OL>
<H3><U>Email and Registration Settings</U> </H3>
<P>Use this menu to configure your email service, set email
options, and customize user registration service.</P>
<OL>
<LI><STRONG>Administrator's Email Address</STRONG> - This is your email address.
This email address should be a valid email account with the domain on which
the forum is installed. This email address will be the "from address" on all
outgoing messages generated by the forum. Most servers will refuse to relay email
unless the "from address" is a valid account with that domain.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Administrator's signature </STRONG>- Signature that is added
for various email notification messages<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Maximum username length allowed</STRONG> - You can
limit the length of usernames when users register.
Unusually lengthy usernames will cause the tables to exceed 100% in width,
forcing users to scroll sideways.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow users to register</STRONG> - Set this option to 'yes' if you want to allow users to
register to use your forum. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Enable email registration?</STRONG> - If this option is 'yes', a randomly generated password will
be emailed to the user requesting registration. This option forces users
to submit valid email addresses during registration. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Default user group</STRONG> -
Default group assigned to user upon registration. "Normal" is the recommended default user group.
Please be reminded that restricted and private forums require that the user belong to at least the "member" group to
be eligible for access. If you want all those who sign up to be eligible by
default, assign the default user group to "member".<BR>
<LI><STRONG>List of banned email domains</STRONG>
- List of email addresses or domains you want to block from the registration
service. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Activate user account upon
registration?</STRONG> - If this option is 'on', the user account will be
active on registration and the user will be allow to login and use the forum
service immediately. If set to 'off', the user account is set to inactive, in which case
the administrator must activate the account using the user manager before the newly
registered user can use the forum. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Notify administrator when a new user
registers</STRONG> - If this option is 'on',
the administrator will receive an email notification when new users register. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Notify user when their account in
activated?</STRONG> - If this option is 'on', users will receive an
email notifications in the event that you change their account status. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Notify
administrator if
a new message is
posted?</STRONG> - Select 'on' if you wish
to receive email notifications when a new message is posted your discussion forum. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Notify forum moderators if a new message is
posted?</STRONG> - Select 'on' if you want the forum moderators to receive
an email notification when a new message is posted in their forums.</LI></OL>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#990000>General Setup Settings</FONT>
</U> </STRONG> </P>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Forum log file limit (in days)</STRONG>
-
To automatically remove old forum log entries, enter the number of days of
log entries you want to save. This function is automatically executed whenever a user
logs in. <BR>
<li><STRONG>IP log file limit (in days)</STRONG>
- To automatically remove old IP log entries, enter the number
of days you want to save. This function is executed whenever a user logs in. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Table width (if in percent, include
%)</STRONG> Defines the table width for the lobby and the message body, among
many others.<BR>
<li><STRONG> Views
option </STRONG>- This option will keep track of the
number times a topic has been read. The actual number of times read is
not updated instantly, however. The number of views is updated when a
new message is posted in that topic.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Announcement display mode</STRONG> -
Select "full' if you want to display the announcements in the main forum
page. Otherwise, it will only display the subject of the
announcement<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display "Welcome to our newest member..."
link?</STRONG> - If "yes", this link will appear in the main forum page<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display the number of registered users in the
forum listing page?</STRONG> - If "yes", the total number of registered users
will appear in the main forum page<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display "who's online?"</STRONG> link in the forum listing page? - If
"yes", users will be able to check who's online<BR>
<li><STRONG>Icon for team users </STRONG>- Icon to
denote users in 'team' user group.<BR>
<li><STRONG> Icon for moderators </STRONG>- Icon to
denote users in 'moderator' user group<BR>
<li><STRONG>Icon
for administrator</STRONG> - Icon to denote users in 'admin' user group<BR>
<li><STRONG>Label for users who are no longer in user
database</STRONG> - This is to indicate inactive or missing users<BR>
<li><STRONG>Icon for users who are no longer in user
database</STRONG>
<BR>
<li><STRONG> Lable for unregistered
users</STRONG> - This title will appear in the messages
posted by unregistered users. It is intended to distinguish unregistered users
from registered users.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Icon for unregistered
users</STRONG> - This icon will appear next to the usernames in
the topic listing.</li></OL>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#990000>User Option Settings</FONT>
</U> </STRONG> </P>
<ol>
<li><STRONG> Enable file attachments?</STRONG> - This feature allows users to
upload files to your server. Keep this feature 'off' unless you really need it.
Allowing file upload is a security risk.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Upload file size limit in KBytes?</STRONG> - If you do allow users to
upload files to your server, then specify the maximum file size that your users can
upload.
<STRONG>NOTE</STRONG>: For security reasons, there is a
hard-coded value set by PhP in its configuration files.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Maximum number of attachments per
post -</STRONG> Specify the maximum number of attachments per post
allowed.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to edit their message?</STRONG> - If 'yes', users can edit
their own messages within the time limit specified in the next option.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Edit time limit in minutes</STRONG> - Specify the time limit for message editing. Enter '0' if
you want to allow users to edit their message at anytime. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow the use of HTML tags in the
messages?</STRONG> - In general, allowing HTML tags is a
bad idea as broken or maliciious html tags can be used to deface the layout of
the board. Unless you really need it, keep this option 'off'. Even if this
option is enabled, certain HTML tags are removed for security
reasons. These include: FORM, SCRIPT, OBJECT, EMBED, APPLET, and INPUT tags. <BR>
<li><STRONG> Enable forum subscription?</STRONG> - If 'on', users will be able
to subscribe to a forum to receive an email digest of all new messages posted to that
forum. <BR>
<li><STRONG> When to send subscription</STRONG>
- Specify when you wish to send subscription. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Enable subscription to topics?</STRONG> - If 'on', registered users will
be able to subscribe to a topic to receive an email notification when a new message
is posted in that topic.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to use 'Email topic to a friend'
feature?</STRONG> - If 'on', users can email topics to any email address. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow user to disable profile? </STRONG>- A registered user can elect
to hide his/her profile by setting one of the options in the user preference.
If you would like to allow this option, then select
'on'. If 'off', this setting overrides the user's preference.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow user to disable inbox? </STRONG>- A registered user can disable
the board's private messaging system to his/her inbox by setting one of the options
in the user preference. If you wish to allow this option, then select 'on'.
If 'off', this setting overrides the user's preference. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow user to disable email? </STRONG>- A registered user can prevent
other users from sending him/her email by setting one of the options in the user
preference. If you want to allow this option, then select 'on'.
If 'off', this setting overrides the user's preference. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Enable user rating/feedback system?</STRONG> - The user rating
system allows registered users to rate other registered users. Select "on" to
enable this feature. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow user to disable user rating/feedback
system? </STRONG>- A registered user can elect not to
participate in user feedback system. If you want to allow this option,
then select 'on'. If 'off', this setting overrides the user's
preference. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Allow users to rate topics?</STRONG> - The topic rating system
allows users to rate certain topics. Higher ratings usually generate added
interest and activity in that topic. Select 'on' to enable this feature.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Minimum number of votes before topic rating is displayed</STRONG> -
The rating for a topic is not displayed unless the number of votes
is greater than or equal to this specified number. Lower threshold
will result in inaccurate or misleading ratings earlier in the process.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to use Avatars in their messages?
</STRONG>- An avatar is a small image file to
denote a user in each message. If bandwidth usage is a concern, you may
want to disallow avatars in messages. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to use images on external servers as avatars?</STRONG> -
If 'on', users will be able to use images on remote servers as their avatars.
While this option will save you server bandwidth, you have no control over which
images users will use for their avatar. This option is not applicable if you do not
allow users to use avatars in their posts.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to start polls?</STRONG> - If 'on', users will be able to start
polls. If 'off', only administrators and moderators will be able to start polls. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Only allow registered users to start
polls?</STRONG> - If 'on', only registered users will be allowed to start polls.</li>
</ol>
<P><U><FONT color=#990000><STRONG>Forum-level Style Settings</STRONG> </FONT> </U> </P>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Expand conference in the main listing?</STRONG>
- If 'yes', all conferences in the top level will be expanded to show the
forums in those conferences.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Use fully threaded listing as the
default?</STRONG> - If 'yes', the default topic listing will be a fully
threaded listing(expanded mode in the past). Each topic in the topic listing page
will show all replies in relation to the original message. Otherwise, only the
original messages are listed with some pertinent information about the topic such
as number of replies, etc. Please be reminded that the fully-threaded listing
increases the server load.
<BR>
<li><STRONG>Linear-style messages per page </STRONG>-
The number of messages per page. This option is not applicable if the discussion
style is Threaded. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Use icons in menus? </STRONG>- Select 'on' if
you want to use image icons in the menu links<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display text link in the menu?</STRONG> - Select 'on' if you want to display text links with the menu
icons (recommended)<BR><BR>NOTE -
Option 7 and 8 cannot both be turned 'off'. At least one of them must be
turned 'on'. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Default number of days for topic
listing</STRONG> - When querying the message table, the program will
only search for topics who's last modified date is
within this limit. Limiting this value will improve query performance. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Number of topics to display per page in the
topic listing<BR></STRONG>- This
setting specifies the number of topics to list per page. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Multi-page threaded mode starts at how many
replies</STRONG> - When the number of replies exceed this number, the topic
is displayed one message at a time in the fully threaded mode. This option
is not applicable if you are using the linear discussion style.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Maximum subject length allowed</STRONG>- Specifies the maximum subject
length. Unusually long subjects will cause the width of the page to exceed 100%,
forcing users to scroll sideways.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display caption below subjects? </STRONG>- If
'yes', a caption will be displayed below the subjects in the topic listing.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Caption length in characters</STRONG> - Specifies the caption length
below the subject in topic listings page.<br>
<li><STRONG>How many replies are needed to use flaming images?</STRONG> -
When the number of replies is greater than or equal to this number, a flaming icon
will replace the default icon to indicate heavy activity. <BR></li></OL>
<p><STRONG><U><FONT color=#990000>Topic-level Style
Settings</FONT> </U></STRONG></p>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Number of message levels</STRONG> - For fully threaded discussion only.
This number controls how many levels of replies to indent in the table of contents.
Indentation will only occur to the level specified in this setting.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Indent threaded message?</STRONG> - For fully
threaded discussion only. If 'on', the messages will be indented from the
left-hand side to denote the level of the message in question.<BR>
<LI><STRONG>Table of contents threshold</STRONG> - The minimum number of
messages in a topic before the table of contents is displayed in the topic
page or the full view mode. <BR>
<LI><STRONG>Message Layout Style</STRONG> - Choose one of three message styles: dcf, ubb, or
classic. This is the default for first time user as they can
choose their own style<BR>
<li><STRONG>Quoted text style</STRONG> - Choose one of two quote styles. DCF uses
> to denote each line of quote. UBB uses horizontal rules and indentation.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Automatic URL linking?</STRONG> - If 'yes', URLs in messages are automatically hyperlinked
for DCF text style. If the user choose "plaintext" for the message format, no URL linking
is done.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Show user post counts in the messages</STRONG> - Turn this option 'yes'
if you want to show the user's post counts in the messages </li></OL>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#990000>User Input Form Settings</FONT>
</U> </STRONG> </P>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Show original message in the post form?
</STRONG> - Shows the original message above the post form. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Number of rows for text edit boxes </STRONG> - Defines the dimensions
of the message body text box on the post form. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Number of columns for text edit boxes</STRONG> - Defines the dimensions
of the message body text box on the post form. <BR>
<li><STRONG>Number of columns to wrap quoted text at (should be less than
the setting immediately above)</STRONG> - Controls the wrapping for the quoted text
within the text edit box.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Allow users to embed smilies?</STRONG> -
If 'yes', clickable emoticons will be displayed to the side of the text edit
box.<BR>
<li><STRONG>Display smilies table in the post
form?</STRONG>
- If </li></OL>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT color=#990000>Modules and add-on settings</FONT>
</U> </STRONG> </P>
<OL>
<li><STRONG>Enable events caledar?
</STRONG> - If you want to use events calendar, set this option to 'yes'
<li><STRONG>Calendar option: Allow anyone to post events? </STRONG>
If this option is set to "yes", anyone can post events to the events calendar.
If this option is set to "no", then only registered users will be able to add to the events calendar.
</OL>
<h2><a name="3"> 3. Setting up forums</a></h2>
<p>
Once the forum options are set, the next step is to
create forums. There are couple of things that you should
think about before you begin.
</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Should you setup multiple conferences?</b> A conference is a group of forums belonging to a similar
theme. While, in the strict sense, a conference is a
forum type, it can only contain children forums and cannot contain
topics. Whether you need multiple conferences or not will depend on how
many forums you will be setting up. If you are going to
set up over 10 forums, then it is a good idea to group those
forums into two or more conferences. On the other hand,
if you are only going to set up 5 or 6 forums then you would only
need to create a single conference. In this case, you can create a
conference named 'Main' and assign all your forums to this
conference.
<li><b>What type of forums will you need?</b> DCForum+ supports four types of forums:
Public, Protected, Restricted and Private. If you want to allow everyone to
participate without requiring registration, then choose Public forums.
If you want to allow everyone to read but require
registration to post messages, then choose Protected.
If you only want users in 'member' user group to have access
to your forums for both read and
write, then choose restricted forums.
Lastly, private forums are highly exclusive in that,
the users must be elevated to
'member' user group in order to qualify to use them.
Additionally, the moderator of that forum must grant access to his/her private
forums. Also keep in mind that threads in private and restricted forums are
dynamically generated each time it is viewed. They are not saved as static html
pages. They are not suitable for heavy traffic forums due to server load.
<li><b>Will you need moderated forums?</b> Moderated forums allow you to preview
the messages before they are posted in the forums. It works with all four forum
types. Whether you need this level of security will depend on your needs.
Moderation creates considerable amount of additional labor for administrators and
moderators.</li>
</ul>
<h3><U>Creating A Forum</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> From Forum Manager menu, choose "Create New Forum".
<li> Select a forum type - choose from public, protected, restricted, private, or conference.
<li>
Select parent forum.
<li> Enter forum name.
<li> Enter forum description.
<li> Select forum moderator(s). NOTE - all users with
admin or moderator group are listed.
<li> Select forum mode - if you select 'yes' to Moderated
forum option, this forum will be a moderated forum
<li> Select forum status. If 'not active', this forum will
not be displayed.
<li> Select top template file name
<li> Select
bottom template file name
<li> Click on 'Submit' button.</li>
</ol>
<p>
Congratulations! You have now setup DCForum+ for your
web site. Now, let's customize your forum layout.
</p>
<h3><a name="custom"><U>Customizing Forum
Layout</U> </a></h3>
<p>
DCForum+ program uses CSS
(dc.css) and two template files to generate all its output. </p>
<p>
1. CSS tags - Modify the colors and
font attributes in dc.css
to get the look you want for the forum:</p>
<ul>
<li>
body - Default style
<li>
.dcmessage - Message text
<li>
a: - Hyperlink styles
<li>
.dctitle - Title
<li>
.dcmenu - Button menu
<li>
.dcnavmenu - Navigation menu
<li>
.dcoptionmenu - Option menu
<li>
.dcheading - Table heading row
<li>
.dclite/.dcdark - Alternating table row styles
<li>
.dcfooter - Footer style
<li>
.dclink - Link style for Forum name and Subjects
<li>
.dccaption - Style for caption below the subject
<li>
.dcinfo - Information text
<li>
.dcdate - Date style
<li>
.dcmisc - Misc style
<li>
.dcerrortitle - Error page title
<li>
.dcerrorsubject - Error page subject
<li>
.dcinstsubject - Instruction subject
<li>
.dcnormal - Normal text
<li>
.dcbigger/.dcsmall - Big and small text
<li>
.dcsmallemp/.dcemp - emphasis text - alert, special
<li>
.dcnote - Note text
<li>
.dcerror - General error text
<li>
.dcsubtitle - subtitle
<li>
.dcplain - Plain text
<li>
.dcborder - Table border color
<li>
.dcstrong - Bold
<li>
.dccenter - Centering
<li>
.dctoc - Table of content text
<li>
.dctocsubject
<li>
.dcauthorlink - Author text</li>
</ul>
<p>
2. In addtion to the CSS file, DCForum+ uses two
templates to complete its output: top.html and bottom.html. These template
files can be found in the templates directory. Modify these
to get the layout that you want for your forum. Please note that top.html
does not include <html><head></head> section as these are
generated by DCForum+.</p>
<P></P>
<h2>4. <a name="4">Managing user accounts</a></h2>
<P>DCForum+ administration utility features a comprehensive user account
management system. Following functions are available:</P>
<ul>
<li>Create A New Account
<li>Modify User Account
<li>Remove User Accounts
<li>Activate User Accounts
<li>Deactivate User Accounts
<li>Remove Inactive Users</li>
</ul>
<h3><U>Creating A New Account</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> From the User Manager menu, choose 'Create New Account'.
<li> Enter username.
<li> Enter password twice.
<li> Select user group.
<li> Enter all other additional fields.
<li> Select user account status.
<li>Click on 'Submit' button.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Modify User Account</U> </h3>
<OL>
<li> From User Manager menu, choose 'Modify User Account'.
<li> Select the field you wish to search.
<li> Enter desired search string and then submit the form.
<li> From the list of user accounts matching your search condition,
select the account you wish to modify and then submit the form.
<li> Edit and change account information.
<li>Click on 'Submit' button.</li></OL>
<h3><U>Remove User Accounts</U> </h3>
<ol>
<LI>From the User Manager menu, choose 'Remove User Accounts'.
<LI>Select the field you wish to search.
<LI>Enter desired search string and then submit the form.
<LI>From the list of user accounts, select the accounts you wish to remove.
<li>Click on 'Submit' button to remove selected user accounts.</li>
</ol>
<H3><U>Activate User Accounts</U> </H3>
<OL>
<LI>From the User Manager menu, choose 'Activate User Accounts'.
<LI>Select the field you wish to search.
<LI>Enter search string and then submit the form.
<LI>From the list of user accounts, select the accounts you wish to activate.
<LI>Click on 'Submit' button to activate selected user accounts.</LI></OL>
<H3><U>Deactivate User Accounts</U> </H3>
<OL>
<LI>From the User Manager menu, choose 'Deactivate User Accounts'.
<LI>Select the field you wish to search.
<LI>Enter search string and then submit the form.
<LI>From the list of user accounts, select the accounts you wish to deactivate.
<LI>Click on 'Submit' button to deactivate selected user accounts.</LI></OL>
<p><U><b><FONT
color=#990000>Remove Inactive user accounts</FONT> </b> </U>
</p>
<ol>
<li> From the User Manager menu, choose 'Remove Inactive Users'.
<li> Select month, day, and year. All user accounts
inactive since this date will be removed.
<li> Click on 'Submit' button.</li>
</ol>
<UL></UL>
<h2>5. <a name="5">Managing conferences and forums</a></h2>
<p>
Even after your discussion forum is up and running,
you may still need to manage existing conferences and forums.
You use the conference and forum manager to facilitate this task.</p>
<h3><U>Modify A Forum</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> From the Forum Manager menu, choose 'Modify Forum'
and click on the 'Submit'.
<li> From the dialogue menu, select the forum that
you want to modify and then click on 'Submit'.
<li> Edit the forum information you want to modify.
<li> Click on Submit button.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Reorder Forums</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> From the Forum Manager menu, choose 'Reorder Forums'
and click on 'Submit'.
<li> In the forum listing, number the forums in the order
in which to display. Note that the higher level forums
always override the lower level forums.
<li>Click on Submit button</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Remove A Forum</U> </h3>
<p>
<b>NOTE: Removing a forum deletes all the messages and topics
posted in that forum. This is not a reversible process.</b>
</p>
<ol>
<li> From the Forum Manager menu, choose 'Remove Forum'
and click on 'Submit'.
<li> From the dialogue menu, select the forum that
you want to remove.
<li> If you wish to remove all children forums, then
click on the checkbox
<li>Submit the form. DCForum+ will ask you once
again if you really want to remove the forum. If so, click on
"Yes". Otherwise, click on "No, cancel this action".</li>
</ol>
<h2>6. <a name="6">Managing Private Forums</a></h2>
<p>
Private forums are exclusive in that the administrator or
the moderator of each forum must grant access to the user. The user access
is managed using the Private Forum Manager. In order for a user to have access
to a private forum: </p>
<OL>
<li> The user must be of at least the 'member' user group - if the user
belongs to the 'normal' user group, then you must
promote this user to the 'member' user group using
the User Manager. See 'Managing user accounts' on
how to accomplish this task.
<li>The administrator or the moderator must use the private
forum user manager to grant access.</li></OL>
<P>There are following available functions to help you manage your private forum
users:</P>
<ul>
<LI>Add users to a private forum access list
<LI>Remove users from a private forum access list
<LI>View a private forum access list</LI></ul>
<H3><U>Adding users to a private forum access list</U> </H3>
<OL>
<li> From the Private Forum Manager menu, click on 'Add Users to a Private forum access
list'.
<li> Select a forum.
<li> Select the users you want to grant access rights by using the checkboxes.
<LI>Click on the 'Update User List' button to complete. </LI></OL>
<H3><U>Removing users from a private forum access
list</U> </H3>
<OL>
<LI>From the Private Forum Manager menu, click on 'Remove Users from a
Private forum access list'.
<LI>Select a forum.
<LI>Select the users whose access rightsyou want to revoke by using the checkboxes.
<LI>Click on the 'Update User List' button to complete. </LI></OL>
<H3><U>View a private forum access list</U> </H3>
<OL>
<LI>From the Private Forum Manager menu, click on 'View private forum access
list' to bring up the user/forum access table.
<LI> The member users are listed in rows while the forums are listed in
columns. The cell that is intersected by the user row and forum column
displays an icon, either green or red. If this icon is green, then this
user has access to the forum.
<LI>To change the access status, just click on the icon. Red will change to green
and vice versa.</LI></OL>
<h2>7. <a name="7">Managing topics and messages</a></h2>
<p>
The Topic manager is used to manage topics and messages.
The available functions are:</p>
<UL>
<li> Unqueue messages - preview and unqueue messages
to moderated forums.
<li> Lock threads - Make topics read-only.
<li> Unlock threads - Undo locking threads
<li> Move threads - Move current threads from one forum to another
<li> Delete topics
<li>Delete messages - Remove messages from a topic
<LI>Prune message table - Delete old archives</LI></UL>
<P>Additionally, you will be able to manage topics and messages directly from
forum listings as well. You must be logged on as admin or moderator in
order for this feature to appear.</P>
<h3><U>Unqueue messages</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Unqueue Messages' from the Topic Manager.
<li> Select a forum from the list of moderated forums.
If 'In Queue' field displays '0', then there are no messages in queue.
<li> Click on 'Submit' to bring up all messages in
queue.
<li> Preview each message and select 'unqueue' if you want to post
the message. Select 'delete' if you want to
remove the message. Not selecting either option will
leave the message in the queue.
<li> Click on 'Submit' to unqueue and delete
messages.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Lock threads</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Lock Threads' from the Topic manager.
<li> Select a forum from the list.
<li>Click on 'Submit' to retrieve the current topics page of the selected forum.
<li> Select the topics you wish to make read-only.
<li> Click on 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Unlock threads</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Unlock Threads' from the Topic manager.
<li> Select a forum from the list.
<li>Click on 'Submit' to retrieve the locked topics page of the selected forum.
<li> Select the topics you wish to unlock.
<li> Click on 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Move threads</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Move Threads' from the Topic manager.
<li> Select a forum. The threads you select from this forum will be moved
to another forum that you select later.
<li>Click on 'Submit' to retrieve the topics page of the selected forum..
<li>From the 'Move to Which Forum?' dropdown menu, select
the destination forum.
<li> Select the topics you wish to move.
<li>Click on 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Remove threads</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Remove Threads' from the board manager.
<li> Select a forum.
<LI>Click on 'Submit' to list the topics.
<li> Select the topics you wish to remove.
<li> Click on 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Remove messages</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select 'Remove Messages' from the Topic manager.
<li> Select a forum from the list.
<li> Click on 'Submit' to list the topics.
<li> Select the topic that contains the messages you
wish to remove.
<LI>Click on 'Submit' button to list the messages in the selected topic.
Please note that the original message cannot be removed.
<LI>Preview each message and click on the 'Select to remove the following message'
checkboxes to select the mesages to remove.
<li> Click on 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3><U>Delete archives</U> </h3>
<ol>
<li> Select "Delete archives" from the Topic manager.
<li> Select month, date, and year - all archived topics
inactive since this date will be deleted.
<li> Click on 'Delete all
archives'.</li>
</ol>
<H2><A name=8>8. Using special administration
feature</A></H2>
<OL></OL>
<p>
DCForum+ includes the following special administration features:</p>
<ul>
<li>Announcement Manager
<li> Message Manager
<li>Sending Email to Forum Users
<li>Subscription Manager</li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement Manager</h3>
<p>
Announcement is a read-only message only the administrator can post.
An 'announcement' link will appear in the lobby to alert all users visiting the lobby.
It is useful in reaching all of the users without the use of unwanted bulk email.</p>
<h3> Message Manager</h3>
<p>The message manager can be used to customize forum
messages such as the email registration text or the acceptable usage policy.
Use this manager to customize the following messages:</p>
<ul>
<li>Email registration message
<li>Account status change email message
<li> Topic subscription email message
<li>Forum subscription email message
<li>Lost password email message
<li>Private message email notification message
<li>Acceptable usage policy </li>
</ul>
<h3>Sending Email to Forum Users</h3>
<p>
This feature allows you to send bulk mail to all or selected user group.</p>
<ol>
<li>Choose email recipients by selecting a user group.
<li>
Fill in the subject and message fields.
<li>Click 'Submit'.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Subscription Manager</h3>
<p>Use this function to manage your subscription (digest)
list. Following functions are available:</p>
<ul>
<li>Send subscription - Click on this option
to manually send subscriptions. Note that you can customize
the '<STRONG>subscription queue limit (in days)'.
</STRONG>option<STRONG> </STRONG>in the Forum Setting manager => User
option menu to automatically send subscriptions. This option is initiated
when the administrator logs on to the forum.
<li>Unsubscribe users from a forum
<li>Remove forums from a user's subscription
<li>View entire subscription list
<li>Cleanup Subscription List </li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="9"> 9. Forum</a>
Statistics</h2>