Edward
May 8th, 2006, 03:12 PM
Forum User Manual
- Registration
In order to fully utilize this forum, you need to register (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/register.php) as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:
Post new threads
Reply to other peoples' threads
Avoid image-verification feature when searching the forum
Receive email notification of replies to posts and threads you specify
Send private messages to other members
To start registration, click on the "Register" button in the upper left corner, or proceed to registration page at http://wirednewyork.com/forum/register.php. To register, you will need to specify a username and password, and a valid email address. Entering your email address will not leave you open to spam.
To complete registration, you must reply to activation email sent to your email address, so ensure that the email address you provide is valid and working. Sometimes activation email ends up in your spam folder, so make sure you check it if you do not receive activation email.
Forum Rules related to Registration
Only one username per person (IP address) is allowed.
Username may not contain special characters or non-English characters, only letters and numbers.
Certain words or combination of letters (anything offensive or related to pharmaceuticals and spam, etc) are not allowed in the username. The determination of appropriateness will be done by forum management. Usernames not complying with this policy will be deleted without notification.
During registration process, a valid email address must be supplied. To complete registration, the user has to reply to an activation email. Please note that sometimes the activation email may end up in the spam folder. That mostly affects users with emails on aol.com, yahoo.com, or hotmail.com domains.
Because of the spam issue, email addresses from certain domains (such as mail.ru, web.de, cashette.com and some others) cannot be used to register.
Exploiting the forum for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes is not allowed.
- General
Some questions are answered at wirednewyork.com/forum/faq.php (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/faq.php)
- Forum Community
Forum Leaders
View Forum Leaders (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showgroups.php) page
Administrator
Edward (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2663)
Moderators
BrooklynRider (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2473)
infoshare (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=5190)
Kris (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2593)
NYatKNIGHT (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2643)
stache (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=3201)
Stern (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2634)
ZippyTheChimp (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2463)
Membership categories
When you first join the forum you receive a title of a Junior Member. After you make 10 posts, you become a Member. After 100 posts (and minimum 90 days as a member) you become a Senior Member. Over 1,000 posts (and minimum of 270 days as a member) makes you Forum Veteran. The list of forum Administrators, Moderators and Forum Veterans can be found on View Forum Leaders (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showgroups.php?) page.
Member List
The member list (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/memberlist.php?) contains a list of registered members of this forum (with the exception of Junior Members). Using the search function (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/memberlist.php?do=search), you can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the forum, or by the number of posts the members have made. You can also locate members by username, number of posts, join date, or post date.
Membership stats
1/1/2008 - 12300 members
1/1/2007 - 7400 members
1/1/2006 - 3700 members
1/1/2005 - 1780 members
1/1/2004 - 980 members
1/1/2003 - 215 members
1/1/2002 - 15 members
10/22/2001 - 0 members
Active Members (registered members that logged in the past 30 days) - 1025 (as of Jan 2008)
Current growth rate - 550 new members per month, membership doubling time - about a year.
Forum User Names
Forum User Names (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7305) thread
How do I contact other forum members?
Registered members may send each other private messages using Private Messaging (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/private.php?) system. Private messages work similar to email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/private.php?do=newpm)' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/images/buttons/sendpm.gif button in member's posts.
- Rules of Conduct
Forum Rules of Conduct (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3711) thread
- Reading and Posting Messages
Posting Images
Images can be either inserted inside a post (see procedure below) or attached to a post (see next section).
1. If the image you want to post is already on-line, you have to know its URL. If the image you want to post is on your computer, you have to transfer it to some server on the web. Wired New York Forum does not store your images (except see attachments section below), it just displays the images in the forum post, while the images are located on some other web-server. There are web sites that allow to store your images for free, for example Flickr; however, some sites do not allow to view the images from another server (so called "hot linking" ).
2. Once the image is on-line and you know its URL (if you enter the URL into your browser, you would see the image), you can make the actual post. Position your cursor at the place in your post where you want the image, then click on the following icon http://wirednewyork.com/forum/images/editor/insertimage.gif (above the post space) and paste the URL.
The images wider than 800 pixels do not display well on a forum page, so large images should be rescaled using any image editor, or posted as a link.
Also see Posting Images (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3709) thread
Posting Attachments
Posting Attachments (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5708) thread
You can use the attachment feature of this forum, which gives you the ability to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. Only certain types of files may be attached: these are the valid file extensions for files to be attached to this forum: bmp gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png txt zip.
To attach a file to a new post, simply click the button at the bottom of the post composition page, and locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive. There is a limit of 10 files per post. After posting, the attachment will show up in the body of your message. To view the contents of the attachment (if it is not already displayed) simply click the filename link that appears next to the attachment icon.
There is a limit of 150 Kbytes file size limit for pictures and the largest picture dimension cannot exceed 800 pixels. If a picture your are trying to attach is too big, forum software will attempt to resize the picture. Picture thumbnails are automatically created for *.jpeg image files (but not for *.bmp image files).
There is also a limit for a total size of all attachments for each user - 10 Mb for Members and Junior Members, 50 Mb for Senior Members and 100 Mb for Forum Veterans. If you are close to your limit, in User Control Panel under Miscellaneous/Attachments you can select attachments that you wish to delete.
[B]Posting Guidlines
Using quotes (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6707) thread
Reporting Problematic Posts
Please report all spam, advertising messages, and problematic (uncivil, disrespectful, harassing, violating Forum Rules of Conduct (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3711)) posts by clicking on this image http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/images/buttons/report.gif in the upper right corner of each post.
Quoting
When citing a passage from an article that someone else posted, do not use the QUOTE button from the post. The result will attribute the quote to the poster, not the article, causing confusion. Copy and paste the passage, enclosed in the quote tags on the reply screen.
How do I find new posts?
Registered users can see new posts since the last visit by going to New Posts on the top navigation bar. To see all posts made today, click on Quick Links, then Today's Posts on the top navigation bar.
- Searching the Forum
Using Google
You can search using Google by adding site:wirednewyork.com to the query string. That will return pages both from the website and forum. For example, you can use the following string - empire state building site:wirednewyork.com (http://www.google.com/search?q=empire+state+building+site%3Awirednewyork %2Ecom) - to search for Empire State Building pages.
Using Forum Search
There are two different search options, both accessible from the top navigation menu. The default one is very easy on the server, but is less accurate. It will return threads with any word in the search string, i.e. if you are searching for Empire State Building, it will include threads that have only word Empire, only State, only Building, and also these words together - a lot of threads, many not relevant.
The other option is more accurate (and server-intensive). If you look at the Search (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/search.php) page, on the bottom left there is a box called Search Type. The default selection is Natural Language, and this is the less-accurate, faster version that I described above. The more accurate type is called Boolean. Select this option for the more accurate search.
You can use the wild-card character * in the search string with the boolean option. For example, searching for emp* will return posts not only with the word empire, but also employee and empty. You can use boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT with this option. For example, searching for the following string - empire and state and building - will return threads where all three words are present. You can search for phrases with the use of quotes. For example, searching for "empire state building" will return only threads with this exact phrase.
On the Search page there are several options that can help you with searching. Right below the box where you type your keywords there is a box that allows you to select the option of searching only in the thread titles or all the posts. To make the search in thread titles more accurate, the thread title must be well designed; for example, I tried to have threads about condominium developments in the real estate section to have the word Condo in the thread title.
You can also narrow down your search to particular forums - only in Skyscrapers and Architecture for example, or only in New York Skyscrapers and Architecture. Using Ctrl+click you can select any combination of forums.
- User Maintenance
I lost my password, what can I do?
If you forget your password, you can click on the 'Forgotten Your Password' link on any page that requires you to fill in your password. This will bring up a page where you should enter your registered email address, and an email will be sent to that address instantly, with instructions for resetting your password.
How do I get a picture under my username?
These small images are called Avatars. They are displayed below your username on all posts that you make. Members and Junior Members can use only avatars provided by the administrator in the Avatar Gallery (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/misc.php?do=showavatars). Senior Members and Forum Veterans can also use custom avatars. Custom avatars have to be 70x90 pixel and under 10Kb.
How can I change the information in my profile?
It is your responsibility to keep the information in your profile up-to-date. You should especially ensure that your email address is kept current. You can alter any of the fields in your profile, except your username. Once you have registered your username, it becomes yours for life. In extreme circumstances, you may request that the administrator (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2663) change your username. Proceed to User Control Panel (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/usercp.php) to edit your profile.
Profile picture has to be under 180x180 pixel. Senior Users and Forum Veterans can have custom title.
Blog User Manual
- General
You have to be a registered forum member in order to blog and post comments on other's blogs.
The Wired New York Blogs area is at wirednewyork.com/forum/blog.php (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/blog.php)
Each forum member's profile page now has a Blog section which displays total number of blog entries as well as a link to find all blog entries.
Each forum post now displays (in the top right corner) a number of blog entries and a link to find all blog entries, in addition to the usual information - Join Date, Location, Number of Posts.
- Blog Options
Blog Control Panel for each forum member is located at wirednewyork.com/forum/blog_usercp.php (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/blog_usercp.php)
- Blog Comments
Each blogger has several options regarding the posting of comments, which could be applied to all blog entries, or only to particular posts:
No comments allowed
Comments allowed to any forum member
Comments allowed only to members on blogger's buddy list (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/profile.php?do=editlist)
Comments need to be approved by blogger before being displayed
- Blog Picture
If a member has Profile picture, then this picture is displayed in his/her blog (downscaled to 180x180 pixels if it's too big). Profile picture can be specified in User Control Panel (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/profile.php?do=editprofilepic); it can either be uploaded from member's computer or from other website.
- Registration
In order to fully utilize this forum, you need to register (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/register.php) as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:
Post new threads
Reply to other peoples' threads
Avoid image-verification feature when searching the forum
Receive email notification of replies to posts and threads you specify
Send private messages to other members
To start registration, click on the "Register" button in the upper left corner, or proceed to registration page at http://wirednewyork.com/forum/register.php. To register, you will need to specify a username and password, and a valid email address. Entering your email address will not leave you open to spam.
To complete registration, you must reply to activation email sent to your email address, so ensure that the email address you provide is valid and working. Sometimes activation email ends up in your spam folder, so make sure you check it if you do not receive activation email.
Forum Rules related to Registration
Only one username per person (IP address) is allowed.
Username may not contain special characters or non-English characters, only letters and numbers.
Certain words or combination of letters (anything offensive or related to pharmaceuticals and spam, etc) are not allowed in the username. The determination of appropriateness will be done by forum management. Usernames not complying with this policy will be deleted without notification.
During registration process, a valid email address must be supplied. To complete registration, the user has to reply to an activation email. Please note that sometimes the activation email may end up in the spam folder. That mostly affects users with emails on aol.com, yahoo.com, or hotmail.com domains.
Because of the spam issue, email addresses from certain domains (such as mail.ru, web.de, cashette.com and some others) cannot be used to register.
Exploiting the forum for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes is not allowed.
- General
Some questions are answered at wirednewyork.com/forum/faq.php (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/faq.php)
- Forum Community
Forum Leaders
View Forum Leaders (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showgroups.php) page
Administrator
Edward (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2663)
Moderators
BrooklynRider (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2473)
infoshare (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=5190)
Kris (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2593)
NYatKNIGHT (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2643)
stache (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=3201)
Stern (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2634)
ZippyTheChimp (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2463)
Membership categories
When you first join the forum you receive a title of a Junior Member. After you make 10 posts, you become a Member. After 100 posts (and minimum 90 days as a member) you become a Senior Member. Over 1,000 posts (and minimum of 270 days as a member) makes you Forum Veteran. The list of forum Administrators, Moderators and Forum Veterans can be found on View Forum Leaders (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showgroups.php?) page.
Member List
The member list (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/memberlist.php?) contains a list of registered members of this forum (with the exception of Junior Members). Using the search function (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/memberlist.php?do=search), you can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the forum, or by the number of posts the members have made. You can also locate members by username, number of posts, join date, or post date.
Membership stats
1/1/2008 - 12300 members
1/1/2007 - 7400 members
1/1/2006 - 3700 members
1/1/2005 - 1780 members
1/1/2004 - 980 members
1/1/2003 - 215 members
1/1/2002 - 15 members
10/22/2001 - 0 members
Active Members (registered members that logged in the past 30 days) - 1025 (as of Jan 2008)
Current growth rate - 550 new members per month, membership doubling time - about a year.
Forum User Names
Forum User Names (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7305) thread
How do I contact other forum members?
Registered members may send each other private messages using Private Messaging (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/private.php?) system. Private messages work similar to email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/private.php?do=newpm)' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/images/buttons/sendpm.gif button in member's posts.
- Rules of Conduct
Forum Rules of Conduct (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3711) thread
- Reading and Posting Messages
Posting Images
Images can be either inserted inside a post (see procedure below) or attached to a post (see next section).
1. If the image you want to post is already on-line, you have to know its URL. If the image you want to post is on your computer, you have to transfer it to some server on the web. Wired New York Forum does not store your images (except see attachments section below), it just displays the images in the forum post, while the images are located on some other web-server. There are web sites that allow to store your images for free, for example Flickr; however, some sites do not allow to view the images from another server (so called "hot linking" ).
2. Once the image is on-line and you know its URL (if you enter the URL into your browser, you would see the image), you can make the actual post. Position your cursor at the place in your post where you want the image, then click on the following icon http://wirednewyork.com/forum/images/editor/insertimage.gif (above the post space) and paste the URL.
The images wider than 800 pixels do not display well on a forum page, so large images should be rescaled using any image editor, or posted as a link.
Also see Posting Images (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3709) thread
Posting Attachments
Posting Attachments (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5708) thread
You can use the attachment feature of this forum, which gives you the ability to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. Only certain types of files may be attached: these are the valid file extensions for files to be attached to this forum: bmp gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png txt zip.
To attach a file to a new post, simply click the button at the bottom of the post composition page, and locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive. There is a limit of 10 files per post. After posting, the attachment will show up in the body of your message. To view the contents of the attachment (if it is not already displayed) simply click the filename link that appears next to the attachment icon.
There is a limit of 150 Kbytes file size limit for pictures and the largest picture dimension cannot exceed 800 pixels. If a picture your are trying to attach is too big, forum software will attempt to resize the picture. Picture thumbnails are automatically created for *.jpeg image files (but not for *.bmp image files).
There is also a limit for a total size of all attachments for each user - 10 Mb for Members and Junior Members, 50 Mb for Senior Members and 100 Mb for Forum Veterans. If you are close to your limit, in User Control Panel under Miscellaneous/Attachments you can select attachments that you wish to delete.
[B]Posting Guidlines
Using quotes (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6707) thread
Reporting Problematic Posts
Please report all spam, advertising messages, and problematic (uncivil, disrespectful, harassing, violating Forum Rules of Conduct (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3711)) posts by clicking on this image http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/images/buttons/report.gif in the upper right corner of each post.
Quoting
When citing a passage from an article that someone else posted, do not use the QUOTE button from the post. The result will attribute the quote to the poster, not the article, causing confusion. Copy and paste the passage, enclosed in the quote tags on the reply screen.
How do I find new posts?
Registered users can see new posts since the last visit by going to New Posts on the top navigation bar. To see all posts made today, click on Quick Links, then Today's Posts on the top navigation bar.
- Searching the Forum
Using Google
You can search using Google by adding site:wirednewyork.com to the query string. That will return pages both from the website and forum. For example, you can use the following string - empire state building site:wirednewyork.com (http://www.google.com/search?q=empire+state+building+site%3Awirednewyork %2Ecom) - to search for Empire State Building pages.
Using Forum Search
There are two different search options, both accessible from the top navigation menu. The default one is very easy on the server, but is less accurate. It will return threads with any word in the search string, i.e. if you are searching for Empire State Building, it will include threads that have only word Empire, only State, only Building, and also these words together - a lot of threads, many not relevant.
The other option is more accurate (and server-intensive). If you look at the Search (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/search.php) page, on the bottom left there is a box called Search Type. The default selection is Natural Language, and this is the less-accurate, faster version that I described above. The more accurate type is called Boolean. Select this option for the more accurate search.
You can use the wild-card character * in the search string with the boolean option. For example, searching for emp* will return posts not only with the word empire, but also employee and empty. You can use boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT with this option. For example, searching for the following string - empire and state and building - will return threads where all three words are present. You can search for phrases with the use of quotes. For example, searching for "empire state building" will return only threads with this exact phrase.
On the Search page there are several options that can help you with searching. Right below the box where you type your keywords there is a box that allows you to select the option of searching only in the thread titles or all the posts. To make the search in thread titles more accurate, the thread title must be well designed; for example, I tried to have threads about condominium developments in the real estate section to have the word Condo in the thread title.
You can also narrow down your search to particular forums - only in Skyscrapers and Architecture for example, or only in New York Skyscrapers and Architecture. Using Ctrl+click you can select any combination of forums.
- User Maintenance
I lost my password, what can I do?
If you forget your password, you can click on the 'Forgotten Your Password' link on any page that requires you to fill in your password. This will bring up a page where you should enter your registered email address, and an email will be sent to that address instantly, with instructions for resetting your password.
How do I get a picture under my username?
These small images are called Avatars. They are displayed below your username on all posts that you make. Members and Junior Members can use only avatars provided by the administrator in the Avatar Gallery (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/misc.php?do=showavatars). Senior Members and Forum Veterans can also use custom avatars. Custom avatars have to be 70x90 pixel and under 10Kb.
How can I change the information in my profile?
It is your responsibility to keep the information in your profile up-to-date. You should especially ensure that your email address is kept current. You can alter any of the fields in your profile, except your username. Once you have registered your username, it becomes yours for life. In extreme circumstances, you may request that the administrator (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/member.php?u=2663) change your username. Proceed to User Control Panel (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/usercp.php) to edit your profile.
Profile picture has to be under 180x180 pixel. Senior Users and Forum Veterans can have custom title.
Blog User Manual
- General
You have to be a registered forum member in order to blog and post comments on other's blogs.
The Wired New York Blogs area is at wirednewyork.com/forum/blog.php (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/blog.php)
Each forum member's profile page now has a Blog section which displays total number of blog entries as well as a link to find all blog entries.
Each forum post now displays (in the top right corner) a number of blog entries and a link to find all blog entries, in addition to the usual information - Join Date, Location, Number of Posts.
- Blog Options
Blog Control Panel for each forum member is located at wirednewyork.com/forum/blog_usercp.php (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/blog_usercp.php)
- Blog Comments
Each blogger has several options regarding the posting of comments, which could be applied to all blog entries, or only to particular posts:
No comments allowed
Comments allowed to any forum member
Comments allowed only to members on blogger's buddy list (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/profile.php?do=editlist)
Comments need to be approved by blogger before being displayed
- Blog Picture
If a member has Profile picture, then this picture is displayed in his/her blog (downscaled to 180x180 pixels if it's too big). Profile picture can be specified in User Control Panel (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/profile.php?do=editprofilepic); it can either be uploaded from member's computer or from other website.