Forum Help
See the Welcome page for an introduction to this forum.
New Messages
Browser “cookies” allow the software that runs this forum to determine which messages have been posted since your previous visit. New messages appear in the message index with NEW markers so that you can spot them easily.
| • | If you don’t have your browser set to accept cookies, “new” markers will not appear. |
| • | On your first visit to the forum, no messages appear as new. |
| • | The forum considers a new visit to begin once you’ve been away from the forum for at least thirty minutes. If you are gone for less than half an hour, the “new” markers will be the same as they were before. |
| • | Messages posted since the beginning (rather than the end) of your last visit are marked as new. Therefore, your own messages from your last visit will be marked as new. This may seem a bit confusing at first, but it’s actually handy, as it makes it easier to spot new responses to your messages. As well, any messages posted by others while you were busy posting messages will also be marked as new on your next visit, so you won’t risk missing them. |
| • | If you’ve visited the forum several times (over a period of at least a couple days), and the “new” markers still aren’t appearing, or aren’t appearing correctly, you may need to delete your browser’s cookie file (for www.drumcircle.com) and start from scratch. |
Mark All Messages Read
Mark All Messages Read appears in the navigation bars on the message index page. Clicking this immediately eliminates all your “new” message markers and resets your “last visit started” time.
NM (No Message) Posts
Messages that do not contain any original text (in the body of the message) are shown in the message index with *NM* markers, which stands for “no message.”
Photos
Messages that include a photo are shown in the message index with 
markers.
You can include a photo in a message, but only if the photo
is already on the web. The photo can be anywhere on the web, on any other web site
(except Geocities, which won’t work here because Geocities blocks the display of
those images by other web sites). To include an image, you must know the URL of the
image file. When posting your message, type the URL in the Optional Image URL field.
Please preview your message to make sure the photo appears.
Automatic Hotlinks
URLs and email addresses are automatically made into links.
Accessing Older Messages
Older messages may seem to have disappeared, but in fact, all the messages that have ever been posted are still available. The message index page displays only some of them. Messages that are not shown in your message index have not been deleted. (No messages are deleted, except in the rare circumstance when the admins deem a message inappropriate.) You can access older messages by changing your preference setting to a longer time period, or by searching.
Setting Preferences
The preferences page allows you to change your message index. You can change the
maximum age of the messages that appear in the index. For example, if you
visit the forum every day, you may want to display only messages posted within the
last 36 hours. Or you might prefer to display only the new messages (those posted
since your last visit began).
You can also change the format of the message index.
Many listing styles and sorting orders are available. The default is the mixed
threaded list format, which arranges primary messages with the newest at the top
(thus tending to keep newer threads toward the top of the page), but arranges
responses with the newest at the bottom (thus preserving a more intuitive threading
structure). But you can change this to whatever you prefer.
If you accept cookies from this site, your preferences will
be retained for future visits. The display options and personal info are explained in
further detail on the bottom of the preferences page.
Searching
The search page helps you find messages that include specific keywords, messages that are authored by a specific person, and/or messages within a specific date-range.
User Profiles
Profiles are a way for us to share with each other about who we are. Why not create a profile? It’s a great way to give the other folks who use this forum a sense of who they are talking with. You can say whatever you want in your profile, but particularly relevant would be to tell us about your involvement in drum circles, and where you live. You’re quite welcome to write a long personal introduction, or just a few words. If you wish, you can include a photo and/or a link to a web page. The user profiles continue to be easily available into the future (moreso than posting a message to introduce yourself). You can edit or delete your profile at any time.
Formatting Codes—Basic Formatting Without HTML
The forum software supports some basic formatting (but typing HTML in your message does not work). Type the appropriate formatting codes before and after the text you want formatted, and voilà, you’ve moved out of the world of plain text. Formatting codes work only in the message body, not in the subject. They are case insensitive, so you can use [b] or [B].
| Typing this... | Will display this... |
| [b]Bold text[/b] (or [bold]) | Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] (or [italic]) | Italic text |
| [big]Big text[/big] | Big text |
| [small]Small text[/small] | Small text |
| [red]Red text[/red] | Red text |
| [code]Fixed-width text[/code] or [rhythm]X.X.XX.X.X.X bell o..o..o..o.. muff[/rhythm] |
Fixed-width text X.X.XX.X.X.X bell o..o..o..o.. muff |
| [center]Centered text[/center] | Centered text (not shown) |
| [quote]Quoted text[/quote] | Quoted (block-indented) text (not shown) |
For example, the following message:
This is a [red]test[/red] of the Emergency Formatting System. This is[i]only[/i] a test. If this were real formatting, you’d need to do the following:
[quote]Read the message
Memorize it
Destroy it[/quote]
Would appear on the forum as:
This is a test of the Emergency Formatting System. This is only a test. If this were real formatting, you’d need to do the following:Read the message
Memorize it
Destroy it
| The colors supported are: | |||
| [black]Black[/black] | [gray]Gray[/gray] | ||
| [red]Red[/red] | [orange]Orange[/orange] | ||
| [green]Green[/green] | [purple]Purple[/purple] | ||
| [aqua]Aqua[/aqua] | |||
Important General Tip—Always Preview Your Message
When you post, don’t assume that your message will look the way you expect it to look. Previewing before you post is always a good idea. This is even more important if you’re using formatting codes, since if you mis-type something, your message may look really messed up.
Web Browser Recommendation
This forum should work in any web browser, but it will look best when viewed with a recent browser version — Internet Explorer 5 or later, Netscape 6 or later, or possibly the most recent version of other browsers like Opera. Older browsers, including Netscape 4.xx, do not support Cascading Style Sheets very well, so the forum won’t look quite as intended. If you’re using an older browser, why not upgrade? The whole web will immediately look a lot better.
Drum Circle Facilitators’ Forum