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Why should I register to use the forums?
Everyone visiting the site can read and search through forum content. Only users who have registered and signed in can post topics, post replies, set up watch lists, modify forum settings, and use private messaging.
To login or register with the Virtual Innovation Center forums, click the Sign in or register link found on the top right protion of each forum page. From there you can login with your existing username and password, or register to create a new username and password. Registration is quick and easy, and requires you to specify a screen name that will be shared externally on all your posts, provide an e-mail address for receiving notification on watched topics (your e-mail address is not visible to others), and specify your country and postal code.
How are the forums structured?
The forums are built on a hierarchy of forums, threads, and replies. Each forum is centered on a broad technology or product issue and is comprised of individual threads.
How do I post a new thread or reply?
Once logged in, you can start a new discussion thread by posting a new thread, or you can post a question, comment, or opinion to an existing thread. For each forum and each thread, icons indicate the content that you have or have not read.
To post a new thread to a forum, click Post New Thread. Enter a short subject line in the Subject field that best summarizes the issue or question you want to discuss. In the Message field, enter a longer description or question. Text highlight options are explained on the post page. Additionally, you can create hot links within your text by entering [http:// followed by the URL of the link with a closing square bracket at the end. Both the Subject and Message fields are required to post to the forums. Click "Mark this thread as a question" if your message contains a question you want others to respond to.
To post a question, reply, comment, or opinion to an existing question or reply, click the Reply to this Thread option. When you post a reply, the subject line of the item you are replying to is automatically entered in the Subject field of the Reply form. You can overwrite the subject field if needed. You can also include the text of the item you are replying to by clicking the quotation mark icon on the tool bar within the Message field. If you choose to include the text of original item, include it before entering other text in the field. Adding the original item prepends any other content you type in the Text field. Click on the Preview tab to check the formatting of your message before you post it. You can use the Attach Files dialog to attach one or more files to an entry. The total size of your attachments cannot be more than 5 MB.
Along the bottom of the post page are action buttons: Post Message, Save draft, and Discard. - Post Message posts your message. Your message is immediately visible to everyone. Once you post the message, you cannot edit it or delete it.
- Save draft keeps a draft copy of the message in your Drafts folder for you to continue editing later. You can save only one thread draft per forum and only one reply per thread. Note that all message drafts are auto-saved every 30 seconds.
- Discard cancels the posting process and erases the message.
How do I indicate that my question has been answered?
When a reply post answers a thread you opened as a question, click "Mark as answered" to indicate that the question has been answered. After you indicate that your question is answered, a star icon in the second column of the Thread view.
How do I use private messaging?
To respond to a post privately instead of posting to the forum, click the Private Messages link. An email interface appears in a new browser session. Complete the following steps: - Select Compose Message.
- Type the screen name of the user you want to correspond with in the To: field, or select an address from your Private messaging address book.
- Type a subject that relates to the thread you are referencing in your message.
- Compose your message, and click Save in Sent Folder if you want to keep a copy.
- Click Send Message.
.Your message goes to the Private Messages inbox of the user whose screen name you entered. The recipient can see your screen name and respond privately to your Private Messages inbox. The Private Message inbox indicates how many read and unread private messages you have.
How do I add a contact to my address book?
To add a contact, click Address book in the Private Messages inbox, enter the screen name in the Add Contact field, and click Add Contact. Then when you send a private message, you can select that screen name from the "Insert from address book" dropdown list.
How can I customize the way the forum content displays?
You can customize the way forum content displays for you by clicking Forum settings. The forum settings allow you to indicate whether you want to see the reply hierarchy reflected in views of thread replies, to specify the number of threads per forum or messages per thread that display per Web page, as well as which time zone is used to display the message timestamp. Click Save when you are finished editing the settings.
How do I search forum content?
Because several people can have the same or similar questions, you may want to search on particular keywords before posting a new thread or reply. From a forum or thread page, enter your search terms into the search entry field. Scope the search by technology or product area or by specific forum, and click Go. The forum search will return entries that contain any of the search terms you entered.
Here are some tips for searching the forum content:
- If you do not use an operator between words, OR is assumed. For example: linux wireless returns results with either linux or wireless.
- If the Boolean term AND (in all caps) is used between words, the AND is carried out. For example: linux AND wireless returns results with both linux and wireless. Capitalization of the Boolean term AND is relevant; and, And, etc., will not work.
- If the Boolean term OR is used between words, the OR is carried out. For example: linux OR wireless returns results with either linux or wireless. Capitalization of the Boolean term OR is irrelevant (or, Or, etc.).
- Use quotation marks (" ") to find terms with the exact phrase. For example: "xsl editor" returns results that include the exact phrase "xsl editor", but not results that contain the phrase "xsl with an editor."
How do I watch a thread, category, or forum?
When you watch a thread, category, or forum, you are identifying that content as something you are particularly interested in keeping up with. You can then use the My watch list page to quickly and easily find just the content you are most interested in.
You can watch a thread by clicking on Watch this thread found on the topic pages. You can also indicate that you want to watch a new thread when you post a thread or reply to a thread.
Additionally, there are forum settings related to your watch preferences. These are found on the My watch list page. By checking the appropriate radio buttons, you can specify whether you want to watch all threads you create, watch all threads you reply to, or receive e-mail notification on all watched topics.
How do I manage the topics I am watching?
Watched threads can be managed individually through the My watch list page. You can use the settings on this page to indicate whether you want to receive e-mail notification about updates on an individual watch or discontinue e-mail notification. By default, if the thread, forum, or category you are watching has no posts for more than 30 consecutive days during your watch, the watch is removed from your list automatically. You can override that by going to the My watch list page and clicking the Save checkbox next to the thread, forum, or category that you want to keep watching regardless of the 30-day rule. Click Update to save your changes. You can delete individual watches by checking the box next to Delete watch and then clicking the delete button at the bottom of the page.
How do I send feedback to developerWorks concerning the developerWorks forums?
The developerWorks team is interested in any feedback you are willing to share about the forums. Click the feedback form. Be sure to select "Forums" as the category for your feedback."
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