Note: this document is a work in progress. I started it early this morning (Sun. 03/04/07) and I will be adding/correcting it for the next couple of days. Please excuse any omissions or errors. -- Webmaster (GymTide.com)
Welcome Bama Gymnastics fans to the opening of our new Message Board!
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been setting up our brand spanking new board... just for you! And now it's ready!
But don't panic. We are not closing the current message board yet. We are going to run both boards for a while giving folks a chance to get used to the idea and also to give me a chance to work out any bugs and errors!
The new board is quite a bit different. It requires "User Registration" and a login...but once you login, it will remember you so you don't have to keep logging in everytime. The new board will let you send private messages to other folks. It will let you personalize your experience with "Sigs" and "Avatars". It will let you correct your posts when you spot an error and even let you delete your posts. It will let you search though the messages for a particular post by a particular poster.
It is also a bit more complicated, we'll admit. But we've tried to arrange things so as to help you find your way to being able to easily read and post messages. If you get confused or spot an error or just want to complain, we've even supplied a "Suggestion box to the Webmaster". Those folks that know me, know that I love straight talkin' bug reports!
In this document, I've tried, in my own way, to explain some of the What, Why, When, Where, How of the new Message Board. I am still working on this document and probably have made many errors (content, spelling, grammar) . I hope you'll bear with me while I get these errors worked out. In the meantime I hope this document will help to explain the reasons for making this change to our message board.
Of course, you don't have to read this document! If you like you can pop on over and just jump right in!
One quick IMPORTANT comment, though. Our server is experiencing problems with its EMAIL system --- the activation emails are not getting sent for several hours. We hope to get this problem worked out tomorrow. In the meantime, IF, AFTER REGISTERING, YOU DON'T GET YOUR ACTIVATION EMAIL WITHIN 1/2 HOUR, SEND AN EMAIL TO
and just say "I registered but haven't gotten my activation email" Be sure to let me know what "username" you registered under, BUT DO NOT SEND YOUR PASSWORD.
For those that want to just jump right in:
Our new board is based on the SMF (Simple Machines Forum) message board software, available from
We chose SMF because of it's Power, Quality, Security, Robustness, Portability, Customizability, Extensibility, Large user base, Support, and, of course, price ... it's FREE!
SMF is Open Source and written in PHP/MySQL. It has easy user registration that uses email activation that helps to avoid spammers and trolls .. both of which are always a problem for these kind of discussion groups.
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The short answer is: because our current board, although simple and easy to use, is limited in many areas. Our new SMF board is a giant step forward
1) Our current board has some major security problems. Our current board is based upon WWWBoard from Matt's Script Archive
This script was simple, free, worked well and back in 1995 was the "only script in town". We later beefed up the script with the version from The NMS Project, which had much improved security. I have heavily modified both versions to suit our needs. However, there comes a point in any software's life that the continued application of "band-aids" leads to diminishing returns.
Right now we have a major problem with attacks from spammers. There are also other problems that, for security reasons, I don't want to discuss on a public web page.
Our new board, SMF, has far better security. It is also in very wide use all over the world and has a crack team of smart and dedicated folks developing it. They are quick to correct any security problems that arise. In addition, the source code is freely available, and thus the global userbase helps to report/correct security holes. OpenSource software typically has better security because "many heads are better than one". SMF has excellent community support. They have a SMF support board setup with multiple categories, board and sub boards for users at all levels to discuss SMF issues.
2) Our current board does not allow users to modify or delete their own posts. We have all said things that, upon reflection, we have regretted. Either we would like change what we said, or the way we said it, or we would rather withdraw those hasty words altogether. 'Nuff said.
Our new SMF board has excellent editing features. You can change your post anytime and you can preview it to make sure it looks correct before posting it. You can also delete the post completely.
3) Our current board has very limited "moderation" facilities. Moderation is limited to crude chopping off of messages and threads, without even giving the moderator a convenient way to explain why a post was inappropriate for our site. Also there are some cases in which the only objectionable thing about a post is a particular objectionable "word or phrase". (for instance, the use of "joke" or "sarcastic" names for another team's coach) In those cases, it would be better for the moderator to change the word, than to delete the entire post.
Our current board has only one way to ban a chronic abuser of the board: by the users' IP address. For many reasons (that I won't go into) this is not a good way to handle the problem.
Our current board allows users to "fake their 'nick", that is, to pretend to someone else.
As an example of a forum that exhibits an extreme form of these problems, I would point to USENET, a "global, distributed Internet discussion system". USENET was once a fairly civilized place (prior to 1992) but in recent years has become an open sewer of spam, trolls, flaming, crazies, viruses, and pirated software. Everyone is anonymous on USENET, and therefore feels free to say and do things that they would not do if they could be identified. And so, "The bad drives out the good" -- civilized discussions have long ago moved on to cleaner, better maintained pastures.
Our new SMF board has excellent moderation features. We will be able to moderate without getting in the way, only stepping in when and to the extent it is needed. And since our users are registered, with real email addresses, conversation tends to be much more civilized. So less moderating is needed in the first place.
I should add here that YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS HIDDEN FROM OTHER USERS OF THE BOARD - ONLY THE ADMINS HAVE ACCESS TO IT. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES (except for legal and proper requests by law enforcement agencies) WILL YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION EVER BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ANYONE ELSE. PERIOD. In the next week, we will be publishing a "Privacy policy"
4) Our current board does not have "private messages" for those discussions that are better taken "off-line". Sometimes folks want to discuss privately among themselves. Since the listing of emails on a web site is an open invitation to be added to SPAM lists, there has been no way for strangers to hold a private discussion without revealing to the world (and the SPAMBots) their contact info.
Our new SMF board has excellent Private Message facilities.
5) Our old message board had crude search facilities. Basically you searched through the message board the same way you searched through the entire website. There was no way to restrict searches to the message board posts, let alone to posts made during a certain date range, or by a particular poster or in a particular board.
Our new SMF board has excellent Search through the MessageBoard facilities.
6) Our old message board made it difficult to determine when new posts had been made. All you could do is to look at the color of the links: blue=unread, red=read. And if you went to another machine or used a different browser, none of that carried over.
Our new SMF board maintains a record of what topics/posts you have read and which are new. The topics that have new posts will have a little "NewPost" icon next to them. The message board also has links at the op of the page for "Show unread posts since last visit" and "Show new replies to your posts" for quick access.
SMF has the ability to notify you by mail if a particular topic has been added to. NOTE: for the time being I have disabled notification. I'd like our users to get used to using the core features of the board before activating the notification feature
7) On a less important note, our old message board had nothing in the way of "personalization" features. Like "Sigs" and "Avatars", "Smilies", Fancy WYSIWYG Editing,
Our new SMF board has all of these and even lets you use a Display name that is different that your login username. So you could login as "tomsmith" and appear on the board as the "The Amazing 'Bama Uneven Bar Expert".
SMF's editing allows for the usual MSWord style formatting plus such oddities as "scrolling marquees".
OK, it's true that these kind of things are not necessary for meaningful communication, but they do make being on the board more fun!
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Right now! In fact, here it is:
Our new message board will co-exist with our old message board for a few days to give folks a chance to make the transition. Then we will phase the old board out and then the new message board will be only message board on our web site.
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Right here:
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Our new message board has many "fancy features" (Bells and Whistles) - most of these you do not have to use - unless you want to. But the basics of this board are not much different that our last board. Post/Read/Reply. The new board adds the requirement to Register For Access and gives you the ability to change or delete your posts (a feature sorely missed in our old message board.)
[ Back to "How do I get Started?"... ]
Steps to REGISTER:
:
For more information, click here.
[ Back to "How do I get Started?"... ]
Steps to Post a message
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For more information, click here.
[ Back to "How do I get Started?"... ]
Steps to Read messages
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Steps to Reply to a message
For more information, click here.
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Steps to Modify/Delete one of my messages
For more information, click here.
Note: I am still working on this section. I hope to get it finished in the next 24 hours
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Q) Is there an online Help Manual for us users???
A) Yes indeed. Right here:
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Q) Why is it all so dang complicated?
A) For the more general question, "Why are computers getting so complicated?" I would say that it is because we are continually asking the computer to do more and more. And by "we" I mean everyone that uses a computer, with all of our vastly different computing needs.
We would never ask a "Toaster" to handle our correspondence, display our movies, manage our finances, write our term papers, do research in huge virtual encyclopedias, connect to the rest of human kind in a massive cyber community, be a watchdog, an alarm clock, a word processor, solve huge systems of differential equations, frag huge number of enemies in a virtual game space, help create our TV, cartoons and movies.
Yet this and much more is what we expect this humble tool, the computer, to do. It's any/everything to any/everybody The real question is: how has all this complexity remained so manageable that "even a caveman can do it!"?
As far as the Message Board is concerned, it too allows you to "do more": Send/receive private messages, customize your online persona, manage your posts, view just the newest posts, search through years of posts, using multiple search criteria. You can even control how you get notified by email when you get a reply to one of your posts. To help you run this extensive functionality, the developers have thoughtfully laid out their menus, buttons, and screens in a logical and efficient manner. All things considered, this board is actually rather easy to use and easy to figure out. Just ask any 10 year old! They quickly become experts on every "Bell and Whistle" in the system. If they can do it, then dg-nab-it, so can we!
We have also customized the Message Board, removing less-essential features (that can be added back later if desired) and adding buttons, menus, and links to help the user go where they want to go quickly! All with the end of making the system LESS complicated.
Anyway, that my opinion on the matter. I'll get off the soapbox now and climb back into my bunker.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) How do I CHANGE my password?
A) Go to the "Profile" menu. Then, on the left side of the page, under "Modify Profile", choose "Account Related Settings".
Then enter a SECURE password (see comments below) in the "Choose password:" and "Verify password " fields.
Optionally, you can also enter a "Secret Question and Answer" to facilitate resetting a forgotten password.
Then go to the bottom of the page,
enter your OLD PASSWORD in the "Current Password:" field
and then click the "Change Profile" button.COMMENT: SECURE passwords should be at least 8 characters and be mixed letters and numbers, with no duplicated characters. Using UPPER and lower case letters further increases the security. DO NOT use "words" (e.g. "good", "dog" or "combinations of words" (e.g. "gooddog"). DO NOT use the same password that you use for your online banking, stock brokering, online shopping, etc. DO NOT use characters that are sequential on the keyboard (e.g. "qwerty890", "mnbvlkjh"). And for goodness sake, DO NOT use your "name", your "username", your "husband's name", Bank account number, Social Security Number or anything like that.
An 8 character (or more), mixed case Alpha-Numeric sequence of utter gibberish is best! Some systems will even let you use Special characters (~!@#$%^&*()_-+=][{}';:"/.,<>?)
Example of good passwords:
- ck83bAP91 - 9 chars, mixed case alpha-numeric, complete gibberish
- zWb62V75ap0OfB4 - 15 chars, mixed case alpha-numeric, complete gibberish - 15 characters is probably overkill for our messageboard.
Examples of bad passwords:
- bozo - too short - 8 chars is the minimum to choose
- pencil - Every see "WarGames"? :-)
- barneyrubble - Your name
- elbburyenrab - Your name backwards
- barneyyenrab - Your name forwards and backwards
- zzzz3333 - too many duplicates
Here are a few links for excellent advice on the issue of strong passwords
- Gibson Research's Perfect Passwords. GRC's Ultra High Security Password Generator
- Microsoft's Password Checker Page
- Microsoft's Strong passwords: How to create and use them
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Q) What do I do if I forget my Username or Password?
A) From the main Message Board screen, click on the "Login" link (See image below).
Then click the link "Forgot your Password?" (See image below).
On the next screen, type in the email address that you registered with. There are now 2 ways to reset your password
- If you have NOT set a "Secret Question and Answer" (See "How do I change my Password") , then just click "Send". You will get an email with a link. From your email program, bring up this email and click the link. You will get a screen letting you reset your password Fill in the 2 password fields and click "Save".
- If you have set a "Secret Question and Answer" (See "How do I change my Password") , then CHECK the "Ask me my Question" option. Then click "Send". You will get a screen asking you your Secret question. Fill in the Answer field, and the 2 password fields and click "Save".
You will now be able to login with your newly chosen password
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Q) Hey, is my email visible to other posters or to the world at large??
A) No. By default, your email is hidden from other users except for the 2 Administrators and Yourself. And *You* should ONLY be able to see the email of yourself and the "GymTide.com Admin". If this not the case, please leave a message for the "GymTide.com Admin" letting us know.
It is possible for a user to go into their own profile settings and make their email NOT HIDDEN, but we DO NOT recommend doing this as it exposes you to being added to SPAM lists and other security hazards. In fact, in general, you should never expose your "clean" email to the Internet, unless you absolutely trust the integrity of the web site. But even in those cases, NEVER allow your "clean" email to be published on a webpage.
This web site will never release private information to anyone, with the exception of Law Enforcement when it is required by law that we do so.
We will soon be publishing a " PRIVACY policy" that will spell out all this in precise language.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) How can I send a private messages? Do I have to reveal my email address in the process?
A) Email addresses are never involved when sending or receiving "Private Messages"
To send a private message, either:
For more information, click here.
- Click on the Private Message icon (
) when viewing a member's post
- Click on the "Status indicator" when viewing the list of Members
- Click on the "My Messages" menu item and then, on the lefthand side of the page, click on the "New Message Link"
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Q) I have Privacy Concerns! Can you put my mind at ease?
A) This website and its Webmaster are very concerned with security and privacy. We make every attempt to run only secure scripts on this website. In fact, the upgrading of the Message Board was prompted by these concerns.
In any case, no private information is kept on this website. Emails, username and passwords for this Message Board are encrypted and stored on a secure database. Our webhosting is handled by experienced folks well versed in the "Wiles of the Black Hats". We carefully limit access to this website, and we keep that limited access up-to-date.
The webmaster himself works behind a quality hardware firewall properly configured, kept updated, with all ports closed, running in stealth. His computer system is excellently protected against malware. Rumor has it that his office is in a dark and lost corner of an underground bunker at the bottom of a missile silo, but this rumor cannot be confirmed!
Our new message board has an excellent track record on security. Before choosing SMF, our webmaster searched through various sites, forums, and newsgroups for reports of problems. The SMF folks are experienced and security conscious. When problems are reported, they are promptly fixed and updates are made available. There is a large and well informed user community that frequently participates in user forums discussing various aspects of the software. There are many 3rd party SMF sites. This is the software development at its best.
This web site will never release private information to anyone, with the exception of Law Enforcement when it is required by law that we do so.
We will soon be publishing a " PRIVACY policy" that will spell out all this in precise language.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) Why can't I register 2 usernames using the same email?
A) Because we use the verified email address as a minimal assurance that you are a real and accountable person. SMF associates a single email address with a single username.
In those case where you have a spouse that shares an email with you, but wants to post under their own name, there are a few options here:
- Most Internet Service Providers (ISP) let you crate aliases for your email address or even let you set up multiple separate email addresses. Comcast, for example allows 6 separate email addresses (but no aliases) , Bellsouth allows 5 to 8 separate email addresses (but no aliases)
- You can setup a Yahoo.com email account or MSN Hotmail account
You can register other usernames on our Message Board with these separate email addresses.
NOTE: In addition to setting up these accounts, you MUST be able to send/receive email from them also. Otherwise you will not be able to activate your account!
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) Why doesn't it let me do 2 registrations from the same machine/IPAddress?
A) If you register a username and then try to register ANOTHER username, you will get an error message.
Easiest thing to do is to CLOSE YOUR BROWSER, and try the 2nd registration again. This time there should not be any error.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) I want the messages to display NewestFirst (or OldestFirst)
A) Go to the "Profile" menu. Then, on the left side of the page, under "Modify Profile", choose "Look and Layout Preferences".
CHECK or UNCHECK the "Show most recent posts at the top" option
While you are here, change any other setting that you desire. Most folks leave the other options as their defaults.
Then go to the bottom of the page and click the "Change Profile" button.
For more information, click here.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) How do I setup one of those cool "Sigs" and "Avatars"?
A) Go to the "Profile" menu. Then, on the left side of the page, under "Modify Profile", choose "Forum Profile Information".
For the Avatar,
- you can use one the Avatar from the categories we have setup for you ("Personalized Picture:") . Just click on a category and choose one that suits your fancy. The ones from the Animated are "moving" or "animated" images
- or you can specify an image from a webpage (" have my own pic:")
- or you can upload an image from your harddrive ("I will upload my own picture:")
Then scroll down to the "Signature: " field and enter your "Sig".
Then go to the bottom of the page and click the "Change Profile" button.
Comment: Many folks put their forum name and a favorite quote or two. Maybe a picture of their dog or spouse, whichever they like better :-)
Others get carried away with PGP blocks, elaborate ascii art, lists of their favorite websites, etc.
It has been said the "the length of ones SIG varies INVERSLY with their importance on the Internet". So short sigs tend to be user by old timers and long elaborate grotesque productions are typical of folks that just started using the computer.
We recommend using good taste in your choices. Remember that your sig appears with all of your posts. Over and over and over and over again. A long production might be interesting the first time, but it quickly wears on ones nerves when one has to see it splattered all over the forum. 'Nuff said.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) I want to be called "Lord Baltar, King of the Mole People" on the board.
How do I set my "Displayed name" to be different from my "login username" ?
A) Well, if that's what you want...
Go to the "Profile" menu. Then, on the left side of the page, under "Modify Profile", choose "Account Related Settings".
Enter your preferred display name in the " Name:" field
Then go to the bottom of the page, enter your current password in the "Current Password:" field and then click the "Change Profile" button.
NOTE: If you change your email address here, you will have to Re-Activate your account again.
[ Back to "Frequently Asked Question ?"... ]
Q) Moderators?? WHAT ABOUT FREE SPEECH?
A) I'll finish answering this tonight - bweck
