Home Blogs Forums Photos

MattMays.com FAQ

Registration & Login

User Profile & Settings

Privacy & Security

Navigation

Posting

Private Messages

Registration & Login

Why do I need to Register?

Do you have an account? You will need one to post a message. You'll need one to take advantage of all the features offered by the MattMays.com Discussion Board such as setting your own avatar, tracking your post counts, emailing other community members, sending private messages to other members, and more. It only takes a few seconds to register, so do it now.

How do I Register?

Create your account you will need to select Join at the top of this page and fill in details such as your login name, email address and password in the sign up form. An email will be sent to you to confirm your account.

I have a Username and Password, How do I Login?

After you have registered for an account, you can visit the Sign In page to enter your email address and password to log in. Once you have signed in successfully, your user name will appear in the top left corner of MattMays.com.

I already logged in, why do I get logged off automatically?

When logging in if you do not check the 'Remember Me' option you will be automatically logged off after a certain amount of time with no activity, usually 20 minutes. If you would like the MattMays.com Discussion Board to always log you in automatically, please check the 'Remember Me' checkbox.

I forgot my username and/or password.

If you forgot your username and/or your password you can select the Forget Your Password option and have both your username and a new password emailed to you by entering the email address you used to register your account. You will receive a new password (for security we store your password encrypted and have no way of getting at your existing password). Once you receive your user name and new password you can login and change your password, if desired.

What if I've registered but still cannot login?

If you've registered and can't log in, check to ensure you have a valid user name and password. If you are sure the user name and password are valid, but still can't login please email us at help@MattMays.com.

I've logged in before, but now can't login?

First check to ensure your user name and password are correct. If you still can't login please email us at help@MattMays.com.

User Profile & Settings

What is a Profile?

A profile is information about you and your account. Your account includes details about posts you've contributed to and personal information you wish to share with other community members such as your web address or blog address.

Why do I want to set my time zone?

Setting your time zone will enable the MattMays.com Discussion Board to display all dates and time in your own time zone.

How do I add Signature to my Post?

Your signature will appear at the bottom of all your Discussion Board posts in the forums. You can edit your signature from your profile page.

What is an avatar?

An avatar is the image that will be displayed along with your posts. Avatars represent you, but please keep them clean. We don't want to have to take down your posts due to your avatar.

How do I set my avatar?

To add an avatar, go to the avatar section in your profile. From here you can locate the avatar you wish to use, either uploading an avatar or specifying a URL to your avatar. You need to click on “Enable Avatar” for it to be displayed with your posts.

How do I change the language?

Currently the only available language on the MattMays.com Discussion Board is English.

How do I set the date format?

The date format used to display the date can be changed from your profile.

How do I turn off email-tracking?

Email tracking is a feature which will send emails to you when messages that you are subscribed to change. You can turn off all email tracking from your profile.

What are the other icons/avatars that show up next to users?

There are many different icons that can show up next to user names in the forums. Common examples are administrators, moderators, or top posters.

Why am I required to login to post, view members, or email other users?

You are required to be logged in before using the MattMays.com Discussion Board. This is primarily to protect the privacy of users who have shared their information or to prevent unwanted/unsolicited emails.

Privacy & Security

How do I change my Password?

Once logged in you can change your password by selecting My Account from the top of this page

How do I change my Username?

You cannot change you username. If you wish to change your user name, please email us at help@MattMays.com.

How do I change my email address?

Once logged in, you can change your private email address from your Profile page.

What Profile settings are required?

The only profile setting that is required in your account is your private email address. This is the email address that is used when you subscribe to the forums, when a forgotten user name/password is emailed. The private email address is never shared or displayed publicly. If you wish to share an email address publicly, use the public email address field. The remainder of the profile settings is optional.

What if I don't want my name displayed in the member lists?

You can set the option in your profile and your name will not appear in any member listings, including the listing of who is online.

Navigation

What is a Forum Group?

A forum group is a top level grouping of related forums. A forum group contains 1 or more forums.

What is a Forum?

A forum is a grouping of related threads of discussion. A forum contains 0 or more threads and 0 or more sub-forums.

What is a Thread?

A thread is a grouping of related posts. A thread contains 1 or more posts. The first post becomes the thread and replies to the original post increment details on the thread, such as the reply count or last post.

What do the Thread icons mean?

Thread Icon Legend
Topic with posts you have not read.
Topic with posts you have read.
Popular topic with posts you have not read. A topic becomes popular after a certain number of views and posts (administrator defined).
Popular topic with posts you have read. A topic becomes popular after a certain number of views and posts (administrator defined).
Announcement you have not read
Announcement you have read
A pinned topic with posts you have not read. Pinned topics are displayed before other topics until they become unpinned.
A pinned topic with posts you have read. Pinned topics are displayed before other topics until they become unpinned.
A pinned popular topic with posts you have not read. A pinned topic with enough views or replies to become popular.
A pinned popular topic with posts you have read. A pinned topic with enough views or replies to become popular.
A locked topic with posts you have not read. Locked topics do not allow replies.
A locked topic with posts you have read. Locked topics do not allow replies.

When I view a Forum I don't see any Threads/Posts?

A forum may not display any threads if there are no threads in the forum or if filters on the forms have been applied and no threads match the filter. An example is filtering to display threads newer than a certain date, such as threads new in the past 2 weeks.

I just posted a message, how come I don't see it?

The MattMays.com Discussion Board may moderate some posts/threads/forums. After posting a message in a moderated forum you will receive a message stating that the post is awaiting moderation. Once the moderator approves your post you post will become visible. The moderator may choose to move, edit, or delete your post to ensure that the post is topical to the current forum.

What are the different icons next to threads?

The icons next to threads when viewing a forum indicate different status. You can move your mouse cursor over these icons to see what the different status/types of threads are.

What is an Announcement Thread?

An announcement is a special post type that is always displayed at the top of a forum for a configured amount of time. The purpose of an announcement is to increase the visibility of certain topics.

What is a sticky Thread?

A sticky topic causes a post to sort to the top of a forum for a specified amount of time. A sticky topic is similar to an announcement, whereas an announcement is displayed separate from other threads and usually does not allow replies.

What is a Locked Thread?

A locked thread is a special post that does not allow replies. Once an administrator/moderator locks a post no more posts are allowed on that thread.

Can I sort Threads when viewing a forum?

Yes, you can sort threads when viewing a forum by author, replies, views, and last post. The default sort for a forum is to display the newest threads first (Last Post descending). To sort simply click on the options button at the bottom of the screen and select your desired sort order and click 'Apply'.

What is the 'XML' icon at the bottom of a forum?

The XML icon is linked to the RSS feed for the forum. RSS is used to allow other applications to subscribe to a forum's posts.

What is the red/green icon next to a user's name when viewing a Post?

This icon indicates the user's online status. A green icon means the user has been active recently (usually within the last 15 minutes). A red icon means the user has not recently been active. You can hover your mouse over this icon to see details about the user's past activity.

I can't access a forum I know exists.

If you are attempting to access a forum that you have visited before, but now receive an 'unknown forum' error there are two likely causes. The first cause is that the forum you are attempting to access is private and you are not signed in. The second cause is that the forum has been removed.

Posting

Can I use HTML?

Yes and no. You cannot type HTML directly into the editor. If you are using Internet Explorer the default editor for creating new posts will be a Rich Text Editor that will automatically format posts using HTML. If you post with a browser other than Internet Explorer a standard HTML textbox is used and BBCode can be used to mark-up posts.

What is BBCode?

BBCode is a special syntax for formatting plaintext posts.

Can I add attachments to my posts?

Yes, however, this requires the administrator to enable this permission for user's on a forum-by-forum basis.

What are Emoticons?

Emoticons are graphical elements that can be added within the body of a post to add emotions to the post. Common examples are the use of smilies within the contents of a post. The MattMays.com Discussion Board comes with a pre-defined set of emoticons.

How do I post a new message to a forum?

You can post a new message to a forum in several ways. When viewing a forum you should see an image button reading New Post. Clicking on this image button will take you to a form for posting a message, if you are logged in. If you do not see the New Post image button please email us at help@MattMays.com.

How do I reply to an existing post?

You can reply to an existing post using either the Reply or Quote image buttons displayed with the post. If you do not see the Reply or Quote image buttons when viewing a post you either do not have permissions to reply or the post may not allow replies.

How do I edit my posts?

You can edit your own post by selecting the Edit button on your post. Clicking on this image button will allow you to edit your post.

How do I delete my posts?

You can delete your own post by selecting the Delete button next to new posts you have made. If a post you have made has one or more replies you will no longer be able to delete the post.

My Post has words replaced with ***?

Some words are deemed to be offensive on the MattMays.com Discussion Boards. These words will be replaced with the '*' character.

How do I add a signature to my posts?

See the User Profile and Settings section.

How do I add an avatar to my posts?

See the User Profile and Settings section.

Private Messages

What is a Private Message?

A private message is like email within Community Server. You can send a private message to other users within this Community Server site that is visible only to them. No private information, such as the user's email address, is ever disclosed.