Using Your Bulletin Boards

The following are some brief instructions to get you started using the message boards.

Posting a New Message

To post a new message to your bulletin board:

1. From the bulletin board's message index (the board's main page), scroll down to the section titled Post a New Message.
2. Enter your name, e-mail address, and a subject for your message.
3. In the Message box, type your message.
4. If you want to be able to delete the message later, type a password in the Password field (the board's administrator will always be able to delete messages, regarldless of whether or not a password was set).
5. If you'd like to see what your message will look like before sending it, scroll down and click the Preview Message button. To post your message, click the Post Message button.

You should see a message reporting that your message has been posted. Click Return to the Message Index to go back to the the board's main page.

Reading a Message

The first section on the board's main page is the Message Index, which contains a list of all of the threads on the bulletin board. To begin reading a thread, simply click the thread title. To see the next message in the thread, either sc roll down to the Responses section of the page and click a message title, or click the Next in Thread link at the top of the page.

Responding to a Message

Responding to a message is similar to posting a new message, but instead of posting from the board's main page, you first click the title of the message you want to respond to. When the message is on the screen, scroll down to the Post a New Respo nse section of the page. Fill in your name, e-mail address, and subject line, then click the Preview Message or the Post Message button.

Deleting a Message

If you gave your message a password when you posted it, you will be able to delete it. To do so, view the message by clicking on its title on the main bulletin board page. While viewing the message, scroll to the bottom of the page, enter your password in the password field, and click Delete Message.

Changing Preferences

You can set preferences for how you would like the message index (main bulletin board page) to be displayed. To set these options, click Search/Personalize Display at the top of the me ssage index page. In addition to choosing the type of message index display, you can filter the entri es you'd like to see in the message index by date and by keywords.

Subscribing for E-mail Notification

You can receive automatic notification every time a new message is posted to the bulletin board. To set up the notification:

1. Scroll to the bottom of the main message index
2. In the Subscribe section of the page, type your e-mail address
3. Click the Add Address to List button, then the Send Address button.

To remove your name from the automatic notification list, follow the same procedures, but click the Delete Address From List button before clicking the Send Address button.