![[Home]](/images/btn/mainhome.gif){kind=small}
![[Contribute]](/images/btn/maincontrib.gif){kind=small}
![[Create your own Forum]](/images/btn/maincreate.gif){kind=small}
![[Categories]](/images/btn/maincats.gif){kind=small}
![[Owner Login]](/images/btn/mainowner.gif){kind=small}
![[Search]](/images/btn/mainsearch.gif){kind=small}
![[Exchange]](/images/btn/mainex.gif){kind=small}
![[Help]](/images/btn/mainhelp.gif){kind=small}
![[FAQ]](/images/btn/mainfaq.gif){kind=small}
Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. How do I report forums violating the VoyForums user agreement?
Please contact us from the special form in the VoyForums Exchange which will work well with our highly-organized system! Be sure to include the forum ID #, as well as any other information you think may be helpful to review (specific post numbers/URLs, for instance).
|
2. How do I change my background or text colors?
Beginners should use the General Settings configuration area, where there is a pull-down menu to select a color. Advanced users may wish to enter their color codes by hand in the Advanced User Options -> Display Settings.
3. How can I change the color of the Post Message box?
Normally this is set by selecting a Theme. However, users who consider themselves advanced, or don't mind playing, can set this in the CSS, tables, & borders configuration area.
You can place your HTML in the General Table Settings options -- what you enter here will be placed right in the TABLE tags of the Post box.
You also have the option of using CSS for this -- please load a theme and see how the Global/other -> Post box options are related to the settings loaded into the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) textbox option.
We recommend using the Admin Menu -> Backup & Repairs -> Backup Forum Settings option first, then select a theme and looking at what has been set in the CSS, tables, & borders area. This way you have some examples of usage. You can then Restore Forum Settings and make your changes.
4. Can I put extra space between my threads?
Yes. You can enable the HR lines between threads option in the Display Configuration -- this puts a line between each thread. If you want this line to be blank, set the HTML code for HR lines option to <BR><BR> (also in the Display Configuration area).
There is a special option for forums set to Text-Compact mode. The option is Compact (Text 1) only: whole index as one tree?. If you turn this off, each thread will be in its own heiarchial tree, this usually results in a blank line between threads.
5. Help, everything is centered!
aka Help, everything is bold!
aka Help, the fonts are all messed up!
Usually these problems are caused by one of two things:
- Unclosed HTML tags in your forum configuration (ie. Description, Header, Footer, ...) If you use a tag like <CENTER>, <B>, etc. you must make sure to close it at the end of your text with </CENTER>, </B>, etc.
- Some user has posted some HTML with unclosed tags:
Bad HTML is bad HTML. If a user forgets to close a tag, there's
one trick you can use to help keep your entire forum from being
affected; selecting a Tables theme (using the Theme Selector)
will take advantage of some features of HTML tables -- namely, the
automatic-closing of several types of tags. This can help confine
the user's mistake to their message only.
You can also opt to disallow HTML in your message board. We provide options to choose whether or not HTML may be used in the message, name, and subject -- each one has its own option so you can choose what you want.
Aside from that, there's not much you can do about users' bad HTML, except deleting the message, or maybe put something at the top of your forum letting them know to close any tags they open -- letting them know you may delete their message may get their attention.
6. Can I get rid of the "Post a new message" box at the bottom of my forum?
(...and still get to it from the link that says "Post a New Message"?)
Yes, you can do this by going to Advanced User Options -> Display Settings -> Enable/Disable Display Features -> Display new-post form in indexes? and unchecking the box, then make sure that the option above it Display new post link at top of forum index? is selected.
7. How can I change the font/colors/size of my messages?
Your colors can be set in the General, Advanced, or CSS, tables, & borders config areas. This will affect the background and text on your page.
Additionally, you can place your own HTML code at the very start and end of your page with the HTML start/end options. For example, if you wished to make all the text on your page to a Big Arial/Helvetica font, you could:
<FONT face="Arial,Helvetica" size=+1>Into: Start-of-page HTML
</FONT>Into: End-of-page HTML
This does not affect text within tables in many web-browsers; as such, for forums using tables you may find it necessary to load a theme and customize the Cascading Style Sheet in the CSS, tables, & borders area. This is considered advanced, and may require you to learn a bit about CSS if you do not already understand it.
8. Can I disable the underlining of message subjects?
Message subjects are made into links by VoyForums, so users can click on them to view the full message. In webpages, links are automatically underlined by the web browser. This can't be changed except by using something called a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). Please see the FAQ question on using CSS.
The following stylesheet can be placed in your forum in the
CSS, tables, & borders -> CSS option:
A:link,A:visited,A:active { text-decoration: none }
9. Can I use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)?
Yes. VoyForums provides two ways of doing this, depending on your needs.
If you don't know much about CSS, you should probably read about it at a website like www.HtmlGoodies.com.
Method 1. Place your CSS data into the CSS, tables, & borders page textbox for the purpose -- this will automatically be placed within the proper tags on the page.
Method 2. If you have a .css file on a website and wish to use that, you can simply place the appropriate HTML in the Display Configuration -> HTML <HEAD> content option. The data in this option is placed between the HEAD tags of your forum's pages.
See the FAQ question on disabling underlining for an example of using CSS.
10. Are the alternating and checkerboard table layouts usable?
No. These are marked as "n/a" (not available) because we do not yet provide those methods. We may in the future, but for now it has not been considered as high of importance as other additions and fixes.
|
11. How do I get my own Message Board/Forum?
Getting your own Message Board is EASY. All you have to do is fill out this quick and simple signup form, and you'll have your forum instantly. You'll get a forum ID number, which will be part of the short URL address to your forum. For Example: forum ID Number 35 would be accessible at http://www.voy.com/35/
We intentionally designed our software so that forum URLs are short and memorable for your convenience. Once you've created your forum, you can configure it and access other owner controls at the administration center.
12. Why would I want my own Message Board?
There are many reasons why you may want your own free message board, that's why we put together a whole page to answer this question.
13. Is my Forum Public or can I have it Private?
You can choose to have a private forum if you wish. We allow you to be listed in the Forum Categories only if you want people from the general public to access your forum. You can, however, easily turn this off and not be listed in our directory. Simply go into the General Configuration for forum owners and uncheck this option.
Additionally, we allow read and write password protection options, available in the Owner Login -> Advanced User Options -> Access/Password Security area.
14. Am I under any obligation to pay for my forum?
No, your forum is free. We will not charge you for the use of your forum. However, although we are able to provide this free service with the help of the banner ads at the top of forums, some forum admins have requested us to add an option to remove banners from their forums. Please see the question "Can I remove the banners from my forum?"
15. Once I made my forum, how do I go change things or delete messages?
Use the Owner Login option available as a button on many of VoyForums' pages, and in the pull-down menu in forums. Once you login with your Forum ID and password, you can delete messages in the Message Manager.
16. How do I list my forum in the forum categories?
After logging into the Forum Owner area, select the category manager. Select one or two categories (if you have not already), and enable the option to display your forum in the public forum categories. Then just click the Submit button and you're done.
Upon signup, if you select that your forum may be listed in the forum categories, your forum is automatically entered in the New Forums option. This is the only time you are able to list yourself in the New Forums category.
17. Am I allowed to have more than one message board?
You can have as many as you want! However, please don't create boards you don't intend on using -- If you want to test configurations, there is a special Theme that sets the default forum settings. You can find this option in the Owner Login -> Theme Selector.
18. How do I delete my forum?
You need to login to the Owner Login area; in the lower right hand corner is Rarely-Used Tools, underneath that, third option down, is Delete Forum: Completely remove forum.
19. Do users need to signup before they can post or reply in forums?
No, users can post to any forum. It is up to the Forum Owner if the user needs a password to post, and that password is specific to that forum.
|
20. Why did all my messages move out of my main index?
First, check the Index, Archive, & Message config; make sure your Archive Method is not set to "Index". If it is set to Index, change it to Thread. The Index method moves the entire index to the archives once it gets full, while the Thread method moves individual threads into Archive 1.
Note that once Archive 1 is full, it is moved in its entirety to Archive 2.
Second. If you are already set to the Thread archival method and having this problem, it's probably due to some internal message-summary information being a bit off -- this can be corrected with a rebuild. VoyForums version 2.7 fixes some of these problems to help prevent them from happening in the first place.
21. Why did all my messages move out of my first archive?
While you have the option to move threads out of the main index one by one, or to move the entire index all at once (into the archives), we don't provide this option with the archives themselves. All archives are moved, in entirety, to the next archive, or removed in the case of the last.
See Index, Archive, & Message config.
See also the previous message about messages moving out of the main index.
22. Can I turn off message quoting in replies?
Yes. In the Advanced User Options > Forum Display Options > Enable/Disable Display Features there is an option to disable message quoting. The default is on, so just uncheck it and that's it!
23. Do users have to enter their name and e-mail address when posting?
That is up to the forum administrator. In the Owner Login -> General Configuration we have two options that may be turned on or off:
- Require E-mail address in posts: If this is turned off, users do not need to enter an e-mail address. If they do enter an e-mail address, though, VoyForums checks it to make sure it looks like a valid e-mail address.
- Anonymous Posting: If this is turned on, the entire forum becomes anonymous, so no names are shown. Additionally, new posts have the Name field optional, so users don't need to enter their name. If you turn off anonymous posting, any names are again shown, and names are again required.
24. How do I delete messages?
This is done in the Owner Login -> Message Manager. You can delete, approve, and unapprove messages in that area.
25. How do I limit the number of messages/threads in the message listing?
You can set limits on the number of messages, threads, and/or maximum size of all messages in your main index in the Owner Login -> Archive & Message Limits. When the total number of messages, threads, etc. reaches one of these limits, one or more threads are moved into the first archive. There is more information on this available at the above-mentioned configuration area.
26. Why are replies causing my threads to move around? Can I change this?
VoyForums defaults to having an option Relocate Active Threads set to On. This option is found in the Owner Login -> Enable/Disable Display Features -> Display Configuration and, if turned off, will leave thread positions alone.
You may also wish to look into the Main Index & Archive settings option Expire which threads first? This option allows you to choose if you wish to remove threads by position (Earliest) or based on their modification time (Oldest).
27. Can we ban/block IP addresses or hostnames from posting to our board?
Yes, you can ban from reading and/or writing in your forum based on Hostname or IP. There is extensive help on this at http://www.voy.com/help/banning.html.
28. Can I or my users edit messages (to make spelling corrections, for instance)?
We also do not currently allow editing of messages once they are posted. However, there is a Confirm-Message option that can be selected which will allow a poster to review their message before final posting. The option is available at General -> Message preview/User confirms message before final post?
29. When trying to add posts I'm getting an "Internal Server Error", help!
This is most likely caused by some corruption in your message database. You can try to fix it by using the "Backup & Rebuild Messages" option which makes a backup of your current message database, then tries to clean up any mistakes it can. If you still have a problem, contact us.
30. My forum is moderated, but can I have a group of users whos posts can show without approval?
At the moment, no; although, in the future, we hope to have user logins which would make this possible.
31. Can the forum owner be e-mailed whenever a new message is posted?
We currently do not have this option but it is one we are considering implementing in the future.
32. Is there a way of marking new posts?
VoyForums currently does not have a special feature for this aside from the standard web-browser approach of marking visited links. In a format where users click to visit a message, that message will appear a different color in most browsers. We are working on ideas for special marking, but do not expect to finalize it for a bit.
33. I set my maximum message limits, but I still have way too many messages in my main index, why?
Four main possible reasons:
- Did not rebuild messages after changing settings: After you change your archival maximums, using the Backup & Rebuild Messages option can be used to re-write all of your messages with the new settings. CAREFUL! If you set your limits too low, you can rotate a lot of messages clear out of all archives -- they can, however, be Restored if you just did the backup.
- Confused maximum messages and maximum threads: Remember, a thread can contain many messages, so your message count should always be greater than or equal to your thread count. If you have 35 threads, you definitely have at least 35 messages, and probably more (if you allow replies to messages). As an example of (for?) confusion, a user may set their "maximum threads" to "40", and their maximum message count at "800", thinking they are limiting their main index to 40 messages max. With even 30 threads you may have hundreds of messages, and be surprised, yet you are still really within both limits, so nothing has been archived.
- Corrupt message database: We recommend using the Backup & Rebuild Messages option to correct for any errors in your message storage.
- Bug in VoyForums programming: Sometimes we have a bug show itself in messages not archiving properly. These can sometimes be harmless, and sometimes can make you lose messages.
|
34. What's a "Cookie"? How do I enable them in my browser?
VoyForums uses cookies for the Admin/Owner Login area, for keeping on password-protected forums, and for the Voyager User Accounts.
A cookie is a bit of data a website may store on your computer through your web-browser that allows the web-site to keep track of your settings and other information. Your web-browser can be set to allow or disallow cookies. VoyForums sets a cookie in your browser so you do not have to enter your password in over and over.
We require cookies in the Owner Login, and also use them for forums which have read-passwords (which you can set in Owner Login -> Access/Password Security). If you use write-passwords in your forum, that is, passwords for users to post messages, we allow you to choose whether or not you require your users to have cookies enabled or not. If you turn off "Owner Login -> Access/Password Security -> Use Cookies to store Post-Passwords?, users will need to enter their write-password each time they post a message.
Enabling/Disabling cookies in a browser:
- Explorer 4.x: Start at your browser's pull-down menus: Choose "View -> Internet Options...", pick the "Security" tab, then choose "Custom", then "Settings...". Down in the Security section you can "Always accept cookies" or "Disable all cookie use". You can also set it to ask you each time a site tries to set a cookie on your computer by selecting "Prompt before accepting cookies". Click "OK" when you're done.
- Explorer 5.x: Start at your browser's pull-down menus: Choose "Tools -> Internet Options...", pick the "Security" tab, then choose "Custom Level...", Down in the Cookies section are two options, "Allow cookie that are stored on your computer" and "Allow per-session cookies". If you don't want cookies, disable them both. To allow cookies, enable them both. If you wish to be asked each time a site wants to set a cookie, set them both to "Prompt". Click "OK" when you're done.
- Netscape Navigator 3.x: Start at your browser's pull-down menus: Choose "Options -> Network Preferences...", pick the "Protocols" tab. You can either choose to accept cookies, or show an alert before accepting them -- you can't turn them off completely with Netscape Navigator 3.x. Click "OK" when you're done.
- Netscape Communicator 4.x: Start at your browser's pull-down menus: Choose "Edit -> Preferences...", then pick "Advanced". To enable, select "Accept all cookies" or "Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server". To disable, select "Disable cookie". If you want to be asked before a cookie is set, choose "Warn me before accepting a cookie" in addition to your preference on whether you accept them all, or just those which get sent to the site that made them. Click "OK" when you're done.
35. I have a question that is probably frequently asked, but I don't see it here. What do I do?
Contact us and ask us your question; we'll review it, but we can't guarantee we'll add it here. Thanks for your comments!
36. Can I download or backup my forum?
A tip with VoyForums, if you ever want to backup the messages, which we recommend to do periodically, just set the forum to verbose mode temporarily and then save tthe page under your browser Save As option. You'll need to save each archive seperately. You can then set the format back to what you had. There is also a "Backup Message Database" option in the Owner Login area. This makes a copy of your messages on our system.
37. Searching, how do I do it?
Information on searching can be found at our help page on Searching.
38. Can I put a counter on my forum? Do you provide the counter?
The latest version(s) of VoyForums have support for a daily-updated total of hits, and may soon provide the option of displaying these to users. Additionally, but you can easily put a counter on your page by using one of the many free counter sites on the net. All you have to do is put the counter HTML in any of the Header, Description, or Footer options under General Forum Settings.
39. How do I let people know the rules of my board?
Usually forum admins place their rules in the General Configuration -> Header. This will show right at the top of your forum under the banner.
40. I've seen other forums with emoticons (little pictures) on posts, how do I enable this on my forum?
You can set emoticons at Advanced User Options -> Display Settings -> Emoticon set and choose which set of emoticons you want or turn them off there. You can have either small graphic pictures or textual smiley type ones.
41. Can I place the content of my forum directly on my website's server?
While you can link to your forum, and we provide such dynamic configuration that you can make your forum appear as a natural extension of your homepage/website, your forum must reside on our servers. Our Terms of Service explains the limits in how you can use your forum.
42. In the subject line of messages, what does the NT mean?
It means "No Text" :) It appears when there is no text in the message body.
43. Can I get VoyForums software to run on my own server?
VoyForums is not a simple single-user message-board script, it is a large custom-written integrated server that has had thousands of hours of work put into it. If you are interested in purchasing or leasing our software, please contact us using the special form in the VoyForums Exchange, which can help to speed up our processing and response. Please note that we have had requests for, and will soon be offering, a subscriber-type no ads option for users who wish to remove the banner ads from their forums.
44. How can I get rid of the emoticons next to messages?
You can turn off emoticons by going to Display Settings -> Emoticons and choosing "No emoticons" from the pull down menu.
45. I am being denied access to a forum, what can I do?
Forum Owners can ban users and also implement password protection on their forum. We provide an option to provide a Contact Form link on these pages, but if the Forum Owner has not enabled this option, then sorry, there's nothing we can do.
|
The options on the advanced form are just that, advanced. We decided to offer the extra configurability to those web savvy administrators who desire extra control. It won't matter if you never touch the options there, they are only there in case you want them. The advanced config page allows greater control and more detailed configurability. If you don't understand them, don't sweat it, just leave it alone. The important configurations are in the General Config page, which we have designed to be easy to use by everyone (we hope).
47. How do I add images to my forum?
You may add images to your forum in a couple ways, all of which require you to have an image accessible somewhere on Internet (via a URL like http://somesite/myimage.gif). Please read our Help Section on Images and Links.
48. How do I add links/e-mail links to my forum?
Please read our Help Section on Images and Links.
49. How do I make changes to my forum's configuration?
On the VoyForums Homepage, and many other pages, is a button called "Owner Login" -- this is the way to get to your forum's configuration. You must know your Forum ID and password to login.
Additionally, at the top of each forum is currently a pull-down menu with the Owner Login option available from there as well.
50. How can I show all messages (without needing to click on each individual one)?
You have the option of setting your forum to different Formats under the General Configuration section in the Owner Login area. VoyForums provides four different formats: Super-Compact, Compact, Medium, and Verbose. Each format will display your messages differently. Both Medium and Verbose formats display the full text of the first message in a thread. However, Verbose also displays the full texts of all replies as well, while replies in Medium will be links. So if you want to display ALL your messages including replies on one page, choose Verbose.
51. Can I moderate my board so only messages I approve get on?
Yes, your board can be set to "Moderated". When this option is set, new posts are not visible until they are approved by the Forum Admin. The option can be found under the General Configuration. We have extensive help on this (and other message management) at http://www.voy.com/help/msgman.html.
52. Can you show Hosts/IPs so that we know where the poster originates from?
Yes, we provide an option to display the Hostname and IP address (of the poster of a message) in your forum, visible to all users. This option can be found at Display Settings -> Enable/Disable Display Features -> Show message author's Host/IP. Regardless of this option's setting, a forum owner can always view a poster's Hosts/IPs by entering the Owner Login and viewing the forum in the Message Manager.
53. How can I change the timezone of the time on posts?
You can set your forum's Timezone at Display Settings -> Page Design -> Timezone.
54. Can I disable replies to messages? aka Can I disable the "reply-to" box?
You can turn off replies by going to Owner Login -> Main Index & Archive -> Message Posting Options -> Allow only New Posts in Forum and selecting it. This will allow only new posts to be posted, effectively keeping your forum at one level of messages.
55. Can I put music on my forum?
Yes, you can put a music file on another website and then put the HTML code to use it in your forum's Header or Footer areas. If you wish to do so, you'll need to learn how. We recommend going to a search engine, www.Google.com for example, and searching for "how do I put music on my web page?"
|
56. Can I have my own for-pay banner ads displayed?
VoyForums uses our own ad-serving software and we are fully set-up for targetted banner ads based on the forum subjects. If you are interested in advertising on VoyForums, please Contact Us.
57. Can I remove the banners from my forum?
Many forum owners have requested the option of removing banner ads from their forum for a small fee. We are currently working on a 'no ads' option to satisfy these needs. Please keep watch for the announcement.
58. Can I replace the current banners with my own business's banner(s)?
If your forum is for your own business, we don't mind you placing your own banners on your forum. Regarding replacing our banners with your own, we are trying to cover this idea in our 'no ads' option (see the previous question).
59. Can I place my own commercial banners on my forum?
To support those users who wish to place commercial banners on their forum(s), we have been working on a plan to complement the 'no ads' option where you pay an additional small fee. Please keep a look out for the announcement.
|
60. I lost my password, what do I do?
When you visit the Owner Login area there is link, it says: "If you lost your password, goto the Lost Password Page."
Goto this page and follow the directions there -- it will send you an e-mail with further information.
61. How do I change the password to my forum?
The password for forum administration should be known by you, and only you. You can change it from Owner Login -> Admin Password. You need to know your current password in order to update it. If you forgot your current password, please see the FAQ question "I lost my password, what do I do?"
To limit access to users of your forum you can use password protection. You can set passwords for reading and for writing/posting messages -- both are available at the Owner Login -> Access/Password Security area.
62. I forgot my Forum ID, what do I do?
First off, make sure you know what a Forum ID is. If you see a URL to your forum, it will look like this "http://www.voy.com/forum-id/". The Forum ID is really a number that you will see in place of forum-id. The URL may be followed by some other numbers, but don't let them confuse you -- the Forum ID is the first number after "http://www.voy.com/".
If you forgot your Forum ID, you have a few choices:
- If you kept the mail VoyForums sent to you when you first set up your forum, it has your Forum ID in it.
- If your forum is relatively new, and you allowed your forum to be listed in our Forum Categories, it may still be in the New Forums section.
- If you added your forum to one or more of VoyForums' categories, you may wish to go through the VoyForums Categories looking for your forum in the section(s) you chose.
- Try using the Search to search for some text you have in your forum.
- If all of the above fail along with your memory, feel free to contact us and give us your exact name, email address, and forum name you configured in your forum so we can search through the forum records for your name. Be sure to try the above search and other options before contacting us.
63. I have more than one board, but the Owner Login always takes me to the first ones configuration.
If you're having this problem, use the "Logout" option available on the Forum Administration Menu.
64. I password-protected my forum, but I have too many users and not enough room for the passwords.
You didn't phrase that in the form of a question.
65. I password-protected my forum, but I have too many users and not enough room for the passwords, what do I do?
Well, the limit on the password line is necessary for efficiency as well as size of the forum settings data. Considering forums exist with thousands of users, it is obviously not feasible to provide one password for each, and store that all in your forum. For these reasons, and more, we recommend is to keep a list of users on your own computer (or paper?) and assign them to groups - one password per group. If you ever require changing a password (just to change it, or to deny access to a user), you change it for the whole group, and notify who you want.
|
66. I changed my e-mail address, what do I do?
Update your e-mail address at the Owner Login -> General Forum Settings -> Your e-mail address option.
67. I changed my e-mail address and lost my password, what do I do?
Unfortunately, the only choice here is to contact us, send us confirming information which you signed up with. Include the following in your mail:
- Forum ID
- Your full name
- Zip code (if entered)
- Birthdate
- Old e-mail address
- New e-mail address (it is best if you e-mail us from the new account)
68. Why do I need the trailing slash (/) on the forum address?
See the next question, "What URL/address do I give people to visit my forum?"
69. What URL/address do I give people to visit my forum?
VoyForums message board addresses are in the format:
http://www.voy.com/forum-id/
The forum-id is the number assigned to you when you first created your forum.
As an example, if your Forum ID was number 35, your forum would be accessible at: http://www.voy.com/35/
Remember to put the trailing slash (/) after your Forum ID --
It will improve system quality.
VoyForums used to allow leaving the slash off, and still does, but users
will now get a notice. It is necessary to include the slash for
better system performance -- each time a user goes to a forum
without the slash our system must redirect the user to the page
with the slash. Leaving the slash off causes extra load on
the system. At the time of this writing, over 16% of our forum index
accesses were going to un-slashed pages.
70. Do you have free homepages to store images on?
No, we do not provide free homepages nor space to store images that you can use for your forum. There are many free web-hosting sites on Internet, you will have to look around to find one that suits your needs.
71. Can URLs in messages be made into links so they are clickable?
Not at the current time. However, we do plan that option for the future.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.