BEBRF Blepharospasm Bulletin Board FAQ
Updated February, 2009

1. I can read messages on the bulletin board but when I click on the "Post Message" link, I get a "Login Blepharospasm Bulletin Board" screen. What has this got to do with posting?
2. What does the "register" link mean?
3. Why do I have to register?
4. What is involved in the registration process?
5. I regret having posted a particular message or I would like it changed. What can I do?
6. How do I send a private e-mail message to someone who has posted to the bulletin board?
7. Can I add a link to my post?
8. What do the five fields at the bottom of the "Post Message" form mean?
9. Can I include an image in my post?
10. When I post a followup, should I include all or part of the message I am responding to?
11. Each time I return to the bulletin board, all of the messages show as not having been visited (read).
12. How do I print messages?
13. How do I save messages?
14. How do I make the messages display in larger characters?
15. I don't like the colors of the bulletin board (background, text, unvisited links, visited links)

QUESTION: I can read messages on the bulletin board but when I click on the "Post Message" link, I get a "Login Blepharospasm Bulletin Board" screen. What has this got to do with posting?

ANSWER: The software has been configured such that anyone can read posted messages but only persons who have registered can post messages. A registered user must login each time he/she visits the board and wishes to post a message or followup. A user only has to login once per session, even if he/she wishes to post more than one message.

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QUESTION: What does the "Register" link mean?

ANSWER: This link takes you to a form where you enter a login name and a password which you will use in future when you wish to post messages. Although anyone can read messages on the bulletin board, only those who have registered (Click on the "Register link" and follow instructions) can post messages.

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QUESTION: Why do I have to register?

ANSWER: The principal reason is to allow postings on the Board to be moderated. The system has been configured such that persons who feel the need to post anonymously can do so provided that the Bulletin Board rules are followed. The moderator's role is to ensure these rules are followed and for that reason may need to contact anonymous posters if unacceptable material is posted.

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QUESTION: What is involved in the registration process?

ANSWER: When you go to the new board for the first time (link below), click on the "Register" link on the top or bottom navigation bar. Fill in the form and click on the "Submit" button. Note that in the "Name" field you do not have to enter your real or full name if you would prefer not to. However, you must enter your real e-mail address because part of the registration process involves responding to an e-mail sent to that address. The information on this form cannot be viewed by other users but it can be viewed by the moderators.

It is possible to register under more than one name but if you do so, your aliases will show in your posts.

Note that you do not have to include your e-mail address when posting if you would rather not.

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QUESTION: I regret having posted a particular message or I would like it changed? What do I do?

ANSWER: Find the message you want to alter on the main page. Click on your name within that entry. This will open the message. You can then delete the message or alter the content of the "Subject" or "Message" fields. If you alter the message, a note will be added at the bottom "--modified by your name at date and time". If the message were modified by a moderator, the moderator's name would show in place of "your name".

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QUESTION: How do I send a private e-mail message to someone who has posted to the bulletin board?

ANSWER: Open a message posted by the person you wish to e-mail. If the person has included his/her e-mail address (i.e., if he/she is willing to allow others to contact him/her by e-mail), his/her name will show colored as a link. If you click on this, an e-mail message addressed to the person will open (provided that your browser is appropriately configured). If it is not possible to configure your browser to start an e-mail message automatically in this fashion, you should see the e-mail address in the browser's toolbar when you put the mouse over the link. In that case, copy the address and use it in your regular e-mail program. If the name of the person you want to post is not colored as a link inside the message, it means that he/she did not include his/her e-mail address.

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QUESTION: Can I add a link to my post?

ANSWER: Yes. Go to the bottom of the "Post Message" form. In the field labelled "Link URL", type in the URL of the link. In the field titled "Link Title", type in the name of the link. When the message is posted, what you typed in the "Link Title" field will appear as a link. You can also include a link in the body of your message which people can copy into a browser. This is the way to include more than one link in a message.

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QUESTION: What do the five fields at the bottom of the "Post Message" form mean?

ANSWER: The first two are for adding links to a web page or image. The last three allow you to upload images or PDF documents from your computer. See the FAQ above, "Can I add a link to my post?" and the FAQ below, "Can I include an image in my post?"

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QUESTION: Can I include an image in my post?

1. If the image is already on a server somewhere on the Internet, you can simply type the URL for it in the "Image URL" field at the bottom of the "Post Message" form.

2. If the image is not already on the Internet and if you have it on your computer, you can upload it to the bulletin board server as part of your message (much like attaching a file to an e-mail message). Use the Browse button beside the "Attachment (<200 kb)" field to locate the image file and click "Open" to attach it. Note that image files should be in GIF or JPG format. They must be less than 200 kb in size. If you want people to be able to view an image file without scrolling, the dimensions should be less than about 700 x 400 pixels (for an 800 x 600 display).

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QUESTION: When I post a followup, should I include all or part of the message I am responding to?

ANSWER: In general, no. The original is only a click away, and it is often true that the context of the response is clear on its own. But if you are commenting on a particular element of a prior posting, you can copy and paste that into your response.

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QUESTION: Each time I return to the bulletin board, all of the messages show as not having been visited (read).

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QUESTION: How do I print messages?

ANSWER: If you want to print a message on the bulletin board, you can use the print function in your browser (In most browsers: File > Print). This will print the web page as you see it on your screen. You can achieve the same result by holding down the control key and P at the same time. Alternatively, you can use your mouse to select the text that you want to print, paste it into your wordprocessor and print from that.

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QUESTION: How do I save messages?

ANSWER:The process is very similar to that for printing messages. (In most browsers: File > Save As). Using the key pad, the equivalent is Ctrl S in Firefox. This will give an option to save in web page format. If you do that and later open the message, it will open in your browser and the links will be live to other messages in the message thread. If you are online, the links will open. Be aware that the links will no longer work once the thread has been archived, which occurs every few months.

Alternatively, from within any message you can select the text, paste it in a word processor and save it from there.

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QUESTION: How do I make the messages display in larger characters?

ANSWER: In most browsers, you can increase the size of the font in which pages display. This varies between versions of a browser, so yours might be slightly different. There are two main methods: temporarily increasing or decreasing font size, or more permanently changing the default font size in your browser.

• On Windows using Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari: Type Ctrl+ or Ctrl- together to change font size.
• Alternatively in Windows, holding the Ctrl key and rolling the mouse roller up and down changes font size. This applies for many other programs, not just a browser.
• On an Apple Mac, using the Command key with + or - changes font sizes for all windows.
• Also in Internet Explorer: use View > Text Size (This is also available via the Zoom In/Zoom Out menu in the lower right hand side of the browser window)
• Also in Firefox, use View > Zoom

In most browsers you can also change the font size as a more permanent setting. How to do this varies widely between browsers, so the simplest approach is to click on the browser's Help menu and enter the question "font size"

Note that none of the above methods will change the size of text in the browsers' menus. The only simple solution is to decrease your monitor's screen resolution (e.g., 1600x1200 to 1024x768 or even 800x600). In Windows XP, go: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Settings > Screen Resolution. One problem with this approach is that most LCD monitors are designed to function optimally at one resolution - in the case of newer models, usually a very high resolution. This an argument for sticking with a CRT monitor as they tend to function equally well over a range of resolutions.

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QUESTION: I don't like the colors of the bulletin board (background, text, unvisited [unread] links, visited [read] links)

ANSWER: The background color (the white part of the page), and the Unvisited and Visited link colors are whatever your browser specifies. Note that you cannot set the color of the navigator bar nor the individual message link backgrounds. You can change from your browser's default colors as follows (again, this will vary between releases of a browser, so yours may be slightly different):

• In Firefox
  Tools > Options > Content > Colors
• In Internet Explorer
  Tools > Internet Options > Colors

Making this change using Safari on a Mac is far more complicated, using things called custom style sheets, and will not be dealt with here

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