This is MHL's FAQ section for general forum use. Please consult these first if you are having any forum trouble, and result to PMing a member of staff if you still require help!
Last updated: 14th April 2013
TOPICS
How To Use The Forum
Logging In And Registration
Usergroups And Levels
Private Messaging
How To Use The Forum
1.What is an avatar? An avatar is a picture that you can have on your account within the forum, which represents you (i.e. a favourite TV character, or a horse you ride: something nice that is associated with you). Avatars show up every time you make a post, and they are directly under your username. They also help distinguish who the member is, without necessarily having to look at the username!
2.How do I upload an avatar?
Profile> Edit profile> from here, there is an area where you can use your own avatar, you will need an image hosting site, and the URL of your image. You can also upload your own avatar from your computer.You can however create your own Avatar using the new Proboard's feature. This is where you can make yourself!
3.What is the biggest size my avatar can be?
Within this forum, The image size that is recommended is 150x150 pixels. This is so the forum is not distorted if anyone has massive images. Avatars uploaded from your computer are to be no bigger than 1MB in size. If you need to resize your avatar but do not know how, please send a private message to admin and they can help you or create a post on the forum.
4.What is a signature?
A signature is what goes under posts that you make within the forum. You can put writing or images in this area. They also help to distinguish who the member is, without necessarily looking at the username!
5.How do I get a signature?
Profile> Edit profile> on the page, and you will see a tab that says ‘Personal’ and in this section there is an area where it then says ‘signature’. In the box next to this, you can put writing or images. For images, you will need an image hosting site, and you need to use the IMG code.
6.What is the biggest size my signature can be?
For this forum, the maximum size we allow for signatures is 500x200 pixels, and this includes everything within the space. This is because if signatures are too big, then they can dominate most of the forum, and with the size limit of 500x200 in place, it is big enough for people to see, and small enough for it to look good and not overpower forum information. If you are unsure on how big your signature is, please send a private message to one of the admin team and they can help you.
7.How do I put pictures onto forums?
You will need an image hosting site such as photobucket.com for this. To post images onto the forum, you need to paste the IMG code of the image into your message once it is uploaded onto the image hosting site. This example by EG was taken from photobucket, and it makes it much clearer on what codes you should use:
The HTML and Email codes that Photobucket also lists are very rarely useful on here and so can be safely disregarded.
You can also use Flickr but just make sure that you use the BBCode rather than the HTML one.
Flickr is free but once you upload over 100 photos, you will need to upgrade to a paid account in order to see all your photos. (They are all still online, just not visible - paid accounts are very good value if you take a lot of photos and want to keep them somewhere safe). Photobucket is completely free.
8.What are image hosting sites?
These are websites that you can create accounts on and upload photos to them. The website then becomes the storage area or 'host' for the images. By doing this, you can then use the codes given to directly link the photos and post them into your message as an image or alternatively (and often a good idea if you're posting a lot!) to provide clickable links to the images themselves. Image hosting websites include Webshots, Photobucket, Tinypic and many more.
9.What is karma?
MHL has recently upgraded to the newer forum version and so at this point in time there is no karma feature
10.I don’t want to take part in the karma system, can I turn it off?
Please see the answer to question 9.
11. How do I change my username?
Profile> Edit profile> Personal tab, the first section on this page is where you can change the display name on the forum.
Logging In And Registration
1. Why do I need to register?
We like all of our members to register before posting to ensure the safety of our members. Besides, being part of the forum community enables you to private message people, have avatars and signatures , and talk to friendly people. It doesn’t take too long to do and it is recommended!
2.Why isn’t my account activated?
When making an account, make sure that the email address you use is safe and valid. Sometimes emails from MHL are seen as junk mail, and can go into your junk email folder. If you still haven’t received an email through, try registering again with a different email address. Sometimes, in regards to email settings, if your settings on your email account are that it automatically deletes junk mail, then this may be why you never receive your confirmation email.
3.I’ve registered, but I can’t log in?
Firstly, check that you have received the activation email given. You may also not be able to log in and post right away because your account needs to go through Admin’s pending requests first. You will be accepted and checked before you can post. Please remember that Admin are not online all hours of the day, so it can take from one second to a day or two for your account to be accepted. You could also have misspelt your username or password, so check that they are correct. If you are a member of the forum already and cannot get in and you changed your display name, remember that you cannot log in with your display name, only with what you registered as.
4.I registered ages ago, and I can’t log in anymore?
First of all, did you ever make any posts on the forum discussions? For as part of the rules of this forum, if you made an account but did not post and were inactive for six months, then your account is deleted. This is for the members’ protection and to prevent unused accounts getting hacked into etc. Please also make sure that your log in username and password are correct. If you have forgotten, request that a new password be sent to you via email. If all else fails, register again and admin can either try and retrieve your old account details, or make sure your old account is deleted.
5.How do I make my username invisible to other users?
Profile> Edit profile> Privacy tab. from here, there is a section that says 'invisible' where you can alter your preference.
Usergroups And Levels
1.What is an Administrator?
Administrators (or admin for short) are those with the biggest control over the forum. Their controls include setting permissions for members, accepting accounts, banning users and controlling other user groups. They have all of the moderating powers.
2.What is a Moderator?
Moderators (or mods for short) are those that are second in command, and help with controlling the boards and act as back-up for the admin. They moderate the boards daily and help keep everything in order and on track.
3.What is a Usergroup?
Usergroups are a way in which admin can group people. For example, on MHL, there are the Administrators , Moderators and Members. Usergroups help differentiate the features that people have within the forum.
Private Messaging
1.I am receiving messages from someone that I don’t want to. How do I stop this?
First of all, if the messages are rude or nasty, you must inform the administrators as so they can put a stop to it. If you don’t want these people contacting you, you can block the member in question by going to your profile and clicking on the privacy tab. There is an optional block list at the bottom.
2.I want to send a private message but I can’t?
First of all, check that you have the correct username of the member you wish to send the message to. Please make sure that it is their username and not their display name. If problems still persist then please consult Admin.