ForumCo Administrator Frequently Asked Questions

We have compiled this FAQ so that you may quickly find the answers to your questions. Most of the answers here require you to be logged in as the Administrator of your message board. First time users should also see the Getting Started Tutorial.

If you do not see an answer to your question, please post to the Support Forums before contacting Technical Support.

1. How do I login?
2. How do I change my password?
3. How do I change the ForumCo logo at the top of the page?
4. How do I assign a moderator to a forum?
5. Where is the admin section for my forum?
6. How do I create / edit / lock / delete a new category or forum?
7. How do I edit or delete a category or forum?
8. Instead of my forum I see "Account no longer exists", help!
9. How do I get member ranking (stars) working?
10. Can I do smileys without brackets [ ] ?
11. Can I email all the members of my forum?
12. How do I order categories and forums?
13. Can I add another administrator to my board?
14. Can I have my own background image on my forum?
15. How do I customize the icons / stars on my forums?
16. How do I delete my forum?
17. How do I get rid of the banners on my forum?
18. How do I adjust the width and height of my logo?
19. I want to modify my board, can I have FTP access?
20. How do I get rid of the censorship feature?
21. The path to my logo is correct, but it shows as a broken image! Help!
22. Why do people have to register to post?
23. Can I ban a user?
24. Who is responsible for the content of my forum?

Q. 1. How do I login?
A. When you signed up you should have received a welcome email from us with your username and a random password. The easiest way to login is to select the username in your email program and copy it to your forum. Do the same for your password. If you are sure that they have been entered correctly, press login. If you cannot login, 99% of the time, the reason is because the username or password has been entered incorrectly.

Q. 2. How do I change my password?
A. Go to your forum e.g. http://www.forumco.com/username. Login using your name and your current password. Click "Profile" (top right) and a pop-up window will appear. Your username and password should already be entered, just click "Submit". Near the top of the window, you should see "Password" and "Password Again". Enter your new password in both boxes and click "Submit". Your password should now be changed.

Q. 3. How do I change the ForumCo logo at the top of the page?
A. Its actually quite easy, firstly though your logo must be 170 pixels wide by 58 pixels high and be available on the web. Login as the Administrator. Click "Admin Options" below the "Logout" button. You will have to login to Admin Area again, using the same username and password that you used to login before. After you have successfully logged into the Admin Area, click "Main Forum Configuration". A list of settings for your message board will be displayed. Enter the URL to your image (e.g. http://forumco.com/support/titleimage.gif) where it says "Title Image Location:". Click "Submit New Config" to save the settings. Note: Some free hosting providers do not allow you to link to images on their site (e.g. Spaceports). Even if your path is correct, a broken image will be shown.

Q. 4. How do I assign a moderator to a forum?
A. To assign a moderator you must logged in as the Admin. Click "Members" (top right). A list of your forum members will be displayed. Click the pencil icon on the very right of the member you wish to make into a moderator. A pop-up window will appear with your username and password already filled in, just click "Submit". At the bottom where it says "Member Level:", change this to "Moderator" and click "Submit". Click "Admin Options", then "Moderator Setup". A list of forums that you can assign moderators to will be displayed. Select the required forum by clicking on it. A list of available moderators will be displayed. Select the moderator you wish to assign to the forum. You must click the words "Click Here" to finish the process. Clicking again will remove the moderator from that forum.

Q. 5. Where is the admin section for my forum?
A. When you login as the Administrator, "Admin Options" will appear below the "Logout" button. Click this link to proceed to the Admin Area. This link is hidden to all other users. You may have to login to the Admin Area using the same username and password you use to login to the main forum.

Q. 6. How do I create / edit / lock / delete a new category or forum?
A. You must be logged in as the Administrator to create, edit, delete or lock a category or forum. When you login, on the right hand side of the main page of your forum you will see a series of icons;

Create -

Edit -

Lock -

Delete -

Click on the relevant icon. The following steps are straight forward.

Q. 7. How do I edit or delete a category or forum?
A. You must be logged in as the Administrator to edit or delete category or forum. When you login, on the right hand side of the main page of your forum you will see a series of icons;

Create -

Edit -

Lock -

Delete -

Click the appropriate icon to create or delete a forum or category.

Q. 8. Instead of my forum I see "Account no longer exists", help!
A. If you see this message, instead of your forum, your account has been deleted for violating our Terms and Conditions. It is not possible to sign up again using the same username and email address. You have been permanently banned from using our services. Go away.

Q. 9. How do I get member ranking (stars) working?
A. Login as the administrator. Click "Admin Options", then click "Ranking Configuration". There are four options to choose from, None, Rank Only, Stars Only and Rank & Stars. Ranking shows the Member Title (e.g. Starting Member, Senior Member, etc.). The number of stars and color are shown according to the particular members rank. Note: A Starting Member will not have any stars unless you reduce the default value (50) for "Member Level 1 Name:" to 1.

Q. 10. Can I do smileys without brackets [ ] ?
A. Yes. The forums at ForumCo allow you to use both text and image smileys in your posts. Typing :-) will result in :-) while typing [:)] will result in .

Q. 11. Can I email all the members of my forum?
A. Yes, in the Admin Area you may email all the registered users of your forum.

Q. 12. How do I order categories and forums?
A. Categories and forums are ordered alphabetically. We recommend that you either name your forums and categories very cleverly or put numbers before each forum or category, take a look at these examples

Q. 13. Can I add another administrator to my board?
A. Yes. Before you add an administrator to your message board, make sure that you trust them completely. Administrators have total control over your message board and have the ability to remove every post, forum and category on your board. Only grant this permission to a member of your forum if you really have to. Start by logging in as the administrator, then click "Members". On the very right of the member you wish to make an administrator, click the pencil icon. A pop-up window will appear with your username and password already entered, just click "Submit". At the bottom of the window, change the users status to "Administrator" and click "Submit".

Q. 14. Can I have my own background image on my forum?
A. At present this feature is not supported, however it may be supported in the future.

Q. 15. How do I customize the icons / stars on my forums?
A. At present this feature is not supported, it is doubtful that it will be supported in the future.

Q. 16. How do I delete my forum?
A. To delete your forum, you must email us from the email address that you signed up with us. You must request that your account be deleted and include your username, password that you received in your welcome email and optionally the reason you would like your forum deleted. We're sorry to see you go, but please feel free to signup if ever you need to use our services again.

Q. 17. How do I get rid of the banners on my forum?
A. You must upgrade to banner free. You can find out more about our banner free options here.

Q. 18. How do I adjust the width and height of my logo?
A. Your logo will be displayed as is. The forum software does not resize your logo image.

Q. 19. I want to modify my board, can I have FTP access?
A. We do not provide website hosting and as such, do not provide FTP Accounts to our members. If you would like to host a forum on your own website, we recommend that you download the Snitz forum available at http://forum.snitz.com. Note: You must have a Windows NT hosting account. We recommend Tealnet Hosting.

Q. 20. How do I get rid of the censorship feature?
A. Due to constant abuse, we have removed this feature.

Q. 21. The path to my logo is correct, but it shows as a broken image! Help!
A. Some website hosting companies install software on their servers that prevent bandwidth theft. If you upload your logo to one of these providers, the logo will show as a broken image. The only solution is to upload your logo image to a provider without these restrictions.

Q. 22. Why do people have to register to post?
A. As the forum owner you are responsible for the content on your forums. If your message board contains illegal material such as, but not limited to warez, crackz, serialz, copyrighted material, illegal material of any kind or libelous remarks, you risk account deletion without notice and the possibility of being sued. ForumCo take no responsibility for the content of its members message board. Asking members to register and agree to our Terms and Conditions is for both your protection and ours. Anonymous posting to members discussion forums at ForumCo.com is strictly prohibited.

Q. 23. Can I ban a user?
A. There is no foolproof way to ban a user, either by i.p. address or by any other means. We find that the best way to treat a troublesome member of your forums is to either delete their posts or ignore them completely. You may also delete their account which would make them have to register everytime they post.

Q. 24. Who is responsible for the content of my forum?
A. If you registered for a forum at ForumCo.com, then you are responsible for the content of that forum. ForumCo accept no liability for the content of any of its forums. While we advocate free speech, we will not tolerate abuse of this priviledge.

This Faq was last updated 16th October, 2000. If you find a mistake, please let us know by sending us an email.