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The RCA Web Based Forum is maintained by the
Rose City Astronomers as a virtual gathering place for our members to
share information and conversation with other members about our passion
- ASTRONOMY. It is also used by the club officers to keep members
informed about star parties, meetings and other club news and business -
and all members are strongly encouraged to register on the Forum.
It is set up so that only registered RCA members can
view the forum, start new topics,
or reply to posts on the Forum. For
information about joining the RCA,
go to Membership.
This Forum is highly customizable
to suit a users interests and desire for monitoring Forum activity. On
one extreme, you can receive a personal email notifying you of every new
topic started and an email with the text of every reply posted in every
topic. Or, you can turn off any or all these notifications and choose to
find out what's being discussed by visiting the Forum.
RCA Forum will allow any RCA
member
find out about last minute star parties, view current topics, and
observe the communications of RCA members on the Forum. You must sign up for the RCA Forum in order to observe the posts on any of the
topics in the Forum, send messages to the Forum, or receive
notifications about RCA news bulletins about club activities.
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To Sign up for the RCA Members
Only Forum:
The RCA Forum is a benefit of membership and only RCA members can sign up and
view, or post messages on
the forum. Email addresses can only seen by other RCA
members.
If you wish to sign up for the RCA Forum, send a message
to the
Forum Administrators and include a
login name, your real name and email address. Once your membership has
been checked you will receive a message from the Forum. You must respond
to the activation message and change your password.
........Note: You can change your email
address later if you wish.
Note: we do not give out
email addresses nor are they visible on the Forum to anyone other than
RCA Members. It is possible to set your email address to 'hidden' by
setting the correct Profile option so that other RCA members don't see
it either (see below).
You will receive a message at the email address you
entered which will let you know that we have your correct email address and
that your registration request has been accepted and it will include an
activation link to you need to respond to in order to confirm your email
address and finalize your registration on the RCA Forum.
Note: Don't forget to change you password at this time also.
We've had to change the process of registration on the
forum due to an extreme number of spammers attempting to gain access to
the forum.
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Layout of the RCA Web Based Forum
The RCA Forum is made up of several
CATEGORIES
established by the Forum Administrators
(think file cabinets).
In each Category, there are several
BOARDS for discussion about
a more specific subject
(think file drawers).
In each Board, are
TOPICS that are unique
to a particular question or information (think file folders).
Any
POST
to a Topic starts a "thread" of related posts on that
topic subject (think memos).
A good place to start your first foray to the
Forum is to look within the Category 'Welcome' at
the Board 'How To Use This Forum" and check out
all of the Topics in that Board.
Quick Start Guides on 'How to Use This
Forum' HERE.
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Easiest way to find the latest posts on the Forum
When you go to the Forum at the bottom
of the HOME page in the "RCA Forum - Info Center"
there is a link under the "Forum Stats" the allows you
to "View the most recent posts on the forum".
Note: When you first log into the Forum at the top of the
page is a link to "Show unread posts since last visit".
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Want to be 'Notified" of new topics, posts, or replies
to your post?
When you are looking at a board, topic, or post on
the Forum - at the extreme right-hand side of the screen just under
the RCA artwork is the option to turn on or turn off [NOTIFY]. Turning
it on when you are looking at a board will notify when a new topic is
started.
...Turning it on when you are looking at a
topic will notify you when a new post occurs.
You can't hurt anything, and can always go back and
reset your options at any time.
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NOTE: if you wish to receive an email with the actual text of any posting in any
area that you have
set [NOTIFY], go to [PROFILE] (see below) and then
'Notifications and Email' and click on the third
box down that says 'When sending notification of a reply to a topic,
send the post in the email'. This will give you the text of the post
without having to go to the Forum to read it. Of course, you will still
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Want Just the RCA News Broadcasts? (Meeting
announcements, Star Party announcements, Special RCA Function
announcements)
Not interested in the Forum and just want the RCA
Announcements of RCA Club Activities? Sign up for the Forum but don't set
'NOTIFY" on any Category, Board or Topic (the default is already
NOT to be
'Notified'). You will receive only the special RCA Club Announcements (only a
few a month). You can still go at any time to the Forum and read all
of the messages any time you wish. We strongly all RCA members to
signup for the Forum as it is our only means of communications for
RCA Club Announcements.
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Want to change your
password?
Want to add your website location?
Want to hide your email address?
Want to add an avatar (small picture of you on your
profile and posts)?
Want to change the options on how you look at the
Forum, preferences, layout, notifications, and /or receive text inside
your notification messages, etc?
Log into the Forum and click on the [PROFILE]
button at the top of the page.
This is where you can Modify any of your Profile
settings.
You can add an avatar picture (a small picture of you
and/or your scope or whatever) also (65 pixels x 65
pixels).
You can't hurt anything, and can always go back and
reset your options at any time.
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Forgot your password?
When you go to log into the RCA Forum, at the very
BOTTOM of the Login page is a link to "Forgot your Password?"
That will take you to a page that will ask for either your login name or
email address. Enter either one and click on the [Send] button.
An email will be sent to the email address on record. That email will have a link to allow you to set a new
password.
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Personal Messages?
Email addresses are only seen by other RCA members.
Want to send a message to just one person, or a
couple of people? At the top of all the pages is a button for [MY
MESSAGES]. This will take you to the mail portion of the Forum
where you can receive and send personal messages without the whole
world seeing your message. It will also allow you to search for any
RCA member that is signed up for the Forum and send them a PM (Private
Message) {another good reason for all RCA members to sign up for the
Forum}. They will receive an email notification that there is a PM for
them on the Forum PM area.
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Want to find an old message?
There is a [SEARCH]
button at the top of every page that will allow you to search all the
posts on the Forum for any keywords.
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Need Help?
At the top of each page is a [HELP] button that will
give you an extensive help file on the various functions of the Forum.
Still have questions? There is a Forum Feedback topic under the
category General Discussion where you can ask questions and post your
observations about the Forum.
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Still having problems?
Contact the Forum Administrators
- David or Larry |
