Forums

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Screenshot of the TWUUG Forums (early version). Click for larger view.

Contents

Background

The TWUUG "Forums" is an online discussion board that contains several "forums". The purpose of the forums is to enable TWUUG users to post questions or useful information and get responses from other members. It is similar to a mailing list in many ways, but far more advanced in many other ways. See this page for comparisons: Forum vs. List. In late 2013, the Forums replaced the older TWUUG mailing lists.

Unlike many web-based forums, the TWUUG Forums is specifically configured to maximize privacy and enhance notification options. TWUUG Forums is a closed site and requires that you register before you can read or post to the board. 100% of the content is hosted by TWUUG with local storage. Web crawlers cannot get to the messages, so the content will not be seen on Google or other search indexes. If you want to participate in a public/non-private forum, there are plenty available. Linux Questions is a good example of a public forum.

You can go to the TWUUG Forums with this link: http://www.twuug.org/forums

The forum software keeps track of your settings and what you have read on the server, so you can quickly tell what is “new” to you. It also has options to keep you "logged in" so browsing and replying is easy.

Registering

You can register for the forums on your own, without asking or seeking approval or moderation. Go to the forum site and click on “registration.” You will be required to select a user name, supply a valid Email address, and enter your full name and a few other pieces of demographic information. You also have to choose a password. Do not use the exact same password on the forums as you use on any other system.

Entering your full (real) name is actually optional. You do have to put something in the field, and others on the closed forum can see your full name field contents. Although it is not required, we strongly encourage people to use their real full names in the full name field and also select a user name that represents one's actual name.

After entering the above data, you have to answer a few anti-spambot challenge questions to prove you are a human, and then a verification Email will be sent to you. In that Email is a link to click on that will validate your account and then you can start using the forums!

Interaction

During the login process, you can select the "Log me on automatically each visit" check box/function so you don't have to ever login again from that browser on that machine (unless you purge cookies). It is strongly recommended that you learn how the notifications and subscriptions work. Visit this page for more information: Forum Notifications

Then you can go to the User Control Panel and explore or change your settings (like setting an Avatar graphic, for example). (Please note, animated graphics are not allowed on the Forums and will be deleted).

Once registered, you can interact with the forums in several convenient ways:

Check out our Forum topics page for tips before posting.

FAQ's

Visit our Forum FAQs page for answers to frequently asked questions.

More Info/See Also

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