4degreez.com Members FAQ
General Questions:
How do I make a profile?
Can anyone else use my user name?
What's the deal with the icons?
Can I use my own home-made icon?
What's the deal with the member status?
Do you give out my e-mail address?
Can I change my e-mail address or my password?
Is there a behavior policy I'm supposed to follow?
How do I send/receive private messages?
Can I change my username?
Is there a limit to how many private messages I can have?
Can I terminate my membership?
Why are some people's profiles gold?
Why are there ad banners?
Board Questions:
I'm new to this, how do I use the boards?
Is HTML allowed on the boards?
How do I make those smiley faces?
Where are the "name" and "e-mail" fields?
How do the Chat Boards work?
How do I make a profile?
It's easy. Just click on "Options" in the lower left frame. On the Options page is a link to update your profile. Click on that, and you can fill in fields such as "hobbies", "age", "quote", etc.
Can anyone else use my user name?
No. No one but you can use your user name (unless you give someone your password). No one else can see your private messages either, for that matter. And no one can impersonate you by creating a user name with a variation in capitalization. That is, if the name "anne" is already in use, a person cannot create "Anne".
What's the deal with the icons?
Every 4degreez.com member can select an icon. This icon will be posted along with your messages on the chat boards and other interactive sections. The icon you choose helps display your personality. You can change your icon at any time and as many times as you want. If you are not happy with the icon selection, keep in mind that new ones will be periodically added.
Can I use my own home-made icon?
Not at this time. This feature may be available sometime in the future.
What's the deal with the member status?
4degreez.com members are divided into four levels of status. When you first join, you are at regular status. If you've remained a regular member for approximately one month, your account is automatically upgraded to bronze status. There are also silver and gold status, though they can only be granted by the webmaster. The reason for different levels of status is simple: It's part reward system, part security system. Higher levels of status have access to more areas of 4degreez.com. For instance, bronze members can submit poetry and submit member jokes. Silver members can submit reviews. In general, the status system isn't a very big deal. You probably won't even notice the differences.
Do you give out my e-mail address?
Of course not! Your e-mail address is kept private. We have no interest in giving it out or selling it to anyone.
Can I change my e-mail address or my password?
Yes. Click on "Change Info" on the options page.
Is there a behavior policy I'm supposed to follow?
Yes, there is a behavior policy that you are supposed to follow. Please click here to view the 4degreez.com Terms of Use for this site. There are no moderators or watchdogs looking to bust people, but you still must play by the rules.
How do I send/receive private messages?
To send a private message to someone, you click on "send private message" under their name in one of their posts. When someone wants to send you a private message, they will do the same thing. Another system for sending private messages is coming soon. To check your private messages, click on (drum roll) "Check Private Messages", which is found in the lower left frame.
Can I change my username?
Not yet. This feature will come sometime in the future.
Is there a limit to how many private messages I can have?
Yes. You can only have up to 50 private messages on your account. When you exceed 50, the oldest ones will be deleted. You are encouraged to delete old messages on a regular basis anyway.
Can I terminate my membership?
Yes. Click here to do so.
Why are some people's profiles gold?
Those people have a gold account at 4degreez.com. Members with higher status accounts have special privilages. Only the 4degreez.com webmaster can upgrade your account to gold (or any other status). You may not request an upgrade. The webmaster will do so upon his discretion.
Why are there ad banners?
This site displays ad banners (such as the one below) at various locations throughout the system.
Click Here to Visit our Sponsor
This is because this site, like many other fine sites, has to pay for it's server space. If no one clicked on any ads, this site (just like other sites) would be forced to close. This site provides you with membership and various features free of charge. However, we urge you to support our sponsors. Many offer free or low-cost services and products, so they are well-worth your attention. Only visit them if you seriously intend to check out what they offer, however. This site does not encourage its members to click on ads unless they are interested in what the ads offer.
I'm new to this, how do I use the boards?
I'll try to sum it up for you. Once you sign in and go to the boards section, you can visit various message boards, either by clicking on their link on the main page or by clicking their link over on the left side menu (which is there for easy navigation from board to board). Once you are at a board, you see a list of links. These links are messages that other members have posted. Some of them are posted one after another; this is called a thread. When anyone posts a response to an existing post, it gets tacked on under and to the right of the previous post. You can also post a new message of your own by clicking on the "post message" link near the top of each board. Whenever you post a message, it becomes visible to anyone who visits the board after you. They can post their own responses to your post. Later, when you come back, you can check to see if anyone responded to your post. This back-and-forth message-posting is how the boards work.
Is HTML allowed on the boards?
Yup. =)
How do I make those smiley faces?
You may have seen posts with little smiley faces. The way to make them is to put their code in your message and then check the "Format Smileys" checkbox which is right above the Submit button. Their code can be found by clicking on the "What's this?" link next to the Format Smileys checkbox. Clicking this link will make a small window pop up which contains the codes for the 8 different faces.
Where are the "name" and "e-mail" fields?
If you are used to traditional wwwboard-style message boards, then you instantly recognized these boards as such. The only difference is that some fields have been left out. The "name" field is gone because each board automatically "knows" your name anyway. The e-mail field was left out mainly because instead of linking your name (in your posts) to your e-mail address, the boards link it to your profile. Also- the optional image field is gone as well. But since HTML is allowed, you can put whatever you want inside your posts.
How do the Chat Boards work?
The Chat Boards currently take over 70 files to run. The software consists of a set of scripts written in Miva that run off of a TierraNet server (I wish I ran my own server). Unlike Java, none of the code gets sent to your computer. Your computer only sees the HTML that the scripts send.
When you first register a username and password, an account is created automatically. What this means is, there is a members database that stores information such as username, password, e-mail address, last time you signed in, etc., and you get added to that, complete with your own Boards ID # (which you never see since knowing it is not necessary, but your Boards ID is one of the ways the software keeps track of you when you are signed in). There is a profiles database, and on that a blank profile (except for your name) is created for you. Also, your own unique private messages database is created.
When you sign in, your 'last signed in' variable is updated and you are added to the active members database, which holds the ID #'s and unique browser callerid's of those members who are signed in. It also holds a variable for how long you have been inactive. Each time you access a page within the Chat Boards site, your inactive variable is reset. Also, each time you access a page, a check is performed on the active members database to see if anyone has been inactive for over an hour, and if so, they are removed from the active members database. Being removed from the active members database is the equivalent of the system logging you out. If you sign out manually, you are removed from the active members database.
The way each page "knows" who you are works like this: you access a page, and your browser sends a unique callerid string to the server. This callerid string always changes, but it stays constant for as long as your current session. That is, if you closed your browser and reopened it, you would have a different callerid string, but as long as your browser is open, it sends the same string. Each page picks up the string and runs a check on the active members database to see if it finds a match. If it doesn't, you get a "You need to sign in" message. If it finds a match, it knows who you are by your ID #. From that point on, where ever it needs your name (or any other info about you) on the page, it simply opens the members database, jumps to your set of variables (it knows your set of variables since it knows your ID #), and retrieves whatever info it needs.
The profiles and private message scripts work similarly. The profiles script searches the members database for the person's name to get their ID #, then goes to the correct set of variables that correspond to that ID number in the profiles database and displays that profile. The private message script does the same thing, except it also has to find out who you are, which it does by the method described in the previous paragraph. Once it knows who both the sender and receiver are, it opens the receiver's unique private messages database and adds your message, your name, the date, etc. plus it sets the variable 'new' to true. This is how the system knows how many new messages you have- it simply counts the number of messages where the variable 'new' is set to true. When a person views their messages, all 'new' variables get set to false.
Just in case you are planning on becoming a delinquent user (that's my term for someone who creates an account then stops using it), there's something in store for you too. Every once in awhile, I run a script that searches the member database and finds all the people who haven't signed in for the last 25 or more days. The script sends each one an e-mail reminding them of their username, password, and the address of the boards. It also informs them that they may delete their account or after 90 days of no activity, it will be deleted automatically. It then adds their ID #'s to a database for subsequent checking, so that when I run the script again at a later time, they don't constantly get sent e-mails. The script is set up to automatically send people an e-mail after 25+ days of no activity, then every 30 days after that. Once it hits 90 days of no activity, the account is termed.
I, as webmaster, have a solid command over the boards. I can ban a member from accessing certain boards, terminate accounts, "kick" an active member out, view a list of all members, send e-mail to all or certain members, delete posts or entire threads (though the boards are set up to auto-delete old posts), and of course write more scripts that control various aspects of the boards.
All scripts are written by me and are Copyright 1998, except the actual boards are modified versions of BrowserBoard v2.5.2 code, Copyright 1998 Martin Hodge. If you have any questions about the boards, feel free to contact me. I generally do not give out my code, though exceptions have been made. Currently, SeemsLikeSalvation Forums are running on my scripts, however I made the offer. Please do not expect me to give give out these scripts to anyone on request. Also, these scripts require a server running the Miva Engine to work.