Explanation
of AnyBoard Features
All the functions
listed here are enabled on AnyBoard.net
Some terms
Thread:
Arranging message links or message contents in a tree-like structure
to reflect post/reply relationship.
Inline: Put message content in a single file.
Main (index) page: the front page of a AnyBoard forum.
Navigation bar: A area where common links to forum commands (such
as post message) are listed.
Configurable
threading
In AnyBoard,
there are several parameters to control how messages and their links
are organized
- Depth of links
on main page (thread display level)
- Number of
links per page
- Whether to
put a message and all follow-ups in a single file (inline follow-ups)
- Whether to
thread the inlined messages
- Whether to
column justify fields in the message links.
- Whether to
use unordered list (like wwwboard) or configurable spacers(such
as spaces or blank images) for thread indentation.
For example,
if you set the depth of links to 1, then only the top of the thread
is listed on the main page.
AnyBoard allows
you to sort the threads by time of the first post (default), time
of the last post, subject, author and other attributes. For example,
sorting by the time of last post will make a thread with a new reply
jump to the top of the page.
AnyBoard also
allows the author of a message or administrator to collapse/expand
a thread or sub thread.
File
uploading
In the Configure->Posting
policy section, you can enable file-uploading for a board. Once
enabled, an additional field will show up in the Post Message Form,
with a Browse button at the right hand side, a user can then attach
a file on his/her PC (not on a web server) when posting a new message,
the attached file is stored in the upload/ directory of a board. Multiple
files can be uploaded at once. If the file is a gif/jpeg image, it will
be automatically embedded using the IMG tag, and the main page will
indicate that this message contains a image. It also iconizes the uploaded
image files so users can have a quick view of the images.
There are also
extensive control on file-uploading, such as limiting file size, number
of uploads per day etc.
Private
discussions
Once enabled, the
Post Message Form will have an additional field "Private Message
For", where a poster can enter the name for a recipient. The message
posted will not show up in the main page and it is only viewable in
the "My Forum"s of both the poster and the recipient.
Note, to send a
private message, the recipient must be a registered user, because the
recipient must login to check the private message. If the sender is
not a registered user , she/he can only send private messages but can't
engage in a private discussion, because he/she can't receive a private
message.
Edit/delete
posted message
Once enabled, the
Author name on the main page will be linked to the edit/delete message
form. There the author (or the admin) can edit/delete a posted message,
including changing the message subject, message body, message category
or collpase/expand the thread below the message. The newly modified
message will show up with its date field in a dark red color(configurable).
For admin, the
deletion part of the form has an additional checkbox to let him/her
delete the whole thread.
When a message
is deleted, how the thread is displayed depends on the value of the
"Adopt orphaned messages" setting. Normally, you should set
this to 1, this way when a top level message is deleted, there is still
a blank spot on the page and all its children are listed under it, otherwise,
all its immediate children will be promoted to top level messages.
Voting
The admin panel
has button "Add a survey", where you can add a survey to the
board.
The advantages
of using AnyBoard for survey are
- Very configurable.
- Reliable (never
lost data)
- Various controls
such as using your forums user database for authentication.
- Generates Java(tm)Script
to have the poll included in another page.
- Can view the
details of a survey (see who voted for what)
The surveys are
stored under the polls/ directory.
Email
validation
Once enabled (in
the Configure->Control section), when a user register he/she must
enter a valid email address, AnyBoard then email a validation message
to that address, the registrant must go to the unique url(which has
a unique validation key) in the message to activate his/her account.
The validation URL actually brings the user to a page in which the forum
rules (configurable) are stated and he/she must check a box to confirm
the acceptance of the rule.
If this feature
is not enabled, then the user's account is activated as soon as he/she
registers.
Email
notification
AnyBoard can be
configured to use email in lots of situations. Besides of usual notify
on new message and notify on new replies, etc. It can be even configured
to email back users files on the web server.
Email
lost password
When a user tries
to login, but the password is incorrect, AnyBoard will present a form
asking the user to enter his/her username and email address, if the
information matched the entry in the user database, AnyBoard will email
a new password to the user.
Note, AnyBoard
can be configured to NOT show user's email address anywhere.
Message
rating
Visitors can rate
messages on a board by click on the Rate it ! link. The range of ratings
is configurable (default is -5 to +5), and you can set different icons
for positive and negative ratings.
You can also set
to display the rate only after certain number of votes are received.
You can also set
to hide the messages whose ratings are below a configurable value, this
way, the users can peer moderating the forum by voting against a message.
Ban
users
AnyBoard can ban
users based on IP, domain, username, user alias(cookie), violation count....
AnyBoard uses cookies
to track the alises a poster used and the number of violations (saying
forbidden words), and can set the automatically disallow a user to read/post
when the violation count reaches a configurable threshold. One can also
disable the user's alias, this way, even if the user tries to change
his identity, he will be still banned.
In the posting
policy configuration section, you can set patterns for disallowed IPs
and domains.
Pre-moderation
The ultimate control
you can have on a board is to enable moderation function. When this
is enabled, posts must be approved by the admin first. An "Approve"
button will show up in the admin panel, press the button brings one
to a page similar to the delete message page, where you can check the
boxes next to the message to approve them.
You can change
a user's status so his/her posts by-pass the moderation procedure.
Email
a friend
This function allows
a reader to email a recommendation of a message to a friend. This function
can be used on any web page of your web site.
Links
This allows administrator
and users to submit related links.
Form
Mail
AnyBoard can be
used to process any web forms, including those with file-upload fields.
AnyBoard can save the uploaded files to a directory specified in the
Form Mail configuration and email other information to a list of email
addresses. Additional control options are available to restrict the
usage of the forms.
Message
Categories
You can
divide the messages of a board into unlimited number of categories.
When this feature is enabled, a select box with different categories
shows up in the post message form. The posted messages are grouped by
the categories.
Extended
member profile
The new
extended profile allow members to enter more detailed information, including
uploading a photo to the web server.
Generic
multisite search engine
AnyBoard
V7.7 and up contains a powerful search engine! It can crawl (spider)
multiple web sites using its built-in HTTP client, build an index database
and then allow you to search on the index. This can be put into a separate
product, but it is integrated into AnyBoard for your benefit. Login
master admin using ?cmd=admin command, and you will see the
links to the index functions. Various constraints can be applied to
the indexing process. For the local site, where AnyBoard is installed,
file scan can be used as a faster alternative for building the indices.
VCard
generation
AnyBoard can generate a vcard from the member profiles and email them
to the forum administrator, so they can be easily added to address books.
Who's
Online
This powerful can monitor all the message boards and see who's doing
what, such as login, rating, posting, etc. For example, when used in
the chat room, it displays the users in the chat.
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