The TechMaine discussion forums are intended to facilitate friendly discussion among user group members. (We might start forums related to other TechMaine activities or programs as well, at some point.)
This FAQ list pertains to the User Group forums.
Q. What are the requirements for participating in the forums?
A. You need to register on the site (free), and join the user group's online area (free).
- Register on the site, if you haven't already.
- Log in, if you haven't already.
- Join whichever user group(s) you're interested in, if you haven't already (Go to the user group page and click "join" in the "Group Membership" menu.)
Once you have joined the user group area, you can post forum topics, reply to other people's posts, and participate via email if you want. (If you try to post without joining first, your message has to be reviewed first, so it won't post right away.)
Q. Do I have to post and reply on the web site?
A. No. You can participate using email. (But you have to register/join on the site, first.)
When you join the site, the default setting is to receive emails of messages posted to forums in any user group that you join.
You can reply by email to any of the posts you receive, and your reply will be sent to the forum and distributed.
Note: You won't receive a copy of your own posts via email; only posts from other people.
Q. Can I turn off the emails?
A. Yes. Log in (if you haven't already), go to My Account, and click Notifications, and you can change your notifications settings.
Q. I see "forums," "topics," "posts," "replies" ... What are all these?
A. In the Drupal world, here's the terminology:
- Forum = A major grouping of topical posts. Basically, a container for forum topics.
- Topic = The first post on some topic. This shows up in the menu of topics under each Forum.
- Comment = A response to a Topic. (More or less the same as a Reply)
- Reply = A response to a Comment or Reply. (More or less the same as a Comment.)
On the TechMaine site, each user group has a Forum (some might have more than one, but typically just one); people posts new threads as Topics; and people Comment or Reply to the comments/replies under each Topic.