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 Help on How to Post On CHOC Talk and Fuller Registration Instructions.
We've gotten a few "help! how do we post" in the "Contact Us," so here is a full, step by step review of the CHOC Talk forums, how they work, how to register and post.
First, thank you for your interest in the CHOC Board! We too would very much like you to join our forums, and we're sorry the process seems confusing. (We chose this style of forum to give us the ability to have a full interactive help website--the interactive directories and articles with hyperlinks on the CHOC Board and a communication network through interactive message forums on the CHOC Talk.) We'll do our best to help walk you through the process.
Now, a little understanding about our forum type. Our forums are a public message board ran through Runboard.com. This is not a chain-mail type elist group like Yahoo Groups where you send one message and it goes to the personal email address of anyone in the group's mailing list.
You must go through a registration process with Runboard to be able to post to any of our forums. (We'll get to how in a moment). Anyone can register, but there is a verification process to validate email addresses (as opposed to spammer computer programs trolling and getting onto the board to post ads).
When you post on any of our forums, or reply to a post, it will place your post on the public board itself at the website http://b4himchoctalk.runboard.com. (For example, if you posted a "day at the park" event on Calendar talk, your post will immediately appear in the list of posts in the Calendar Talk forum. If you click on a forum post and reply to it, your reply post will immediately be added to the original post's reply thread). Anyone can view any post on our forums as it is a public access board. You view replies by clicking on the original post topic and then the whole thread comes up.
Most people are only concerned with board posting...if you want to know about emailing a board user, read "EMAILING A CHOC TALK BOARD USER THROUGH RUNBOARD'S PM SYSTEM" at the bottom of this message, otherwise simply read the next section to learn how to register with Runboard in order to post on CHOC Talk.
REGISTERING WITH RUNBOARD TO POST ON CHOC TALK:
As to registering with Runboard, here are the full steps with explanations:
Everyone who desires to register as a user and post on CHOC Talk should follow Steps 1-5: (Please do not use the guest account for more than a post or two at most).
1. Either click on "SIGN UP" from the CHOC Talk home page or go to http://Runboard.com -- and click on "register." Either way, you will end up at Runboard's account registration form. (Everyone MUST begin at Runboard's form to register).
2. Fill out the registration form including choosing a user name and entering an email address. BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR USER NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS INFORMATION! Submit the form. You will get a message that says:
quote:
"Congratulations, your account has been created. Before you can log in your account, you need to activate it. An email message with instructions has been sent to the primary email address you just entered..."
Runboard will send you an account registration confirmation at the email address you entered (be sure to check your spam folder if you don't see the Runboard confirmation) which will include an activation link. (This step verifies you are a "real" person and not a spam-bot.)
3. Look in your email inbox and open this Runboard confirmation email. To activate your Runboard user registration, you MUST click on the personal activation link provided in that confirmation email.
After clicking on the personal activiation link, a message will appear from Runboard that says:
quote:
Congratulations! Your account is now activated, and you can freely use it. You have been logged into your account.
Your temporary password is ##### (note: WRITE THIS TEMPORARY PASSWORD DOWN!)
It has also just been sent to your email address as a reminder. You can change it later in the Control Panel.
(There is an optional link for the Control Panel in this message, but you don't need to use it unless you really want to change your password.)
At this point you could close that email, and then just go back to CHOC TALK at http://b4himchoctalk.runboard.com and you should already be logged in with your new user name all ready to post. If you never click on "log out," and you would not need to, you would always be ready to post on the CHOC Talk board anytime you came to the CHOC Talk site.
4. To become an "official" member of the CHOC Talk board, you will need to post ONE message (an introductory message would be nice). Until you post one message, you are a member of Runboard, but not an "official" member of CHOC Talk board (remember Runboard hosts LOTS of these boards). All "official" membership of CHOC Talk means is that you will show up on our member list, which is kept private. Again, NO personal information will ever be given away or sold by Runboard or CHOC Talk!
It is wise to post your first message on CHOC Talk shortly after registering with Runboard as Runboard periodically goes through and deletes those accounts which are not being used (ie not posting on any of their boards), so you'd have to sign up all over again. Besides, why not join the fun at CHOC Talk?
5. To post a new message, go to the CHOC Talk home, click on one of the forums, click on "new topic" or click on an already posted topic and click on "reply." Type in your message (it is wise to click on "preview" before you submit in order to correct any mistakes or check any url links you may have posted). Click "submit." You will get a "DING" message that tells you that you are now an official member of the board if this is your first post. Otherwise, you'll merely see your post and can click back to the forum or to CHOC Talk home.
Most people will stop here for registration/sign-up...however remember to keep your user name, email address, and assigned password from Runboard if for some reason you ever log out of CHOC Talk and need to log in again. (You'll know if you do, you'll try to post and you'll get an error message saying you need to log in. If so, just go to a "Log In" or "SIGN IN" option and fill in your username and password...don't panic if you login and the screen comes back with the same login page, Runboard doesn't always change the screen after logging in it only notifies you if your login failed.) After logging in, close that window and go back to the CHOC Talk home page, you will be ready to post again.
If you want to change your password and want to log-in from Runboard, follow your activation link to "control panel" and follow Runboard's instructions. Further instruction on this is at http://chocboard.net/choctalk.aspx
Thank you for your patience through this registration process.
EMAILING A CHOC TALK BOARD USER THROUGH RUNBOAD'S PM SYSTEM:
There is the further capability for CHOC Board posters (those who have registered with Runboard) to send personal email/messages to each other through our Runboard forum's system. If you click on a user's name by a post (say TammyAathome), you will get their profile (which can be kept quite simple for privacy). You can then click on the option to privately email or message that person through Runboard (We didn't notice any difference in handling between private email and personal message--pm). Or you can click on the little "email" or "PM" at the bottom of their post. Either way, you use their Runboard user name in the pm TO: line rather than an email address (For example, it would be TO: TammyAathome). Runboard knows where to send it to.
A notice will then go to the personal email address you used to register with Runboard (in Tammy's case, "gtnas5@yahoo.com"). In this pm notice, there will be an active link that takes you right to your Runboard mailbox (where Tammy will see your message to her). In that Runboard pm notice, you are also given the link to take you to your Runboard control panel to opt out of allowing any personal emails being sent to you so that people could only contact you by posting on CHOC Talk website. (You also have the option of receiving a Runboard notice if someone posts a reply to one of your posts on the forum).
Runboard has strong spam preventions, and this extra layer between you and personal email messages will help protect your personal email address from getting picked up by spammers or undesirables surfing the web as this is an openly viewed forum (we did that so that we may be inclusive to all homeschoolers in the Portland metro seeking information about homeschool resources--many people surf to view our calendar without posting). All email/pm messages to users go through Runboard, only Runboard knows your personal email address, and it will never give it out (nor will the CHOC Board). You also have the option to link your Yahoo id or MSN id to Runboard.
Whew...we hope that makes sense. The general summary of all that is that you generally just go to the CHOC Talk forum board to read posts (unless you request people to "pm" you their response through Runboard's personal email/pm option).
Our board seeks to be useful to all homeschoolers in the community, especially those seeking Christian resources, and to provide a layer of privacy protection to all who join our forums.
The CHOC Board 2007
Last edited by gtnas5, 7/16/2008, 8:21 pm
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