Where is it?

It's at www.bhcc-online.org/forum – simply click the Forum link above.

What is it?

A web forum is a public meeting place for the open discussion of various topics. Its main purpose is to provide an area where people can interact as a community, with questions, answers and discussions on a given topic. A forum is a bit like email, except that messages (called "posts"), instead of being sent to individuals, are viewed on a web page and can be seen, and responded to, by anyone.

Forums also organise the posts for ease of reading, so each topic is separate from others – posts on a topic are collected together, in date order, within that topic. For example, the BHCC forum has several sub-forums, such as "Club Announcements", "Summer Programme" and "General Discussion", and in each of these you will see several topics, with each topic containing one or more posts.

We hope that Club members will find the forum helpful: it's ideal for keeping in touch with each other – organising the summer programme, casual photographic meetings or simply outings to the pub; and if your printer breaks down, or you run out of developer, post a plea – someone will note your distress and come to your aid!

For the forum to be successful, we need as many people as possible to use it. You don't have to post serious, sensible messages: post tips, jokes, anything you like – it doesn't even have to be about photography! Or simply use the forum to chat.

The forum is not restricted to Club members: anyone is welcome to register and join our online community, but the forum is moderated – we can, and will if necessary, ban anyone who abuses the forum (i.e. don't upset other members, and don't break the law).

How do I use the forum?

Registration

You can browse our forum and read posts, but to be able to start topics and post messages in existing topics, you must register: in the top right of the forum web page, you will see the Register link. Click on it. After agreeing to the forum conditions, you will be asked to fill out a simple online form with some basic information, such as your email address, and the username you wish to be known by on the forum – this doesn't have to be your real name. You must fill in the asterisked boxes in the "Registration Informaton" section; however, the other sections are optional – if you are unsure what the boxes and options in these sections are for, just leave them.

You will need to type in a special number (the "VIP code") during registration: 1066. This number is also on the BHCC website's news page.

Using the forum

Registered users can post messages, including starting new topics. You can also include "attachments" in your posts (images and certain types of file, e.g. Word or PDF files). When posting a message, note the "Notify me when a reply is posted" option: ticking this tells the forum to send an email to you, so you know when someone has posted a new message on the topic you're interested in.

Once posted, you can edit your post, or even delete it.

There are many other useful things that the forum can do: just have a play with it. For example, you can make your post a "poll", allowing people to vote on options that you've created, with the results shown as a bar chart – useful if, say, you want a consensus on which day to hold an outing.

Privacy

The BHCC will not divulge your email to third parties nor send unsolicted emails ("spam"). We may occasionally contact you with important information realtin to the forum, such as it being temporarily closed for maintenance.

It is unwise to type your email address in a forum post, as it can be collected by unscrupulous individuals using scanning software ("spam bots") so spam can be sent to it. If you want people to contact you, ask them to send an email "PM" (private message) via the forum messaging system – this method is totally safe. If you must include your email address in a post, disguise it so that it won't be recognised by spam bots (e.g. joe| a t |blogs| d o t |com). Spam bots are getting cleverer, so an obvious disguise like joe @ bloggs . com may not work

Need help?

Detailed information about the forum can be found in the forum FAQ ("frequently asked questions"): click on the FAQ link in the top right of the forum web page.

The current forum administrator is John Hazard. If you have a question that's not covered in the FAQ, please contact him at a Club meeting or by