Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why should I register a username?
   
2. Can I change my username?
   
3. Help! I can't login!
   
4. Help! I forgot my password / username!
   
5. What's "Stranger" or "Member"? How do I get a different title?
   
6. What does that flashing envelope () mean?
   
7. Why do you ask for two email addresses in the profile?
   
8. Do I have to accept cookies?
   
9. What's the spoiler policy here?
   
10. Why did you require spoiler tags in the episode review threads?
    
11. Do I have to restrict my posts to just BtVS/Angel, or can I talk about other things?
    
12. Why are some usernames green or purple, and have little or flags next to them?
    
13. Who are the administrators and moderators here?
    
14. Can I use html in my posts? How do I use Markup tags?
    
15. I use a Mac, and when I post, all my sentences run together with no paragraph breaks!
    
16. Can spambots get my email address if I put it in my public profile?
    
17. My PM envelope keeps flashing, but I can't see any private messages!
    
18. What does "OT" mean at the beginning of post subjects?
    
19. What do "BOQ" and "ME" mean?
    
20. How do I use a template to answer a BOQ/survey - or - how do I include a template in a BOQ/survey?
    
21. Why do some posts say "Kept" underneath the subject?
    
22. Can I suggest a thread that I think should be kept for archiving?
    
23. How do I get something (a signature) to appear at the end of all my posts or private messages?
    
24. How do I get a picture in my profile and/or to appear next to my posts?
    
25. What web host can I use to host my own profile pics?
    
26. How do I fill in my public profile?
    
27. Why do I sometimes see banned users in the Who's Online list?
    
28. I want to view in flat mode, change my time zone, or otherwise customize the forum.
    
29. What do all these buttons do?
    
30. Why do my posts sometimes disappear if I preview or spell check and then go back to edit?
    
31. Why are "Subject", "Poster," "Views," "Replies," and "Last Post" clickable links in the post list?
    
32. Can I attach a file to my post?
    
33. Can I run my own forum on a site of my own?
    
    

Only registered users may post messages in the Watcher's Diary and/or the Fanfic Forum. By registering a username, you will be able to post in these forums, as well as edit your profile and preferences. You will get the most out of your time here if you change your profile to suit your individual tastes. Also, only people with registered usernames can take advantage of the "New Posts" feature upon each visit (posts that were posted since the last time you visited will be noted). Plus, if you register your name, no one else can use it. You can find information on registering in this page of the User Manual.

You cannot change it yourself, no. The moderators/administrators can change it for you, but it's not something we'll do for you multiple times, so please choose your name carefully. If you really want to change your name, please make your request in the Profile Request Forum. Someone will then change it for you as soon as possible. You will then be unable to login with your old name. Before you can login with your new username, you'll need to delete the cookies for the forums. Simply go here and follow the directions presented there. You'll then be able to login with your new name and your old password.

If you wish to change your name, do not simply register a new name. Please make your request as outlined above.

There are two fairly common troubles that people have when trying to login: One is when you go to the login page, but it immediately tells you that your username/password are incorrect, even though you haven't even entered them yet. The second is when you do enter your username and password, and you're sure they're correct, but it still tells you they're incorrect. To deal with these problems, go to http://www.buffyguide.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/logout.pl — you should be able to login from there.

If you cannot login at that page either, please visit this page. You should read through it to see if you can pinpoint your problem, and you can delete your cookies for the forums using the link on that page.

If you have forgotten your username and/or password, click on "Login" in the forum menu. Then click the link at the top of the Login page that reads, "Forgot your username or password? Click here." (Or, click here.) You will need to enter your email address, and click "Submit." You must use your private administrative email address, which isn't necessarily the same as the one in your public profile. This is generally the email address you registered with, unless you've changed it since registering.

You will receive an email with your Username and a new, temporary password (your old password will NOT be changed). You should then login with this temporary password and change your usual password to something you can more easily remember.

"Stranger" is the title that new users have until they reach 5 posts. "Member" is the default title for users with 5 or more posts. Once you have 5 or more posts, you may request a custom title to replace "Member." Please view this page of the User Manual for details on how to choose and request a custom title.

What does that flashing envelope () mean?

If you see the little envelope flashing at the top of your screen, it means that you have a new private message (also known as a PM) from another forum member. (Details about private messages can be found here.) If you click on it, it will take you to your "Inbox" (your list of received PMs). New messages are indicated by a "N" to the left of the message subject. Click on the subject to read the message. Once you've read all of your new PMs, the flashing envelope will disappear (until you get another new private message).

One is a private address required for administrative use (for example, if you forget your password and request a reminder, it will be sent to this address). This will initially be filled in with the email address you registered with, but you should be sure to change it if your email address changes. The other is for public viewing in your profile - you may leave this blank if you desire. You can find further details in this page of the User Manual.

Yes. Cookies are used to track your Username/Password and which posts you have read for your current session. Without accepting cookies, many functions will not work. You can find and change your cookie acceptance status in your browser's Preferences/Internet Options. You can find further details in this page of the User Manual.

We have special markup tags (called "spoiler tags") which makes the text between the tags "invisible," so that it must be highlighted to be viewed. This way, no one can be spoiled accidentally. Now that Buffy and Angel have ended, we do NOT require spoiler tags for any discussion of either show. (So, if you have not seen all the episodes, tread carefully as you are not protected here.) You should use spoiler tags in other situations (e.g. when discussing a new movie or new episodes of a current TV show), as a matter of courtesy. Be sure to read this page of the User Manual to get the full scoop on spoilers and spoiler tags.

There were a few reasons, and they're explained here.

You can talk about pretty much anything you want here (as long as it doesn't violate the rules in some way). We're pretty relaxed about that — feel free to post about BtVS and/or Angel to your heart's content, and then whatever else catches your fancy when you tire of that (hell, some people hardly virtually never post about the shows, and we love them anyway). All we ask is that you check the "Off Topic" box (also called the "OT" box) when you make your post, when applicable. Some users are just interested in the On Topic BtVS/Angel posts, so they filter Off Topic posts out by changing their display preferences.

Why are some usernames green or purple, and have little or flags next to them?

This is to help you easily identify moderators and administrators. Moderators' usernames are green, and are marked with flags. Administrators' usernames are purple, and are marked with a flag.

The webmaster (Jamie Marie) is the only current administrator. The moderators for our forums are bettie, Boo, Del, Kinitawowi, and Soupytwist. Feel free to contact any of us at any time if you need help, have a question, or what have you. We don't bite.

HTML is disabled in all forums. If HTML is were okay, then you would see HTML is Enabled when you make a post.

Markup is enabled on all forums, so you will see Markup is enabled toward the top of the page when you make a post. Please view this page of the User Manual for a detailed explanation of markup and how to use it.

If you use Internet Explorer on a Mac, and you preview your posts, it won't recognize line breaks and will push your post into one big paragraph. This is just a weird bug; there's no explanation that I know of.

Solution One: Don't use Internet Explorer (it's the only browser that has this problem). If you have OSX, Safari comes highly recommended. Otherwise, you can use Netscape or another browser of your choice.

Solution Two: Before you preview, copy your post. Go through the preview process, and if you make any changes, copy the adjusted post again. When you're satisfied, don't submit the post — instead, go back to the original post form. If necessary, paste your post (especially if you made changes!) into the post box, and now post without previewing. (Or, just don't preview at all.)

Putting your email address in the designated "Public Email Address" field for display in your public profile should be quite spambot-safe — we've taken measures to prevent spambots from picking up addresses displayed in that field. Details can be found here.
(Note: Your private administrative address is never subject to risk from spambots; only the administrator and moderators can see that one.)

If, when you view a user's profile, their email address looks a little strange and can't be clicked on, that's because of the spambot avoidance method. (Details on how it works can be found here.) If you enable JavaScript on your browser, the email addresses shown in user profiles will display as normal and be clickable (but spambots still can't get at them).

This may just be because the page is loading out of your cache, or it could be that it's been so long since you logged in that a PM you had waiting for you was deleted from the database (they're only held for 30 days) and your PM count thus got out of sync. First, login and go to your Inbox and then hit your browser's "Refresh" or "Reload" button. Do you see any new PMs now? If not, then go back to whichever page you were at when you saw the PM envelope flashing. Hit your browser's "Refresh" or "Reload" button. If it stops flashing, the problem is now fixed.

If you did all that and it still flashes, even though there are no new private messages, then the administrator (me, Jamie Marie) will have to fix this for you. Just send me a PM and let me know about the problem.

When you see (OT) at the beginning of a post subject, that means that it's Off Topic (not directly related to Buffy and/or Angel). When you make a post, you'll see an option to mark your post as Off Topic. You can talk about pretty much anything you want, just make sure you tick the Off Topic checkbox if your post is not directly related to Buffy and/or Angel.

"BOQ" stands for "bunch of questions," and is another name for a survey. This is where one members asks some questions, and other members reply with answers to those questions. You'll see a lot of these here. We even have a template system to facilitate answering them (see below).

"ME" stands for Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon's production company — in other words, the Powers That Be that control the Buffyverse.

You can find more common terms explained here.

If someone has posted a BOQ/survey, they've probably included a template for you to use when answering it. A template displays markup tags around the questions, such as [red] What's your name? [/red]. What you need to do is click "Reply," and scroll down to where the post is shown at the bottom of the screen. Copy the entire template (highlight all of the templated questions with your mouse, then right-click and choose "Copy"). Then paste it into your reply box (click in the reply text field, right-click, and choose "Paste"). Then just answer the questions (put your cursor at the end of a question — after the ending markup tag around it — and type your answer. For example: [red] What's your name? [/red] My name is Mary-Sue.

If you're making a BOQ/survey and would like to include a template for your readers, please click here for instructions.

When you see — Kept — beneath a thread subject in the Watcher's Diary, this means that the thread has been kept for archiving. (You'll only see this in the Watcher's Diary.) Normally, threads in the WD are expired (irretrievably deleted) after six months of inactivity. However, a kept thread will instead be moved into the Archives forum.

Sure! Details on suggesting threads for archiving can be found here — please take a look.

You can specify a signature to appear at the end of your posts, and a separate one to appear at the end of your private messages. A signature generally consists of your name, and possibly a favorite quote or the like. You can specify your signatures by going to your Control Panel and choosing "Edit Your Basic Profile" (details here). Whenever you post or send a PM, you can choose not to use your signature for that specific post/PM.

You can do this by going to your Control Panel and choosing "Edit Your Basic Profile" (details here). Full details on finding a profile pic, or making one, and putting it in your profile can be found here. Your picture will appear in your profile, as well as next to your posts for users who choose to view profile pics with posts.

If you know how to make profile pics, you can host them on a website of your own. This will allow you to change your pic at whim without making a request in the Profile Request Forum. However, you can't just use any free host, because most free hosts won't allow direct linking to images. Please click here for details on choosing a web host for this purpose.

Full details on finding a profile pic, or making one, and putting it in your profile can be found here.

You can fill in your public profile, so that other users may get to know you better, by going to Control Panel and choosing "Edit Your Basic Profile." You can find further details on editing your profile in this page of the User Manual.

A common misconception is that banned users are blocked from the forums completely. This is not the case — members who are banned can still browse the boards (lurk). However, they are banned from participating in any way: They cannot send or receive private messages, make any posts, edit old posts, or edit their profile. Thus, you may still see them in the Who's Online page. If you were to view their profile, it would confirm for you that the user is indeed banned.

You can customize the look and behavior of the forums in many ways, by going to Control Panel and choosing "Edit Your Display Preferences." You can find further details on editing your preferences in this page of the User Manual.

The buttons are used for navigation and displaying posts. If you hover your cursor over an active button (a red one), an alt tag should appear which describes the function of the button. Depending on the screen you are on they may serve different purposes. If a button is gray, that button is inactive on that screen.

Click here for an explanation of the buttons shown when displaying a list of all threads (a forum post list).

Click here for an explanation of the buttons shown when viewing individual posts/threads.

NOTE: You do NOT have to go back to edit your post — you can now edit on the preview screen. Just scroll down, edit your post and post options, and then click "Continue" again.

At any rate, the answer is: This is due to browser caching (click here for more information on this). When you use the back button, your browser sometimes reloads the page anew, instead of pulling it from your cache, and hence your post is gone. You can try to combat it by double-checking your cache settings (see the previous link for directions), which may reduce the occurrence, but aside from that, there's nothing you (or the forum developer) can do.

If you lose a post this way, hit the Forward button and cross your fingers that it's still there.

You can click on any of these to change the order in which the posts are sorted and displayed. If you click on Subject once, it will display posts by "Subject" in reverse alphabetical order. If you click on it again it will display posts by Subject in alphabetical order. "Poster" works the same way, sorting by username. "Views" and "Replies" work the same way, sorting by the number of views and replies. "Last Post" works similarly, sorting by the time of the most recent post. The default is to sort by Last Post time, in descending order (most recent post time at the top).

No. File attachment has been turned off for these boards.

Sure. These forums use a software program called WWWThreads. In 2001, InfoPop (the makers of UBB) bought WWWThreads and renamed it UBBThreads, but the same developer is still in charge of the product. UBBThreads can be found here.

You might also want to check out vBulletin, a slightly cheaper and very popular alternative.

If you're looking for a good web host, I wholeheartedly recommend FutureQuest.