Forums
allow you to hold discussions and post your own content on
Redbridge i, creating an on-line community.
Our forums
have been split into themed areas, each dealing with distinct
topics.
Please also refer to our terms
and conditions of use.
Help with:
You can watch our help video to see for yourself
how easy it is for you to join in. Warning - this is a large
file and may take several minutes to download. If you prefer,
the help video has been split into three smaller parts:
- Posting messages
- Polls
- Watched topics
Posting messages
Post a topic in a forum
To post a new topic in one of the forums, click the new topic
button 
on either the forum or topic screens. You will
need to register and sign in before you can post a message.
The facilities available to you are listed at the bottom of the
forum and topic screens (the You can post new topics, You can vote
in polls, etc. list).
When posting a topic you will need to enter a subject as well as
your message. Click the Post button to place your message in
the forum.
Please note: only registered, logged in users can post
messages.
Formatting messages
Regular text can be typed and edited using normal text editing
techniques. The forum editor also uses something called
BBCode which is a special implementation of HTML.
BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML, tags are enclosed in
square brackets [ and ] rather than < and > and it offers
greater control over what and how something is displayed. If
you would like to know more about BBCode have a look at this entry
on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBCode
Using HTML
It is not possible to post HTML on this board and have it
rendered as HTML. Most formatting which can be carried out
using HTML can also be applied using BBCode instead.
Smilies
Smilies, or Emoticons are small graphical images which can be
used to express some feeling using a short code, e.g. :) means
happy, :( means sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen via the
posting form. Try not to overuse smilies though, they can
quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may decide to edit
them out or remove the post altogether. The board
administrator may also have set a limit to the number of such
smilies you may use within a post.
Posting images
Images can be shown in your posts. To do so you must link
to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g.
http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to
pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible
server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g.
hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To
display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.
Replying to a message
When reading a topic thread you may wish to send a response of
your own. To do so, click the reply button 
, enter your message and
click the Post button.
Editing or deleting a post
Unless you are the board administrator or forum moderator you
are not able to edit or delete your posts.
Creating a poll
Creating a poll is easy, when you post a new topic you should
see the Create Poll link to the left of the main posting form (if
you cannot see this then you do not have appropriate permissions to
create polls). As well as the usual Subject and message
boxes, you should also enter the Poll question and then at least
two options in the choices area. You can also set a time
limit in days for the poll (leave blank for a never ending
poll). Post the message using the Post button.
Please note: only registered, logged in users can vote in
polls.
Reporting a post to a moderator
The Council reserves the right to remove inappropriate or
offensive messages. If you feel there is a post that is
offensive or inappropriate in any way, please report it by
contacting the forum moderator using the private messaging
facility redimanager.
Moderation
The board administrator may decide that the forum you are
posting to needs to have posts reviewed first. It is also
possible that the administrator has placed you in to a group of
users whom he or she feels is a group that needs to have their
posts reviewed before being submitted to the site. Please
contact the forum administrator using the private messaging
facility redimanager
for further details.
Topic types
Announcements
Announcements often contain important information for the forum
you are currently reading and you should read them as soon as
possible.
Sticky topics
Sticky topics appear at the start of the forum. They are
often quite important so you should read them where
possible.
Locked topics
Locked topics are set this way by either the forum moderator or
board administrator. You cannot reply to locked topics and
any poll it contained is automatically ended. Topics may be
locked for many reasons. Searching
Search the forum
You can search the forums by entering a search term in the
search box located in the top right corner of any forum page.
Advanced search can be accessed by clicking the Advanced
search link which is also available on all pages on the forum.
Watched topics
Watching (subscribing to) specific forums or topics
To subscribe to a specific forum, once you enter the forum,
click the Watch forum link. To subscribe to a topic, you need
to click the Options link in the topic header and select the watch
this topic option.
If you have the Forums module added to your Redbridge i home
page you can also watch any of the most recently posted topics by
clicking the Watch link there.
Removing watched topics/forums
Removing a forum or topic from your watched list is easy… just
repeat the process for watching but select the Unwatch this
topic/forum link.
You can also stop watching topics using the remove link inside
the Forums module if you have added it to your home page.