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 Board
Customization
Via a web browser, an administrator can:
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Customize the looks and colors of the board.
There are 8 built-in color themes (with mostly default graphics)
and 8 full graphical themes (each with a different set
of graphics) for you to choose from. And the ability to use
with third-party display themes.
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Set up the bulletin board's identity.
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Create [or delete/rename] new forums (limited only by
server's resources).
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Create [or delete] new boards (limited only by
server's resources).
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Set board/topic type:
- Anonymous: Any one can participate, registered or unregistered.
- Registered*: Only registered users can post.
- Administration*: Only administrators/moderators can post--used for
announcements, FAQs, news, etc...
* The 'Registered' and 'Administration' types can be set to 'Private', a
mode that TWMB only allows registered users to read.
- Group ID: Providing registered users exclusive access to a certain
board or topic.
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Set board's announcements, the posts that will always
remain on top regardless of their date.
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Set advertising banners.
- TWMB has the ability to rotate advertising banners, you can enter as many
lines (each line for an ad) as you wish and TWMB will sequentially display
these ads in various places on the board.
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Set welcome message -- a message that will greet a user
as he/she enters the board.
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Hierarchical
Management
TWMB's hierarchical management system is divided into 3
levels, each level has a distinct caliber of access. Every level requires
registration, and to register, the applicant must submit a valid email address.
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Level 1 (junior): The most basic level of
access, this level is populated by general participants of the board,
where their purposes are purely for discussion and exchanging ideas.
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Level 2 (moderator):
- This access level can be granted to selective members from level 1, who are
highly responsible and most trusted by the owner of the website, or to members
in the staff circle. In his/her authorized board(s), a level 2
member can:
- Delete and edit any posts, and close sub-topics.
- Process the admission of new level 1 members, terminate level 1 membership,
and edit level 1 members' profiles.
- Transfer posts between boards.
- Generate a mass email list from all users to email them at
once (each user can choose not to be included in this list).
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Level 3 (Owner and Administrator):
- This level is sub-divided into two types, administrator and
owner. A level 3 administrator has all the power from level 2, plus,
he/she can process the admission of new level 2 members as well as terminating
them.
- There is only one profile/account for the level 3 owner, which will
always be uniquely identified as [a default username] ADMINISTRATOR, who can
perform all the above functions, plus, he/she can add new level 3
administrators as well as terminating them.
- Level 3 owner is the highest status that's usually possessed by the
owner of the website and can not be terminated/deleted online. The level
3 owner, ADMINISTRATOR, can only be added manually when creating the database,
before uploading to the server
- All level 3 members can delete posts in mass; customize the boards,
filter list, welcome message & layout/color theme; scan for errors, set
options, temporary lock, etc...
The use of those levels pretty much depends on the needs
of the owner. On a small-sized website, you can skip utilizing the level
2 access to simplify your management process, however, on a larger scale,
making use of all the levels can sophisticatedly help your management to be
more flexible.
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| Basic
User Functions
All users can:
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Switch between graphical and simple text user
interfaces (GUI / SUI).
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Set dozens of local preferences.
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Search in all boards based on keywords.
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Retrieve entries by specific range of days.
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Sort retrieved entries forward or backward in time.
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Set font size in the sub-topic listing panel and
its content.
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Post messages (option can be blocked by a level 3
member).
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Email a post's content to friends.
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Use expressive icons.
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Set various display options.
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Jump to a specific post by its ID.
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View features and statistics.
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Queue posts for later viewing.
A registered user (level 1 or higher) can
additionally have the followings:
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View all user profiles.
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An online personal profile with many preferences.
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A personal image/photo and avatar.
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Permission for the use of HTML tags.
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Encrypt post's content (or create cryptograms).
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Preservation of the registered username.
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Automatic insertion of the registered personal fields
(From, Email and URL fields).
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Re-edit or revise his/her own message but only when the
revising post has not accumulated a reply yet (However,
moderators are not restricted in this sense).
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Send emails to other members.
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Send/receive private messages.
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A guest-book.
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Uploading of personal photo/picture via the
browser.
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View server time, character map, connection
information, and users' history.
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Email reminding and saving for login credentials.
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And more...
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Automated
Functions
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Online email-based registration system (no
multiple accounts for the same email).
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Password reminding by email.
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Email notification to the Administrator for every new
message posted on the board, this option can be turned on or off.
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Insertion of registered personal fields for every
logged in post.
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Date/time stamp for the user's login.
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Message filtering. You can use the
filter editor to remove/censure foul languages by masking specific
words.
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Hit/View tracking.
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Post/message voting system, you can use this system for
polling purposes as well.
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Demo user account, used for purposes of introducing new
users to the board whereas its username and password can not be altered by the
users.
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Statistics
- Detailed Analysis and Reports
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Statistics for users, topics and sub-topics.
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Daily posting activity analysis, and view reports on a
day-by-day basis.
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User relational analysis, the ability to analyze one's
posting activity in relation to another user or all users.
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Individual statistical data for each user.
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Security &
Resource Management
As each feature requires a significant part of the
server's resources, understanding the role of each one of them is very
crucial in efficient resource management. To help this, every
TWMB's feature can be turned on or off to maximize your message board's
performance, that is providing you the ability to control what you
need and don't need:
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Selectable emailing protocols, or you can disable email
service altogether.
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Password-protected for every account.
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Account/profile suspension.
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Extensive hierarchical management.
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Group ID classification system.
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Accessing to the board by registered or unregistered
users can be set separately, or you can disable each group from creating new
messages.
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You can control the limit for just about
anything, the number of posts and emails that each
type of users may generate per session, the size of the content field,
guestbook & private message buffer, and page size, the length of the
excerpt and subject lines, etc...
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Switch between the displaying
of boards/topics from all forums or just one.
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Switch between graphical or text/simple UIs,
user-interface.
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Force single mode, a display mode where TWMB reduces
the listing and viewing of subtopics to one single frame--a space saver.
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Turn on or off DHTML and Flash animation.
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Turn on or off the listing of registered
members for anonymous user access.
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Turn on or off the private messaging and
guestbook systems.
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Set the limit to how many subtopics can be stored in
the queue.
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You can clean up the board swiftly by deleting
posts in mass number.
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Temporary lock access from all users.
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IP discrimination, or IP banning.
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Miscellaneous
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TWMB has plenty of visual effects with the use of
Dynamic HTML and Macromedia Flash.
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Unlike other types
of first-generation message boards which could use as many files as
the number of entries, a second-generation TWMB uses only a single database to
store all entries to the board; thus, data are dynamically reported on a second
by second basis. Database-oriented online message boards have
been proven to be fast and efficient, click
here to examine
a working sample.
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ASP files are not compiled code, we do not recommend
opening them in raw format, any accidental deletion of one single character
could disrupt the function of the file (if not the whole application itself),
furthermore, they're not to be changed without consenting with the author
first. We'd appreciate any suggestions for future improvement.
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TWMB can retrieve and edit data from any ODBC (Open
Database Connectivity) compliant databases, those are but not limited to MS SQL
Server, Oracle, MS Access, FoxPro, Paradox, etc... Currently, only
MS Access and MS SQL database types are fully tested and guaranteed for
immediate use.
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| Notes:
Initial settings are required and can be performed as simple as
copying the provided files to your site, then you'll be able to customize
identity, forums, boards and descriptions through your web browser--no DLLs to
install nor objects to register to the server. |
Copyright 1999-2002 by Toan T. Thai.
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