Frequently Asked Questions

Posting Policies

Why did you delete my post?

I take the free exchange of thoughts in the Forum very seriously and only delete something if it is completely offensive or without merit. If you feel that you've been slighted, tell me (indy@indyfan.com).
I'm not able to read every post, so offensive posts will probably slip by, however, we've got to remember when dealing with people like this that the best course of action is to ignore their posts. Following up the troublemaker's post with threats only serves to give them the attention they crave.

Can I talk about Star Wars, Adam Sandler, etc. in the Forum?

I won't stop you from discussing anything your heart desires in the Forum, but realize that we're joined together by a common interest, Indiana Jones. Other Forum participants may grow weary of your off-topic posts. If the "Indy to other stuff ratio" gets too low, we may lose some of our most valuable members to frustration. Anything to an extreme (except Indy, of course) is a bad thing, so let's practice moderation when it comes to off-topic posts. If things get out of hand, I may have to resort to deleting...

Why can't I use "bad words"?

I understand the necessity for harsh language in some circumstances to really drive home how angry you are, but the Indyfan Forum is intended for Indy fans of all ages. Before you cry, "Censorship!", realize that we are a part of a community and we don't want to lose our more sensitive members because of chronic foul language. Besides, only the most extreme "bad words" are filtered out by the program, and you can easily get around the program with symbols in the place of letters, but let's try to keep it to a minimum.

What other things are "frowned upon"?

Personal messages are the domain of email. If a Forum poster omits their address, a single request for an email is ok. If they don't respond, they don't want to talk to you. Drop it.
Posting whole paragraphs as subject lines. Don't force people to read your every word. You should be able to get their attention with a short subject line if they're interested.
Repeated posts of the same message. My observation is they don't get you any more attention than the original post. If the first fails, the second has even less of a chance.

Can I post a wanted or for sale message?

If you are looking for or selling Indy merchandise, in general, I think that's a suitable use of the Forum if you are an individual (not a company). However, if the same commercial messages are posted constantly they become an annoyance. No one will appreciate your persistence, and your hard-sell tactics will fail.

Security Issues

What's that crazy red message about IP addresses not matching?

That's the imposter protection in action. See the next question.

How can I stop troublemakers from impersonating me?

Throughout the history of this Forum there have been several incidents where some attention-starved individual posted a message which appeared to be from a Forum regular. Most are obviously fakes as they confess some personal failing (e.g. I wet my pants, I hate Indiana Jones, etc.), however, others weren't so obvious, so action had to be taken.
I really didn't want to go to a registration system, because it would discourage the casual poster from participating. As a compromise, I implemented IP checking, whereby Forum regulars can send me the details of which IPs they post from. Anyone posting under their name from an IP which doesn't match will have the following message prepended to it:

The poster's name and registered IP address don't match. This post is probably the work of an impersonator, take it with a grain of salt:

If you want to protect your good name from impersonations I need info on which machines you post from. I can accommodate multiple machines and a variety of pattern matching. I need the nickname/handle/pseudonym you want protected and the pattern of the IPs you post from.
For example, if you have a dialup PPP connection at home your IP address probably changes every time you dialup, and at work, you might post occasionally on your lunchhour from your desk. Your information might be something like:

Rocky Racoon
ends with ppp.dialup.net
cube42.megacorp.com

If you know how to formulate regular expressions, I can use those directly, otherwise just describe the pattern you see in your posts in plain English. Look for a line like the following:
Posted by Rocky Racoon from 9906753-ark.ppp.dialup.net on June 27, 1936 at 06:14:38:
If you want imposter protection, send your IP info to indy@indyfan.com

What other methods do you use to stop troublemakers?

The most drastic action that I can take is an IP ban. This disallows any post from a certain IP or IP pattern. This can affect innocent people in some cases, because of the wide range of IPs available in public computer labs, for example. Usage of this option is rarely called upon, but I'm willing to use it in extreme circumstances.

Technical Topics

Where's my post? or What's with the double posting?

Sometimes people don't see their post right after they post it because their browser is still caching the old version. They hit the "Post Message" button again, and the program obliges their request with a second identical post. A reload (or refresh, if you're using IE) should give you the most up-to-date listing. If you want a more permanent solution, set your browser preferences to check the cached page against the online page "Every Time". This is under the Advanced options in Netscape. In Internet Explorer, set it to "Always" update the page, also under Advanced.

Where did my post from last week go?

See the sequence of numbers at the top of the Forum? Those correspond to past listings of the Indyfan Forum. The larger numbers are more recent. After the main Forum page gets too big, I run a script which moves all threads which haven't been posted to for over a week (sometimes less when the page is really big) to the next numbered page.

Why can't I search The Vault?

I won't bore you with the long sordid story, but what it boils down to is that the Forum is humongous! We're weighing in at over 10,000 posts as of this writing. I just don't have the computing resources to index the files and allow a search. Hopefully, I'll be able to add this feature in the future.

Why do I get a "Host not responding" error when I try to access The Vault?

Those files are served from my personal computer, which may be down from time to time.

WWWBoard Questions

Taken from the standard WWWBoard FAQ by Matt Wright

Can I put html tags anywhere in my posts?

No. You can not use HTML tags in any field except body of the message. The maintainer of the script has the option of allowing or disallowing any HTML in the Message part of your posting. If they disallow it, the script will just throw out everything in <>'s. If they allow it, your html markup will appear in the posting. It can't hurt to try. (Micah says: HTML is allowed in the Indyfan Forum)

Why are there colons in the message when I try to post a followup?

Colons appear in the message dialog box when you try to followup up on a message to indicate that those lines are quoting the previous document. The owner of the WWWBoard can decide whether they wish to enable or disable the quoting of previous messages. (Micah says: Quoting is enabled in the Indyfan Forum)

Why didn't my post show up?

Your post most likely did not show up, because your browser did not reload the page, it simply pulled it out of cache. Please reload your browser and it should then appear. (Micah says: I'm getting a sense of deja vu)

Where can I get the scripts for this program?

The scripts are written in Perl and created by Matt Wright. They are free to anyone who wishes to use them and you can get them as well as other scripts at: http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/. (Micah says: The security modifications and expiration features are my own, you won't find those at Matt's site)

Site Author: Micah Johnson
Created: Mar. 9, 1999
Last modified: August 26, 1999

	Can I post a wanted or for sale message?
	If you are looking for or selling Indy merchandise, in general, I think that's a suitable use of the Forum if you are an individual (not a company). However, if the same commercial messages are posted constantly they become an annoyance. No one will appreciate your persistence, and your hard-sell tactics will fail.

	What's that crazy red message about IP addresses not matching?
	That's the imposter protection in action. See the next question.

	What other methods do you use to stop troublemakers?
	The most drastic action that I can take is an IP ban. This disallows any post from a certain IP or IP pattern. This can affect innocent people in some cases, because of the wide range of IPs available in public computer labs, for example. Usage of this option is rarely called upon, but I'm willing to use it in extreme circumstances.

	Where did my post from last week go?
	See the sequence of numbers at the top of the Forum? Those correspond to past listings of the Indyfan Forum. The larger numbers are more recent. After the main Forum page gets too big, I run a script which moves all threads which haven't been posted to for over a week (sometimes less when the page is really big) to the next numbered page.

	Why can't I search The Vault?
	I won't bore you with the long sordid story, but what it boils down to is that the Forum is humongous! We're weighing in at over 10,000 posts as of this writing. I just don't have the computing resources to index the files and allow a search. Hopefully, I'll be able to add this feature in the future.

	Why do I get a "Host not responding" error when I try to access The Vault?
	Those files are served from my personal computer, which may be down from time to time.

	Can I put html tags anywhere in my posts?
	No. You can not use HTML tags in any field except body of the message. The maintainer of the script has the option of allowing or disallowing any HTML in the Message part of your posting. If they disallow it, the script will just throw out everything in <>'s. If they allow it, your html markup will appear in the posting. It can't hurt to try. (Micah says: HTML is allowed in the Indyfan Forum)

	Why are there colons in the message when I try to post a followup?
	Colons appear in the message dialog box when you try to followup up on a message to indicate that those lines are quoting the previous document. The owner of the WWWBoard can decide whether they wish to enable or disable the quoting of previous messages. (Micah says: Quoting is enabled in the Indyfan Forum)

	Why didn't my post show up?
	Your post most likely did not show up, because your browser did not reload the page, it simply pulled it out of cache. Please reload your browser and it should then appear. (Micah says: I'm getting a sense of deja vu)

	Where can I get the scripts for this program?
	The scripts are written in Perl and created by Matt Wright. They are free to anyone who wishes to use them and you can get them as well as other scripts at: http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/. (Micah says: The security modifications and expiration features are my own, you won't find those at Matt's site)