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This page explains the different sections of the User Community
pages. It explains how to register, how to read messages,
how to participate in the discussion and how to search for
information in the forums. We hope that this help page simplifies
the usage of the User Community pages. Before you start using
these pages, please have a quick look on the terms
and conditions.
Help sections
Frequently Asked Questions
Registration
In order to participate in the discussion on the ESI User
Community, you need to register. This gives you a unique user
name for all your messages. Optionally you can receive automatic
emails when you receive a reply to one of your messages. Registered
users can contact other users directly without writing a public
messge.
For registration, you need to click on Register on
the menu on the left. In the form that appears, you need to
enter a user name, your email address (which
will never be visible to anyone else) and password.
After you submit the form by clicking submit registration,
an email will be sent to you with an activation link to activate
your registration. This is needed in order to make sure that
your email address is working. Please note: if you do not
activate the user registration within 48 hours, the user name
will be deleted and is again available for usage of anyone.
It is not possible to write messages before the activation.
Login / Logout
Via Login / Logout on the menu on the left, you can
"login" to the ESI User Community. This sets a cookie
on your system that helps to remember your password and login
name. When you create a new topic, reply
to an existing message or contact other
users, your user name and password will automatically
appear on the form already. This means that you do not have
enter your user name and password manually everytime.
Keep in mind that a "login" is permanent ... this
means that you are still logged in on the same system even
if you turn off the PC and come back a few days later. Because
of that, anyone who has access to your PC could write messages
on this forum without knowing your password but using your
user name. Please only login if you use the same PC regularly
and several times for this forum and if no one else has access
to the PC who could use the forum as well.
The forum allows you to reply to existing messages
or to create new topics even if you are not
logged in. In that case, you have to enter your user name
and password manually. This makes it easy to use the forum
even when you access it from public computers such as in an
internet café or if you are using the computer of a
friend.
When you are already logged in, clicking on Login / Logout
allows you to logout again. This will delete the cookie
of the forum.
You can only login if you have the cookie
function enabled on your web browser.
List Recent Topics
If you select Recent Topics on the left or above
the message list table, a list with all the current topics
that are discussed is displayed. Every entry in the list represents
one topic or thread.
The latest topic is always moved up to the top of the list.
This also happens when a reply is posted
to a specific message inside a thread.
As result, you can always see which topics are discussed right
at the moment as they will automatically appear on top of
the list.
The list itself shows the number of the thread
in the Thread column. If you click on it, all messages
for that topic are displayed on one page.
The Topic column shows the subject of the specific
topic. If you click on it, the topic's first
message is displayed. The list also shows the Name
of the author (click on it to show the profile
of the author), the Date the topic was started and
the number of Replies.
On top of the list, you can switch to the list with New
Messages and the Message History. The
list header will also display how many Messages and
Topics are currently stored in the forum database.
At the end of list, you can find the link to create
a new topic and to search for messages.
You can navigate through the different pages of the list with
the links at the end of the page.
List New Messages
If you select New Messages on the left or above the
message list table, a list with all recent messages written
inside the forum is displayed. Every entry in the list represents
one single message, regardless of its thread.
The latest message is always moved up to the top of the list,
no matter if it is the first message of a new
topic or a reply. As result, you can
always see all the latest additions to the forum.
The list itself shows the number of the message in the No.
column. The Topic column shows the subject of the specific
topic. If it starts with 'Re:', the message is a reply to
an earlier message. If you click on it, the message
is displayed. The list also shows the Name of the
author (click on it to show the profile
of the author), the Date the message was written and
the number of Hits (which is the number of views for
the specific message).
On top of the list, you can switch to the list with Recent
Topics and the Message History. The list
header will also display how many Messages and Topics
are currently stored in the forum database. At the end of
list, you can find the link to create a new topic
and to search for messages.
You can navigate through the different pages of the list with
the links at the end of the page.
Show Message History
If you select Message History on the left or above
the message list table, a list with all messages of the forum
including all threads is displayed.
You will see a more 'traditional' list with all messages sorted
by the threads they belong to. This list
is very helpful to follow the discussion inside the forum
when you only want to read messages rather than participate
by writing new messages or replies.
The list itself shows the number of the message in the No.
column. The Topic column shows the subject of the specific
topic. If it starts with 'Re:', the message is a reply to
an earlier message - you can see that also via the tree structure
that is displayed inside the list table. If you click on the
topic, the message is displayed. The list
also shows the Name of the author (click on it to show
the profile of the author), the Date the message
was written and the number of Hits (which is the number
of views for the specific message).
On top of the list, you can switch to the list with New
Messages and Recent Topics. The list
header will also display how many Messages and Topics
are currently stored in the forum database. At the end of
list, you can find the link to create a new topic
and to search for messages.
You can navigate through the different pages of the list with
the links at the end of the page.
Search Function
After selecting Search on the left or in the lower
right corner of the topic / thread list,
a form is displayed that allows you to search for messages.
In the search form you can enter a text that is used
as search string. You can also select if you want to search
inside the user name, message body or the topic
subject.
After you click on the search button, a list with the
results will be displayed, that shows the number of each message
that have been found in the No. column. The Topic
column shows the subject of the specific topic. If it starts
with 'Re:', the message is a reply to an earlier message.
If you click on the topic, the message is displayed.
The list also shows the Name of the author (click on
it to show the profile of the author), the
Date the message was written and the number of Hits
(which is the number of views for the specific message). One
line below, a short section of the message that was found
is displayed in the Message Body section.
You can navigate through the different pages with search results
(if the list is longer than one page) with the links below
the table.
Create new topic
In order to create a new topic, you click on New Topic
in the lower right corner of the topic / thread
list.
In the form that appears, you can enter the subject
of your new message and the main body. Please always
use a subject that is describing the issue you want to discuss
as detailed as possible.
You need to enter your user name and password.
You can add links or an image
to your message. With the [quote]
and [/quote] tags you can manually
enter text that should be highlighted in a box. You can also
use the add quote button to do that. The topic will
be created once you click on the create new topic button.
Display message
To display a message, simply click on its entry in the topic
/ thread list in the Topic column.
The message will be displayed.
Reply to a message
In order to reply to a message, you need to open (and read)
it first. Then click on Reply in the lower right corner
of the message. A new page will open that is displaying the
message again (this allows you to cut & paste sections
from it if you want to quote it or simply to read the message
again while you write your reply). Under the message, a form
will appear that you can use to reply.
For a reply, you need to enter the body of your message and
your user name and password. With the quote
all button, the complete previous message will be added
to your text to be quoted (i.e. so that it will be shown in
a special box). You can also add links
or an image. With the [quote]
and [/quote] tags you can manually
enter text that should be quoted. You can also use the add
quote button to do that. Once you wrote your reply, click
post reply to save your message into the forum database.
Edit a message
To edit a message, you need to open (and read) it first.
Then click on Edit in the lower right corner of the
message. You can only edit messages that you wrote yourself.
You need to enter your user name and the password
that you used when the original message was written. Then
click edit message. A new form will appear that allows
you to make any changes to the message. To confirm them, click
change message.
If you change a message, a small notification will be placed
at the end of it.
Create your own profile
You can create your own profile; the profile will be displayed
when clicking on your user name in a message you wrote. You
can use the profile to provide information about yourself,
e.g. a link to your website, to the public.
In order to change your profile, you need to be logged
in. Click on My Profile (menu on the left) to access
your profile information.
In the profile, you can enter your real name, the location
where you are living, a website url and a comment
(which could be a longer text). All the information is optional.
At the same time you can change your email address.
Your current address will be displayed and can be changed.
Note that your email address will never be shown to others
on the forum pages. Lastly you can change the reply notification:
enable it if you want to receive an automatic email when someone
responds directly to a message you wrote in the forum (default).
Click on the change profile button when you are done
with your changes. Note: the profile can only be changed when
your webbrowser allows cookies.
Password forgotten?
If you forgot your password, it is possible to receive an
email that contains your current password. To send that email
to your registered email address, go to My Profile
(menu on the left) and then click on the Password link
in the text.
In the form that appears (upper section of the page), you
need to enter your user user name and your email
address. Then click on send email and the email
with your password will be sent.
Note that you must use the email address that has been used
for registration (unless you changed it via your
profile) for verification. It is not possible to use
a different email address, or it would be possible for someone
else to receive your password.
Change password
To change your password, go to My Profile (menu on
the left) and then click on the Password link in the
text.
In the form that appears (lower section of the page), you
need to enter your user name, your old password
and the new password (twice). Then click on change
password - that's it.
Note that you must login again if
you changed your password and if you have been logged in before.
Contact user / User profile
You can contact other users by sending them emails. The email
addresses of other users are never visible anywhere on the
forum (that is good to know because of major potential problems
with spam mails). However, the user profile page contains
a form that can be used to send emails.
To access a user profile, simply click on the user name in
the list with recent topics or on the page
with the message itself. If the user has been registered,
his profile will be displayed. The user profile itself shows
the information the user has chosen to display to others,
incl. his real name, where he is from, a link to his website
and some comments (all optional). There are also links to
all messages written by the user. This allows you to see what
the user wrote on the different forums in the past.
To send an email to the user, you need to enter a subject
(will be used as subject for the email), the message
itself (which will be the body of the email) and your user
name and password for authentification. If you
have logged in before, your user name and
password will be already displayed in the form. The email
that will be sent will have your email address as sender address
(From) and the email address of the user you are contacting
as receiver address (To). Note: once the email has been sent,
the receiver will see your own email address (in case he needs
to reply). If you are unsure how this works, simply open your
own profile, and send an email to yourself
to test this feature.
Mails that are sent with this function are not stored anywhere
in the forum database and the content is not accessible by
the public.
Do I need to register to participate?
Yes. Unfortunatly we had problems with automated spam messages
that have been added as anonymous posts to our forum previously.
Because of that we are now allowing only registered users
to create new topics new threads or to reply.
What is a "cookie"?
A cookie is a small file that will be stored on your local
hard disk. To use cookies, the function must be enabled by
your web browser. Please check the help / documentation for
your webbrowser to get more information about cookies. This
forum uses cookies for the login function.
What is a "thread"?
This forum is different compared to many other popular web-based
discussion forums. The main difference is that replies to
a message / topic don't appear all on one single page. This
forum allows users to post replies for every individual message
and not only under the last / latest entry. That generates
a tree structure that is displayed under each message or in
the Message History. This tree structure
is called "thread". A thread contains the complete
discussion to one single topic. Threads have
-as the messages themselves- individual numbers. If you refer
other users to a different discussion, you can use the thread
number (which is displayed in the list of recent
topics).
Can I add links to other pages in messages?
Yes you can! Normal html code cannot be placed inside a message
on this forum and it will be filtered out for security. However,
you can place links into your messages using special tags
or codes. There are four different options for links:
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[url]www.audiotrak.net[/url]
This will place a link to http://www.audiotrak.net into
your message. The page will open in a new browser window. |
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[url=http://www.audiotrak.net]AUDIOTRAK[/url]
This will place a link to http://www.esi-audio.com into
your message for clicking on 'AUDIOTRAK'. The page will
open in a new browser window. |
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[local]www.esi-audio.com[/local]
This will place a link to http://www.esi-audio.com into
your message. The page will open in the current browser
window. |
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[local=http://www.esi-audio.com]ESI
website[/url]
This will place a link to http://www.esi-audio.com into
your message for clicking on 'ESI website'. The page will
open on the current browser window. |
Typically you would use [url] and
[/url] when you want to link to
an external website. If you want to link to a different page
from the ESI User Community site or the AUDIOTRAK website, you
would prefer [local] and [/local].
You cannot mix [url] and [local]
tags within each other. The tag at the end needs to be [/url]
(or [/local]). To link to other
messages in the same forum, check the next FAQ
question.
Can I refer to other messages?
Yes you can! As with links (check the previous
FAQ question), you can use special tags or codes to refer
readers of your message directly to another message. This
will create a clickable link. You only need to know the number
of the message (which is displayed in the list
with new messages and the message history):
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[msg=21]Check
this message[/msg]
This will place a link to message number 21 into your
message for clicking on 'Check this message'. |
Note that you cannot link to messages in other forums (e.g.
to the ESI Forum when you write a message in the AUDIOTRAK
Forum). If you want to do that, you can use the [local]
and [/local] tags as explained
in the previous FAQ section. The tag at
the end must be [/msg].
Can I use HTML code or pictures in messages?
It is not possible to use any HTML code in messages. However,
you can place links to other websites
or to other messages using special code
tags in your messages, as explained above. You can also use
bold or italic:
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[i]Text
in Italic[/i]
This will write Text in Italic. |
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[i]Bold
Text[/i]
This will write Bold Text. |
If you want to use pictures, you can add them to the message
by using the following syntax:
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[img]http://www.mywebsite.url/mypicture.gif[/img]
This will show the file mypicture.gif from www.mywebsite.url
inside the message. |
Note that the picture must be available via another webspace,
i.e. you cannot upload the actual picture to our website,
you can only refer to it.
How can I change my user name?
Your user name cannot be changed. You need to re-register
if you want to have a different user name. However, we recommend
to be registered on the forum only once.
How can I change my password?
Go to My Profile (menu on the left) -> Password
as explained here.
How can I change my email address?
Go to My Profile (menu on the left) and change the
email address there. Note that you must be logged
in to change your profile information.
What is a Moderator?
Users that are labeled as "Moderator" are product
specialists from ESI, AUDIOTRAK and partners that are actively
participating in the discussion.
Can I edit or delete my messages?
You can edit your messages. How this is done is explained
here. You can also delete them via the apropiate
link on each message. However, you can only delete your messages
if no replies have been posted.
Can I quote other users when I reply?
Yes, you can add quotes from other users when you write a
reply. You can also write texts shown as quotes (i.e. if you
want to quote something from another website or email or highlight
in a special way) with the [quote]
and [/quote] tags. How this is
done is explained here.
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