Discussion Board Rules
&
A
nswers to 
Frequently Asked Questions


Please take a moment to read the board rules below, before using the board.

These rules are very important in order to keep the board running smoothly.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Common Internet Abbreviations

LOL
laughing out loud

ROFL 
rolling on floor laughing!

NT
no text in post

HTH
hope this helps

TY
thank you

IMHO
in my humble opinion

JMO
just my opinion

FYI
for your information

OT
off topic

 : ) = smiley face
 : (  = sad face
 ; )  = wink


 

PLEASE READ & RESPECT THE BOARD RULES:
When you post on the board, your IP# is recorded and you can be traced. Abusive posts will be reported to your ISP and could cause you to lose your account.

  • Do not, under any circumstances, preach to the other posters on the board, particularly about forgiveness.
  • Civil discussions only. 
  • No racist remarks.
  • Do not personally attack other posters.
  • No advertising in the posts.
  • No spamming the board.  Do not post multiple posts of the same or similar message simply to take up space.  
  • Do not send unsolicited emails to other users.
  • No "Anonymous" posts allowed.  Please use your name or choose a pseudonym or "handle" when posting.  Many people use their name followed by the victim's name and their relationship, such as "Steve - Mike's dad" or "Mary - Susan's friend".
  • Please stick with one name and do not post under multiple names.
  • No death penalty debates here.  Please visit our other board for that.  This does not mean that the death penalty is not to be mentioned, this just isn't the place to debate whether it is an appropriate punishment for murder.
  • No vulgar or profane words or images.
  • No posting with another poster's handle, or a variation of another poster's handle, even as a "joke".
  • No spelling flames - nothing is more juvenile than criticizing another person's spelling!
  • Posts should be made in English only.  Since I don't have the time nor inclination to translate posts in other languages to make sure they don't violate the posting guidelines, they will instead be deleted.

Posts that violate the rules may be deleted without notice. Additionally, posts that are in response to deleted posts may be deleted as well, since they will make little sense without the original post.  If you have a question about why a post was removed, please email me at info@murdervictims.com instead of posting about it on the board.

Abbreviations & words commonly used on this board

MVS
murder victim survivors

ADMIN
An administrator or moderator of the board

REGULAR
Someone who has been posting on this board for a long time and has become "known"

NEWBEE
Someone who has recently started posting on the board.

SADVERSARY or ANGELVERSARY

The anniversary of the date of the murder

CJS
Criminal justice system

DP
Death penalty

I read the rule about no anonymous posts.  Do this mean I have to use my email address when I post?  

It is your choice whether to use your email address or not.  If you do, you will receive an email notification if anyone posts a response to your message.  Some people like this feature, but others don't.  

I don't want to give everyone my email address, but I do want to know when someone responds to my message.  How can I do this?

You might consider using a web-based email such as Hotmail or Yahoo mail as your secondary account so that your personal email address will not be posted on the web.  This will help you to avoid spam advertising and other unwanted emails at your primary email account. 

I am receiving an email message that tells me someone has responded to a post I made.  How can I stop getting these messages?

Just don't put your email address in the email field when composing your message.  If you want to leave an email address, but don't want to receive the automatic responses, put it in the body of your post.

I want to see the posts in the order they were posted instead of in thread order.  How do I do this?

There is a button on the board that says "View by date".  Click there.  This will display the posts with the most recent posts at the top of the list.

Something I posted yesterday doesn't show up in the "by date" list.  Why?

The "View by date" button will bring up a list of the most recent 100 posts.  If there have been more than 100 posts since your post, it will not show up in the date list.

I want to go back to the thread view.  How do I do this?

Click "Back" on your browser.

I hate the banner ads and pop-up advertising.  Isn't there something you can do about them? 

Our host, Server.com, offers these discussion boards free of charge.  In order to stay in business, they sell advertising that appears in the form of banner and pop-up ads.  Please try to remember to click at least one ad every day.  This will help keep this service free. 

You can become a "personal account" subscriber for $4 per month, and view all Server.com discussion boards advertising-free.  See the Subscribe button on the main page of the board for details.

Why is my IP address visible?

It's a case of cutting down on abuse. Since visitors see that their IP addresses are recorded, they think twice about posting a harassing message.  Additionally, it prevents someone from being an imposter, and posting a message using another person's handle.

This board moves too fast.  How can I keep up with new posts?

You can subscribe to a daily digest.  Every day you will receive an email with a list of all posts that have been made in the past 24 hours.  The list will show the posters "name", the subject on the post and the date and time it was made.  The subscribe box is near the top of the page.

I've been around for awhile and think I am a "regular".  How do I get listed on the regulars page?

Please send me an email at info@murdervictims.com. 

I posted a message recently but it is no longer on the board.  Why was it deleted?

There are many reasons why a post gets deleted.  First, it may have violated one of the rules at the top of this page, or it may have been a response to another post that needed deletion.  Sometimes posts are deleted that don't technically violate the rules, but push the limits, particularly if the poster frequently does this.  Posts that are invitations to chat are deleted when they are no longer timely.  Occasionally, all posts by a particular poster are deleted after frequent or egregious violations of the rules.  Very rarely, a post might disappear due to a glitch in the server. 

I have read a post that I think needs to be deleted; what should I do?

Please send me an email at info@murdervictims.com and let me know the subject and the time the post was made, or copy and paste the URL of the post.  I will review it and determine if it needs to be deleted.

I sent an email about a post but it wasn't deleted.  Why?

The easy answer to this question is "because I have a life."  I may not be able to check on the message until much later and I may not get to it at all.  Or I may have reviewed the post but did not feel that it violated the rules sufficiently for deletion.  

I remember reading a post about a specific subject but I can't find it anymore.  Is there a way to search the posts?

If you think you know a particular word that was used in the post, you can put it into the search box that can be found near the bottom of the page.  The result will be all posts that contain that word.  

I searched for a post and I am positive I searched for a word that was in the message, but I did not find the message.  It was from several weeks ago.  Why can't I find the post?

The board has a limit of 2000 posts.  This board has a low volume of posts and moves pretty slowly so posts should remain for several weeks or even months.  Old posts fall off the back page when there are 2000 new posts ahead of them.  

I saw a post that says "I'm in chat".  How do I get into the chat room?  

There is a chat room box at the bottom of the board.  You can click inside the box that says "Nickname" and type your chosen handle.  It is best if you use the same name you use to post on the board so that others will recognize you.  

I was in the chat room for a long time but no one else was there.  How can I tell when other posters are in chat?

The solution to this problem evolved from the early days of our chat rooms.  When you are going into the chat room, just post a message at the board that you are in chat.  This will let other visitors know there is someone available for chat and they can see the time of your post.

Can I use HTML in my posts?

You can use HTML tags in the body of your posts, but not in the subject header or author fields.  

I don't know HTML but I want to add a photo to a message.  How do I do this?

You can visit http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/5616/ for tips and hints on simple HTML tags.  If you want to play around with it until you get what you want, go several pages deep in the board and respond to an old message as a test.  Make sure it is one where the original poster did NOT leave their email address so they don't get a notification of a response to their message from three weeks ago!

How can I get an answer to a question that is not covered here? 

Please send me an email at info@murdervictims.com and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.  

Enjoy the board!
Click here to go back to the board.

~Charlene Hall

 

Copyright 2007