WELSH BRIDGE UNION FORUM
Welcome to the Welsh Bridge Union Forum, a web-based platform developed for Members to express their views on any Bridge related topic, and on the Welsh Bridge Union.
Membership
Anyone (including ‘Guests’) can view ‘posts’ on the Forum. This is either via the navigation menu (‘Forum’), or via the side widget.
Guests (casual viewers) are not permitted to post topics, or comment on existing topics.
Before you can fully interact with the forum, you need to register. Using the ‘Register’ facility at the top of the forum screen, you supply your name, email address, and password, to the forum administrator, who will then verify that you are a bone-fide contributor to the forum. A profile will then be created for you. You’ll initially be a Newbie (when you’ve successfully posted a topic or reply, you get promoted to a Member – but no pay-rise).
Having registered, in order to access your account, and create new topics or amend existing ones, you need to log-in with your name and password.
Whenever you then create a new topic or respond to an existing topic, your comments will need to be moderated (to ensure that all is legal, and savoury). Some members will be designated as ‘Moderators‘, who will be able to view your post and hopefully allow it to be published.
Topics
If a member or guest wants to view all topics with a specific content (e.g. ‘Camrose’), use the ‘Search’ button. Fill-in the required content and then click on ‘SEARCH’ at the bottom of the screen. All relevant post will then be shown.
On the ‘Home Screen’, there are a number of Categories (or in ‘forum language’ – ‘Boards’). Choose the appropriate category and you can then view or reply to an existing topic, or post a new topic, within that category. These topics are the whole point of a forum, allowing users to express themselves and their opinions. If possible choose one of the pre-selected categories in which to post your topic – this gives a better chance of it being read and actioned by the appropriate audience – , or otherwise choose ‘General Discussion’
When creating a topic, click on the Category, and choose ‘NEW TOPIC’, fill in your comments, and then at the bottom right of the display, select ‘POST’.
Similarly when replying to an existing topic, select the Category, select the original Post, and choose ‘REPLY’, enter your comments, and at the bottom right of the display, select ‘POST’
You will then be advised that the new topic or reply will require approval (moderation) before it is posted for full view (this may take up to 24 hours).
For any topic, you can request to be notified about any replies to the topic – amend ‘NO ALERTS OR EMAILS’ as appropriate.
Membership
When logged-in, use the ‘Members’ tab to list, or search for, a specific Member within the forum. From the list you can select a Member, and send a personal message.
Moderation
Moderation refers to the screening of inappropriate content that users post on a platform. The process entails the application of pre-set rules (legal, GDPR conformity, WBU regulations, etc.), for monitoring content. If it doesn’t satisfy the guidelines, the content gets flagged and removed.
It is not a form of censorship as regards agreement or dis-agreement with the content of the post.
Within the forum, there are two types of Moderator:
– Global Moderator – a limited number of specific members (including the forum Administrators) who can moderate any post. Each of these members will receive an email whenever a post is created or replied to, so it is suggested that these moderators may wish to set up a separate email account (the moderator defines his email address when applying for membership).
– Category Moderator – for some categories, a specific member may also be designated as a moderator (e.g. for the ‘Master Points’ category it would probably be the Master Point Secretary). This person will be more equipped to possibly respond to any query within that topic.
To moderate a post, the moderator can use the link within the email, or go directly to the forum, (he may of course find that it has already been actioned by another moderator). Any category with an outstanding moderation will be highlighted with a bold exclamation mark. Select the category, select the topic, and from the ‘MORE’ tab, select ‘Approve’.
New members also require approval. Select the member from the list (‘Admin’–>’Members’) and approve from the associated drop-down menu.
Tony Haworth
(with thanks to Neville Richards for his much appreciated assistance in developing the forum)