CCM: User Guide
The CCM.net forum is an area for our users to discuss information technology. Forum contributors are volunteers who want to help users looking for information.
Since users come from all over the world, and mostly from different cultures, participants are asked to act courteously on the forum. The site's Terms of Use specify the conditions for using the forum and proper conduct to follow when posting. If a user violates the conditions given in the Terms of Use, moderators designated by CCM.net's webmaster will delete the offending messages.
Various forums
The CCM.net forum is split into several topic areas: Support, Discussions & Threads, Rankings, and Professional Area. Users are encouraged to respect the forum type when selecting the forum onto which they post.
On the Forum List page, you can access the various available forums:
- Support
Support forums are dedicated to seeking and providing help to other members of the CCM community.
The Mobile forum is for all messages related to installing, configuring, or even simply using mobile devices like phones and GPS systems.
The Software forum is for all messages related to installing, configuring, or even simply using software.
The Hardware forum is dedicated to hardware problems: what to choose, troubleshooting, optimization, and comparison.
The Office software forum concerns the Office Suite (i.e. OpenOffice, Excel, Word, Access, etc.)
The Programming forum specializes in discussions about coding applications in various programming languages, such as ASP, C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and VBScript.
The Network forum is for all sorts of questions about networks, including questions about protocols, installing networks, connection problems, and more.
The Viruses/Security forum is dedicated to computer security, especially fixing problems caused by viruses and worms.
The Windows forum is for installing, using, and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows operating systems (i.e. 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista).
The Linux/Unix forum is dedicated to questions about installing, using, and troubleshooting Unix-based operating systems (like Linux, HP-UX, and AIX).
The MacOS forum is for questions about installing, using, and troubleshooting Macintosh systems (like Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X).
The Messaging forum is for questions about webmail and social networks.
- Discussions & Threads
Discussion forums are reserved for conversations about various topics for individuals looking to exchange on a topic without necessarily seeking or providing help to a community member.
The News forum is the place for information about computing-related news. Feel free to submit news briefs.
The Bugs and Suggestions forum is a space for CCM users to share their suggestions in order to improve the design and operation of the website and the forum.
The Members' Café is a place for users to talk about subjects other than information technology. Logged-in members are welcome to share a laugh, tell jokes, talk about the news, or just let others know if they're in a good or bad mood.
- Rankings
The Rankings section is made up of the Ranking Software forum, where users are encouraged to share their opinions on available software.
- Professional Area
The Professional Area section consists of the Employment forum, where users can discuss subjects about employment.
Interface
Users' messages are shown on the main page of the forum. The most recent contributions are sorted in descending order. If you reply to a message from, say, a week ago, that thread will move to the top of the forum's list.
Here's a description of the interface elements shown above.
- Subject
The message's title. A click on it allows you to read all of the thread's contributions:
- Forum
Main theme in which the question was posted. A click on it allows you to read all of the thread's discussions concerning this theme:
- Date
Date of the original message. If the initial message was posted within the day, this field appears in red. The name of the user who posted the original message is included next to the message's date:
- Replies
Date and time of the last reply. If the last response was posted within the day, this field appears in red.
The number of responses to the message are shown under the column headed by the chat bubble icon:
- Status of Discussions
Discussion without answers:
Closed discussion:
Solved and closed discussion:
Discussion in progress:
Reading messages
A click on the title of a message shows the contents of the thread, including the message as well as all of its answers. The answers can be sorted by date or by rating.
The last message of the discussion is denoted by a blinking orange dot while the page is loading. You can reach it directly by searching for "Latest reply" at the top of the page.
Writing Messages
Writing a message (whether it's a reply or a new thread) is done using a dedicated form:
Here is a description of the different elements presented above:
The Choose a category field (1) allows you to select the forum to which you will post your message.
The Title field (2) allows you to give a title to your message. This title is mandatory.
The Message field (3) allows you to enter your message. If you are logged in on the site, you can edit your personal signature, or the text that appears at the bottom of all of your messages.
If you are logged in, your username will go in field number 4.
The Receive answers via email check box (5) allows you to automatically receive all messages in the thread by mail, as long as you have correctly entered your email address.
If you have made a mistake when creating your message, you can edit it after it has been posted. This will allow you to fix any spelling errors or broken links. To do so, return to your contribution to the thread and click [Edit]:
Finally, the [Report] button lets you report messages that violate the Terms of Use:
Markup
Your ability to use markup on CCM.net forum is limited in an effort to make messages more readable overall.
You can, however, create various forms of stylized text.
To create bold text, place it between the tags < bold > and </ bold >:
Example of a message in bold
To create italic text, place it between the tags < ital > and </ ital >:
Example of a message in italics
To create underlined text, place it between the tags < underline > and </ underline >:
Example of an underlined message
To format text, place it between the tags < code ><bold> and <bold></ code >. With this feature, the formatted text will stay formatted the way you want it to. This tool is particularly well-suited to snippets of code that requite a specific layout, for example:
<code>for($i=1;$i<10;$i++) {
echo "Value of $i : $i";
}<code>
for($i=1;$i<10;$i++) {
echo "Value of $i : $i";
}
To create a hyperlink, simply enter the URL (it must begin with http:// or www.):
Examples of hyperlinks: [http://ccm.net/forum] [ftp://ftp.cdrom.com]
Examples of hyperlinks: https://ccm.net/forum/ ftp://ftp.cdrom.com
To create a named hyperlink, enter the URL within brackets (it must begin with http:// or www.), then the keyword, separated by at least one space:
Examples of named hyperlinks: [http://ccm.net/forum CCM forum]
Examples of named hyperlinks: CCM forum
Message Search
With the search field, located at the top of the page, you can search for a message in CCM.net's forums by keyword, username, unanswered messages, and recently solved messages:
To search for a message, type keywords separated by spaces. For example, if you have a problem finding drivers for a GeForce graphics card, type drivers GeForce into the search engine.
The search is not case-sensitive, which means that it doesn't matter which letters are typed in uppercase and which in lowercase. Additionally, all occurrences of each word are searched, so the word graph will return all messages that include the following words:
graph
graphic
graphical
graphics
graphing
graphs
By default, all discussion areas are searched.