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The Forum began on a different server, but that service was very poor, then in 2001 the forum moved to Ezboard where it grew and came of age. In 2005 the forum moved onto the mwillett.org server using open source software phpBB2.

In order to use the Forum you have to sign in and apply for membership. Please take the time to do this. There is nothing sinister about it, your email address is needed in order to send you notification of replies that you request. If you post you can request that a notification of each reply to that post is emailed to you so you stay in touch.

Once you are logged in you do not need to keep signing on or inputting your password. This relies on a cookie, if you are scared of cookies then you would not fit in on the Forum anyway.

Censorship

I have decided that I will not censor posts because of content, but I do reserve the right to censor aggressive style. In other words you are quite free to say that women are fundamentally inferior to men or people of African origin are lower down the evolutionary ladder than whites or the holocaust was staged in Hollywood or all men are rapists. I will not censor content. But if you are gratuitously offensive, aggressive or rude I will delete your posts.

I do admit of some double standards here, as I tend to allow more leeway to those who argue with things I agree with and I am less tolerant with those I disagree with. If you want to post radical views that oppose mine make sure you are scrupulously polite to everybody.

The Forum is divided into sections, please post in the appropriate section for the subject matter of your post and the likely replies. If your post has gone before you scream foul play just check to see whether it has been moved to a more appropriate place.

I reserve the right to edit posts to delete large intrusive graphics or violent imagery.

Animated GIF images are not welcome as avatars and will only be allowed in message bodies if they are directly relevant to the post.

Signatures have been disabled. If something is funny you won't mind repeating it, if you do mind repeating it how do you think we feel about seeing it repeated? Most signatures are not funny and contribute nothing to the debate.

Inappropriate images will be removed.

Avatars and Profiles

The personal profile facility is a tremendous opportunity to get yourself involved in the developing community of Debate Unlimited visitors and debaters. The name of each person who has posted is a link to their personal profile. On that profile you can reveal to the world who you are and what you are about. How much detail you put in is entirely up to you. I encourage you to include any instant message service and your approximate location (county/city and state/nation is close enough).

I encourage you to let us know something about you. You also have the option to include a photograph and a personal link.

Putting a face, a real name, a location and some personal details to a screen-name makes a huge difference. The Forum could be a community of friends across the planet. I know that sounds very pretentious but it is true.

Bold and Italic

The Forum allows BBcode, these are quasi HTML tags which use [square brackets] instead of <angle brackets> to enclose tags. With this system you can make single words or phrases bold or italic, or bigger with relative ease without the entire text being treated as HTML and so all the extra spacing and carriage returns being ignored.

To make a word bold simply wrap the tags around it [b] like this [/b].

Spell Checking

Spell checking can be added to Internet Exploder with the Google Toolbar, but that is not addressing the problem of having a shite browser. I recommend upgrading to a superior browser, Firefox, with Google Toolbar already installed:

With this combination spelling mistakes can be highlighted as you make them which not only allows you to correct them (or inform the spell checker that your word is correct) but it also trains you to make fewer mistakes. The Google Toolbar also allows you to search very quickly, I recommend using Google to find the correct spellings of words not included in the spell checker's dictionary, especially names and other proper nouns.

Not taking the time to post accurate information and correct spellings shows the rest of the community that you don't care.

Skins

You have access to more than one skin for the forum. To check the latest default skin log out and see what skin loads automatically. In your profile you have the option to select other skins.

I will always ensure that there is an alternative skin available that is suitable for people with slower computers and internet connections. At the time of writing this option is called phpBBlite, if you are having problems with the default skin give it a try, you select your skin via your profile set-up.

© 1999 - 2008 by Martin Willett.

mwillett.org: Debate Unlimited