Welcome to WCN:Talk v2.0

Click a link in the Table of Contents to read about using WCN:Talk. It's really very simple: you can post a message from any message page, or from the top page. From message pages, your post will be stored as a "Response" to the message that you're viewing. If you want to have the emails from a particular section (the drop down menu that says "Select Section") emailed to you, then simply subscribe to that section.

Have Fun!!!

Table of Contents

Selecting a Discussion Section
Reading People's "Posts"
Searching and Displaying Sets of Messages
Posting Your Own Message
Responding to Other Messages
Subscribing to Have Posts Sent to You
Uploading Files
File Archive

Selecting a Discussion Section

WCN:Talk allows an organization or person to setup multiple 'categories' of discussions, such as 'Announcements', 'General Discussion' and 'Humor'. (Where would we be without Humor?) The messages for each section or category are all stored in separate database tables. To select the Section use the drop down menu that says 'Select Section'. Note that Searching for messages only looks in the current section. However, the File Archive allows you to view files that have been uploaded from any section.

To read a post, simply click on the subject link of that message. Remember, the BACK button on your browser's toolbar is your friend. It's often quicker than clicking on links, if you just want to go back a step (for example back to the top page). Note -- because of the use of cookies, you can't have more than one browser window using the forum at the same time (the session id's get confused).

Searching and displaying sets of messages can be done from the Search Menu at the top of the Top Page. The search menu is divided into 3 types of display - Simple Search, Advanced and 'None'. In the Simple Search Menu (displayed as 'Search' in the Search Menu Radio Button list), select the Radio Button that corresponds to the type of the search you want to do, and then type in search text or select a sub-option (if necessary) and click on Re-Display Messages. The Advanced Menu has some additional search, display and sorting options.

You select the type of Search menu by clicking on the 'Search Menu' button, after selecting the desired Search radio button. The default setting is 'No Menu'.

Generally, people are most interested in the most recent messages, which is why the software is set to display the most recent messages first.

To post your own message, you have two choices: A) Post a message from the Top Page Message Form, which will create a new branch or thread, or B) Post a message by clicking on a message you're interested in, and then using the Response Message Form to post a response. It's that simple!

Note that you can hit your Enter key to create blank lines in between paragraphs.

See 'Posting Your Own Message' above.

If you want to have the emails from a particular section (the drop down menu that says "Select Section") emailed to you, then simply subscribe to that section by clicking on the 'Subscribe' link on the top of any page. Once on the Subscribe Page, simply check the Section that you want to receive messages from, and select whether you want to receive each message as it's posted, or a "list" of messages at the end of the day.

When you receive an email, you can then decide if you wish to visit the discussion section and respond. It's a great time saver!

Uploading Files

You can upload a file with any message that you post. You can also type a file description. When you type your message, check the box that says 'Upload File?'. On the next page (the preview screen) you'll see an upload file browse field and a description field. Use the browse button to find the file on your machine, and then hit 'Save'.

File Archive

On the top menu, there's a link that says 'File Archive'. Click that to view all the files that have been uploaded. You can also view an uploaded file by clicking on the message that it was uploaded with. Messages with attached files will have a small 'baggage' icon next to them (on the top page only).