Back to top.

BOARDS NAVIGATION

There are a number of different "levels" throughout the iWon Message Boards from Categories to Boards to Articles. They are all designed to help you find your way to a specific Message. Boards Homepage Here's where it all starts. From the main Message Boards homepage, you can click on any number of Board Categories (like Autos, Parenting or Travel). These Category links will take you to the appropriate Board's Category page. Beneath these links on the homepage, however, you'll notice a few other smaller links - these will take you to either Sub-Category pages or actual Message Boards themselves. Category or Sub-Category Page After selecting a Category from the Boards homepage, you can now either pick a more specific Sub-Category from the list at the top of the page or jump straight to a Message Board by clicking on one of the Board links immediately below the Sub-Category list. Now that you've selected your Category or Sub-Category, you're ready to pick a Board! Besides seeing a list of all sorts of Message Boards, you'll notice two other columns: "Articles" and "Last Updated." The Articles column displays the number of different Articles that are currently active in that specific Board. Last Updated tells you the exact date and time when the last message was posted within that board. Simply click on one of the Board names to link to that Board page. Boards Page You've selected a single Board (either straight from the homepage or from one of the Category/Sub-Category pages), so you're almost there. On the Boards page itself, you'll notice five main columns: Article, Author, Replies, Last Updated and Read. The Article column lists all the different articles related to that specific board. You can either create your own Article (click on "Post New Article") or select one that interests you from the list. The Author column simply lists the user who created that Article. The Replies column displays the number of replies that are currently active in that specific Article. The Last Updated Column lists the exact date and time when the last message was posted within that Article. The Read column contains three options for any article that has at least 1 reply: All, Last and Rev. Clicking these links, as opposed to the main Article name, will affect how you view the actual Messages. Article Page Depending on how you arrived at the Article page (either by clicking on the Article name or the "All, Last and Rev." links next to the Article name), you'll see a few different views on this page. If you clicked on "All", then every Message will be fully displayed here for you to read. If you selected "Last" or "Rev.", you'll see the most recent Message, followed by a numbered list of replies to that Message at the bottom of the page. The order of the other messages will either be oldest-to-newest or newest-to-oldest depending upon which link you clicked. To Navigate through all the Messages, you can either click on the First/Previous/Next/Last links or type in a specific number in the Msg # box. To switch between the two viewing modes while you're reading a message, just click on the Expand or Collapse links on the page. You can also sort the messages in Ascending or Descending order, depending on how you wish to follow the message flow.

Back to top.

CREATING AN ARTICLE

If you would like to start a new discussion, you can create your own Article within a Board. Simply click on the "Post New Article" link. Then, enter a name for your Article, fill in your e-mail address if you wish others to know it, and type your message in the large box. When you're finished, click the "Post" button.

Back to top.

POSTING A MESSAGE

If you would like to contribute to a discussion, you can post an article in one of the iWon Message Boards. Navigate to the Board Topic in which you're interested in, and then click on the "Post" button at the top of the Message window. On the Posting template, fill in your e-mail address if you want people who read your message to know it, then type in a subject in the "Subject" field. Click on the large "Message" box and type away! You can add all sorts of formatting (like Bold, Italics, Underline, fonts and font size), as well as smiley face emoticons, by checking off the "Richtext format" box and then pressing the appropriate buttons. (Note: Unfortunately, this format functionality is currently not available in Netscape.) When you're all done, just click the "Post" button to post your Message to the iWon Boards.

Back to top.

REPLYING TO A MESSAGE

While you're reading a Message to which you'd like to reply, simply click on the "Reply" button in the Message. On the Reply template, fill in your e-mail address if you want people who read your message to know it. The subject will already be filled in for you since you're replying to a previously written article. Then, just click on the large "Message" box and type away! You can add all sorts of formatting (like Bold, Italics, Underline, fonts and font size), as well as smiley face emoticons, by checking off the "Rich Text format" box and then pressing the appropriate buttons. (Note: Unfortunately, this formatting functionality is currently not available in Netscape.) When you're all done, just click the "Post" button to post your Message to the iWon Boards.

Back to top.

RATE THIS POST

Besides reading posts from other iWon Members, you can actually rate each message you read. Simply click on the Rate this Post link in the Message you wish to rate, and then cast your vote for how much you'd recommend a specific post. The more stars a message has, the higher it is recommended.

Back to top.

IGNORE USER

If you wish to ignore comments from a particular Member, just click on the "Ignore this User" link. No matter what Board you are in, all messages from any users on your ignore list will never be displayed for you. If you later change your mind and would like to see those messages, all you have to do is click on the "Ignore User Options" link. From there, you can remove people from your ignore list, turn off ignore completely, or view posts for users on your ignore list.

Back to top.

COMMUNITY TOOLS

There are a number of other options available to you within the iWon Message Boards. In the Community Tools box you'll find a number of helpful links that will let you Search the Message Boards, e-mail a specific page to a friend, print out a page or send a community alert about a problem poster.

Back to top.

SEARCHING MESSAGES

If you'd like to search the boards, just click on the Message Search link in the Community Tools box. On the Message Boards Search page, enter a word or string of words in the "Search" box and choose between "Message Text," "Subject" and "Author." Then click on the "Search" button to get the results. On the Search Results page, you can jump straight to a specific Message or even the Board that it's posted in.