Improvise your forum posts in BBcode

BBcode is short for Bulletin Board code. It is a markup language that can be used by forum users to format their messages. This help page describes what BBcode can be used on any forum which supports BBcode.

1. Bold text: [b]...[/b]
2. Underlined text: [u]...[/u]
3. Italic text: [i]...[/i]
4. Striked through text: [s]...[/s]

By using these tags, you can apply styles to pieces of text. Examples:
[b]This text is bold[/b]
[u]This text is underlined[/u]
[i]This text is italic[/i]
[s]This text is striked through[/s]
[b][i]This text[/i] is [s]mixet[/s] mixed[/b]
These will be displayed as:
This text is bold
This text is italic
This text is underlined
This text is striked through
This text is mixet mixed

Superscript: [sup]...[/sup]
Subscript: [sub]...[/sub]

By using these tags, you can print a piece of text using subscript or superscript. This is for example useful for things like "2⁴ = 16" or "H₂O". Example:
[sup]superscript[/sup] normal [sub]subscript[/sub]
This will be displayed as:
^superscript normal _subscript

Font color: [color=...]...[/color]

This tag can be used for applying a color to a piece of text. The color has to be a valid HTML color code (e.g. "blue", "red", "#ff0000", "#888", etc.). Example:
Who is afraid of [color=red]red[/color], [color=#eeaa00]yellow[/color] and [color=#30f]blue[/color]?
This will be displayed as:
Who is afraid of red, yellow and blue?

Font size: [size=...]...[/size]

This tag can be used for resizing a piece of text. The size has to be a valid HTML size indication (e.g. "12px", "small", "large", etc.). Example:
[size=x-small]It[/size] [size=small]looks[/size] [size=medium]like[/size] [size=large]I'm[/size] [size=x-large]growing![/size]
This will be displayed as:
It looks like I'm growing!

Center text: [center]...[/center]

You can use this for centering a piece of text on the center of the screen. Example:
[center]I'm right in the middle of it all[/center]
This will be displayed as:

I'm right in the middle of it all

Link an image from the web: [img]...[/img]
Link to a website: [url]...[/url] or [url=...]...[/url]
Link to an email address [email]...[/email]

These are all tags for linking web resources. Here are some examples:
[img]http://www.somesite.com/cool/thumbsup.gif[/img]
[url]http://www.test.org[/url]
[url=http://www.test.org]Visit Phorum.org![/url]
[email]someuser@somesite.com[/email]
These will be displayed as:

[www.test.org]
Visit test.org!
someuser@somesite.com

Monospaced, formatted code: [code]...[/code]

Sometimes, you might have things like ASCII art, programming code, guitar TABs, etc., which you want to put in your message. For those cases, you can use the [code] tag. Example:

[code]
 _____  _                                
|  __ \| |                               
| |__) | |__   ___  _ __ _   _ _ __ ___  
|  ___/| '_ \ / _ \| '__| | | | '_ ` _ \ 
| |    | | | | (_) | |  | |_| | | | | | |
|_|    |_| |_|\___/|_|   \__,_|_| |_| |_|
[/code]

Without the [code] around it, this would look totally scrambled, like:


_____ _


| __ \| |


| |__) | |__ ___ _ __ _ _ _ __ ___


| ___/| '_ \ / _ \| '__| | | | '_ ` _ \


| | | | | | (_) | | | |_| | | | | | |


|_| |_| |_|\___/|_| \__,_|_| |_| |_|


But with the [code] around it, it looks like:

  _____  _                                
 |  __ \| |                               
 | |__) | |__   ___  _ __ _   _ _ __ ___  
 |  ___/| '_ \ / _ \| '__| | | | '_ ` _ \  
 | |    | | | | (_) | |  | |_| | | | | | |
 |_|    |_| |_|\___/|_|   \__,_|_| |_| |_|

Quoted text: [quote]...[/quote] or [quote=...]...[/quote]

If you want to add some quote to your message, you can use this tag. You can choose whether you want to include the name of the person that you quote or not. Examples:


[quote]sadikhov is the best![/quote]

[quote=From Hamlet, by William Shakespeare]


To be or not to be, --that is the question:--


Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer


The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune


Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,


And by opposing end them?


[/quote]


These will be displayed as:

Quote:

Sadikhov is the best!

Quote:

From Hamlet, by William Shakespeare


To be or not to be, --that is the question:--


Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer


The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune


Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,


And by opposing end them?

Add a horizontal separator line: [hr]

To add a separator line to your message, you can use [hr]. This will look like:

---

This is mainly useful for adding structure to very long messages.

Add an Image

To add an image in BBcode,

1. Upload your image from the Local HDD to an image hosting server like..

1. www.imageshack.us



2. www.imagehosting.com



3. www.tinypic.com

2. Obtain the URL, say http://i32.tinypic.com/2czyir4.gif, then wrap in [IMG][/IMG] like this

[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/2czyir4.gif[/img]

The Display is

Add Flash

People prefer to add flash to their signatures or post, (not supported in Sadikhov).. Let's face it - although allowing users to post Flash on your board opens up a gateway for abuse (loud sounds/strobing/auto-popups), Flash can be useful in so many ways. For sigs, it's possible to create shoutboxes, fractal trees, games, API 3D art, and all for a fraction of the size of a gif (assuming you know your way around Flash, of course =).


This mod will allow your users to specify 'transparent' or 'non-transparent' when using the [flash] BBCode tags to post a .swf - any objects on the Flash stage will appear, but the background (canvas) colour of the .swf file will not be visible, so the IPB background will show through.


This mod is particularly useful if you have variety of dark/light skins installed, since it will prevent colour-clashing between the swf background and the board colours


Usage:


[flash=400,60,0]http://server.net/folder/swfname.swf[/flash]


Will show the Flash normally, with an opaque background (the colour of the Flash canvas)


[flash=400,60,1]http://server.net/folder/swfname.swf[/flash]


Will show the Flash with a transparent background (Flash canvas colour will not show)

Technorati Tags: BBcode help,[img],[flash]

del.icio.us Tags: BBCode help

Common mistakes Forum Administrators make

• Starting too big.
  I see many forums which are new and have a small number of members, but they have complicated sites with too many forums. Always start small, start simple, get a core group of members first, and build from there.
• Sites that are too complicated.
  Newbies get confused. Make your design nice but simple.
• Too many hacks.
  Only add hacks that would be useful to your particular community.
• Overconfidence and poor security.
  CF was hacked into recently because I was overconfident and thought I had it secured - I overlooked a bbcode that allowed input variables - I knew it was not secure, but I didn't think anyone would know about it - I found out that hackers were copying cookies and logging into my staff accounts - this apparently went on for months. Thank God the hackers involved were not malicious, and I was told of this breach, which is now fixed. But overconfidence and pride can lead to serious consequences - always be overcautious when it comes to security.
• Too much graphics.
  If you do have lots of graphics at least offer a text-based style as well.
• No plan for growth.
  A lot of forum admins start a forum, but when it gets bigger, the forum closes down because:

1. Not enough staff to moderate
2. The server is not powerful enough so too slow
3. The community splits into factions and splits
4. Always assume your site will grow, and have a plan - how do you plan to pay for upgrades?

• Poor selection of staff, and poor staff management.
  Members are the blood of a forum. The moderators is like the heart of a forum that controls the circulation of the blood. Without good moderators, a forum WILL fail. When it comes to moderators, a forum admin needs to:

1. Figure out how many mods a forum needs - don't have too many if your forum is too small, but you need enough so that mods do not burn out.
2. Choose mods from members who are dedicated
3. Offer a way for members to apply
4. Be strict in accepting staff - it is HARDER to fire a mod than to hire one.
5. Always have a live interview process
6. Always have a training process
7. Always have a probationary period - For example, at CF, we have a live interview with senior staff, then training for 30 days, and a probationary period of 60 days - during the first 90 days, you may be asked to step down as a mod if you are found to be unsuitable.

• Poor people skills.
  Forum admins are not just administering a forum - they are administering PEOPLE too - so they need good people skills - they need to observer good netiquette, be polite, and treat their staff and members well.
• Poor promotional skills.
  What frustrates me is when forum admins go to other forums and spam for more members - to me that breaches basic netiquette. The only way a forum would grow is through:

1. Good search engine positioning - CF is ranked number one for the terms "christian forum" and "christian forums" on ALL search engines.

2. Word of mouth - if you're good, people will find out.

• Finding a niche vs doing what you enjoy.
  On the one hand, forum admins keep opening forums about similar topics and saturate the online world with the same types of communities. On the other hand, forum admins need to run forums relating to topics they enjoy - it's a fine balance. For example, instead of another RPG forum, why not make an RPG forum that appeals to a subgroup - this way, you can capture a niche market.

More ??

Higher Clock Speeds, No TLB Issues and Better Pricing: The New Phenom

When Phenom launched it was slow, later plagued by a performance-hindering TLB bug and priced entirely out of the realm of rational thought. It's a new year and while I'd like to say that AMD has learned from all of its mistakes and will be back to a fully competitive state, that's only mostly true. There are still significant struggles within the company but at least this launch is a step in the right direction.

Today's launch is actually much bigger than Phenom's original debut, encompassing a total of seven new processors:

Ok, let's see if we can make sense of this. There are three new CPUs that you'll see at places like Newegg: the Phenom X4 9850, Phenom X4 9750 and Phenom X4 9550 running at 2.5GHz, 2.4GHz and 2.2GHz respectively. The 50 at the end of the model number means that these CPUs are based on the new B3 stepping, which includes the fix for the TLB erratum - in other words, these are the CPUs you want. The prices are also pretty reasonable, they are all finally cheaper than Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600.

The Phenom X4 9850 is a "Black Edition" part, meaning it ships with its clock multiplier unlocked. It is also the first Phenom to run its L3 cache/North Bridge/memory controller at 2.0GHz and not 1.8GHz like the rest of the Phenom lineup.

Here's where it gets complicated. AMD needed something to do with all of its B2 stepping Phenoms, so it's selling those to OEMs who don't really seem to care about the TLB bug. The CPUs with a * next to them are OEM only; although that doesn't mean that they won't appear in retail, they aren't intended for end user purchase.

The Phenom X4 9100e is AMD's first 65W TDP quad core CPU thanks to a relatively low operating frequency of 1.8GHz. Unfortunately it's plagued by the TLB bug since it's a B2 stepping core, so you have to take into account that its performance may suffer because of it. The same applies to the two new triple-core parts; the Phenom X3 8600 and 8400 are both quad core B2 stepping CPUs with one of the cores disabled. AMD doesn't have any plans to introduce a new, smaller triple-core die because the costs would be too great. Instead AMD wants to focus on getting its 45nm transition started before the end of the year.

AMD's plan is quite ingenious, keep the TLB bug CPUs out of the hands of the enthusiasts who will complain and use them to keep OEMs happy as well as use them for the first triple-core CPUs.

The OEMs don't completely get the shaft as there are two 50-series CPUs they get that we don't. First off there's a 95W TDP Phenom X4 9750 (most likely a lower yielding 9750 that just runs a bit cooler, hence the lower TDP) and next there's a Phenom X4 9650.

Within the next month or so, AMD will be releasing B3 versions of all of the remaining CPUs, so you'll see a Phenom X4 9150e, Phenom X3 8650 and Phenom X3 8400. In general, AMD told us to expect around a $50 price difference at the same clock speed between triple and quad core. Given that most applications still don't benefit tremendously from four cores, tri-core may be a nice way for AMD to compete with Intel's higher performing dual core options. As soon as there are B3 Phenom X3s available for review, we'll let you know how they stack up.

More ??

Taliban blows up Afghanistan's telecom towers

THE TALIBAN IS severely ticking off the citizens of Afghanistan and even some of their own fighters with a bizarre policy that involves attacking the country’s own cell phone towers, leaving 10 per cent of the national population (300,000 people) with no cell phone coverage whatsoever at night.

The wacky funsters have said that the reason they’ve decided to wage phoney war on the towers is that they believe that the U.S. military and NATO can use their phone signals (apparently only at night) to track them down and carry out pinpoint attacks on them.

According to AP, 10 towers have been attacked this month alone, causing almost $2 million in damage.

To protect the towers from any further damage, all four Afghani network providers, Roshan, AWCC, Areeba and Etisalat, have decided that it might just be safer to just switch them off voluntarily, leaving about a quarter of a million angry, networkless Afghanis stuck in the dark with no one to chat to. Except maybe to their wives (Allah forbid!)

The mobile phone industry has seen massive growth in Afghanistan since telecom towers were first set up there in late 2002. In just six years, the country has racked up 5.4 million mobile users and the communications industry has invested over $1 billion in infrastructure for them. A. Sangin, the Afghani telecommunications minister reckons that the country could see another $500 million in investments over the next two years, despite the attacks. Sangin also said that he believed "people will stand up and provide protection for the telecom towers".

The ironic thing is that even some Taliban fighters are irked by the disruptions in cellular coverage they have caused and are actually demanding that the network providers restore full service. In a telephone interview to AP (probably during daylight hours), Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman said " We see that some people are having problems, so we might change the times that the networks are shut down in the coming days".

Of course, the logical and sensible thing for the Taliban to do to avoid being electronically tracked (without significantly peeving the local population) is to simply turn off their phones and take the batteries out, but then again, that just takes all the fun out of blowing things up, doesn’t it?

How To Become A Ccna

This exam tests a candidate's knowledge and skills required to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small to medium size enterprise branch network

The following are the topics covered in 640-802

· Building a Simple Network
· Ethernet Local Area Networks
· Wireless Local Area Networks
· Exploring the Functions of Routing
· Wide Area Networks
· Network Environment Management


A. How to start preparing

You might consider having the following to ensure a smooth self study
a) Study Guides (Todd Lammele's CCNA Study Guide or a Cisco Press 640-802 Study Guide)
b) CBT for a better understanding of concepts (CCNA Video Mentor for 640-802 or/and CBT Nuggets)
c) A Simulator to train in a virtual device (Boson)
d) Dumps for virtual tests(P4S/ Testking)

Mentioned above are those, people have been using for quite some time and found to be worthy enough. Alright, now that you have gathered the materials required, let’s move on to the next step..

B. Course of Action

1. Read one topic at a time. Try to understand completely.
2. It is good to relate topics to what you have learned. The more you to try to relate, you discover new concepts. That will help you to understand newer topics easily
3. Try simulating the concepts learned. Only then, new doubts arise and more clarity sought.
4. Passing the exam will just make you yet another paper certified associate. You need to have the knowledge to work with your certification.
5. Learning is a never ending process. Never lose hope if you don't understand/ get the right way in the first attempt. We are always there to help you out.
6. After completing your subject, sit down and work out the virtual tests. Try the latest dumps and browse forums to find out what people have experienced.

C. Cisco Exam policies

· Registering for exams
· Gather information required for exam registration
· Pearson Vue is the Cisco authorized test delivery partner. You can register online, by telephone, or by walk in (where available).

For more details log on to:
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le11/learning_about_registering_for_exams.html


The D Day
· Be aware of the code of conduct required at the Testing Centre
· Read the questions thoroughly before answering them
· Manage your time and do not miss out on the simulations. They contribute to a good score.


Retaking the exam
· Candidates may only take a beta exam once.
· Candidates who fail an exam must wait a period of five (5) calendar days, beginning the day after the failed attempt, before they may retest for the same exam.
· Once passed, a candidate must wait a minimum of 180 days before taking the same exam with an identical exam number.
· Candidates who violate these policies are in violation of the agreement.

Neither Cisco nor Pearson Vue, its primary test delivery partner, guarantee the authenticity of any discount or promotional code (e.g., voucher or promotional code) obtained from any third party individual or entity. Cisco recommends that vouchers be purchased directly through Pearson VUE


The cost of CCNA exam is USD 150. Your score is valid for three years and you may choose to do a CC*P or continue to have CCNA be taking a retest

All the best