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Parish Forum - an interactive web space where parishioners can share their thoughts, exchange ideas and dialog on topics of interest

Click here to visit the parish forum 

Frequently Asked Questions: about the forum:

What is the forum?  A public online space where members can share and exchange ideas by writing (posting) and replying to each other's messages. Click here for a Wikipedia article about online forums to learn more.  

How is the forum organized? The forum contains discussion boards covering various subjects.  Discussion boards are created by the web master.  Each discussion board contains topics and replies created by members.  The image below shows the basic elements of the forum. 

How do I view the forum content? You don't need to join to read the forum. To read the forum, click the forum link here.  The contents are open and visible to the general public.  Click individual discussion boards and topics to view their content. 

Can I post content to the forum? In order to post content to the forum, you must join and log-in.  

Who can join?  The primary audience for the forum is parishioner's of St. Luke's parish; however members of the general public are welcome. There is no cost to join, but you need a valid email address.

How do I join? Go to the forum page and click the Sign Up icon at the top of the page.



You will be asked to enter your name, which is visible to the St. Luke's forum administrator, but not to the general public, an alias, which is a screen name which is visible to the public and is used to sign your posts, your email address, a password and security question, in case you forget your password.

After you click next, you will be shown a summary of the information you entered, and asked to verify a security code which is used as a spam blocker to prevent automatic (non-human) sign-ups on the forum. 



You will also be able to read the terms and conditions governing use of the forum and must click the box indicating you agree, then click submit to complete your registration.

After you've joined, you should receive a confirmation email which provides a link to activate your account.  Click the link to activate and confirm your password.  After activating your account, you can click Member login at the top of the forum page, then click Manage Account to add additional information to your profile, such as an avatar or photo which will appear alongside your posts and a custom signature that will appear at the end of each of your entries on the forum.

How do I post information on the forum?  After logging in, click the discussion board title where you want to post.  Discussion boards presently include General Discussion, A View from the Pew, Parish & Related Activities, Parish Council and various other ministries.  Please email the webmaster if you want to create a board for a specific topic.  When you click the add topic button within a board, you can fill in a form that includes a title and the content of your message. You may add an image to your post.  Links and mark-up (html formatting) are not supported on this board.  You will need to enter a security code similar to the sign up verification above to confirm your post before submitting it.  New topics are moved to the top of the forum (below any sticky posts) when they are posted, pushing older content down the list.

What if I want to quote from an article or another source? Fair use permits re-publication of limited excerpts of copyrighted material for educational and some other non-commercial purposes.  It's not, however; appropriate to quote large portions of copyrighted material or entire articles.  You may use the [quote]  [/quote] markup tags in your post to indicate the beginning and end of your quoted material.  If you use [quote]  [/quote] markup tags, in your post, 

    for example:   [quote]source / date: This... is a quote [/quote] This... is what I have to say about it.

they will appear on the forum as shown in the image below.  The highlighted mark-up tags, [quote] and [/quote] will cause the contents to be formatted as reference material in your post.  Replace source with the article title, publisher or author's name and the date with the original publication date if available.   

How do I change or delete one of my posts? Use the edit link, which appears below your own posts to modify them. After clicking edit, your post appears in a form where you may modify the text, title, or attached image.  Only Moderators may delete posts. If you want a post deleted, you can replace the title and text with a few characters such as "---", or change the title to "delete this post" and a moderator will remove it.  You cannot leave the message body or title blank. Members are not able to edit posts made by other members.  Only moderators, who are designated by the webmaster, may delete posts created by other members.

How do I reply to a post?  You may click the post reply button to respond to an existing post. This will bring up a form similar to the add topic button.  Fill in the form, verify the security code and click submit.

What about inappropriate posts? This forum is intended for a general audience, which includes families with children, so please be conscientious when considering posting material that may not be appropriate. The forum is moderated by parishioner's of St. Luke's parish who will remove material which is judged to be inappropriate. If necessary the webmaster will block users who abuse the forum or violate the terms of use.

Guidelines for Moderators:  Moderators designated by the webmaster have an extra list of menu choices visible for each topic. These are:  Sticky, Move, Remove and Lock.  Click here For more reading on being a good moderator.  Email the webmaster if you would like to become a moderator.

Sticky keeps a post at the top of the list, preventing it from being pushed down the list of topics as new items are posted.  Sticky should be used infrequently, such as only for posts with important introductory information which should be visible to all new members joining that board. 

Move allows the moderator to relocate a topic to a different discussion board. This should be used for topics that aren't posted in the  board where they belong.

Remove allows the moderator to delete inappropriate posts. (use with judgment).  When in doubt contact the Pastor, Assistant Pastor or our Webmaster for guidance.  Any posts containing an obvious copyright violation, profanity, threats, sexually explicit, or violent language, racial or ethnic slurs should be promptly removed. Please email the webmaster identifying the member's alias if you need to remove a post.  The webmaster may block offending members from further posts.  

Lock allows the post to be retained but prevents additional replies on the topic.  

St. Luke's website page visits since November 10, 2001 

Last Update 05/10/08         © 2001-2008 St. Luke's Church Corporation, Barrington, RI
Website created and maintained by Chuck Anastasia