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The feature list for our beta forums is coming soon!
Boardhost Classic Message Board Features
At Boardhost, we have no shortage of message board features. We offer dozens of customization options and settings to allow you to set up everything just the way you like it! The following is an outline of many of the major features of our service, however, as long as it is, it does not include them all!
We have divided this page into 8 sections, if you'd like to jump to a specific section, click the appropriate link below. Otherwise, just continue on to learn about our features!
Boardhost General Information
- Instant Account Creation
No waiting around for your board to be set up, after you sign up your board will
be instantly accessible, and ready for you to customize!
- Reliable Remotely Hosted Service
Your message board will be remotely hosted on our high-speed servers, which
offer outstanding reliability and uptime. We will place no usage or bandwidth
restrictions on your message board.
- Friendly Technical Support
Have questions about using our service or one of our features? We're here to help. Just visit our contact section and we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
- Threaded Message Board System
Boardhost uses a threaded message board system, which means you won't have
to read through old messages time and time again to locate the newest
messages posted to your board.
- Instant Upgrades
We are constantly working to improve our service. When we develop new
features, they will immediately be available for you to use on your board.
- Instant Updates
Most settings and appearance changes you make to your board are instant. For instance,
if you change your board's background color, or add a background image to your board, all
messages on your board will instantly be updated to the new appearance.
- Short Message Board URL
Your message board will have a short, easy to remember URL, such as http://members.boardhost.com/YourName/
- RSS Feeds Available
If you'd like, you can enable RSS feeds on your board, to help ensure your viewers are always aware of the latest postings.
- Message Limits
Depending on your Boardhost Service Plan, your board will be able to hold
anywhere from 200 to 5,000 messages (our archive plan provides a 50,000
message archive as well). When your board's message limit is reached, the
oldest thread will be automatically removed to make room for newer messages.
Each message posted to your board can contain up to 10,000 characters, and if you like you can even have a countdown showing how many characters are remaining (although the character limit is only very rarely reached).
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Message Board Settings
Thread Display Options
- Collapsed Threads
Our collapsed threads option makes it easier to browse through the threads on
your board, by only showing the starting message of each thread on your
message board's main page. However, the replies are still readily accessible.
Next to the title of each starting message on your board will be a  icon, which
when clicked will "expand" the thread to show all responses that have been
posted to that message. Further, when the thread is "collapsed", below the
thread there will be information showing the number of responses there have
thus far been to that message, and the date of the most recent response (in, of
course, your custom date format!)
In addition, on the top of your board there will be an "Expand All" button, which
will allow viewers to expand all threads on your board to full view.
When you expand all messages, or open a single thread, the board will remember which
threads are opened and/or closed during your browsing session.
- Thread Order Choices
Our Thread Order feature allows you to choose whether threads will be sorted
on your board in the order in which they were posted, or instead in the order
of their most recent activity.
With activity sorting enabled, when someone replies to a post near the end of your board, the next time you view the main page of your board that entire
thread of messages will be above all other threads, on the top of your board.
Threads will constantly be moving around on your board according to their
most recent activity. (Activity sorting works great together with Collapsed Threads)
- "View all" messages
You can easily have a "View all" link shown below each thread of messages on your board. This link will allow a visitor to your board to easily and quickly read each message in a thread without having to click each one invidually.
(this feature is available only with our paid service plans)
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Password Protection Options
- Password Protection
Our password protection option allows you to require a valid username for
each of your message board's users. You can add an unlimited number of
authorized users to your board in the administration area. Your password
distribution process is up to you. Some board owners post instructions to email
them for a password in the header area, but an automated solution is our
"Auto Registration" feature outlined below.
You can, at any time remove someone from your board's password protection
users, or change their username or password.
- Post Only or Access
Want anyone to be able to view your board, but a username and password
required in order to post messages? Not a problem, that's what our "Post
Only" password protection option does. To restrict viewing to authorized users,
you would want our "Access" password protection. Note: Access password protection is only available to customers of our paid service plans.
- Auto Registration
Our auto registration option allow you to automated the password request
process. When you install password protection, you have the option of whether
to also install auto registration.
When enabled, links will be added to your message board which lead potential
users of your board to a registration system. Users will be asked for their
name, email address, and a username and password for your board. Users
can also be asked up to three questions which you may specify.
Users can be instantly approved to post on your board, or you can choose
to require approval, in which case you will be able to approve or reject a user
after they register.
This option is highly customizable, including custom questions and text prompts, and even allows you to place "Email Address Bans" of users you don't want to be able to register.
- User Message Editing
With password protection installed on your board, you now have the option of whether to allow user message editing. When enabled, a user, after posting
their message will be able to return to the message and edit it an unlimited
number of times.
- Custom User Tags
Have a board user that stands out? You can have a custom tag stamped on each of their postings. It can be anything you wish, maybe you have a "VIP Poster".
- User Info Pages and Signatures
This is another option available only when password protection is installed on
your board. In each posting on your board, the logged user's name is stamped
on their message. When this option is enabled, that username will be
"clickable" and will open a small window which will reveal details about that
user, including: (1) The date the user joined the board. (2) A button to lead you to all current postings on the board by that user (only if message searching enabled) (3) Optional information supplied by the user.
The user can at any time update their information by clicking "User Info" when they are logged in.
The user can also enter a signature that will be added to the end of all
messages that they post to the board, and they can also change their login
password from this page.
- Private Messages
Keep clutter off of your message board by choosing to allow your users to exchange private messages. When enabled, each user will be given an inbox that will store up to 200 messages. This can be a good way for your board's
users to get to know each other more without using up board space, or exchanging email addresses and not knowing whether a message was caught in a "spam filter." Note: This option is only available to customers of our paid service plans.
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Message Board Customization
Message Board Control
- Message Board Administration area
Our message board administration area is a powerful section of our site which
allows you to manage your board, and control all aspects and features related
to your account.
- Remove Messages
Remove any or all of the messages from your board with just a few clicks.
- Edit a Message
Edit any message that anyone has posted to your board, at any time. You
can edit any part of the message. After doing so, the message will be stamped
with an indication that it was modified by the Board Administrator.
- Message Approval
Want to review postings before they show up on your board? Not a problem. We can even notify you by email every time someone makes a posting which requires your approval.
- Disable Responses
Don't want someone to reply to a message on your board? You can easily disable reponses to a
message, or to an entire thread of messages at once.
- Administrative Posts and Replies
Administrative Posts and Replies allow you to make authoritative posts to your
board. Your name and subject can appear in any color you wish, making your
posting stand our from others on your board. You can even use other features,
such as polls, regardless of whether they are available to general users of your
board!
- Keep a Posting on the Top of Your Board
When making an administrative post, you have the option of keep your post on the
top of the board. It will stay there until it is deleted, and you can have up to 5 such posts on the top of your board at any time. Many board owners post
announcements or board rules in such a posting.
- Posting Log Files
After any posting to your board, an entry is made in your posting log file,
viewable in the Boardhost Administration Area. This entry will contain
a link to the posting, the user's IP address, reverse lookup for that IP address,
and that user's Browser's User Agent String (this contains information on
the browser and Operating System that user used to access your board). You can even click on a user's IP address to ban them from posting to your board!
- IP Address Banning
Ban any IP address from posting to your board. It's easy, enter a full or
partial IP address, such as "192.168." and anyone who posts with an IP
address that matches will receive a "Banned" notice, and their posting will
be discarded.
- Co-Administration Area
Have a trusted friend to help you out with your board? Appoint them as
a co-administrator. You can choose which administrative tools a co-administrator has access to, such as message removal, message editing,
posting log viewing, banning IPs, and more, or any combination.
- Post Notifications
If you'd like, you can receive an email notification any time a message is posted to your board.
- Reply-To Email Address
Sometimes our system needs to send an email to one of your users, such as
if they've requested notifications of replies to their message. If they reply
to that message, it will go to an unmonitored Boardhost mailbox, however,
you can instead specifiy a "Reply-To" message so any responses will go
directly to you.
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Boardhost Paid Service Plans
- Advertisement-free and Increased message limits
Our Boardhost Paid Service plans all feature no advertisements on your message board, and available increased message limits. You are able to choose how many threads will be shown on one page of your board until they are moved to an additional page. Your board can store anywhere up to 5,000 messages with our paid service plans.
- Boardhost Message Archives
With our plans that include a 50,000 message archive, when your board exceeds 5,000 messages, the oldest thread, instead of being deleted, will be moved to your message boards message archive. The message
archive differs from the main board in that replies and edits to messages in the archive are no longer allowed.
Your users will be able to browse through the messages in your board's archive, and archived messages will be included in any message searches conducted by your users.
The archive functions similar to your board itself, in that if it is to exceed 50,000 messages, the last thread in the archive will be automatically removed. In addition, you may removed a thread
from your board's archive at any time through the message board administration area.
- For more information on our paid service plans...
...please visit http://www.boardhost.com/plans/
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Ready to join?
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in your post, is include ":)" anywhere in your message. There are 30 smiley images available, and you even have the option of having the full smiley set included underneath your posting form, so that all a poster would need to do to include a smiley is click on the one they like!
