Do I have to register?
How can I use smilies?
What are those buttons??
How can I get an Avatar (a small picture of my car) next to my name?
How can I add the small Prowler cars in the text of my message?
How can I add the small Prowler cars in my signature?
Can I add HTML to my messages?
What are moderators?
How can I change my registration profile... password, etc.?
What is NewsFader?
Can I customize the bulletin board in any way?
Are cookies used?
How do I reset my cookies? Private Messages won't work or I keep losing my identity and showing up as "guest"?
Can I edit my own posts?
Can I attach files?
How do I add a picture to my post?
How can I have my own Prowler Scrapbook?
Can I search?
Can I add a standard signature to my posts?
What are announcements?
Are there any censor features?
What do I do if I lost my username and/or password?
Can I be notified by email if someone responds to my topic?
What is Daily Active Topic List?
Can I search private forums?
What are archives?
What are icons?

Smilies
You've probably seen others use smilies before in email messages or other bulletin board posts. Smilies are keyboard characters used to convey an emotion, such as a smile :) or a frown :(. This bulletin board automatically converts certain smilies to a graphical representation. For example, if you type :o in your BB post, it will automatically be converted to - a shameful face. The following smilies are currently supported:

:)	smile
:(	frown
:o	embarrassment
:D	big grin
;)	wink

How can I get an Avatar (a small picture of my car) next to my name?
Optional "Prowling" image inserted under your username on all messages. Please forward proposed images to Prowler Online Avatar, you must include your Registered Username, and it will be reviewed and made available within 2-4 days.
*This site is frequented by younger, future Prowler Owners, so please keep that in mind with your proposed images!

Once your Avatar has been set-up for you, click on "edit profile" in the upper right hand corner of the Discussion Forum page and if the Avatar is ready, it will say "Note: You can cruise with a Custom Prowler!!". Select the custom Avatar, then click on "Submit Modifications" at the bottom of the page. It will then appear in all subsequent posts!

Using HTML and/or UBB Code
You may be able to use HTML and/or UBB Code in your posts, if your administrators and moderators have those options turned on for each forum. Some forums may have either HTML or UBB Code turned off, or both turned off. Only your bulletin board's leaders can set this. Every time you post a new note, you will be told whether UBB Code and/or HTML is enabled for that particular forum. If HTML is on, you may use any HTML tags, but please be very careful that you use proper HTML syntax. If you do not, your moderator or administrator may have to edit your post. UBB Code is similar to HTML, but offers just a few basic functions, such as hyperlinking, image display, bolding and italicizing. A complete list of current UBB Codes are listed here.

What are those buttons on the page where I write my messages?
These buttons are called UBB Code Buttons, and the feature was introduced to the UBB community by a user named MasterMind. What these buttons do is allow you to use the UBB Code in your messages without having to know the codes! You want bold, then just like any word processor, click the B button and you will get bold! With the Code Buttons you can insert many things...you can center the text, you can add a sound file, an image, or some smilies!

Moderators
Moderators control individual forums. They can edit, delete, or prune any posts in their forums. If you have a question about a particular forum, you should direct it to your forum moderator.

Changing Your Profile
You may easily change any info stored in your registration profile (including your password), using the "profile" link located near the top of each page. Simply identify yourself by typing your username and password and all of your profile information will appear on screen. You may change any items, except your username.

What is the NewsFader
when the NewsFader is turned on it will display, at the top of the main forums page, any news announcements, special events, and also the latest newest member. This is a good tool for the ProwlerOnline Administrators to keep you informed of major announcements. Look for Chat schedules and new feature announcements.

Customizing User Preferences
As a registered bulletin board user, you may store your username and password in memory for up to one year at a time. This will prevent you from having to type your user name and password every time you post a note. You also have the option of changing the default number of days back to view topics. Just click on the "prefs" link and you can make either of these settings.

Cookies
This bulletin board uses cookies to store the following information: the last time you logged in, your username and password, and your preferred "topic view", if you set it in preferences. These cookies are stored on your browser. Cookies are not used to track your movement or perform any function other than to enhance your use of the bulletin board. If your browser does not support cookies, or you have not enabled cookies on your browser, many of these time-saving features will not work properly. Also, you need to have cookies enabled if you want to enter the Private Message area.

You may delete all cookies set in this forum by visiting the "preferences" area of the forum and selecting the "delete cookies" link.

How do I reset my cookies? Private Messages won't work or I keep losing my identity and showing up as "guest"?
It would be a good idea to print this and keep it handy while doing the following. It is very important to follow the order here:

1) First go into your Internet browser and look to see if cookies are turned on. This setting is usually found under security. If cookies is turned off, then change it to accept cookies. It would also be a good idea to delete all temporary files in your browser. In IE Explorer, select tools from the top menu bar and then select internet options and delete all temporary files, including all offline content if this option appears and click OK.

2) If cookies are already turned on, then try this: Totally close your web browser and then reopen it.

3) Go to the discussion forum, and select preferences in the upper right hand corner. Once in preferences, select delete all cookies set by this forum. It will ask you to confirm and say yes. Now, this is importanat, click on return to preferences, once you're back in preferences, select the "Default Topic View" set it to show 20, 30, or however many days you want the topics to continue to appear. Now, be sure to click on "Submit Preferences" at the bottom of the page.

4) Now go to "edit profile" and fill in any missing information and press the "submit modifications" button.

5) Go ahead and do a NEW test post in the Test Post area of our site to set a new cookie (THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT and Please make sure you do a new post and not a reply post).

6) You should now be able to close your browser, restart it and re-enter ProwlerOnline and your name should then appear!

Editing Your Posts
You may edit or delete your own posts at any time. Just go to the topic where the post to be edited is located and you will see an edit icon on the line that begins "posted on..." Click on this icon to edit or delete the post. No one else can edit your post, except for the forum moderator or the bulletin board administrator. A note is generated at the bottom of each post that is edited so that every one knows when a post has been edited. Note that if your post was the start of a new topic, deleting your post will result in the removal of the entire topic (all replies after your topic will also be deleted).

Adding Signatures
You may use a signature (commonly used in email messages) on your posts. This is a new feature, so if you registered previously, you may not have been queried about storing a signature. If you click on the profile link at the top of most bulletin board pages, you will be able to edit your profile, including your standard signature. Once you have a signature stored, you can choose to include it any post you make by checking the "include signature" box when you create your post. This bulletin board's administrator may elect to turn the signature feature off at any time, however. If that is the case, the "include signature" option will not appear when you post a note, even if you have stored a signature. You may also change your signature at any time by changing your profile.

Note: You may not use HTML in your signature file, but you may use UBB Code (except for the UBB Code Image tag).

Attaching Files
For security reasons, you may not attach files to any posts. You may cut and paste text into your post, however, or use HTML and/or UBB Code (if enabled) to provide hyperlinks to outside documents.

Adding Pictures To Your Posts
It is possible to upload and image from your home computer to be included in your message. While you are composing your message, note the little paper-clip (signifies an attachment). Click on the paper-clip and follow the instructions to upload your image. Once complete you will be provided with the proper code to put in your message to make the image appear.  How does this work?  In order to display a picture, you MUST be able to address the image with a URL, think of it as the P.O. Box number for the image. The image must be "hosted" on a server that is linked to the internet...and ProwlerOnline.com has made it possible for you to upload a picture to their server! Click here for a demo of how to add a picture to your posts.

How can I have my own scrapbook?
Having your own Prowler scrapbook is quite easy. Click on "Edit Profile" and scroll down the page to "Create Scrapbooks", then follow the instructions there.

Searching For Specific Posts
You may search for specific posts based on a word or words found in the posts, user name, date, and particular forum(s). Just click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. Note: announcements are not included in the search returns.

Announcements
Announcements are one-way communications from either a forum moderator or a bulletin board administrator. No one may post replies to these announcements. If you want to talk about specific announcements, you will have to create a new topic in the appropriate forum.

Censoring Posts
The bulletin board administrators have the power to censor certain words that may be posted. This censoring is not an exact science, however, so certain words may be censored out of context. Please realize that the censoring, if any censoring is being performed, is being done by a computer based on the words that are being screened. Words that are censored are replaced with asterisks.

Lost User Name and/or Password
Retrieving your username and password is simple, assuming that email features are turned on for this bulletin board. All of the pages that require you to identify yourself with your username and password carry a "lost password" link that you can use to have your username and password emailed instantly to your email address of record.

Email Notification
If you create a new topic, you have the option of receiving an email notification every time someone posts a reply to your topic. Just check the email notification box on the "New Topic" forum when you create your new topic, if you want to use this feature.

What is the Daily Active Topic List?
When you visit this bulletin board, you will see a link at the top of the list of forums called "Daily Active Topic List". Clicking on this will provide you with a list of topics in all open (non private) forums that have been posted to that day.

Can I search private forums?
Currently, only administrators and moderators can search through private forums. We do plan to support seaching of private forums for other authorized users in the future.

What are archives?
Archives are read-only areas that contain topics that were previously posted to one of our forums. You may not add a reply to a topic that is in an archive. Topics in an archive may have been conpletely removed from the original forum where they were started, or they may still exist in their forums.

What are icons?
Depending on the configuration of your forums, you may be able to associate an icon with each post that you make. There are currently 14 icons, each expressing a different emotion or identification. These icons range from a simple note to sadness to warning. These icons appear next to each topic in a forum listing and on each post. If you do not see icons, your forum administrator may not be allowing icons on this particular forum. (Thanks to Kombat03 for the icon idea!)