Heavy Metal Haven

Heavy Metal Haven FAQ v1.4

This is an entirely different document to the Free Forums FAQ which can found found in the navigation menu, though it may contain similar information in places.

Should I read the FreeForums FAQ or this FAQ first?

Please read the FreeForums FAQ first, as this guide is alone Heavy Metal Haven's additions to their own FAQ which already covers a lot of important information, especially on the technical side of using the forum.

What do the colours on user names mean?

Staff Rank Colours
Users with these colours are the only users who you should contact for any sort of support.

Red = Forum Administrator
Green = Forum Moderator

The top poster ranks
A bronze, silver, gold system for the top three ranks on the forum. These users are not staff and cannot provide help to problems you may have.

Bronze = User who has reached the Experienced Metalhead rank.
Silver = User who has reached the Veteran Metalhead rank.
Gold = User who has reached the VIP Metalhead rank. Also for custom ranks.

Default rank colour
Used for all other members.

Gray = Other users.

How do I change the style the board uses when I'm logged in?

Go to User Control Panel (UCP) > Board preferences > Edit global settings > Board style:

Use drop down to selection and press submit.

Do I have to use the board in English?

Yes and no. You may change your board language by going to

User Control Panel (UCP) > Board preferences > Edit global settings > My language:

but this does not translate everything. It does not for example translate any posts made by others into your chosen language or translate anything you might post back to English for the majority of us, but the language packs may help you better understand things posted by the host site, Free Forums.

Why do I need a genuine email to use this forum?

Why don't you want to use a genuine email?

No, all joking aside, this is for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's extra security and secondly email notifications generate from the administrator's own email address, this prevents a ton of email being returned to sender.

Yeah, about those generated messages, explain them.

If you go to the following you will find many on/off switches for email notifications and you can customise as much as you like.

User Control Panel (UCP) > Board preferences > Edit global settings

You can also choose whether or not you get notified when someone replies to a thread you posted or automatically or not here:

User Control Panel (UCP) > Board preferences > Edit posting defaults

If you don't visit us for a while, you'll probably get a come back to the forum email generated. Please do not reply to it.

Every once in a while you may receive other emails from the administrator regarding the forum. These are purposely sent and never just generated by the forum software. If an admin sends one of these emails then it likely contains important information. You can of course opt out of receiving these emails, however Heavy Metal Haven would like to politely request that you do not.

I did not activate my account, but you keep sending me emails! Stop!

It is our policy to send a batch of reminders to all inactivated accounts every Saturday. If you do not want a Heavy Metal Haven account you should not sign up for one. This may seem like us being ******* but it is in fact common sense to not sign up for something you do not want.

You will need to contact us if you wish to stop receiving these reminders and your account will be deleted. Once deleted your account can not be recovered but you are free to sign up again with the same user name.

If your email is invalid you obviously won't be receiving these messages, they'll be returned to sender. This is a hindrance for us and the reason we have accounts verified by email in the first place. If you do not return to the site and change your email so you can activate, after three returned reminders your account will be deleted and is not recoverable.

Can I change my username?

Yes. But only if you've posted enough to get off of the newbie rank (currently 5 posts). We don't allow new members to change their name as it would be confusing to have a member changing their name so fast. Also it shouldn't be necessary, you have only just signed up after all. To change your name, please go to the following:

User Control Panel (UCP) > Profile > Edit account settings

You claim to be open-minded, but you have done (insert action here)

We are open-minded, especially when it comes to metal and rock music, our subject matter. However this does not mean that we (both staff and members) don't have standards. If you post a thread about a band in the wrong section (even if you believe you've got it right) chances are someone is going to move it. That doesn't mean you can't talk about it still. We do not delete threads outright unless they break our board rules.

Of course we are only human and can make mistakes.

More on topic with this point, yes we are open-minded, but if you say or do something stupid, people will correct you. Do not take it to heart and always try to learn from any mistakes you make.

I have found a bug on the forum.

Please check the Forum bugs thread to see if the issue is listed and if there is a workaround or further instructions already posted. If yes, follow them. If not please use that thread to report it to the moderators. If for some reason the bug is preventing you from posting, you can email direct to the administrator at the following address. Please include your Heavy Metal Haven user name in the subject box so I don't ignore you. Swap the AT with an @ and the DOT's with a .

adg211288 AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk

What is the difference between the ranks?

There are four classes of rank on Heavy Metal Haven.

1. Standard Users
- Newbie
- Headbanger
- Metalhead
- Experienced Metalhead
- Veteran Metalhead
- VIP Metalhead

All these ranks have the same permissions, and update as you get more posts. There are there as a place holder should we feel new users shouldn't be using certain features. VIP metalheads may choose to custom rank to be agreed with adg211288 only, as he is the only user who has the permissions to give it to you.

2. Powers That Be*
- Site Admin
- Moderator

Site Admin is for adg211288, as the site creator and the 2nd administrator 666Sharon666. Moderator rank is for other members of the team. Sometimes the moderators may have custom ranks just as standards users can. You can always tell a moderator by their name being in green.

* unless using custom rank

3. Banned or sinner users
- Banned
- In the Sin Bin

Unfortunately these users have either been banned permanently or for a limited period of time.

4. Reviewer
- Reviewer

This is a special rank, awarded to those valued contributors to our reviews collection. It has some small differences in permissions in the reviews forum.

What about Testing Account rank?

The Testing Account rank is something you don't need to worry about. It is a standard user account run by adg211288 for testing out bugs without admin permissions.

How do I Become a Moderator?

No one just becomes a moderator overnight. Becoming one is a decision taken between existing staff. If you want to be in with a chance you must keep a good record here and be a regular poster. Moderators are no good if you're going to leave weeks between your logins.

What is the deal with The Sock?

The Sock is an account used to dump posts. This may be for various regarding forum management. Users should not worry about The Sock if they see it posting. If a Sock post is visible on the board it is because that post was important to the thread. Please do not address The Sock in any way because it will not answer.

What's the deal with so many polls?

Might as well add them on other threads rather than make too threads of people saying the same thing right? It's going to be general standard on Haven for general threads on bands to have a best album poll and album threads to have a best song poll.

v2.1? v1.0.1? v2.1.3? What does this stuff mean?

Updates to rules/guide threads. The numbers represent a system of update changes.

Example:

v2.1.3 = Major version 2, Update 1, Minor Changes 3.

Basically the first number changes if the whole guide is rewritten from scratch. Normally after it goes live only the second number will change, as new things are added. The 3rd number only appears when really minor edits are made, some as typo fixes or things which were forgotten in the main update which should have been there. This is good practice because it alerts users when a change has been made to how we're running the forum.

The second and third numbers are reset if the first one changes.

What can I do to support your site?

You can use our promotional banner on your signatures and profiles on other websites. Please make sure the site allows such uses before you use it. Most I've seen don't mind however. The banner automatically updates its stats and is available in different code standards. Here is the code.

Long Version (View)

BBCode


HTML


Tall Version (View)

BBCode


HTML


If you have a Last.fm account, add yourself to the Heavy Metal Haven group.

If you use Facebook, Like our Facebook Page.

If you have a YouTube account, add us as your friend and subscribe to our YouTube Channel and share our video around.



You can also add yourself as a follower on our Blog where we put our albums reviews and articles up.

But at the end of the day the best thing you can do for us is regularly post on our forums.

Heavy Metal Havens appreciates and thanks you for all your support you give us.

I saw a donate link, you are collecting?

NOTE: This feature will soon be revamped.

Yes and no. Heavy Metal Haven is not a forum that directly asks for donations, however, they are gratefully accepted should a user wish to make a contribution. Your money can buy Heavy Metal Haven any of the following. All prices are by default provided in Dollars. I have converted the price to EURO and GBP on 10/05/2010, this conversions will change all the time, so only use them as a rough guide.

Domain Name $15/year (11.75 EURO, £10.09)

Park Domain Name $10/year (7.83 EURO, £6.73)

Ad Removal $10 (duration of a certain amount of page views) (7.83 EURO, £6.73)

Copyright Removal $10/year (7.83 EURO, £6.73)

Recovery Console Forum Restore $15/6 months (11.75 EURO, £10.09)

Premium Forum $4.94/month (3.87 EURO, £3.32) OR $49.50/year (38.76 EURO, £33.31)

Advanced Hosting $66/year (51.69 EURO, £44.41)

My question was not answered here!

Our apologies for that! Please go here and post a new thread and a mod will be along ASAP to help you. If it was something which should have been in this FAQ in the first place we will also add it.

I don't have an issue, but this should be in the FAQ

Tell us about it here. If we agree with you we will put it in.