Questions You May Want To Ask Us

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"There's No Such Thing As a Free Lunch"
- You.

We don't blame you for thinking that. Seriously though, it's free as in air and always will be. Here's some questions we think you might like to know the answers to. If you have any more, please feel free to fire us an Email by using the purple "Contact Us" Form at the bottom (in the black bar).



Question List

Blue text indicates clickable links.

  1. Glossary Index

  2. How can the board be free to use, it must cost money to run

  3. Are there any plans to do a Facebook and sell my data

  4. What is this website

  5. Why was the website set up

  6. Who or what group set the website up

  7. Do you have anything to do with Avro Hollows TMO Manchester City Council or Northwards Housing

  8. I consider myself a bit long in the tooth for all this technical mumbo jumbo

  9. I dont have an internet connection and your terms and conditions require us not to log in at the YES project

  10. Im not sure I want to know my neighbours

  11. What if my spelling isnt great

  12. What if I need help because of a disability

  13. Can a friend or family member post or access posts on my behalf

  14. I dont have a bloody clue what im doing

  15. Where Do I Start



Glossary

  1. Avatar

  2. Board

  3. Category

  4. Coffee

  5. Forum

  6. Forumadmin

  7. Member or User

  8. Moderator

  9. Rank or Award

  10. Register

  11. Subscribe

  12. System Emails

  13. UCP or User Control Panel

  14. User or Member

Definitions

  1. "Avatar"

    "Avatar" - A little picture that you can upload in your user control panel that will be shown beside any posts that you make and within the member directory.


  2. "Board"

    "Board" is short for "bulletin board" and this is the type of software used on this website.


  3. "Category"

    A "Category" is an area of the board such as "Socials" (The name will be in a black bar).


  4. "Coffee"

    A "Coffee" is something that should be served with a successful login (alongside a cookie). heathens sometimes drink tea when they log in. We applaud you if you have a beer or a glass of wine at the same time, God forbid.


  5. "Forum"

    A "Forum" is found within a category (the name of the category will be within a black bar). Within such a category there will be forums such as, within the "Socials" category, there is a "General Chitchat" forum.


  6. "forumadmin"

    The Member called "forumadmin" - is the board creator/founder - the boss of the Moderators.


  7. "Post"

    A "post" goes within a forum that in turn goes within a category. Within a forum, you have the ability to write a message or read messages (although some forums are "read only" and you will see this when they are padlocked). These messages, readable by all registered members, are called "posts".


  8. "Member"/"User"

    The software calls registered people "users". We prefer to call you a "member".


  9. "Moderator"

    A "Moderator" is someone who makes sure the board is kept tidy and safe - they may just look after certain categories or forums. They read (or should read) your abuse reports and feedback and act upon it, where they consider appropriate. The forumadmin is their boss and also has the ability to moderate the whole board. The Moderator/s who moderate the category or forum will be listed so you know who they are. Moderators can edit posts, delete posts, issue warnings to members and can ultimately ban members (although this will be used as an absolute last resort unless there has been a blatant breach of the rules). A Moderator is also a trusted member so they should wear their badge with honour. We also have an awards scheme for them (see rank/award).


  10. "Rank/Award"

    Ranks (We call them Awards) are either allocated automatically or members are nominated by the Moderator/s/The System Admin. We don't tell you how many different types of award there are (there are a lot for different things) as we think it is much more fun. Awards are a little way that we say thanks to you for hard work and regular decent posts/replies. You will find out about them as your involvement increases and we will also manually award them for certain posts that we believe deserve an award. Don't take it personally if you don't get one straight away. It doesn't mean we do not like you.


  11. "Register"

    When you register, you sign up and use the board for free, free as intended.


  12. "Subscribe"

    The "Subscribe" option at the bottom of yours, or someone else's post grants you the ability to subscribe to a forum. You will receive one update by Email, when you sign in. If there are further updates you will not be Emailed again until you have signed in again. Once you have signed in, and if you choose to continue to be subscribed to a forum, you will continue to receive one update per occasion that you sign in, per forum - this is a standard setting within the software so that you are not flooded with Emails on busy boards.


  13. "System Emails"

    "System Emails" are Emails about your account sent from the forumadmin, Moderators and the system itself.


  14. "UCP"/"User Control Panel"

    The UCP/User Control Panel is where you can change your preferences, your password and your Email address along with other details. You may need to verify any changes to your Email address so please keep an eye out for system Emails and ensure that our Email address is saved within your Email provider's safe senders/white list.


  15. "User"/"Member"

    A user is somebody who is registered to use the board. We prefer to call you a member.

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Well, how can that be true, it must cost money to run?

Yes, this is true. It's not that expensive though as the software itself is open source, the development of the board comes through time donated for free with the view that it is a great cause and the domain costs about a tenner a year. Good job the board admin is a network techie!


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Are there any plans to do a "Facebook" and sell my data?

No, the forumadmin is as pissed off about this as you probably are. If we ever looked into advertising or anything else, it would have to be by majority board agreement.


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What is this website?

This website and what you are currently looking at is a chat board where you can send and reply to messages that other members can see. There are lots of topics (Including Community Event Listings, General Chitchat, Hobbies, Repairs, Dating, Holidays/Socials, Buy/Sell) that you can be the first to post in (and grab a first forum post award), where you can post a new topic or reply to a topic and we encourage you to make friends. There is also the ability to send private messages, subscribe to people you enjoy reading messages from and you can opt to receive Emails when a particular topic or forum of interest is updated.


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Why was the website set up?

The website (or board) was set up in the hope of bringing the Croydon Drive Estate residents together. Residents are welcome to provide feedback in order to ensure that the board meets the needs of residents. There is a category (and forums) specifically for your feedback where we also report back on the improvements/fixes implemented. We recognise that there is also the ability for residents to feel very isolated and often vulnerable. To this end, we also have a social category where you can arrange and find out about get-togethers, holidays and events both for residents of the Croydon Drive Estate and more widely in the community.


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Who or what group set the website up

The website was setup by a close relative of C.G.B Spender. The truth is not out there.


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Do you have anything to do with Avro Hollows' TMO, Manchester City Council or Northwards' Housing?

No, we don't. The whole point of the "board" (the shortened name of this software - in full: "bulletin board") is to be entirely independent, as such we won't take donations from them so that we remain entirely uninfluenced.


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I consider myself a bit "long in the tooth" for all this technical mumbo jumbo!

There is no such thing as old, only wise. You are more than welcome - we strongly discourage people from providing information that identifies them. We ask people who register not to use usernames that directly identify them and, as part of this, we encourage you not to give your real date of birth in your profile (or even the day and month) as it can be cross referenced and you will no longer be able to remain anonymous. Nobody is going to know your age anyway. The board aims to cater for the needs of all age groups since the Croydon Drive Estate houses all age groups (you can only use the board if you are over 18 though although we may make special arrangements if you are a tenant (not the child of a tenant) and you are 16 or over).


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I don't have an internet connection and your terms and conditions require us not to log in at "YES".

This website will work fully on modern smartphones. We ask you not to log in at YES as they are affiliated to Northwards' Housing. We want to ensure that your information remains entirely private and also that of other members. When you log in at an organisation, the administrator of that IT network has the ability to record usernames and passwords that are typed, we are not saying that YES or Northwards Housing would do this but we do not want to take that risk. We are therefore very strict on this rule and we regularly monitor website traffic as well as deploying other security measures. Breaches of this rule will result in an outright ban in the interests of all residents.


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I'm not sure I want to know my neighbours

OK, most of us are piss poor and some of us may be a bit rough around the edges - half of the reason for this is social isolation. People who are made to feel worthless by society act as if they are worthless. Bringing people together and forming a close knit community proves miracles do occur. There's good and bad within every community and there are a wealth of tools to avoid any problems once you are registered on the board, for example, posts from members can be reported if they break the rules or are abusive and, as we grow, we will be training up moderators. Members will not see the first line of the address that you supply when you sign up, only your block or, in the case of the cottage flats, the road name, so you are either one of 70,72 or 30 or so others when you post.


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What if my spelling isn't great?

That's no issue - if you want any help with your spelling, just leave a request at the top of your post and the Moderators/System Admin will do their best to edit your post for you, once this is done, they will delete the request. Otherwise, don't worry if you are happy to express yourself in the way that you want (just please keep within the rules and be kind to each other.

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What if I need help because of a disability

You are welcome to appoint somebody to assist you, however, they must understand that posts on the forum are to be kept confidential. Posts, however seemingly irrelevant, must not be repeated to anybody at all (other than the person that helps you to access the forum). You must not use any representative at Avro Hollows' TMO, Northwards' Housing or Manchester City Council to assist you, unless we have authorised them and they are a member of the forum themselves. Don't take their word for it, send a message using our contact form below and ask us whether the person is a member first. Anybody accessing the forum must be over the age of 18. Breaches of this rule will result in an outright ban.

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Can a friend or family member post or access posts on my behalf

Yes, they can, as long as they are not affiliated to Avro Hollows' TMO, Northwards' Housing or Manchester City Council, unless we have authorised them and they are a member of the forum themselves. Don't take their word for it, send a message using our contact form below and ask us whether the person is a member first. Anybody you give access to is bound by exactly the same forum rules and you are responsible for any breaches of the rules. One account per household. Unique IDs are issued to the primary tenant only. Breaches of this rule will result in an outright ban.


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I don't have a bloody clue what i'm doing!

Don't worry - click the contact us option (link) right at the bottom of this webpage, keep your invite letter safe and we will Email you back, answer your questions and get you up and running (of course for free).


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Where Do I Start?

Come and say hello by clicking here - Members and the forumadmin will be sure to welcome you and answer any further questions. You will need to be registered and logged in. This page will also be available to you when you do.


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