Q: How do I use the message board?
A: People ask questions and other people answer them, its that simple.

Q: Who can use this board?
A: This message board can be used by anyone in the world who wishes to ask a
question relating to Derby or Derbyshire or by someone who wants to answer
a question. It can also be used to promote any local events, locate lost friends
or just to say hello. Remember It's free and easy to use!

Q: How do I post a question?
A: The message board is VERY simple and easy to use.
When posting a question please make sure that the words you use for the
TITLE, make it obvious what the post is about. If you use an ambiguous
title such as "help needed" then it is not apparent what you are asking
without people having to read your post, so for this reason it is best to
think about the title you use.

To post a message, First you need to register. This only requires a username and a password (nothing complex involved)
Once you have registered click on the "Post a new message" link and this will display
a screen with various fields to fill in

Some guidelines for posting messages :
Name - This can be just your first name or nickname.
Email - If you wish people to be able to contact you directly as a result of your post then you will need to fill in this field with your e-mail address (please double check you have typed it in correctly to avoid bounced e-mails).
Subject - Please type in an appropriate title not an ambiguous one.
Message - This is where you type in your message.
Link name - If you wish to refer to a website address in your reply then this field is where you would type a text name which will act as the clickable link for the url (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Link URL - If you have used the above field then this is where you type in the full address of the website you want to link to. (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Image url - If you want to refer to an image in your post then this is where you would type in the full address location of the image. You can NOT refer to images on your hard disk, they must be images on the internet. (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Review post button - This button will allow you to preview exactly what your post looks like before committing it to the message board. This is very useful if you have used the Link url options as it will allow you to test your link to see if it works.
Post button - When you click this button it will post your message onto the board.

Q: How do I reply to a question?
A: If you see a question on the message board, for which you know the answer, please do post a reply to it.
To post a reply message, First you need to register. This only requires a username and a password (nothing complex involved)
Click on the post and this will display a screen with the message on it and below this an area for posting your reply.

Some guidelines for posting replies :
Name - This can be just your first name or nickname.
Email - If you wish people to be able to contact you directly as a result of your post then you will need to fill in this field with your e-mail address (please double check you have typed it in correctly to avoid bounced e-mails).
Subject - The subject field will be automatically pre-filled in with the title of the original post but you can alter this if you want to.
Message - This is where you type in your message in response to the question your are answering.
Link name - If you wish to refer to a website address in your reply then this field is where you would type a text name which will act as the clickable link for the url (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Link URL - If you have used the above field then this is where you type in the full address of the website you want to link to. (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Image url - If you want to refer to an image in your post then this is where you would type in the full address location of the image. You can NOT refer to images on your hard disk, they must be images on the internet. (this should be left blank if you don't need it)
Review post button - This button will allow you to preview exactly what your post looks like before committing it to the message board. This is very useful if you have used the Link url options as it will allow you to test your link to see if it works.
Post button - When you click this button it will post your reply message onto the board.

Q: Who will answer my question?
A: The idea of the message board is that absolutely anyone can reply to messages, because your question will be viewed by many people from different areas there should be a good chance that someone will know the answer or be able to point you in the right direction. If you find that no one has replied after several weeks then it could be because the question was too difficult to answer.

Q: How long will my question remain on the board?
A: The message board has a limit to the amount of messages it can hold, once this is reached the older ones at the bottom of the list will get deleted automatically.