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User Help Moderator Help Global Moderator Help Administrator Help
Contents
Administrative Help Center Manage Categories Manage Boards Manage Members Security Manage Templates Miscellaneous Things Help Topic Index
Administrative Help Center
Introduction

As you are well aware, YaBB is a fantastic community platform. Easily installed; easily managed. It's the perfect solution for growing and maintaining a solid, proactive relationship with your user base. This Help section will help you understand some of the many new and powerful features you now have at your fingertips.

For more information, please visit The YaBB Codex.
For support and troubleshooting, please visit YaBB's Support Community

Please refer to the Glossary section in User Help if you need clarification on the different page views or terms described in the sections below.

You may use the menu on the left to quickly jump to any topic below.

You may use this Back to Top button at the bottom right of each Help section to return to the top of the Administrator Help page

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Manage Categories
Accessing the Category Functions

This YaBB version comes equipped with many powerful tools to manage and control the conversational flow of your community, the cornerstone of which is the ability to group Boards into an unlimited* number of Categories. In order to access these functions, you must, of course, be logged in as an Administrator (or Global Moderator with proper access rights). Once you are, look at the Main tabbed menu at the top of your forum under the logo. You will notice a link titled “Admin Center”. Clicking this will bring you to a large control panel. On the left hand menu, search for the section titled “Forum Controls” and click on the first link titled “Categories”.

* YaBB is only limited by the space allocated to you on your web hosting server.

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Adding New Categories

YaBB allows you to add many new Categories all at once or one at a time. To do this, access the forum's Category management functions as shown above. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the list and find the function titled “Add Categories”. Enter the number of new Categories you wish to create in the box and press the button titled “Add”.

On this new page, you will be given a set of options for each of the new categories you want to create:

  • ID
    • Every Category's ID must be unique. This is for internal use only. It lets YaBB keep track of things, and it will be used in the URL to view the Category. Entry must be alphanumeric (No symbols and No spaces). All Category IDs are stored in lower case type, so capital letters do not matter.
  • Name
    • This is the title of your Category. It's the name your users will see. You may edit this however you wish.
  • Category Picture
    • If you wish to use an image for your Category, type the complete URL to the image in this box using the standard format: http:www.domain.com/folder/imagename.jpg

    Administrator Tip: File types allowed for Category pictures are .bmp, .gif, .jpg, and .png. Category Pictures will need to be about 25px in height to keep the same height aspects of Categories without pictures.

  • Allowed to View/See Category
    • If you wish to make this entire Category private, you may choose which Member Groups will be allowed to see this Category. Leave this blank to allow everyone (including guests) to view this Category, OR if you are going to put any board in this Category you want guests to be able to view.
  • Allow Collapse
    • Check this box to allow your users to expand and collapse this Category on the Main Index page.

    Administrator Tip: Your new Category will not be visible on the Board Index (main) page of the forum until it has at least one board in it.

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Editing a Category

Editing a Category with YaBB is fast and easy thanks to the hard work our fantastic team of developers. While inside of the Categories function of your Admin Center (see Accessing the Category Functions above for details), you will see a list of existing Categories, each with a corresponding check box. Clicking on a check box will flag that Category for editing.

Once you have checked all the Categories you wish to edit, scroll to the bottom of the list and look for the set of radio buttons titled “With selected”. Click on the radio button for “Edit” and then press the button to the right titled “Go”. Inside you will find the following items for each Category:

  • ID
    • This is for internal use only and is not editable. It lets YaBB keep track of things, and it will be used in the URL to view that Category.
  • Name
    • This is the title of your Category. It's the name your users will see. You may edit this however you wish.
  • Allowed to View/See Category
    • If you wish to make this entire Category private, you may choose which Member Groups will be allowed to view this Category. Leave this blank to allow everyone (including Guests) to view it, OR if you will have any boards in this Category you want all (including Guests) to be able to view.
  • Allow Collapse
    • Check this box to allow your users to expand and collapse this Category on the Main Index page.

When you've finished making your edits, search for and click the button titled “Save” at the bottom of the list of categories.

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Deleting a Category

If you would like to remove a Category, follow the directions (see Accessing the Category Functions above for details) to access your Category management page.

  • Warning: Deleting a Category will also delete any boards you have in that Category. Move them to another Category first if you want to save them.
  • In the list of Categories, you will notice a check box that corresponds to each title. Check this box for each and every Category you wish to remove. Once selected, scroll to the bottom of the Category listings and locate the set of radio buttons titled “With selected”. Click on the radio labeled “Remove” then press the button to the right titled “Go”.
  • A small pop-up will ask you to confirm that you want to remove these categories. Click “OK” to remove them or “Cancel” to keep them.
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Manage Boards
Accessing the Board Functions

Now that you have created your Categories, you can use YaBB's amazing Board-creation utilities to manage the post-able sections of your community. YaBB allows you to create an unlimited* number of boards in every category. In order to access these functions, you must be logged in as an Administrator or Global Moderator with proper access rights. Once you are, look at the main menu. You will notice a link titled “Admin Center”. Clicking this will bring you to a large control panel. On the left hand menu, search for the section titled “Forum Controls” and click on the second link titled “Boards”.

* YaBB is only limited by the space allocated to you on your web hosting server.

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Adding New Boards

YaBB gives Forum Administrators the ability to add multiple Boards from a single screen. To do this, access the forum's Board Management functions as explained above. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the list of existing boards (if any) and find the function titled “Add Boards”. Enter the number of new Boards you would like to create in the text box then press the button titled “Add”.

On this Edit Boards page, you will be given a large set of options for each of the new Boards you are trying to add:

  • Board ID
    • This is only used for internal YaBB functions, and it is used in the URL used to view a board. You may enter any alphanumeric name you wish with no spaces.
  • Name
    • This is what your users will see as the name of the Board. You may enter anything you wish here.
  • Description
    • Describe this board so your users will know what the subject/topic will be.
  • Board Moderators
    • Click on the link under the word “Moderators” to add the members you wish to give Moderator access for this board.
  • Member Group Moderators
    • If you choose to have all the members of one or more particular Member Groups act as Moderators for this board, select the Member Group(s) here.

    Administrator Tip: If you set up a particular Member Group and assign it as the Member Group Moderator group in a Board, it is easy to add a new Moderator to that Board - just add them to that Member Group.

    Administrator Tip: You can also assign Moderators and Moderator Groups to a specific board by going to that board and clicking on the 'Add/Delete Moderators' link near the top or by going to the Admin Edit section of a member's Profile and choosing the board or boards you would like them to Moderate.

  • Category
    • Choose which Category you would like this board to be a part of.
  • Parent Board
    • Choose which board you would like this board to be a subboard of, if any.
  • Can Post?
    • Choose whether or not topics within this board can be viewed.

    Administrator Tip: If this is a new/empty board no topics can be posted to it. Posts can only be made to the subboards within it. If this board has threads, making it a 'No Post' board means the threads will become inaccessible even to the admin.

  • Board Picture
    • Here you can assign a small image to represent this board. Type the complete URL to the image in this box using the standard format: http://www.domain.com/folder/imagename.jpg. Allowed image formats are .gif, .jpg, .png, and .bmp.
  • RSS
    • Here you can turn on or off the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for this board. RSS allows users to keep up to date on the newest information on a board without having stay on the forum site.
  • Zero Post Count Board?
    • Check this box if you would like to prevent any Posts made in this Board from increasing users' Post Counts.
  • Show to All?
    • Checking this option will ensure the Board Name and Board description are shown to all who are able to view the Category this Board is in, even if they are not allowed access to view the contents of the Board itself.

    Administrator Tip: This is a good way to show your Guests that there is more content available to them if they register and become Members.

  • Allow Attachments
    • Checking this option will enable users to attach files to their posts in this board provided the “Allow File Attaching in Posts?” option is checked in the Admin Center/Forum Configuration/Advanced Settings under the “File Attachments” tab.
  • Global Announcements
    • Checking this option will ensure that the messages in this board are shown as important on top of every board. No matter how the Board permissions are set, only Forum Administrators and Global Moderators can start new topics or reply. Note: YaBB only allows a single board to have this label.
  • Recycle Bin
    • Checking this option make this board a recycle bin for messages deleted by moderators. It can also be used as a recycle bin for Forum Administrators by unchecking the box found in the Admin Center/Configuration/Forum Settings under the “Staff” tab. Note: YaBB only allows a single board to have this label.
  • Enable Board Rules
    • Check this box if you would like to enable Board Rules for this board. In this section you can post rules for a particular board that may be different than the rules you have generally for your forum.
  • Allow Collapse?
    • Check this box if you would like users to be able to collapse the Board Rules.
  • Rules Title
    • Title for the rules for this board.
  • Board Rules
    • Rules for this board. You may use html tags in the rules.
  • Minimum Age to Access
    • Restrict access by minimum age.
  • Maximum Age to Access
    • Restrict access by maximum age.
  • Gender Allowed Access
    • Restrict access by gender.

    Administrator Tip: The Age/Gender restrictions are based on the information users enter in their Profile for birthday and gender selection. If a user does not enter an age or select a gender, YaBB has no way to know their age or gender, thus they will not be allowed access to any board that uses these restrictions.

  • Board Password
    • If checked and if a password has been filled in, members will need to use the password to access this board. Note that adding a password to an 'External Link' board does nothing.
  • Allowed to Start Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups can start a new topic.
  • Allowed to Reply to Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to reply to topics.
  • Allowed to View Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to view topics.
  • Allowed to Create Polls
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to create polls.

    Administrator Tip: To allow Guests to do any of the above four functions, do not select any member groups in that option box.

Once you have filled out all the information for your new Boards, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on the button titled “Save”. Your new Boards will be created and opened for posting!

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Editing a Board

If you need to make changes to any of the boards you have created, simply follow the directions above to access your board management section. In the list of boards, you will notice a check box that corresponds to each title. Check this box for each and every board you wish to edit. Once selected, scroll to the bottom of the board listings and locate the set of radio buttons titled “With selected”. Click on the radio labeled “Edit” then press the button to the right titled “Go”.

On this Edit Boards page, you will be given a large set of options for each of the new Boards you are trying to edit:

  • Board ID
    • This is only used for internal YaBB functions, and it is used in the URL used to view a board. This Board ID is not editable and is displayed for information only.
  • Name
    • This is what your users will see as the name of the Board. You may enter anything you wish here.
  • Description
    • Describe this board so your users will know what the subject/topic will be.
  • Moderators
    • Click on the link under the word “Moderators” to add the members you wish to give Moderator access for this board.
  • Member Group Moderators
    • If you choose to have all the members of one or more particular Member Groups act as Moderators for this board, select the Member Group(s) here.

    Administrator Tip: If you set up a particular Member Group and assign it as the Member Group Moderator group in a Board, it is easy to add a new Moderator to that Board - just add them to that Member Group.

    Administrator Tip: You can also assign Moderators and Moderator Groups to a specific board by going to that board and clicking on the 'Add/Delete Moderators' link near the top or by going to the Admin Edit section of a member's Profile and choosing the board or boards you would like them to Moderate.

  • Category
    • Choose which Category you would like this board to be a part of.
  • Parent Board
    • Choose which board you would like this board to be a subboard of.
  • Child Boards
    • Tells you what boards are already subboards within this board.
  • Can Post?
    • Choose whether or not topics within this board can be viewed.

    Administrator Tip: If this is a new/empty board no topics can be posted to it. Posts can only be made to the subboards within it. If this board has threads, making it a 'No Post' board means the threads will become inaccessible even to the admin.

  • Board Picture
    • Here you can assign a small image to represent this board. Type the complete URL to the image in this box using the standard format: http:www.domain.com/folder/imagename.jpg. Allowed image formats are .gif, .jpg, .png, and .bmp.
  • RSS
    • Here you can turn on or off the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for this board. RSS allows users to keep up to date on the newest information on a board without having stay on the forum site.
  • Zero Post Count Board?
    • Check this box if you would like to prevent any Posts made in this Board from increasing users' Post Counts.
  • Show to All?
    • Checking this option will ensure the Board Name and Board description are shown to all who are able to view the Category this Board is in, even if they are not allowed access to view the contents of the Board itself.

    Administrator Tip: This is a good way to show your Guests that there is more content available to them if they register and become Members.

  • Allow Attachments
    • Checking this option will enable users to attach files to their posts in this board provided the “Allow File Attaching in Posts?” option is checked in the Admin Center/Forum Configuration/Advanced Settings under the “File Attachments” tab.
  • Global Announcements
    • Checking this option will ensure that the messages in this board are shown as important on top of every board. No matter how the Board permissions are set, only Forum Administrators and Global Moderators can start new topics or reply. Note: YaBB only allows a single board to have this label.
  • Recycle Bin
    • Checking this option make this board a recycle bin for messages deleted by moderators. It can also be used as a recycle bin for Forum Administrators by unchecking the box found in the Admin Center/Configuration/Forum Settings under the “Staff” tab. Note: YaBB only allows a single board to have this label.
  • Enable Board Rules
    • Check this box if you would like to enable Board Rules for this board.
  • Allow Collapse?
    • Check this box if you would like users to be able to collapse the Board Rules.
  • Rules Title
    • Title for the rules for this board.
  • Board Rules
    • Rules for this board. You may use html tags in the rules.
  • Minimum Age to Access
    • Restrict access by minimum age.
  • Maximum Age to Access
    • Restrict access by maximum age.
  • Gender Allowed Access
    • Restrict access by gender.

    Administrator Tip: The Age/Gender restrictions are based on the information users enter in their Profile for birthday and gender selection. If a user does not enter an age or select a gender, YaBB has no way to know their age or gender, thus they will not be allowed access to any board that uses these restrictions.

  • Allowed to Start Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups can start a new topic.
  • Allowed to Reply to Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to reply to topics.
  • Allowed to View Topics
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to view topics.
  • Allowed to Create Polls
    • Limit which Member Groups are allowed to create polls.

    Administrator Tip: To allow Guests to do any of the above four functions, do not select any member groups in that option box.

Once you have edited all the information for your Boards, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on the button titled “Save”. Your changes to the Boards will be seen immediately.

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Deleting a Board

If you would like to remove a Board, follow the directions in the Accessing the Board Functions section above to access your Board management page.

Deleting a Board

  • In the list of Boards, you will notice a check box that corresponds to each title. Check this box for each and every Board you wish to remove.
  • Once selected, scroll to the bottom of the Board listings and locate the set of radio buttons titled “With selected”.
  • Click on the radio labeled “Remove” then press the button to the right titled “Go”.
  • A small pop-up will ask you to confirm that you want to remove these Boards. Click “OK” to remove them or “Cancel” to keep them
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Manage Members
Accessing Member Controls

Since YaBB is built to encourage and facilitate an active community of users, it comes with several tools to assist Forum Administrators in the management of Members. To access these controls, ensure you are logged in as an Administrator and enter your “Admin Center”. Once inside, look for the section in the sidebar menu titled “Member Controls”.

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Manually Add Member

It may become necessary from time to time for a Forum Administrator to manually create a new member account. For example, this can often be useful to help those with a disability become a Member.

From your Member Controls section on the Admin Center sidebar, click on the link titled “Add Member”. This new page will give you a simple registration form that will allow you to add a Member without having to logout. Simply fill out this form with the new Member's User Name, Password and e-Mail.

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Banning Members

Unfortunately, users are not always filled with the great sense of community that YaBB provides. These users can become rude, break rules, harass other members, or even spam your forum. This is why YaBB gives you the ability to block these troublemakers from disturbing your forum. Individual members can be banned from their Profile Page and from the Ban Utilities section of the Admin Center. To begin banning a Member in this way, access your Admin Center and find “Member Controls” as described above. Find the link titled “Ban Utilities” and click on it. This new page will give you three methods for banning a Member:

  1. by IP address
  2. by e-Mail address
  3. by User ID

Banning a Member

Note that IP addresses, e-mail addresses, and User ID banned from the Ban Utilities page are flagged as being permanent bans.

  • IP Address
    • Banning by IP address will prevent anyone from accessing your board if their IP address is listed here. While effective, this could prevent a legitimate user from logging on, such as two people sharing the same ISP connection. It may also fail if the user is behind a proxy or has a dynamic IP. To enter a specific IP address, enter all four octets of the users IP address (example: 192.168.255.8).

    Administrator Tip: You may also block a range of IP addresses by only entering in the first few octets of the address. For example, entering the IP as: 192.168. would block every IP address from 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255. Enter only 1 IP address per line.

  • E-mail Address
    • This second method allows you to prevent anyone using a specific e-mail address (example: bad@user.com) from registering or logging in. Enter only 1 e-mail address per line.
  • Username
    • Finally, the simplest way to ban a user is by their User ID. Note that this is not their Screen Name. Enter only 1 User ID per line.
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Member Groups

Member Groups give you the ability to assign a group or classification to a Member. These groups can then be used to grant special privileges and/or access to your forum or simply be used for the fun of it. If you would like to create a Member Group, enter your Admin Center and find the section titled “Member Controls” as described above then click on the link “Member Groups”.

This new page will then show you the three Member Group types.

  1. The first are System/Static Groups. These can be renamed by clicking on the “Edit” button for each entry, however, because of their importance, they cannot be removed.
  2. The second are “Post Independent Member Groups” and are assigned to a Member manually by an Administrator or Global Moderator as they are not tied to a User's Post Count.
  3. The third group, however, is based on how many Posts a Member has made. YaBB will automatically assign these when a Member reaches the listed minimum number of Posts.

Creating a New Member Group

To create a new Member Group, click on the link titled “Add Group” next to either “Post Independent” or “Post Dependent” Member Groups. This will bring up a new page with a form to add new groups.

  • Name:
    • This is the Member Group name that will be shown to everyone.
  • # of Stars:
    • How many stars should this Group have?
  • Star Type:
    • Choose a default star type from the drop down box, or enter the URL to a different image.

      Administrator Tip: If you've imported an older forum to 2.6.0, your old default stars will not appear as 2.6.0 uses different star graphics with different extensions. If you wish to use the old stars or had custom ones, make sure to copy them into the folder that holds your template graphics. This will most likely be 'yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default'. Otherwise, simply choose new star graphics from the drop down list.

  • Color:
    • This gives the Group a special color treatment. Leave blank for no color, or choose a color by color name, by hex value (valid range is 000000 (6 zeros) to FFFFFF), or by using the Palette tool to choose a custom color.
  • Post Independent Group:
    • Check if you want this to be a Group not assigned based on Post Count.
  • Public?
    • Check this box if you want this Group's name to be displayed to all Members and to show a Group color bar in the User's Online section of the Board Index.
  • Post Dependent Group
    • Select this if you want users to be automatically assigned to this group based on Post Count. Then enter the minimum number of Posts required to become a Member of this Group.

    Administrator Tip: YaBB comes with a Post-Dependent Member Group called “New Members” that has a minimum Post Count of -1. This is in place to automatically assign new registering Members to a group. A new Member starts with a Post Count of -1, so if you delete this Group or change the minimum Post Count, your new Members will not be able to post or use PMs until you manually put them in a Group. You may edit the name of the Group, stars, or colors with no effects on new Members.

    Administrator Tip: A good way to customize your YaBB forum is to assign names to your Post Dependent groups that relate to your forum's niche.

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Global Moderator Privileges

YaBB gives you the ability to select what administrative functions you wish to entrust to your Global Moderators. You may choose these access permissions in the Admin Center under General Controls in the Global Moderator Access section. Moving your mouse over each action option gives you a brief description of what each option allows. Your Global Moderators should have a clear understanding of what levels of access you are giving them, and nothing can communicate that better than you, the Administrator, discussing it with them.

The most important options are listed as three selections at the top of the page. Note that access to the Admin Center does NOT necessarily mean your Global Moderators can control all the items you can see in the Admin Center. If you allow this access, you can customize the Global Moderator permissions in the list of actions below.

Choosing Editing the Profile (but not the Admin Edits) will allow the Global Moderator to change passwords, e-mail addresses, and all other options in the User's Profile (except Admin Edits). Note: Global Moderators cannot edit or modify any Administrator Profile.

Choosing the Admin Edits option will allow Global Moderators to change a user's Post Count, Position, and Member Group(s). Note: Global Moderators cannot edit or modify Administrator Admin Edits, nor can they “promote” other users to Global Moderators or Forum Administrators.

Administrator Tip: In most cases, actions you do NOT select for the Global Moderator will not even be visible to them in the Admin Center; however this is not always the case. For example, if you allow Global Moderators to VIEW members but not DELETE members, the screen they view members on also shows checkboxes and a button to delete members, but they will not work for them. If the Global Moderator attempts to delete members without permission, it will result in an error message. A Global Moderator may think that something isn't working right, that this is an error or bug, but it is not. The program is following the level of permissions you granted them.

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Security
Security Intro

YaBB is very secure against all types of attackers. The many built-in features of YaBB provide safety for your forum against attacks. Realize, however, many of these security features are selectable, thus if you don't enable them, it can pose risks. Examples of this would be not using at least one of the Validation measures for registrations, or allowing Guests to post without a Validation Image or Validation Question check.

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Sessions

Sessions are a YaBB feature designed to protect administrative functions. If sessions are enabled in the Admin Center, staff will be required to re-validate their session whenever their network connection changes IP address.

To re-validate your session, simply click “Update Session” on the YaBB main menu at the top of the forum. If this link isn't present, then your session doesn't need to be updated.

By default, it asks you for your Password to re-validate. That can be changed in your Profile, under the “Edit Profile” section, near the bottom of the list of settings.

To check if sessions are enabled, go into the Admin Center/Security Center/Security Settings and look under the “General” tab. Sessions are enabled if the checkbox to the right of “Activate Session IDs” is checked.

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Stealth Mode

Stealth Mode is a YaBB feature designed to allow Forum Administrators, Global Moderators, or both the ability to discretely monitor the forum's activity without being “seen”. When this option is selected, Forum Administrators and Global Moderators “Online” status is concealed from all other Member Groups and Guests.

This option is enabled by checking the box in the “Staff” tab found in the Admin Center/Forum Configuration/Forum Settings.

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Encrypt User IDs

This feature is designed to enhance security by allowing Forum Administrators the option to conceal the User's log in name in the link to their Profile. This is the link that appears wherever the mouse cursor is placed over a Member's Displayed Name.

  • Option disabled: When this option is disabled, the link will end with “username=(user's login ID)”
  • Option enabled: When this option is enable, the link will end with “username=(encrypted number)”

This option is enabled by default. It may be disabled by unchecking the “Encrypt User IDs” box in the Admin Center/Security Center/Security Settings section under the “General” tab.

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Administrative Functions

The Forum Administrator may select what administrative functions the Global Moderators may control. The Forum Administrator may restrict access to the Admin Center completely, or may choose to allow Global Moderators to control a selected list of these functions. These include items such as editing user Profiles, adding Members, deleting Members, editing the Forum News, altering forum Security Settings, and many more.

The best way to know for sure what options you have control over is to discuss them with the Forum Administrator.

If your Forum Administrator has given you access to the Admin Center, the various menus on the left will show you the functions you have at least some control over.

Administrator Tip: Access to some screens in the Admin Center display options that you may not have access to. For example, the Forum Administrator may allow you to add and view members, but not delete members. The screen you view them on, however, contains checkboxes and buttons for the delete function. If you attempt to use these without having permission, it will result in you receiving an error message. This is not a bug - you do not have permission - and the program's proper response is to give you that error message.

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Activate Referral Security Checking

This feature is designed to enhance security by allowing Forum Administrators the option to select what actions are allowed in a URL outside the forum's domain name. When enabled, this allows the Administrator to select allowed actions individually in the list found in the Admin Center/Security Center/Referrer Security section.

This option is enabled by checking the “Activate Referral Security Checking” box in the “General” tab found in the Admin Center/Security Center/Security Settings.

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Show IP in Board Index

This feature allows Forum Administrators the option to view the IP number of anyone logged in or visiting the forum. This option displays a Guest's or User's IP address at the bottom right of each post and also gives access to the IP Lookup facility if it has been activated.

This option may be enabled for Forum Administrators, Global Moderators, Forum Moderators or all three.

This option is enabled by checking the appropriate boxes in the “General” tab found in the Admin Center/Security Center/Security Settings.

Enable IPLookup

This activates IP Lookup, allowing those able to view IPs the ability to also look up the particulars of an IP address through one of the WhoIs servers.

IP Lookup WhoIs Servers

Here you can add or remove WhoIs servers used by the IP Lookup utility. Use {ip} in the URL to substitute the actual IP address, and separate the title and URL with a pipe symbol '|'. Example: MyLookupSite|mylookupsite.com?ip={ip}

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Spam Protect - Enter Percent

This feature is designed to limit spam by setting a limit on how many other Members a User may send a Personal Message to at one time. The number you enter represents the maximum percent of total Members a User may send PMs to at one time.

This option is enabled by entering a desired percent in the appropriate box found in the “Personal Messages” tab found in the Admin Center/Forum Configuration/Forum Settings section.

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Other Anti-spam Measures
YaBB 2.6.0 has additional features for helping you combat spam registrations. Two such features are the Honeypot and SpamFruits both of which can be turned on or off from the Admin Center/Security Center/Anti-Spam Settings. Honeypot is a 'passive' spambot catcher that catches spambots when they fill in a registration field that can be seen by spambots but not by people using a browser. SpamFruits works by requiring a mouse move to choose the proper picture. Another effective anti-spam utility is Anti-Spam Question found in the Admin Center/Security Center/Anti-Spam Question.

This option must be turned on and it is highly recommended that you use questions that reflect your forum's unique niche. Try not to use questions whose answers are too easily searchable on Google.

Validation Image also has new features: You can now specify characters that will appear before and/or after the randomly generated Validation Image. These characters look like part of the Validation Image but users are instructed to ignore them when putting filling out the Validation Image text box.

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Manage Templates
Accessing the Template Editor

YaBB gives you the ability to quickly and easily add and/or modify the look and feel of your Forum. In order to access these functions, you must be logged in as a Forum Administrator or Global Moderator with proper access rights. In the “Admin Center” find the section in the left hand menu titled “Forum Layout”. There you will see three links: “Template Configuration”, “Style Sheet”, and “Template”.

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Template Configuration
If you would like to add a Template (also known as a skin), change which stylesheet file you'd like to use for your Forum, or use templates other than the default one, this section allows you to do that.

Adding a New Skin

  • Create a folder in 'yabbfiles/Templates/Forum' (this location may be different for you) for the graphics for your new skin and upload your graphics. Also upload your new stylesheet to the same place that default stylesheet (default.css) is. (Do NOT overwrite your default stylesheet.) Your new stylesheet should have a name that will be easily associated with your new graphics folder. (For instance, you would like to use a 'Noir' skin. Name the graphics folder 'noir' and the stylesheet 'noir.css'.)
  • Create a folder in your 'Sources/Templates' directory for your new template files. (Again, make sure the name is something you will easily associate with your new skin.) Upload your new Template files into this directory. The '.html' file must not be named 'default.html' - give it the same name as your new folder. (Using the above example, name the folder 'noir' and the .html file 'noir.html'.)
  • In “Template Configuration” the names of your new stylesheet and folders should now show up in the drop-down selection box. Choose the new folders, templates, and stylesheet for your new skin. Create a name for the new skin and type it into the textbox at the bottom of the “Template Configuration” page. Save your new skin under its new name. Now you can choose your new skin as the default for new members and guests in the “Forum Settings and Preferences” area.
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Miscellaneous Things
General Observations

YaBB is a 'living document'. It changes over time. Features are added, and occasionally removed, as YaBB evolves. The Sections below document many of the changes for the admin.

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Features in YaBB 2.2 and later versions

In the making of YaBB 2.2, we have done an overhaul to the admin center's various sections.
As the number of functions has grown larger, we have re-grouped some of them a bit into tabs and some functions may have changed places.
These are some features in YaBB 2.2 that naturally need some adjusting on the admin level. These additions are as follows:

  • RSS
    Anyone can now use RSS (Really Simple Syndication, see this article in Wikipedia) to pull the latest headlines from your forum into an external document or to a browser.
  • Permalinks
    To make forum URIs look a bit more 'normal' you can set your forum to use permalinks.
    Be careful when applying the settings, even smallest mistakes may make your forum unavailable!
  • Separate Search Engines from ordinary users
    In order to get a bit more accurate picture of your forum visitors, you can separate search engines' spiders from ordinary guests.
  • E-mail Templating
    When you wish to edit the 'system e-mails' more fitting to your needs, you don't need to fight with the source code anymore, just use the 'E-mail Messages' templating tool.
  • Anti-spam tools
    Since spam is here to stay, we need stronger tools against it and now we have one.
    Set your preferred spam rules to trigger a warning (and eventually a ban) based on unwanted post content, specify certain circumstances of the posting process and keep Viagra sellers away.
  • Captcha
    To make it a bit harder for malicious bots entering your forum, use the captcha (visual confirmation, see this article in Wikipedia, but be careful, it is possible that some human users find it hard to use.
  • Broadcast messages
    Communicate with your forum staff with Broadcast Messages and send messages on group level (moderators, moderator groups, forum moderators, global moderators, and admins).

Then there are some smaller additions in the forum settings and in 'Referrer security' which won't be further explained here but may appear as useful for you to go through.

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New Features in YaBB 2.3

These are some completely new features to YaBB 2.3 that were added by popular request of users. These additions are:

  • Reverse Post in Topic Advanced Edition
    Allows the Admin to choose the default post order (oldest to newest or newest to oldest). The Admin can also enable a setting in the Admin Center to allow/not allow the individual user to choose their own post order. If allowed, each user can change the order of the posts by either clicking on the name of the topic on topic pages and/or set it in their own Profile/Options page.
  • Top of Page Button
    Adds a button to the bottom bar of each page that will take you back to the "Top of Page".
  • Pie Charts for Polls
    Allows users the option to see poll results as a bar graph or pie chart by clicking on the appropriate button displayed with poll results.
  • Quick Reply Advanced Edition
    This allows users to quickly post a reply or a new post. It also gives many new quoting features.
    Admin can:
    • Enable/Disable the Quick Post Box
    • Enable/Disable the Quick Reply Box
    • Enable/Disable Mark & Quote
    • Enable/Disable UserQuote
    • Enable/Disable Jump to Quick Post/Reply Box if user clicks Start New Topic, Reply or Quote Button
    • Set Max length for Quote
  • Preselected Smilies
    Allows the Admin to select which Smiley will be shown in the More Smilies block beside the Post and PM windows.
  • Showcase Poll
    Allows one poll selected by Admins/GMods to show at the top of the Board Index.
  • YaBB Backup
    Admins can make backups of the forum quickly in any of 8 different formats with or without compression. Backups are stored in a new yabb/Backups directory, and can be downloaded, e-mailed, or deleted. Admin can select full backup (all directories), partial backups (some directories), or only files newer than last backup. Also features a selectable alert to tell Admin if backup is older than X days.
  • Category Pictures
    Allows the Admin to use an image along with category names.
  • Image Resize and Greybox
    Admins can set limits on maximum display size for avatar images, posted images, attachment images, and signature images. Larger images will "shrink" to fit within the maximum set limits.
    Attached images and images inside posts can be shown on a slightly translucent surface instead in a new window. The Administrator can select between a single view and a gallery style view for attached images.

    NOTE: An image taller than it is wide will be limited by the maximum height and will adjust the width proportionally, which will be less than the maximum width. An image wider than taller will be limited by the maximum width and will adjust the height proportionally, which will be less than the maximum height.

  • Multi-Attachments
    Admins can choose how many and what type of files a user may attach to a post. A download counter for each attached file is also provided. Files attached will show an icon symbolizing each particular file type for the most common file types.

    WARNING: Some file types can pose risks to either the forum or the user who downloads them because they can be used to include malicious code. These include but are not limited to:

    • MS Excel files (.xls) which can contain malicious code in macros
    • MS PowerPoint files (.ppt) which can contain malicious scripts
    • HTML files (.htm, .html) which can contain any number of exploits

    None of these types are allowed by default. The Admin can allow them, but be warned - it is risky. HTML files can by uploaded as text files (.txt) that are perfectly safe. Let the user who downloads it change it back to HTML and avoid risk to your forum. Do some research and be sure it's necessary before you allow new file types.

  • User Avatar Upload
    Admins can choose to allow users to upload their own avatar image file. Files are identified with the user ID in the filename for easy sorting. Users may only access their own image.
  • Advanced Split and Splice
    Allows you to move single posts, selected posts, or all posts to a new thread or into any other post in any board you are allowed access to. You can choose to move the post or copy it, and choose whether or not to leave a split message.
  • Advanced Expand/Collapse
    Allows Categories on the Board Index to be collapsed or expanded without reloading the pages. Requires AJAX to be supported by the browser.
  • Extended Profiles
    Allows the Administrator to add additional fields to the user Profile. The Administrator has many options with these fields, such as making them a mandatory entry during registration, making them viewable to everyone or only certain groups, allowing users to edit them, or adding the fields to the memberlist.
  • E-Mail Notifications to Admin for New Member Registrations
    Allows the Administrator to select the option to receive notification by e-Mail if a new member registers. It also allows the Administrator to use the forum webmaster e-Mail address or enter one of his choosing.
  • Spell Checker
    Allows the Administrator to enable a spelling checker that will check spelling in Posts and in Personal Messages.
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New Features in YaBB 2.5.2

These are some completely new features to YaBB 2.5.2 that were added by popular request of users. These additions are:

  • Additional Anti-Spam Measures
    • SpamFruits
      One of the most popular of YaBB's anti-spam measures, SpamFruits requires the registrant to select the proper graphic.
    • Anti-Spam Question
      This requires the registrant to answer a random question from a bank of questions which the Admin has the option of editing. This is a deterrent against Spam registrations. More anti-spam measures can be found at: www.boardmod.org/yabb2/YaBB.pl?catselect=mods_y2
    • Minimum number of posts a member must have before links and images can be posted
      The Admin can set the minimum number of posts required to place links and/or images in posts, signatures and user profiles. This is to prevent spammers from registering and immediately posting links and images.
    • No e-mail on declined membership option
      The Admin now has the option as to whether or not to send the default 'declined membership' e-mail when using Admin Approval for memberships and removing a registration from the Registration Log screen. Why use your bandwidth sending rejection notices to e-mail addresses that are probably bogus anyway?
  • Membership Delete Lock
    The Admin now has the option of allowing (or disallowing) members to remove their own accounts. In disallowing members to delete their own accounts, the Admin has time to discover the reasons for the member wanting to leave and also maintains the tools the Admin may need to readily delete spam posts, ban the member to keep them from registering under the same credentials, etc., depending on the situation and the needs of the forum.
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New Features in YaBB 2.6.0

These are some completely new features to YaBB 2.6.0 that were added by popular request of users. These additions include:

  • Subboards
    YaBB now supports subboards. At the Admin's choice, the boards containing subboards can hold messages or simply hold subboards. Also new: Board and Subboard Message indexes can be viewed within the Board index.
  • Board Rules
    The Admin can create specific rules for individual boards using html coding.
  • Password Protected Boards
    The Admin can Password protect specific boards. Password protected boards can only be viewed by members who also have the password.
  • External-link Boards
    The Admin can create boards that are actually links to other places. YaBB keeps track of how many times the link redirects users to the link's target.
  • Event Calendar
    Allow Members (and, if permitted, Guests) to post events to a calendar.
    The Event Calendar can also show member birthdays as well as giving the Admin the option for a separate page of Member birthdays.
  • Even More Anti-Spam Measures
    Improved Captcha allows the Admin to select characters to be placed before and/or after the regular captcha with instructions to the guest or registrant to skip those characters when inputting the captcha for verification.
  • Forum Moderator and Add Moderator from board
    A new staff position between the Global Moderator who may have many administrative permissions and a Board Moderator who is responsible for one or more individual boards. A Forum Moderator has Moderator permissions over all non-staff boards as well as the ability to ban and un-ban members. Also new is the ability for an Admin to add moderators and moderator groups to a board from the board itself as well as the ability to assign a member to the Board Moderator position from the admin edit section of their Member Profile.
  • Timed Bans
    This allows the Administrator, Global Moderators, and Forum Moderators to ban Members for a day, a week, a month, or permanently. The Administrator can also ban IP addresses from the error log, check IP addresses through IP Lookup as well as add IP addresses to the Guardian ban list from the error log and from the Banlog (which logs access attempts by banned users).
  • Ajax Live Preview
    An improved version of Live Preview for posting Messages, Calendar events and Personal messages, Ajax Live Preview shows what the post should look like once it's posted.
  • Additional Templates
    Nearly all the html code has been taken out of the source-code and placed into template files for easy customization by the Admin.
  • CSS buttons
    Instead of needing sets of buttons specific to each language, the various buttons are now created using icons and css on an Admin selected background. All buttons are created 'on-the-fly' from a single definition file (menu.def) in the 'Templates' folder so each 'skin' can have its own set of buttons simply by changing the icon and language in the menu.def file.
  • Icon definitions
    Instead of being hard-coded in the source-code, the names of the various image graphics are stored as variables in the templates while the icon image names are stored in an icon definition file (micon.def) in the 'Templates' folder so each 'skin' can have its own set of icons and graphics.
  • Location based Time-Zones with automatic Daylight Savings time
    The Admin can choose whether or not users have the option to choose their own Time Zone. If the Admin chooses to not allow user choice, all displayed times on the Forum will be the Forum Default Time Zone.
    • For full functionality the Perl Modules DateTime, DateTime::TimeZone, and Locale::Country need to be installed on the host server. If the Modules are installed:
      • The Admin can choose a Forum Default Time Zone based on the Country/City of the Forum or use UTC/GMT time. If a Time Zone based on Country/City is chosen, YaBB will automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time for that Time Zone.
      • If users have the option to choose their own Time Zone, their displayed time will also automatically adjust to Daylight Savings Time based on the chosen location.
    • If the necessary Perl Modules are not installed:
      • The Admin can choose from 'UTC' or 'local' for the Forum Default Time Zone.
      • If the Admin wants to use a 'time offset' (how many hours and minutes Forum Time needs to be from UTC/GMT), the Time Zone must be set to 'local' and the Time Offset set manually.
      • If users have the option to choose their own Time Zone, Default Forum Time Zone will be available to them only the Forum Default Time Zone is 'local', otherwise their only choice will be UTC.
      • The DST option will only work properly if the host server's 'localtime' is not UTC/GMT and the host servers dates for DST match the Time Zone the Forum is in. Check with your hosting service to find this out.
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License - YaBB Public License (YPL)

YaBB Public License (YPL)

Below is the license YaBB has adopted for the software. It explains your extended rights and restrictions with the YaBB forum software. We basically ask that you leave the copyright intact and visible on the bottom of your forum at all times on all pages. If you wish to break the following license or remove the copyright, you may make an inquiry by visiting the following URL: http://www.yabbforum.com/licenses.php.

  • Version 1.0, Adopted On April 17, 2001
  • Version 2.0, Adopted On April 13, 2004
  • Version 2.1, Adopted On September 7, 2005
  • Version 2.2, Adopted On November 08, 2007
  • Version 2.2.1, Adopted On March 05, 2008
  • Version 2.2.2, Adopted On June 05, 2008
  • Version 2.2.3, Adopted On July 12, 2008
  • Version 2.3, Adopted On October 12, 2008
  • Version 2.3.1, Adopted On January 04, 2009
  • Version 2.4, Adopted On April 12, 2009
  • Version 2.5 Anniversary Edition, Adopted On July 04, 2010
  • Version 2.5.2, Adopted On October 21, 2012
  • Version 2.5.4 RC1, Adopted On September 1, 2013
  • Version 2.6.0, Adopted On February 20, 2014

Definitions

You: This is you, if you are considering distributing, modifying or using this Package.

Program: This refers to the YaBB source files that comprise the Perl program and derivatives of that program.

Package: This refers to the collection of files distributed by YaBB and derivatives of that collection of files created through textual modification.

Standard Version: This refers to such a Package if it has not been modified or has been modified in accordance with the wishes of YaBB as specified below.

Distribution Fee: This is a fee you charge for providing a copy of this Package to another party.

Freely Available: This means that no fee is charged for the right to use the Package, though there may be fees involved in handling it. It also means that recipients of the Package may redistribute it under the same conditions they received it.

License: This is the document you are currently reading (YaBB's Public License).

Illegal Actions: Any action that is illegal in the country you reside in, the country websites using YaBB are hosted in, and the country a visitor to said websites reside in.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, this License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software -- to make sure the software is free for all its users.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our YaBB Public License is designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for a service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it. For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they too receive or can get the source code, and you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.

Terms and Conditions for Use

You may download and use YaBB only if you agree to the following items:

  1. You will keep this license intact with your YaBB Package.
  2. You agree to this entire license.
  3. You leave the YaBB copyright visible on your installed forum as they were placed in the original Package. This rule does not apply if you have purchased a separate license to remove the copyright or are redistributing the Package and have followed other rules in this license to remove it.
  4. You do not use YaBB for any Illegal Actions nor allow those using your copy of YaBB to perform illegal actions on or with YaBB. This includes but is not limited to: using a YaBB forum to post slander against any other individual or group, using a YaBB forum to post "hacks and cracks" for software, or using a YaBB forum to plot a crime or terrorist act. YaBB is not intended or licensed for illegal uses. If you find suspect actions, please report them to the proper authorities or the web host of the offending website.

Terms and Conditions for Copying, Distribution, and Modification

0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this YaBB Public License.

Activities other than using, copying, distributing and modifying are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Package (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Package's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this YaBB Public License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Package a copy of this License along with the Package.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee. If transferring a copy for a fee, some sort of modification to the original Program must have been made or a service must have been added to the Program other than the act of the transfer itself.

2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Package or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Package, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

  • a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
  • b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Package or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.
  • c) If the modified Program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice.

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Package and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License and its terms do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Package, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Package.

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Package with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.

3. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Package except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Package is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

4. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Package or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Package (or any work based on the Package), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Package or works based on it.

5. Each time you redistribute the Package (or any work based on the Package), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Package subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.

6. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Package at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Package by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Package.

If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply, and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.

It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

7. If the distribution and/or use of the Package are restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Package under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.

8. YaBB may publish revised and/or new versions of the YaBB Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Package specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later version," you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by YaBB. If the Package does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by YaBB.

9. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Package into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by YaBB, write to YaBB; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

10. Because the Package is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the Package, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing, the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the Package "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Package is with you. Should the Package prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

11. In no event, unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute the Package as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the Package (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of components of this Package to operate with other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

Provide one line to give the program's name and an idea of what it does.

Copyright (C) yyyy name of author

--
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the YaBB Public License (YPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation, modified by YaBB; either this version 2.6.0 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
--
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the YaBB Public License for more details.
--
You should have received a copy of the YaBB Public License along with this program; if not, write to YaBB.
--

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

This YaBB Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.

Summary of Your Rights with this Software

1. You MAY use this Package free of charge, and the Package, containing all source code, will be available to you at any time.

2. You may NOT sell this Package if nothing has been modified and it is being distributed by You in the same manner the original Package was distributed to You.

3. You MAY sell this Package if you have done the following:

  • You have modified items or code in this Package and have properly commented what and when the modifications took place.
  • If the Package has not been modified (or if it has), You are including a service such as installation with this Package.
  • You have included a copy of this original YaBB Public License with your product and have applied the proper copyright notices.
  • You have made available the source code and all other materials that were available when You received this Package to the public and have distributed this material to the original authors of this product.

4. You may NOT use the YaBB software for any illegal actions. Such use will void this license and deem your copy of YaBB illegal. YaBB cannot be held liable for such uses.

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Help Topic Index
Help Topic Index Intro

The Help Topic Index can help you learn your YaBB's features quickly and assist you with locating help topics in the YaBB Codex.

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How-To Topics

These answer many commonly asked questions by new forum Administrators about how to use the forum features.

HOW-TO...

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What To Do Topics

These answer many commonly asked questions by new forum Administrators about what to do if problems or errors are encountered.

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF...

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Modifying Your Forum

This section contains information on modifying your forum. Before making ANY modification, you should backup your forum in case something goes wrong. Also note that while some basic information about the BoardMOD program is provided for YaBB users, the YaBB Team does not provide support for the BoardMOD program or any of the MODS or Templates available there. If you have support questions about those products, you should address them on the BoardMOD site.

Modification Information Links

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Getting Support From YaBB
This section contains some advice to help you get any problems resolved as quickly as possible should you need to post a request for support at YaBB Support Forum.

How to Get Support from YaBB

  • Never post your forum's Admin login details or your FTP details in a post. If that kind of private information is needed to help you get the problem fixed, a staff member will request you send it to them in a Personal Message (PM)
  • Before you post, please check the YaBB Codex (it is searchable) and do a search on the Support forum to see if your problem has been answered before. Try a few different search terms.
  • Please post your request in the correct board. They are all identified in the board descriptions. If you aren't sure, use the General Usage and Feature Troubleshooting board.
  • Don't post in the "Bugs" boards. If you suspect you have a bug, post it in one of the Support boards along with what steps it takes to see or reproduce the error. If it is indeed a bug, a Support Team member will move it to the Bugs board for you.
  • There is valuable information in the Stickied Posts at the top of each Support board. Please read them.
  • Please start your own topic, and don't jump in on the end of someone else's support request. You may have the same symptoms, but not always the same fix, so it's best to keep your request separate.
  • NEVER cross-post. That means stating your problem in one topic, then repeating it over in another topic or board. The Support Team reads all of them, and you will not get an answer any faster by giving them twice as much to read first.
  • Features, files, and options vary with different versions. So do answers. Please be sure to state what version you are using in your first post of each support request. Other information that helps is what kind of server you are on (Unix, Windows, etc.), is it a hosted account or your own server at home, and is your forum modified in any way?
  • Be specific! “My car doesn't work” won't help your mechanic fix it. Neither will saying your forum doesn't work. Tell us WHAT doesn't work, what steps or situation is needed to see whatever error or problem you're experiencing. Who is affected: All users? Some users? One user?
  • Most importantly, please be patient. Some problems take longer than others to figure out. While you may think no one is answering you, the support team may be searching code or trying to duplicate your error on their own forums. Most questions get answered within a day or so, but remember the Support Team members have jobs, families, and lives.
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