Responses to discussion topics or questions posed within the SME Forums are not to be relied on as professional opinions or consultations. The information, opinions and recommendations presented are for general information only and should not be construed as professional advice applicable to your situation.

Postings in the SME Forums are not private. The forums and chat rooms may be reviewed periodically. Since authentication on the Internet is difficult, SME cannot ensure that any user of the SME Forums is who he/she claims to be.

The SME Forums are made available subject to the following terms and conditions, which may be revised by the SME from time to time.

Permitted Activity: The SME Forums may be used only for the purpose of discussing matters related to the SME or to manufacturing generally. Users shall not:

• post any defamatory, harassing, abusive, profane threatening, obscene, offensive, false, fraudulent or illegal information or material;
• post any information or material protected by copyright, trademark, patent, or other intellectual property law without permission from the owner of the trademark, service mark, certification mark, or other intellectual property;
• post any confidential information or any other information that would infringe on upon the proprietary, privacy or personal rights of others;
• impersonate any person;
• copy or adapt the code used to create the SME Forums; or
• interfere with the operation or, overload the system capabilities of, or violate the security of the SME Forums, or attempt to do so.

By posting material, the user grants SME and all users of the SME Forums a world-wide, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print and use such information or material in any manner and in any medium, without payment to the user, for any non-commercial purpose. By submitting information to the SME Forums, the submitting user warrants and represents that he/she had the full right and authority to lawfully submit the information and to grant the above license.

Right to Remove Material or Deny Access: SME will not pre-screen any information or material posted in the SME Forums and will not monitor every communication or user in the SME Forums. It reserves the right, in its sole discretion, (i) to terminate, without prior notice, access to the OI Communities by any user for any reason, (ii) to remove and delete any posting which is offensive or otherwise inappropriate, and (iii) to take any other action as it may deem appropriate.

User Responsibility for Security of Registration: Upon registration, each user assumes responsibility for use of his/her registration, including but not limited to maintaining the confidentiality of the registration and password, and must immediately notify SME of any unauthorized use.

User Responsibility for Costs Resulting from Breach: In the event that a user fails to abide by these terms and conditions, the user shall reimburse SME for all losses, damages, and/or expenses (including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees) that it may incur as a result of the user's breach.

No Warranty, No Endorsement, Limitation of Liability:

Each user participates in the SME Forums at his/her own risk.

THE MATERIAL IN THE SME Forums IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. SME DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR CURRENCY OF ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIAL POSTED IN THE SME Forums.

Nothing in the SME Forums shall constitute a recommendation of, endorsement of or a representation by SME as to a third party's qualifications, services, products, offering, or any other information or claim.

Further, SME makes no warranty or representation that any user of the SME Forums is who he/she claims to be, and assumes no liability for the outcome of user-to-user communications, dealings, meetings, or other interactions.

Downloading or otherwise obtaining any material through the SME Forums is at each user's sole risk. The user assumes the entire cost of all servicing, repair, or correction necessitated by or needed for use of SME. SME does not warrant or represent that the functions contained in the SME Forums will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the SME Forums of the server that makes them available are free of viruses or other harmful components.

EACH USER WAIVES ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, LIABILITIES, OBLIGATIONS, DEMANDS, AND CAUSES OF ACTION AGAINST THE SME OF WHATSOEVER NATURE (REGARDLESS OF THEIR ORIGIN, NATURE, CHARACTER, OR BASIS) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SME Forums. IN NO EVENT SHALL SME BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OF, INABILITY TO USE, OR DENIAL OF ACCESS TO THE SME Forums AND THE INFORMATION HEREIN CONTAINED, OR ANY OTHER CAUSE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT SME WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Ownership of SME Forums: The compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly) and the contents (including but not limited to the text, graphics, images, logos, buttons, icons, software and other material) of the SME Forums are protected under both United States and foreign copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. The names and logos displayed in the SME Forums are the exclusive intellectual property of their respective owners. Unauthorized use of the compilation or contents may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. Users must retain all copyright, trademarks, service mark and other proprietary notices on any copy made from the SME Forums. Users may not sell or modify the compilation or contents of the SME Forums, in whole or in part, or reproduce, display, publicly perform, distribute, or otherwise use them in any way for public or commercial purpose. If users wish to use any content posted in the SME Forums for any purpose other than those expressly authorized by these terms and conditions, it must be with the expressed written consent of SME or the posting's author.

You can search for posts based on username, word(s) in the post or just in the subject, by date, and only in particular forums.

To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of most pages.

You can search any forum that you have permission to search - you will not be allowed to search through private forums unless the administrator has given you the necessary security rights to do so.

Yes! To send an email to another member, you can either locate the member you want to contact on the member list, or click the button on any post made by that member.

This will usually open a page that contains a form where you can enter your message. When you have finished typing your message, press the [send email] button and your message will be sent instantly. Note that for privacy reasons, the email address of the recipient is not revealed to you during this process.

Note that if you can not find an email button or link for a member, it either means that the administrator has disabled email functions for this forum, or that the member in question has specified that they do not wish to receive email from other members of the forum.

Another useful email function is the ability to send a friend a link to a thread you think they may find interesting. Whenever you view a thread, you will find a link somewhere on the page which will allow you to send a brief message to anyone you like. Your referrerid is added to the link you send, so if your friend registers on this forum as a result of viewing the link you sent to them, your referrals total will automatically be credited!

Registered members may also be able to send messages to other members of this forum using the private messaging system. For more information about private messaging, click here.

If the administrator has enabled the Private Messaging system, registered members may send each other private messages.

Sending Private Messages

Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may be able to include vB Code, smilies and images in private messages that you send.

You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the button in a member's posts.

When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of the message in your Sent Items folder.

Private Message Folders

By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the Inbox and the Sent Items folders.

The Inbox folder contains any new messages you receive, and allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent the message to you, and the date and time the message was sent.

The Sent Items folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy of the message for future reference.

You may create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Edit Folders' link.

Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them completely. You may also have a button which allows you to forward multiple messages from a folder to another member of the forum.

You will need to periodically delete old messages, as the administrator has probably set a limit to the number of private messages you can have in your folders. If you exceed the number of messages specified by the administrator, you will not be able to send or receive new messages until you delete some old messages.

Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply to the message, or forward that message to another member of the forum. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your buddy list.

Message Tracking

When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt for that message. This will allow you to check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient by viewing the Private Message Tracking page.

This page is divided into two sections: unread messages and read messages.

The unread messages section shows all messages that you have sent with a read-receipt request, that have not yet been read by their recipient.

The read messages section shows all messages you have sent with a receipt request that have been read and acknowledged by their recipient. The time that the message was read is also shown.

You may choose to end the tracking on any message you choose by selecting the message and clicking the [end tracking] button.

When you receive a message with a read-receipt request, you may have the option to read the message while denying the read-receipt request. To do this, simply click the 'deny receipt' link rather than the title of the message, if it appears.

The member list contains a complete list of all the registered members of this forum. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the forum, or by the number of posts the members have made.

The member list also has a search function, which allows you to quickly locate members according to categories you specify, such as searching for all members who have joined in the past week etc.

The calendar functions in a way similar to the forums in that there can be multiple calendars. One calendar could hold just events that you are able to see, while another may list birthdays.

There are two types of events on the calendar: normal events and recurring events.

Normal Events span the time frame from when the event starts until the event ends.

Recurring Events repeat over a set period of time based on certain criteria. Examples would be an event that occurs on the first Monday of every month and an event that occurs every Monday and Wednesday.

The administrator may have enabled registered members to post events, but usually this is not the case. You can most likely post your own private events that are only viewable to you.

Birthdays may be shown on the calendar if the administrator has enabled this feature. Your birthday will automatically be shown on the calendar if you have entered the date of your birthday in your profile. Note: if you do not enter the year of your birth when you edit your profile, your age will not be shown on the calendar.

If you enter your birthday, your name will also appear on the main forum page when it is your birthday.

Announcements are special messages posted by the administrator or moderators. They are designed to be a simple one-way communication with the users. If you wish to discuss announcements, you will have to create a new thread in the forum, since you cannot reply to announcements.

You may find a small menu on thread pages which allows you to 'rate this thread' with a number between 1-5.

Casting a vote for threads you view is entirely optional, but if you think that the thread is superb, you might rate it as a 5-star thread, or if you think that it's unspeakably dismal, you might choose to rate the thread with a single star.

Once enough votes have been cast for the thread rating, you may see a set of stars appear with the title of the thread in the thread listings. These stars reflect the average vote cast, and can allow you to quickly see which threads are worth reading if you are on a very busy forum with a lot of threads.

The administrator may have enabled referrals, which allows you to be credited for any new users you invite to the forum.

You gain referrals by promoting SME Forums using your unique referral link. The link you should use as your referral link is this:

http://forums.sme.org/index.php?referrerid=0

Each time someone follows this link to SME Forums and registers as a new member, your referral count will be incremented by one. The number of referrals you have can be viewed in your profile.

Your administrator will have more information on any prizes or rewards that may be given out for referrals. Please be courteous when promoting SME Forums by not spamming other web sites with your referral link just to gain referrals.

1. Linear Mode (Oldest First) - In this mode, posts are displayed chronologically from oldest to newest. Posts are shown in a flat mode so that many posts can be viewed simultaneously.
2. Linear Mode (Newest First) - This is the same as the above mode, except that posts are ordered in an opposite way (newest first).
3. Threaded Mode - In this mode, a tree is shown along with every post. This tree allows you to see the relationship each post has to others, in terms of who responded to whom. Only one post is shown at a time.
4. Hybrid Mode - This mode is a mixture of the linear and threaded modes. The post tree is displayed like in the threaded mode, but multiple posts are displayed simultaneously like in the linear modes.

The administrator may have enabled RSS syndication, this allows you to view newly created threads in guest viewable forums without visiting the board.

The feeds are currently provided in two formats, RSS and RSS v2. The differences are as follows:

• RSS 0.91 - This feed is based on a standard written by netscape and provides a link and the title of the thread.
  http://forums.sme.org/external.php?type=rss
• RSS 2.0 - This feed contains title, author, date and the contents of the first post of the thread.
  http://forums.sme.org/external.php?type=rss2

To add this to MyYahoo click here.

The forums to which this applies can also be limited to specific guest viewable forums by adding another parameter to the URL containing the forumids as follows:
http://forums.sme.org/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=123

If you would like the content to be generated for multiple forums you can separate the forumids by commas.