Help - Flow Reports to Bulletin Board Interface
The various Dreamflows flow reports feature a dynamic linking mechanism into the bulletin board.
This mechanism offers you an easy and unique way of zeroing in on topics that apply to a particular flow site.
Among other things, it also offers you a way to start a new topic relevant to a particular flow site.
This help page is divided into two sections for easy reference.
The Flow Reports section describes how to interpret the various symbols linking the flow reports to the bulletin board.
The Flow Topics section describes what to do once you're there.
Flow Reports
Each flow site listed on a given Dreamflows report has information about which bulletin board topics are available for that flow site.
This information is listed under the BBS column heading.
The various symbols and values that may appear in this column are as follows:
-
| Symbol/Value | Meaning
|
|---|
 |
There are no topics (of any variety) listed for this flow site.
Note however that you can still click through to the bulletin board via this symbol and post something for this flow site.
|
|
month day |
Example:
Jun 3. There are one or more "recent" topics listed for this flow site; the displayed date is the date of the most recently-posted message.
If you're logged in to the bulletin board, then this color means you haven't yet visited at least one of the topics listed for this flow site.
If you're not logged in, then it means at least one of the topics listed for this flow site is less than
7 days old.
|
month day
month day |
Examples:
Jun 3 or Jun 3. There are one or more "old" topics listed for this flow site; the displayed date is the date of the most recently-posted message.
If you're logged in to the bulletin board, then these colors mean you've already visited all the topics listed for this flow site.
If you're not logged in, then they mean all the topics listed for this flow site are at least
7 days old.
Purple means you've recently clicked through to the bulletin board using this link, while blue means you haven't, as per normal browser behavior.
|
year
year
year |
Examples:
2006 or 2006 or 2006. There are one or more topics listed for this flow site, but they're all at least 6 months old; the displayed year is the year of the most recently-posted message.
Red means you're logged in, but haven't read the most recent message yet.
Otherwise, purple means you've recently clicked through to the bulletin board using this link, while blue means you haven't, as per normal browser behavior.
|
 |
There's at least one hazard notice for this flow site.
The preceding information (see above) gives a clue as to how old the hazard information may be.
If in doubt - click through anyway, it may save a life.
|
Clicking on any of the above links will take you to the bulletin board.
However, clicking on is pointless, unless you want to post a new topic for that flow site (in which case it becomes a very clever and insightful thing to do).
Flow Topics
When you've clicked through from a flow report to the bulletin board, you arrive at a page titled Topics related in some way to followed by the
name of the flow site you clicked through from.
The page lists all the available topics meeting this criterion.
To view a given topic, click on the link provided for that topic.
You may then reply to this topic if you wish.
Alternatively, click on the New Topic symbol on the Topics related in some way to page if you want to start a new topic.
You will be asked if this new topic applies to this flow site, and if the answer is yes, then the post will be associated with this flow site.
If you answer no, that's okay too.
Note that you must be a registered user before you can make any kind of post.
For illustration, let's say you click through to the bulletin board using the BBS link for No. Smith - At Gasquet on the realtime report.
You are then presented with a list of topics that are related in some way to No. Smith - At Gasquet.
If there aren't any topics then the bulletin board will say so, however the rest of this help page still applies -
i.e., you can still start a (new) topic for this flow site.
If you decide to start a new topic (by clicking on New Topic),
you will be taken to a second page, in this case titled Post a new topic for "No. Smith - At Gasquet".
That page asks you to select which forum you want to post the topic for, and also whether the message you're about to post applies to No. Smith - At Gasquet or not.
If your message applies to No. Smith - At Gasquet, select I want to post this topic to No. Smith - At Gasquet and post your message.
Your message will be associated with No. Smith - At Gasquet, and will immediately show up on the Dreamflows reports under the
BBS heading for No. Smith - At Gasquet.
If you posted the topic as a Hazard, then
will be displayed.
If the message you're about to post isn't related to any particular flow site, it's still quite okay to post your message using this route
into the bulletin board.
Just select This topic isn't related to any particular flow site.
However, if your message is related to a different flow site than the one you clicked through from,
then please go back to the flow report and click through from the flow site that your message does apply to.
If your message does apply to a specific flow site, but you choose not to use this mechanism for telling the bulletin board which flow site it belongs to,
all is not lost - I'll eventually notice, work out which flow site it belongs to, and mark the topic accordingly.
It'll just take longer - perhaps a lot longer - than if you took this step yourself.
Of course, if you post your message for an incorrect flow site, then everyone will be confused.
Even then, I'll still notice and eventually correct, but in the meantime it'll be incorrect, which will be so, you know, like sad.
So please do your best to select the most appropriate flow site the first time.
Thanks!
Bulletin Board Help Page
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