Many of the fields have explanations alongside them already; this page provides additional information.
System-Wide Registration Information
If you change your Email Address, be certain you fill it in correctly. If you can, copy and paste from a known good copy of your address. You may not notice a single bad character, but your email address will still be invalid and Dreamflows will no longer be able to contact you via email. For instance, if you enter an invalid email address and later forget your password, you'll be effectively locked out of your Dreamflows account.
Use Session Timeout to set your inactivity timeout for a normal login session. A normal login session is one where you leave the Keep me logged in box on the login page unchecked. After you login, your session will remain active as long as you keep accessing Dreamflows pages. But, if you don't access any Dreamflows pages for longer than the time set in Session Timeout, you'll be automatically logged off. The longer Session Timeout is, the less likely you'll be logged out unexpectedly, but the more likely it is that someone else will find your computer unattended, and use your active login session. You may set Session Timeout from 1 minute to 30 days; the default is 2 hours. If you change Session Timeout the changes take effect immediately for your current session, but the timeout values for any other concurrent sessions (see next paragraph) will be unaffected; to force your Session Timeout changes to be recognized by other sessions, logout from each, then login again.
By default, you are allowed only one Dreamflows login session at a time (though you may still open multiple windows into Dreamflows from the same browser). However, if you check Allow Multiple Logins, then multiple concurrent Dreamflows login sessions are possible. This would for instance allow you to login from both home and work, and stay logged in from both locations long-term. If you choose this option, though, be sure to complete whatever you're doing on one computer (e.g. making profile changes), before going to the other computer and making changes there. Otherwise, before you know it, what you see on one computer's screen won't match reality, and you may end up undoing changes you've successfully completed on the other computer. But, if you use common sense, using multiple logins can be very convenient.
If you have exclusive access to your computer (or at least you don't expect anyone else with access to visit Dreamflows), then set Computer Access to Exclusive to me (this is the default value). On the other hand, if others do have access and might visit Dreamflows, set it to Shared with others. This setting affects how Dreamflows behaves when you are currently logged out, but Dreamflows can determine who you are from a cookie that was set when you were last logged in. Currently, this setting affects only the following situation:
The Date field of alert emails shows the time when the alert was generated, the Posted field of bulletin board messages shows when the message was posted, etc. By default, these and similar date/time fields are reported in Pacific Time (PDT in summer, and PST in winter). To specify a different time zone, set Time Zone and Daylight Savings appropriately.
To receive alerts, set Alerts Status to Active. To temporarily or permanently disable, set it to Inactive/Vacation Hold.
Your alerts are sent to Pager Address, which may be any valid pager/email address. If you leave Pager Address blank, then your alerts will be sent to your System-Wide Email Address; use this feature to reduce the number of fields to update if your Email Address changes.
To receive Dreamflows flow reports via email, set Reports Status to Active. To temporarily or permanently disable, set it to Inactive/Vacation Hold.
Your email reports are sent to Reports Address, which may be any valid email address. If you leave Reports Address blank, then your reports will be sent to your System-Wide Email Address; use this feature to reduce the number of fields to update if your Email Address changes.
When you sign up for a new Dreamflows account, List me on the members page is by default marked yes, I'm an active board member. As a result, an entry for you will appear in the bulletin board's member list. If you've ever posted a message to the bulletin board, you'll automatically be marked yes, I'm an active board member (and listed). However, if you've never posted to the bulletin board and don't want to appear on the member list, then mark this field no, I prefer to remain anonymous.
Your selection for Show my email address determines when your Email Address is displayed in the member list or your publicly-viewable profile. By default no-one (except the Admin) gets to see it - which is fine for privacy, but it means others may have difficulty sending you email. They will however be able to send you private messages. If you set it to everyone, then be aware that anyone and everyone will have access to it - spammers and bots included. Setting it to only to members who have logged in offers a compromise between the two extremes, though just because someone's a member doesn't necessarily mean they're above sharing your address with the Wrong People.
How you mark Automatic logouts determines the action taken if you forget to logout, and your session is terminated automatically. If you select forget topics viewed if I forget to logout, then your last visit time isn't updated. In this case, when you log back in and click the View posts since last visit link on the Bulletin Board forums page, posts which you've already read may once again appear in the list. If you select remember last topic viewed if I forget to logout, then your last visit time is updated to the last time you viewed a topic during the session being terminated. In this case, when you log back in and click the View posts since last visit link, posts which you haven't read yet may be missing from the list.
Send email for replies to my posts is a default setting, and works as follows. When you post a new Bulletin Board message on a given topic (or edit an existing one), a checkbox on the edit page asks if you want to receive email notification when someone replies to the same topic. If Send email for replies to my posts is checked, then the checkbox is initially checked too (though it may be checked anyway for other reasons). Either way, you can change it before hitting Submit.
Send email for a new Private Message is shorthand for "Send me an email notification whenever someone sends me a Private Message (PM)". When checked, it means you're notified of new PMs without having to login to the board. This option is checked by default.
Default search type determines your search type (basic or advanced) when you initiate a search. The search help page gives more information.
Your real name, Primary river interest, Location, Occupation and Interests all appear in your publicly-viewable profile. They are optional fields which allow you to tell others a little about yourself.
Note that the optional Website field was supported at one time, and users may keep their existing entries if they have one set. However, entries can no longer be changed. This is to reduce abuse from those who want to use Dreamflows as a marketing tool. If you have a legitimate river-related website that would provide value to visitors, and which you'd like set in your profile, contact chris@dreamflows.com.
If you fill in the Signature field and later post a message to the board, you'll have the option of including your signature at the end of your post. See the editing a message help page for more information.
The first three entries are for reference only - you can't change them yourself. The Manage photos uploaded by you link provides basic management functions, including the ability to view photos and delete orphans. If you've run out of resources, or if the photo you want to upload is too big and you can't reduce it, please contact chris@dreamflows.com.
Dreamflows Help Page
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Bulletin Board Help Page
Email Reports Help Page
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