Below you will find a list of frequently asked questions concerning use of
this site. You can click on any of these and get some help with anything you might be having a problem with.
If you have information you would like to see added to the FAQ,
In the beginning, everyone was a newbie. There
were no archives to search. No seasoned or experienced members to answer
questions. All of the members were new to the K1200LT. Bruce Wagner created a
web based forum at a site called eGroups (acquired by Yahoo in 2000). Mark
Neblett had yet to crack open his bike to tinker. Don Arthur had yet to put
his first 1000 miles on the bike. Randy Prade hadn't installed every possible
accessory known to man. Stick had not discovered the first generation HID.
Jeff Eagan hadn't created the first version of the K1200LT accessories page.
And one guy from Oklahoma (Gary Rollins) and two guys from Texas (Edward
"Sir Squidly" Walker and Jeff Washburn) hadn't yet conceived the
idea which became the Curve Cowboy Reunion.
How did we find information back then? With nobody to ask, did it just appear
out of thin air? No, of course not. Members scoured online search engines,
motorcycle newsgroups, US and foreign BMW websites, and they experimented.
They traded wild ass ideas and made educated guesses as they learned more and
more about this wonderful machine. They shared what they had discovered in
their quest for more information. Those experiences became the knowledge base
that allowed people like Packrat to sell light mount kits, Stick to begin
selling HIDs, Jim Lawson to build EzyMount light kits, Doug Hines to produce
GPS mounts, Paul Sayegh to produce service videos, Larry Rosenstiel to
discover the Unigo, and countless others to discover and contribute excellent
information. There was CCR I in Broken Bow, OK (35 LTs, 60 People), and CCR II
in Hot Springs, AR (86 LTs, 132 People). All of these experiences and the
knowledge gained built up in the archives at the eGroups/Yahoo site, but there
was one big problem -- the search engine sucked. Searching for answers to
questions was next to impossible.
Fast forward to March 31, 2002. Andy Pleschutznig opens the K1200LT.net site.
A site dedicated to the K1200LT community. Yes, there were glitches (and still
are). Yes, it was a big change from Yahoo. But it was for the better. It's now
a community that operates for the benefit of the community as a whole, and not
as a for profit enterprise with all the annoying problems of pop-up ads,
viruses, and email spam. To me, the coolest thing about the new site, was the
new sense of group identity. Members who had lurked for years and never
participated at eGroups/Yahoo came out of the woodwork. Longtime members who
had quit participating on a regular basis started again. Members (more than I
could ever name in this message) who had never expressed interest in
organizing activities started hosting K1200LT service parties, accessory
install clinics, and regional rides. We had CCR III in Santa Fe, NM (155 LTs,
250 People) with service seminars and BMWNA and BMWMOA in attendance. All the
buzz and activity allowed most of the important content from Yahoo as well as
new content to be replicated at K1200LT.net in a very short time. Kick in a
new, powerful, and reliable search engine, and voila! The answer to almost
anything K1200LT is available at your fingertips.
A lot of wonderful, smart, and generous people have contributed many many
megabytes of K1200LT content to this site. As a new member, please feel free
to ask your questions, but just do one little favor for all those people who
have worked so hard and contributed so much to create this comprehensive
knowledge base. Take a moment to search the archives and don't get upset when
someone refers you to search the archives to answer questions that have been
asked and answered a hundred times. Remember that you have it so much easier
compared to the people who have been here from the start. There is a wealth
information out there waiting for you to take advantage of it.
By not taking the time to search the archives BEFORE asking a question
diminishes all the hard work so many members have contributed which would
answer most new member questions. It also explains why you might get directed
to search the archives or receive some lighthearted harassment from some of
the long time members when you post that question which has been asked and
answered so many times. When a recurring question is asked without first
searching the archives only lessens the value of the already existing content
by adding another long thread of repeated messages which clutters the
archives. So, the next time you want to ask a question, please give the search
feature a try first. It's all there waiting for you. If you don't find what
you're looking for, then by all means, please post your question. There are a
lot of really great people who know so much about this wonderful machine that
will be more than happy help you.
When
writing your messages, please use the same courtesy that you would show when
speaking face-to-face with someone. Flames, insults, and personal attacks will
not be tolerated. It's fine to disagree strongly with opinions, ideas, and
facts, but always with respect for the other person.Great minds do not always think alike, and that's where the fun is!Also, note that messages express the thoughts of the writers, not the
group Administrators or Moderators.
Here is the list of guidelines for the K1200LT.net community:
No
Nudity: We have a policy against the posting of images depicting nudity.
Understand that we are not taking a moral stand one way or the other.
This is simply a policy of this group.
No
Commercial Postings:This is a private BBS designated for the
use of its members. No commercial posts of any kind will be allowed.
�For Sale� items from individual members will be allowed in the Classified
forum only. Special announcements for dealers or other vendors will be
allowed only if they are made by one of the forum Moderators
or Administrators.
Any posts to any forum that are deemed to be of a commercial nature will be
subject to removal and the identity posting them may be blocked or banned.
Safe
place: This group should be considered a "safe place".
Off-color comments, inappropriate content, personal attacks, harassment, and
blatantly offensive posts meant to polarize or incite the group ARE
NOT TOLERATED
Identity:You are allowed to participate in our community anonymously but we
recommend that you provide a real name and regional information to help
continue to provide a real sense of community to all of or members.We do REQUIRE that you provide a valid email address for
membership.If any account is
found to have an invalid email address, that account will be terminated by the
Administrators.
Lurk:
Read the previous postings and just hang out for a while without posting any
messages for a few weeks. This is known as 'lurking' and is encouraged.
Lurking will give you an idea of tone of the group. Lurking also lets you know
who is really in the know and who is just a poseur.
Search
the Archives: Use the forum search feature or one of the major internet
search engines BEFORE you ask your
next question.Being asked the
same old question over and over is very irritating. By not taking the
time to search the archives or make a search of other internet resources BEFORE
asking the group is like saying, "my
time is more valuable than yours, so I'm just going to ask here instead of
looking for it myself".
Stick to the topic: Know what on-topic is and what is off-limits. Every
forum is a little different in what it talks about and each forum in our group
is devoted to clearly defined topics. Please stick to the topic covered
by each forum or for more generalized chatter use the Chit Chat forum.
This
is not your personal email: Understand
when it's time to go to private emails or private messaging. Ask yourself the
following question before you press the send button
-- "Am I adding anything to the discussion or would this message be
better sent as a private email to the particular individual I'm trying to
reach?" If you have something that should be directed to one individual,
send them the email or private message, not the forum. That is, unless your
answer is of a general interest nature that we all would benefit from.
Control
the "chatter": Friendly banter between members is a good
thing. But when it's taken to the extreme, it clutters up the message
board and lowers the value of the information contained in the archives.
Each off-topic commentary, witty remark, and me-too post just adds to more
messages to search through in the archives. Use the site's chat system
if you want to share one on one conversation.
What's
said behind closed doors stays behind closed doors: Don't air your
(or anyone else's) dirty laundry in public. There is absolutely NO
NEED to post a private email in a public forum. It is inconsiderate
and violates an unsaid trust between you and the sender. Treat private
emails the same way you would a telephone call. How would you like your
private conversation between you and another member of the group played out on
CNN?
Keep
some things to yourself: Treat all posts you place in this forum as PUBLIC
information. Anything you put in a post is potentially there for the entire
internet to see. Home addresses, phone numbers, or other personal information
is better left to a private email and not posted on the group. Would you
walk down the street of a major city yelling out your phone number, home
address, and how many toys you have parked in the garage with the key most
likely in the ignition? Think about it.
Just
the Facts (not FAQs):
Concise and to the point is more important than showing off your expressive
nature. If you have something to say, then say it. Include enough so we all
know what you're talking about, but please be brief about it. Nobody really
cares what your deep philosophical stance is on some mundane or off topic
subject.
Don't
shout:TYPING
ALL IN CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING. Reading a lot of text in caps is hard
on the eyes and is considered very rude. Plus, everyone thinks you're a
complete moron without having to read anything you have to say.
Don't
over quote: Copying a long post (more
than 20 lines) just to add "I agree" or "me too" is
considered bad form. Be original, bring something
new to the discussion.
Context:
Just as you shouldn't over quote, at least give us some idea what you're
talking about when you do post that "I agree" or "thank
you" message. Nothing like having to track back on a "thank
you" message and read through an entire thread of "motorcycle
camping" as it morphs into some other completely unrelated subject to get
to the original post.
Don't
beat a dead horse: Read through the entire thread BEFORE
you post a response. Chances are if you are reading a message that is
several days old, the subject has been covered ad nauseam and your two cents
really doesn't matter. If, however, you find there is still some
valuable information yet to be added to the discussion which hasn't already
been covered, then go right ahead. Just take the time to be considerate
and read the entire thread before responding.
The
Golden Rule: Treat other users with the same respect you would like to
receive yourself. Remember that every expert was a newbie once; we all
break this one from time to time. And usually when we do, we feel bad
about it. Then there are some who don't.
Don't
be too thin skinned: Try not to take
things too personally. If you can't take the heat, then do not participate.
Name
without a face: On the Internet and in
newsgroups especially, people don't see you, just what you post. Because of
that, you need to be careful of what you write because that almost completely
determines how you are perceived by others. So, if you want to be taken
seriously, it's a good idea to double check the spelling and grammar of a post
before sending it. It's also a good idea to double check any facts you state
in a post -- there is always someone who has enough free time to go checking
on anything you post; and it can be embarrassing to be called on a factual
error.
Show
some emotion: Because email is a text form of communication, it lacks the
subtleties and nuances of verbal/face to face communication. Take a moment to
learn the various methods of expressing a level of "internet body
language" in your posts (a.k.a. emoticons). Some basic emoticons and
acronyms can be found at http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/emoticons.htm
Ignore
"trolls": Some people get a thrill from posting
"flames" (really obnoxious messages) just to get a rise out of
people. Sad, isn't it? If you see a flame war going on between two
members, just stay out of it. Anything you have to say on the subject
will just propagate the thread and add fuel to the fire. Be responsible
and just stay out of it.
Enforcement
of the Guidelines:
Enforcement
of the guidelines is at the discretion of the Moderators
with oversight by the Administrators.
This group has proved to be a very responsible self-policing community.
Everyone on this group should be treated as an adult. However, as with
any community, possible problems may arise.
Minor
infractions will most likely be handled via the Moderators
and warnings may be issued. Serious infractions will be handled with a
warning, with any further infractions resulting in having the offending member
removed by the Administrators.
Repeated violations may result in a permanent ban. Attempts to
circumvent the ban by subscribing under a different ID or extreme violations
of these guidelines will result in a permanent ban.
By registering a Username, you will be able to edit your profile and preferences. You will get the most out of your time here if you change your profile to suit your individual tastes. There are a lot of options in your profile to make your experience here more enjoyable, so please take a few moments to try the various settings. Also only people with registered Usernames can take advantage of the "New Posts" feature upon each visit.
The real email address is used for email notifications and forum subscriptions and to email your password. The other is what other users see when they view your profile. We realize that some people don't want everyone to know their normal email address, but we need to know it in case you want to subscribe to a forum or if you want to have replies emailed to you. For this reason you can give us your real email address that only we will see and you can provide a different one for the general public. Some people like to put in something like scream\@no.spam.domain.com. This way people can still figure out what your real email address is, but spamming agents can't just parse through the page and spam you.
Yes. Cookies are used to track your Username/Password and which posts you have read for your current session. Without accepting cookies some functions won't work properly.
If you have registered an account (username) within these forums, you must login in order to take advantage of the personalization features. To login, look in the upper right-hand corner of your screen for the Login link. This link will take you to a page where you can enter your Username and Password. Keep in mind that the password is always case-sensitive. This means that S and s are considered different by the software.
Once you have entered your Username and Password, you'll be brought to what is called the Start Page. If you have any Private messages, you'll see a flashing envelope at the top left of the menu bar. You can now enter the main forum area by clicking the Main Index link at the top of the page. This will list all of the forums for you.
1) Make sure you are entering your password correctly. They are case-sensitive.
2) Ensure that your browser supports cookies; if so, check the security level you are using. High levels of security restriction in certain browsers will automatically reject cookies. In order to use the key features of these forums, you'll need to accept cookies.
3) Completely logout by hitting the Logout link on the page, and then log back in again.
4) After logging in, you may have to hit the reload/refresh button on your Web browser to expedite the authentication.
5) If you continue to have problems, go to the login page. Enter your Username in the Username field and click the "I forgot my password" button. A temporary password will be generated and emailed to the email address used for the account setup. You MUST enter a Username in the Username field before you use this feature.
It's a system-generated User Title - stranger, newbie, journeyman, member etc. You progress through the various levels according to the cumulative number of posts you have made.
Everyone has a title within the forum. You will notice them below the Username in each post. Some titles are automatically assigned based on the number of posts a user has made, and some titles are assigned by the forum owner to denote official representatives of the company or other VIPs in the forums.
Here is the list of the standard titles and # of posts to achieve them:
0 lurker
2 newbie
5 junior member
25 senior member
200 enthusiast
400 addict
700 old hand
1200 veteran
1600 Pooh-Bah
2500 Carpal Tunnel
5000 I need to get a life
If you have forgotten your password, don't worry! You can very easily have a temporary password emailed to you. All you need to do is go to the login page of the forums and enter your Username in the Username field. Then click the button marked I forgot my password, and a temporary password will be emailed to the email address of the username you registered.
This process is safe because the password is only emailed to the original owner of the account. There is no way to steal the password by using this feature.
You may change your password any time. All you need to do is click the My Home option found on any page. Then, under the Main Configuration heading, click on "Personal Information, email, password...". To change your password, simply edit the password and verify password fields on this page. Once you have entered the new password, click submit to save the information. (Keep in mind that passwords are case-sensitive.)
In order to add an image in line with your message, you must have the image already available on a web server. This can be an image on your own personal web page, for example. To place an image within a message, simply use the following Markup Tag:
For example, if you have an image called cateye.gif and its available from your own website at http://www.mywebsite.com/pics, then you would use the following image markup:
Setting
your avatar is one of those things that's easy to do, but hard to describe. Here
goes:
1) First you must create your avatar by using a program to resize your picture
to be the correct size. The image size must be 65x75 pixels (width x height). If
you own your own web-server, you could post your image there, and proceed to
step 4.
2) Next you must upload your avatar to the server. To do this, go to the
"Photos" section of the website, and click on the "Avatars" area. Use the
"Upload Photos" link in the upper right hand corner. Use the "Browse..." button
to select your photo, then hit the "Upload/Submit" button at the bottom of the
page to upload it to the server. At this point you should see your photo in the
Avatars area.
3) Next you need to copy URL of the image, and load that into your personal
profile. Right-click on your image in the Avatar's page. Select "properties".
You should see a field entitled "Location:". Use you mouse to select the entire
URL starting with "http", and ending with ".jpg" and press control_C to copy it
into the Windows paste buffer.
4) Now you need to paste that URL into your personal profile. Go to "My Home" on
the site. Near the bottom of the page, look for "Main Configuration". Click on
the "Edit" button next to "Personal information". At the bottom of the page,
look for the field entitled "Your picture". Click within that field, and press
Control_V. If everything worked ok, the image URL should have been copied into
that field. Note that it must start with "http", and end with "jpg". Press
submit. Your picture will now show up on any new posts that you make.
If you have a browser that is Mozilla 4+ compatible then the answer is yes you can. When you preview your post you will have the opportunity to attach a file to your post.
If you haven't already, please take a moment to add
a little information about yourself in your profile. It's really nice for people
to know who they are talking to and where you're from. Also, if you really want
your posts to be given the fullest attention and more detailed responses, you'll
find that an author posting with a complete profile will receive more personal
responses than those with no profile information. The profile information is
completely optional, but it makes it so much easier to talk to each another.
Please provide your name, your location, and an email address.
Click the My Home link on the Menubar. At the bottom of the next screen you will see options for editing your profile.
Yes, you'll be missing a trick if you fail to take advantage of the versatility UBBThreads Forums offer. There are many aspects of how the Forums are displayed that may be customized. The procedure is similar to that for editing your profile, but in this case, after clicking the My Home link on the Menubar, you need to select the 'Display preferences, .....' option in the Main Configuration area.
You can choose what language you want the Forums to use, the stylesheet that you want to govern the Forums' look and feel, how many posts there are per page, whether or not you want to view Users' pictures alongside their posts, and much more. Once saved, these become your default settings. You may edit these preferences again at anytime.
The first post of a given thread establishes the subject by which all subsequent replies will be known. Once there's been a reply, the thread subject cannot be subsequently changed. It's therefore important to get the subject right from the outset. Make it as descriptive and as specific as possible. For example, 'LCD burn-in questions', is much better than something completely generic, such as 'Newbie needs help!'. Not only is it more likely to elicit a response, but it'll also make it much easier for all posts in the thread to be subsequently located.
One of the key benefits of the discussion board format is that it enables commonly asked questions to be answered once, for the benefit of all. Before posting your question, it is always worth checking to see if it has already been asked - and answered!
First, keep reading this FAQ. If you can't find it here, you then need to
use the fantastic Search link on the Menubar.
Various options are available, both for how the search term is specified and for controlling how much of the Forums database you want to search. This is where the specificity of thread subjects is important, making it much easier to locate precisely what it is you're after from a list of search
results. For most questions, be sure to select 'All Forums' and 'All
Posts' so that you search the entire data base.
If the tags are showing up in your text or you're getting a link, but it's to 'http:///', you're including some unwanted spaces in the syntax. Avoid any intervening spaces, and everything will work fine.
By hitting carriage return twice at the points where you want to insert a blank line. If you opt to preview your posts, you get the opportunity to do a further iteration of editing before you finally accept the post.
No. If you want to be sure that you're word perfect, you'll have to spell check your post in some text editor and then cut & paste it into the Forums edit box.
Users can edit their own posts up to 6 hours after they are made. Where the change is substantive, you should mark the post as edited so as to alert viewers to the changed content. For cosmetic changes it's better not to do so.
There are 2 ways that this can be configured on a per board basis. If HTML is On then you will see HTML is On and you can use normal HTML in your posts. If UBBCode is on you will see UBBCode is On. The following tags are available for your use if UBBCode is enabled:
[b]
text
[/b]
= Makes the given text bold.
[email]
[email protected]
[/email]
= Makes the given email address clickable.
[i]
text
[/i]
= Makes the given text italic.
[image]url[/image] = Puts the given url in an img src tag.
[code]
text
[/code]
= Surrounds the given text with pre tags.
[quote]
text
[/quote]
= Surrounds the given text with blockquote and hr's. This UBBCode tag is used for quoting a reply.
[url]
link
[/url] = Makes the given url into a link.
[url=link]
title
[/url] = Makes the given title into a hyperlink pointing to link.
[list]
[*]Item 1
[*]Item 1
[/list] = Makes a bullet list. [list=A] or [list=1] will make order/numbered lists.
[blush] or :o
=
[cool]
=
[crazy]
=
[frown] or :(
=
[laugh] or :D
=
[mad]
=
[shocked]
=
[smile] or :)
=
[tongue] or :p
=
[wink] or ;)
=
[red]
text
[/red]
= Makes the given text red.
[green]
text
[/green]
= Makes the given text green.
[blue]
text
[/blue]
= Makes the given text blue.
[orange]
text
[/orange]
= Makes the given text orange.
[black]
text
[/black]
= Makes the given text black.
[white]
text
[/white]
= Makes the given text white.
[yellow]
text
[/yellow]
= Makes the given text yellow.
[purple]
text
[/purple]
= Makes the given text purple.
Generally speaking the email addresses for the forums follow the following format:
[email protected]. Currently we have the following forums installed and active:
Putting a pull in your post is simple, but remember: Posts with polls in them cannot be edited but they may be deleted.
To add a poll to your post, use this format:
[pollstart]
[polltitle=Name of your poll]
[polloption=First Choice]
[polloption=Second Choice]
[polloption=As many choices as you would like]
[pollstop]
You can change the number of posts to be displayed per page by editing your profile. You can set this from anything between 1 and 99 posts per page. When you first sign up this gets set to 12 posts per page.
One relatively underutilized feature of
K1200LT.net is the ability for you to have email delivery of K1200LT.net posts
similar to the way Yahoo does it.
That's how I get most of the posts from the .net site. It allows me to enjoy
the posts throughout the day, and catch up on the site in the evening. It's a
poorly marketed feature of the .net site, but is available if you would like
to use it. There are also a couple glitches that need to be worked out, but
once you know they exist, the email option is very useful to me. The glitches
include the appearance of the "!" character in the middle of some
posts, and certain email clients insert a "=20" sequence at the end
of each line, and there are a couple other email clients that will break
threads.
Be forewarned, if you subscribe to all the forums, expect 150-200 messages per
day. Once you subscribe to a forum, you can also post message via email using
the format of Forum.<forum name>@k1200lt.net.
To activate this feature, go to the "My Home" page. Near the the
bottom of the page where it says "Subscribe / Unsubscribe from receiving
forum posts by email", you can click on "edit" and you can
subscribe/unsubscribe or select to get the digest form if you'd like. You can
subscribe or unsubscribe by selecting "S" or "U".
Selecting "S" and "D" at the same time will subscribe you
to the Digest form.
Or just click HERE
if you are logged into the .net site.
The buttons are used for navigation and displaying posts. Depending on the screen you are on they may serve different purposes.
When displaying a list of all threads:
- The
and
buttons will take you to the previous or next page of posts.
- The
button will take you to the index of all available forums.
- The
button will let you make a new post on that board.
- The
and
buttons will allow you to toggle between expanded and
collapsed threads. Expanded threads will show the subject of all posts and replies in a threaded format. Collapsed threads will show the subject of the main post along with the number of replies to that post.
When viewing individual threads:
- The
and
buttons will take you to the previous or next thread.
- The
button will take you back to the listing of all posts on that page.
- The
button allows you to view the entire thread on one page if there are any replies to the original message.
- The
button allows you to view the current post with all other posts on that thread displayed below in a threaded format.
- The
button allows you to reply to a post.
- The
button allows you to edit a post.
You can click on any of these to change the order in which the posts are sorted and displayed. If you click on Subject once, it will display posts by Subject in reverse alphabetical order. If you click on it again it will display posts by Subject in alphabetical order. Poster and Posted on works similarly.
We have local regional boards where area rides and events are scheduled. You
might want to check it out in case you are looking to meet up with other
members. Also, if you happen to be traveling to another area, you can always
pop in and get the latest info on what's going on in the other regions.
You can access the Local Boards from the Main Index
Local news, rides, talk for riders in
the Midwestern Region, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas, and any other state that wantsto send riders our way!
Local news, rides, talk for riders in
the Northeast Region, including New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania, Vermont& Maine.
Local news, rides and talk for riders
in the Southeast Region, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
and
buttons will take you to the previous or next page of posts.
button will take you to the index of all available forums.
and
buttons will allow you to toggle between expanded and
collapsed threads. Expanded threads will show the subject of all posts and replies in a threaded format. Collapsed threads will show the subject of the main post along with the number of replies to that post.
button allows you to view the entire thread on one page if there are any replies to the original message.
button allows you to reply to a post.
button allows you to edit a post.
