Four Light Network Frequently Asked Question Index

1. What is the Four Light Network?
2. How do I suggest changes or new features?
3. What can I do as a Four Light Network user?
4. How does the messaging system work?
5. What is my Personal Network?
6. What graphical emoticons are available?
7. How do I use formatting tags?
8. Which formatting tags can I use in site chat rooms?
9. What other formatting tags are available?
10. How do the Leaderboards Work?
11. What Exactly Is My "Score"?
12. What is the network privacy policy?
13. What do the moderators/administrators do?
14. I'm having a problem with the chat and/or page formatting...
15. Can I get my own private forum or Four Light Network site?

Four Light Network Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Four Light Network?

The Four Light Network is a series of social web sites powered by the Four Light Engine, developed by Superior Software Logic. This engine is designed to be flexible and modular, capable of handling many different types of sites and being upgraded or expanded quickly and easily. The Four Light Network believes in not only the concept of user-generated content, but also user-directed development. We greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have, and we take all suggestions into consideration as we continually improve the site.

2. How do I suggest changes or new features?

There are many ways to get in contact with us, but the best way to make suggestions for sites on the network is to post them in the Suggestion Box forum on the main Four Light Network page. You can also contact the web admins directly - we go by Talraen (that's me!) and geedavey. Feel free to send us a message any time with your thoughts or suggestions.

3. What can I do as a Four Light Network user?

If you sign up for any site in the Four Light Network, your login is the same across the entire network. While most of the user customization options (which can be found in your Settings page when you are logged in) are specific to the site you are on, there are a few features and options that work across the network. In addition to various network-wide privacy options, the Four Light Network has a messaging system that works between its member sites.

4. How does the messaging system work?

You can send a private message to any Four Light Network user by viewing their profile (accessible by clicking their username), or clicking the message icon next to their name in the active user list. You can also send someone a message via e-mail using the @fourlight.net address that can be found in their profile when you are not logged in. Messages will appear on the recipient's screen, and you can even change your settings so that unread messages are automatically e-mailed to the account you signed up for the site with.

5. What is my Personal Network?

As you interact with users - send them messages, reply to their forum posts, post on their blogs, and so on - you expand your "Personal Network," which can be found in the Message Center. This list of users offers an easy way to send your friends messages and see who's online, and is used as a shortcut on various site forms. You can still send messages and interact with other users, of course.

6. What graphical emoticons are available?

Pretty much anywhere you can enter text, you can user a number of emoticons by entering common combinations of symbols. These are automatically converted to graphical emoticons. There are currently five supported emoticons, which are listed with their most common text equivalent:

= :) (Smile)
= :( (Frown)
= :D (Laugh)
= ;) (Wink)
= :p (Sticking out tongue)

7. How do I use formatting tags?

There are several types of formatting tags available for use on the Four Light Network sites. Normal HTML is not available for use. Instead, various tags inside [brackets] are used. All formatting tags have both a start and an end tag, with content in the middle: for instance, [link]www.fourlight.net[/link] (which is shown as www.fourlight.net). Some tags, like the link tag, have optional parameters that are specified within the starting tag in the format name="value". The equals sign and double quotes are required. For example, you can create a link with a name that differs from the url by entering [link url="www.fourlight.net"]The Four Light Network[/link], which displays as The Four Light Network. For those familiar with HTML, this is exactly equivalent to <a href="http://www.fourlight.net/">The Four Light Network</a>.

You do not always have to type the tags in yourself. The tag buttons provided when writing content will insert a blank tag at the current cursor position, or wrap highlighted text in a tag. There are even keyboard shortcuts for most tags that will work whether there are buttons or not. The shorcut for the [link] tag is Ctrl-L. You can also get a [link] tag with a pre-written url= parameter with Ctrl-U. (Note that some keyboard shortcuts are not supported by all browsers, particularly Safari.)

8. Which formatting tags can I use in site chat rooms?

In addition to the [link] tag, a number of tags are available in Four Light Network chat rooms. There are standard [b]bold[/b] (bold, Ctrl-B) and [i]italics[/i] (italics, Ctrl-I) tags, as well as an [edit]edit tag[/edit] for edited text (Ctrl-E). You can hide spoilers behind [blackout]blackout tags[/blackout] (Ctrl-K*), which appears as a solid bar that can be read only if the user highlights the text in their browser.

Note that you can also use these tags in the content and subject lines of all types of content, as well as in header quotes. The [link] tag is not available in subject lines, however.

*In subject lines, the [spoiler] tag shortcut (Ctrl-S) will instead create a [blackout] tag.

9. What other formatting tags are available?

Several tags are only available for large, multi-line content such as the body of a review or forum post. Here is a list of available tags and some examples of their use.

The [image] (Ctrl-P) tag can be used to show any online image. You simply include the image URL between the tags, such as [image]http://www.fourlight.net/images/dragon.gif[/image], which would be displayed as:
The [code] tag is indended for showing source code or other text that requires a mono-spaced font for proper formatting. It is equivalent to the HTML <pre> tag.

function code_example () {
  echo "This is an example of the [code] tag";
}

You can specify a block-level quote with the [quote] (Ctrl-Q) tag, which will envelop its contents inside a formatted box to make it clear that the content is quoted text. You can optionally specify the quote's author with the "name" parameter, but the tag works equally well without it (and will replace the name with "Someone").

The third and final block-level formatting tag is the [spoiler] (Ctrl-S) tag, which differs from the [blackout] tag in that it requires a user to click the spoiler to reveal the contents. It is also useful for condensing large amounts of text that some users may not be interested in. The [spoiler] tag allows an optional "title" parameter that will replace the default unrevealed text. Examples of both styles of spoiler tag follow:

Finally, there is a convenient [youtube] (Ctrl-Y) tag designed for simple embedding of youtube videos. You simply provide the youtube code (the "v=" parameter) between the tags, like so: [youtube]eBGIQ7ZuuiU[/youtube].

Note that these tags will not necessarily work the same way in the site RSS feeds, due to the limitations of RSS readers. Youtube videos will not be embedded in RSS feeds, nor will they be shown in the "splash page" (a link to the video will be provided instead).

10. How do the Leaderboards Work?

The statistics on the leaderboards are not up-to-the-minute totals, but rather are updated nightly. All scores include the current calendar month (from the 1st to the current date) unless otherwise indicated. You will always be able to see your own position on the leaderboards, as well as the top 5 and any users ranked near you. By default, the current "score" (see the next question) is shown, except during the first week of the month, when the final score from the previous month is shown.

11. What Exactly Is My "Score"?

Your site score is a combination of a number of factors, including the content and comments you've posted, responses and ratings you've received, and other data. Your score can never decrease, but it is important to note that it is not cumulative. That is, if your all-time score is 1000 and you earn 200 points in the current month, your score will not be 1200 after that month (though it will be higher than 1000). The monthly score is a scoring "rate" based on similar factors to the overall score, but designed so that no user can take an insurmountable lead. The winners each month will be recognized, so it pays keep your score up. The best way to do this is to post content that will be read, responded to, and highly rated.

12. What is the network privacy policy?

Anything marked as private, whether they be forums, blogs, or some future content, will never be visible to non-logged in users (or search engines). Exactly which users have view rights to private content may change over time, but we take promises of privacy very seriously. We won't share your private messages, publicize private forums, or publish chat logs that have expired.

13. What do the moderators/administrators do?

Moderators are assigned on a per-forum basis, and have the ability to delete posts, lock threads, and make threads sticky. In private forums, they also have the ability to send out a broadcast e-mail to all forum users (except for those who have suppressed e-mail notifications). Site administrators, on the other hand, have complete control over user rights. In addition to assigning moderators and granting users access to private forums, administrators can give or take away your posting rights or your chat rights. Their job is to keep the site running smoothly, dealing with problems and problem users as necessary.

14. I'm having a problem with the chat and/or page formatting...

Many of the special features of the Four Light Engine are powered by JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets, and these source files are not always refreshed by all browsers. If you're having problems, try a hard refresh (Ctrl-F5) and see if that fixes it. Also note that when an update requiring a hard refresh is made, an alert will appear on the page.

15. Can I get my own private forum or Four Light Network site?

Private forums are created by site administrators, so you should ask them to handle that request. Creating a new site with the Four Light Engine is a bit more involved, but we are happy to oblige. Contact Superior Software Logic for more information.