What To Expect Once Your A Member Of The MASSIVEATTACK.IE Forum

[Richard]

In an effort to help anyone considering clicking on the register button, I've compiled a list of all the different features on offer to registered members of MASSIVEATTACK.IE! Some of these features are inherent within the VBulletin software (which is what this forum is based upon) while many of them are mods I have installed to give what I think will be the ultimate message board experience. Having the forums run on VBulletin is a great start already as it is in my opinion, the very best software to run any forum on!

1. Torrent Tracker: Download all the live recordings/bootlegs currently on offer on the Bootography section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE using the inbuilt torrent tracker here on the forum. You can also upload new recording and shows so everyone can see/hear them here first! Also, recordings from other artists besides Massive Attack are also welcome here, just make sure they comply with the Forum Rules regarding uploading.



2. Arcade: When not posting or downloading/uploading, why not relax and play a few games in the arcade with your fellow forum members! At the moment you have the choice of playing up to 8 Flash based games ranging from classics such as Tetris to Space Invaders, with more games hopefully coming soon. Apart from this championships and competitions can be organized between yourself to see who can get the highest score in a particular game. A little bit of fun rivalry never hurt any community!



3. Post YouTube Embedded Video Links Directly Onto The Page: Thanks to this mod, you can add a little extra to your posts. YouTube videos can be embedded directly into your posts on the forum. The great thing about this mod, is not only YouTube videos, but so are videos and streaming audio links from nearly any such sites like YouTube on the net like MegaVideo, Veoh, Dailymotion etc... The BBCode required to embedded the videos is [MEDI A]URL of Video[/MEDI A]. Drop the space between the I and A.

4. Shoutbox: As a registered member you will automatically see the chatroom, 'shoutbox-style' at the top of the index home page of the forum. Using this feature you can can have real-time chats with other members and even use smilies in your conversations, while still keeping tabs on the rest of the forum. For longer conversations though, it is recommended you use the dedicated chatroom.



5. Chatroom: Apart from the shoutbox, the forum also has a more advanced chatrrom feature, powered by Flashchat, which is a powerful and verstaile real time chat appilcation which is intergrated seemlessly onto the forum. To access it just click on "Flashchat"along the top menu of the forum.



6. Member Map: Check out where all the other members of the forum and fans of Massive Attack are scattered around the world on the Member Map. You can pin your location to the map, which is powered by Google Maps and write a brief description about where you live. you can access the Member Map via the top menu of the forum by clicking "Googlemap ME" or in the Gallery Tab of the main menu of the MASSIVEATTACK.IE site.



7. Social Bookmarking: You can submit your favourite threads/posts on the forum to the social bookmarking network of your choice such as Digg or StumbleUpon, so that more people can read your post and bring new members to MASSIVEATTACK.IE. to do so just click on the 'Submit Tools' tab at the top of each thread.



8. Thank Other Members:Let everyone know you value their opinion or contributions on the forum and should stick around and feel appreciated by giving them a public 'Thank You' vote of confidence in them. The number of 'Thank You's' a member receives will be displayed on their profile for all to see. You can leave a Thank You for some one by clicking on the little 'Thumbs Up' button at the bottom of their post.

9. Radio & TV Player: The forum has a built in plugin to allow you to listen to internet radio and TV stations while being on the forum. The player will launch in a pop-up window when you click on "Radio And TV" along the top menu of the forum. At present the player has over 200 UK radio station presets in its memory. You can also suggest new stations that could be added in this thread.



10. Reputation System: Related to the Thank You hack, there is also a reputation system on the forum that will gauge members posts and contribution to the forum since their sign up and computes a reputation value for that member. Again this forum is really all just for a bit of fun, so don't take anyone's reputation to seriously. I hope it will add another interesting layer tot he forum. The picture below reveals what each reputation is and what reputation points it would take to reach. Please be aware that reputation can be a negative value as well.



11. Defined UserGroups: Not so much a feature, but still good to have on any forum are user groups - which define the access privileges afforded to different types of members, from regular registered members to moderators to the administrator. The only real special usergroup worth mentioning here is the Donator/V.I.P which is only awarded to anyone who decides of their own mind to donate any amount of money to the upkeep and maintenance of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or just as a simple thank you. Please be aware that there are no special privileges for the Donator/V.I.P usergroup beside just the distinction of being in the usergroup itself. It is not my intention to force anyone into donating to me for any extra features or privileges. Everything on MASSIVEATTACK.IE is and will always be free and I value any contributing and friendly member the same rather a donator or not.

Thank you for reading all this, and I hope I have persuaded you to join up and become a member of the newest Massive Attack community on the internet. I hope your stay here will always be welcoming and a benefit both to yourself and to the site itself for taking your time to come here in the first place and partake of the forums Any forum is nothing without its members!