F.A.Q. : General Information for Members

[Sylvia]

F.A.Q. : General Information for Members

Here you will find some of the questions most commonly asked by new PlaymoFriends. If you have a question that is not covered here, please feel free to contact a moderator. Clicking on the text in blue will take you directly to the information provided on each subject.


Why do I have to pay a membership fee? I've seen similar fan sites that are free.

What if I want to donate more to PlaymoFriends?

When I registered I was asked if I was willing to be a moderator. What's that all about?

Can kids join the forum and do they have to pay?

What if I have a complaint about a post or another member's behaviour?

Why does it says "Playmo Pal" on my Profile but "Playmo Fanatic" on others? Can I change it?

Why do some members have special titles and names which appear in different colours on the index page?

I don't like the username I chose when I registered. Can I change it?

What is the difference between a board, a child board, and a topic?

Can I edit my posts if I make a mistake or change my mind about what I posted?

What is an avatar? How do I get one for myself?

What is a signature and how can I add one to all of my posts?

Is there a limit to how many photos I can post on the forum?

What are Personal Messages? How do I send and receive them?

Are members allowed to post topics which offer Playmobil for sale?

I sell Playmobil on eBay. Can I post links to my eBay auctions on PlaymoFriends?

Why is the location field in my Profile mandatory?

Help! I've never used an internet forum before. How do all these buttons work??!

[Sylvia]

We (the Admin and Founders) feel that to have an egalitarian board, everyone must contribute a little. Also, the simple fact is that running this site costs a good deal of money and none of us are in a position to fund it all on our own. So, we decided that a small membership fee of 6.00 Euros would be an inexpensive way to keep PlaymoFriends financially healthy without posing a financial hardship on anyone. The money received from members will be used primarily to fund maintenance of the site and our server space for hosting photos. Any money left over will be used to support special PlaymoFriends events, prizes for competitions and other fun stuff.

We prefer our members to pay their fee via PayPal, but if they are unable to do this we are happy to provide alternate methods wherever possible depending on the member's location and local currency.

The reason we ask for payment prior to posting is to help cut down on the number of people who might want to join only to cause trouble (i.e. trolls, flamers etc) and also Playmobil retail sellers who might want to take advantage of the captive audience of fans by joining solely to promote their businesses.

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Monetary donations to the PlaymoFriends forum will not be solicited or accepted. Our primary objective for having a set fee - aside from helping to raise funds - is to maintain a sense of all members being on an equal footing with one another. When everyone pays the same amount, no-one feels that they are relying on others to pay their way and keep the forum running. If a select group of members were to contribute additional funds, it is only natural that they would feel they had invested more in the site than a person who has only paid the standard membership fee, and this could lead to problems in the long term.

But there are other ways that you can help PlaymoFriends! You can volunteer your time and patience by becoming a Moderator, or you can get involved by offering to organise a site feature or event. All of these things will benefit the entire forum community in a very positive and happy way.

[Sylvia]

As a member of this forum, you too have an investment and a say in the welfare of the site. To show our trust and appreciation of our members, we offer each and every person over the age of 18 the opportunity to serve as a Moderator (for 3 months, minimum) during their time at PlaymoFriends.

If you are willing to take part in this community program, we hope you indicated such on your registration. If not, and you wish to volunteer, please contact the site Administrator or one of the current Moderators, and they will let you know more about what is involved.

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Only those children who have a parent or guardian already at PlaymoFriends can join the forum. They will not be charged a membership fee. Other children under 13 years of age will not be allowed to join. Once they reach 13, any person is welcome to join PlaymoFriends, providing they can fulfill all the registration requirements.

We want to encourage our children to participate in the forum and experience the fun that we, as adults, have with this amazing toy, but we do not want our members to be forced into 'babysitting' other folk's offspring.

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If you have a complaint, whether it is about PlaymoFriends or a member, please do not hesitate to contact a Moderator or the Administrator. These people are here to help and will do what they can to address your concern.

If you have a disagreement with another member, please try to work things out via personal message rather than on the public forums. If that doesn’t work or does not feel comfortable to you, contact a moderator.

If you have an issue with one of the Moderators or the Administrator, please use our personal messaging system or e-mail to contact them privately - or contact another Moderator if you do not feel comfortable dealing directly. Personal disagreements between users may not be posted publicly (nor through avatar or signature use) and will be deleted without notice. Do not start a topic or make public posts in any area of the forum for the purpose of expressing displeasure with the actions of a Moderator or the Administrator.


How to Contact a Moderator:

Each post has a link on the lower right that says "Report to moderator". When you click this link, you will get a box that provides room for your comment and a "Submit" button. Type in your concern (about that post or about the member who wrote the post) and click "Submit". Your message will be forwarded immediately to the Moderators of that board, and they will get back to you as promptly as possible.  Do not respond publicly to the member you believe is violating forum guidelines - one of the staff will do what is required upon contact.

Alternatively, each Moderator and the site Administrator are identified as such on their Profiles and in the [Members List] under the "Position" column. (This is also linked at the bottom of the forum's index page.)  Please feel free to contact any of these people via PM when needed.

[Sylvia]

These titles are given to you, along with "klicky heads" as your post count increases.* From the time you join until your 30th PlaymoFriends post, you are a "Playmo Pal". As your post count grows, your title will change and you will begin to accumulate more klickies as a result of reaching each level.
 

0-29	Playmo Pal
30-99	Playmo Enthusiast
100-249	Playmo Fanatic
250-499	Playmo Lover
500-999	Playmo Addict
1000-9999	Playmo Master
10000+	Playmo Guru

The highest level that can be reached is "Playmo Guru" at 10,000 posts and 6 klicky heads.  At this point, you will turn a heavenly shade of purple (in the Users Online list)!   As "Gurus", you may also find you need financial help, but you will be smiling all the time because you have gone beyond mere addiction and have entered a totally enlightened state of lifetime devotion to klickies! Congratulations!

Please note that the post-count based titles are more for fun than anything else, as we do not place more value on the contributions of a higher poster than those of a relative newcomer to our forum.

As a regular member, you do not have the option of changing your post-related title, but anyone has the ability to add a Custom Title which will appear directly under their name and/or a short piece of Personal Text which will appear below the avatar picture on their Profile. (Look for these fields on your "Forum Profile Information" page).


*Posts made in the PFZ (Playmo-Free Zone) do not count towards your total number of posts.

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When looking at other member's Profiles, you may notice that some people have different titles beneath their usernames and different coloured status icons. These users (along with the "Playmo Groupies") also have their names displayed in a colour other than black when listed on the forum index page. This is designed to act as an easy recognition tool amongst people when visiting and using the forum. 

The titles given to the following membergroups are related to the duties they perform at PlaymoFriends:

Administrator 
The person responsible for the general maintenance of the forum and also for making modifications to the software that runs it. She created PlaymoFriends and has the ability to edit, delete, move or otherwise modify any topic on the forum.

Moderator 
Someone entrusted by the forum's administrator to help regulate postings. They do their best to ensure discussions stay productive and within the guidelines. Our moderators are people who are here to help you feel welcome, to answer your questions and concerns, and to ensure that the site runs smoothly so that all members might enjoy the time they spend here. They have the power to open/close threads, move them to other forums, delete threads, edit posts, but only in those forums to which they have been assigned. The goal of PlaymoFriends Moderators is to serve as a valuable resource to members -- to teach and to learn from their friends here.

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You don't have the ability to change it yourself, but the Administrator will happily do this for you if you request it. It is not advisable to change your name frequently as this could lead to confusion amongst other PlaymoFriends members.

If you do decide to change your screen name after you have registered, you should note that your log-in name will remain the same as it was when you joined.

[Sylvia]

PlaymoFriends is a forum.

Within our forum are several categories such as General and Marketplace. These dictate the nature of the boards located inside them. Each board is also defined by a name such as "News" in order that people know where to look for or post information. Some boards also have child boards - this is not a board designed specifically for younger members; it is simply an off-shoot provided for additional topics which are somehow related to the main board they come under.

Within the boards, you will find index pages containing lists of topics. Clicking on the title of a topic brings you to the first post in that topic. If it has a "New" icon next to it, this indicates a new post has been added to the topic since you last visited. Clicking "New" will take you directly to that post.

Before creating a new topic, take the time to think about which board it would be best suited to as this is helpful to all members when looking for information. You might find that someone has already beaten you to it and created a similar topic. If that is the case, you can easily post a reply to their topic (rather than beginning a new one) as you may well have something further to add on that particular subject. Don't panic if you mistakenly post your topic in the wrong place - the Moderators, Co-Founders and Administrator will be doing regular checks of the boards and will move your topic if they feel it is beneficial to keeping the forum tidy.