Frequently Asked Questions

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Damien

Self-Aware RedCafe Database (and Admin)
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Mar 4, 2010
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Also won Best Gif/Photoshop 2021
Q: When was RedCafe created?
A: April 1997 was when the site was first launched by Niall. Two years later (June 1999) was when the forum was created.
The first moderator on RedCafe was CheckOne.
This is what the site looked like before the forum was created and this is the first forum platform RedCafe used (UBB), before switching to vBulletin and then the current XenForo platform.

Q: I want to have my username changed. Can I?
A: We do not change usernames just because you don't like the one that you chose. One of the few genuine reasons for a change of username that we accept is where your username might allow you to be identified in real life and you require a change for privacy reasons. If you require a change of username and have a genuine reason (whether you’re a mains member or newbie), send a PM to a RedCafe admin (Damien, Dwazza, golden_blunder, moses, Raoul, Sultan or Wibble) stating that reason and what you’d like your username to be changed to.

Q: How do I stop receiving email alerts? I love RedCafe but the emails just clog my inbox.
A: First, edit your contact details and untick the box that says “Receive email when a new conversation message is received”. Then in your account preferences if you have “Automatically watch threads that you create or when you reply…” ticked, untick “and receive email notifications of replies”.

Q: I really don’t like “insert username here”, how can I stop seeing their posts?
A: Use our Ignore feature to ignore them, however if they do create a thread of importance that you may be interested in, you won’t be able to see it unless someone else replies to it and it appears on the homepage briefly.

Q: Why was “insert username here” banned?
A: We usually don’t go into specifics on why a certain poster was banned.

Q: I was messing around with the “Supports” section and found I can’t change it once its set. How do I do this?
A: PM a RedCafe admin (Damien, Dwazza, golden_blunder, moses, Raoul, Sultan or Wibble) and one of us will reset it. In future take it seriously. It isn’t there for fun/to be abused. If you seriously support a football team other than United, enter it there, otherwise just leave it alone.

Q: I've just started a conversation but can only invite 5 people, can I get the limit upped/removed please?
A: No. If you want your conversation to have more than five people in, first add a member of staff to it (I, Damien, am fine with being added to whatever conversation), then click on “Edit conversation” and tick “Allow anyone in the conversation to invite others”. Save Changes then let the member of staff know who else you want to be added to your conversation.

Q: Why can’t I create a poll for my thread?
A: When creating polls was open to everyone, the feature was abused. So many polls created that really shouldn’t be. If you think your thread genuinely merits having a poll, send a PM to a member of staff and if they agree, they will create one for you.

Alternatively, if you take part in something on the RedCafe that requires many polls - such as creating Draft threads - then PM a RedCafe admin (Damien, Dwazza, golden_blunder, moses, Raoul, Sultan or Wibble) and one of us will be happy to give you the ability to create polls as long as you don’t abuse it for other means.

Q: Other sites have a “like” feature, why doesn’t RedCafe?
A: We do but we use it exclusively for staff to use in the newbie system. This functionality won’t be extended to all members.

Q: Other sites have avatars. Why doesn’t RedCafe?
A: We feel they’re ugly and distract from the most important aspect of the forum - the content of posts. They won’t be allowed on here.

Q: Other sites have signatures. Why doesn’t RedCafe?
A: Read previous answer.

Q: What is the point of the “Follow” feature? I assumed that I would get an alert when the person posts something but thats not the case so what is the point?
A: Though you don’t get an alert, you can see the posts of everyone on your news feed page.

Q: I don’t like the mains. Is going back to the newbies possible?
A: No.

Q: I would like to be banned for a certain length of time, is this possible?
A: Yes. Send a PM to a member of staff detailing why you want to be banned and how long you want to be banned for and we will ban you. There is no limit on ban length. Last year someone requested to be banned for a year while another requested for their account to be permanently closed.

Q: I would like to become a mod. How do I do so?
A: Members of staff choose next mods, but you can volunteer to become a Scout if you wish and if there’s an opening you could become one. If active as a Scout, your chances of becoming a mod increase.

Q: What is the difference between an Admin and a Mod?
A: Mods monitor forums, closing duplicate threads, moving threads to more appropriate forums, deleting bad posts, warning members etc. Basically keeping you guys in line!

Admins can configure the forum at a high level, add mods and manage users on a mass scale. They're also mods of all forums.

Q: I run a Xenforo website and like the Matchday and Twitter feed features. What add-on do you use?
A: These are add-ons created by the website owner for the sole use of RedCafe. There is another add-on created by the owner which is available to be used by anyone - Threadmarks.

Q: I am receiving very inappropriate adverts (nudity, pop-up advertisement, dating and other non-work friendly things) when I visit the website and would like them to go away. What should I do?
A: Send a private message to Niall with a screenshot of the advert (if possible), a link to the page on which you found it as well as a description of the advert in question.

Also, remember that a lot of adverts appear based on your own search history, so if you do find a mucky advert and deep down know why it’s appearing, clear your cookies, browser history and use Incognito mode on your browser in future if you don’t want it to appear when browsing RedCafe.

Q: I’ve got a business proposition. Who is the owner of this website?
A: Use this form to contact the owner directly and he will reply when he can.

Q: Why is Cina a mod?
A: We took care of that.

If you have any suggestions for additions to this FAQ, please create a new thread in this forum.
 
Two more:

Q: Can I change the title of my own thread, and if so, how?
At the top right is a drop down menu called 'Thread Tools'. Highlight that, click Edit Thread and rename the thread there.

Q: I am not able to view a thread when logged in but I can see it when logged out. Why?
Simple answer is, you've got the thread starter on ignore. See your ignore list here.
 
One more:

Q: I want to post an article from a newspaper's website. Can I copy and paste the text on RedCafe?

A: No. These days a lot of sites have soft or hard paywalls and Niall has frequently received e-mails from these sites threatening legal action because of posters pasting articles from them so please don't do so. It is fine to paste a link as well as maybe the first two sentences from the article but if you find anyone who has posted a full article, please report it so one of the staff can delete it.
 
One more:

Q: Is there a mobile app for RedCafe? Also, how come Tapatalk doesn't work?

A: No, there is not a mobile app designed specifically for RedCafe. Tapatalk doesn't work because we are not on it, and won't be due to the fact we want as many people as possible to access the Match Day features - something which Tapatalk users cannot do. RedCafe has been designed so that it works just fine on mobile browsers and thus eliminating the need for a specific app. If you have any issues browsing via mobile, please let us know via a new thread in this forum.
 
One more:

Q: Why can I still see a thread I've ignored on the home page?
A: The ignore thread add-on doesn't work on the portal as they're two different add-ons and neither are part of the core forum software. Both add-ons are designed to work with the core forum software rather than other add-ons, however, if you go into a forum you should not be able to see the thread you've ignored on the thread list.
 
Two more:

Q: I've clicked on a user's profile and it says access denied. How do I ignore them?
A: Add 'ignore' to the end of the URL and press enter. So for example if the URL ends like 'members/fake-member-name.9000009/', the new URL would end 'members/fake-member-name.9000009/ignore'. Go to the new URL and their posts will be gone. If you'd then like to unignore a poster you've inadvertently ignored by testing the feature out, go to this URL and click 'unignore' by their name.

Q: When posting, I'm unable to click the buttons in the editor. What do I do?
A: Click the cog that shows up in yellow at the very end of the icons and you'll be able to.
 
Q. How can I embed a YouTube short ?

A. We are looking at a permanent fix for this, but in the interim, the work around is to he paste the URL into your post and remove "shorts/" and replace it with "watch?v=", then it will work.

Example:

---https://youtube.com/watch?v=S5iqPF09xk0---

Thanks to poster Scandi Red for contributing this fix.
 
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