RCSCALEBUILDER.COM

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If you are not a member, click the REGISTER link below or click REGISTER on the site menu to take advantage of all the information on R/C Scale Building in our community.

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Membership

1. What are the differences between Basic Membership and a Site Supporter Membership?
Basic members have access the to most of the site and limited to five post and no image uploading to our server. Site supporters have FULL access to the entire site and have unlimited posting and image uploading priveliges. You can read more about the Site Supporter Subscription by clicking here or simply click on the Site Supporter menu item above.

2. Why am I not allowed to upload images with my basic account?
See question #1. Disk space and bandwidth cost money. Our Site Supporters and Advertisers help us cover the cost of running this site.

3. Ok, I get the cost thing but why can't advertisers pay the cost of running the site?
Contrary to what most people think, hosting a high traffic web site like RCSCALEBUILDER.COM is not cheap or free (as some folks believe). There are hosting costs, hardware and software costs, support costs, and of course my time. Because RCSCALEBUILDER.COM does not have 100,000 members like some other sites claim we cannot rely exclusively on advertisers to cover the cost of running this site. There are just not enough member to support that kind of revenue stream.

5. What methods of Payment do you accept for subscriptions?
We only accept electronic payments by credit card, debit card, e-check, or PayPal. We cannot accept checks or money orders.

4. When will I know my Site Supporter Subscription is going to expire?
We process subscriptions the first of every month and you will recieve a Private Message reminding you of the date your subscription expires in that month.

Registering / Login

1. Why do I have to register to view most of the site?
We started this site to offer a haven to scale modelers that are TRULY interested in advancing their skills and advancing the hobby. In order to cut down on �lurkers�, �spammers�, �trollers�, and to encourage folks to participate fostering a community environment, you must register on the site in order to access the resources. Your information is private and not shared with vendors unless you agree to let it be in specific circumstances. It is used exclusively to help us make the site better.

2. How do I register?
Simply click on the "Register" link on the menu and you will be taken through the process of joining. Be sure and enter a valid email address since an activation email will be sent to the address you register with. This is very important. If you do not enter a valid email address your account will not be activated and you cannot access the site.

3. I registered on the site but have not received an activation email. What do I do?
First, if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has spam protection, check the spam folder of your email account. Sometimes the activation email gets treated as spam email depending on the ISP. If it is not in your spam folder simply go to the CONTACT US link here on the site, provide us with your username and we�ll check your account and manually activate it as soon as possible if the information provided is valid.

4. I received my activation email and clicked on the link to activate my account and got an error saying to contact you. What happened?
This can be caused by several issues;

First, if the link in your email breaks to a second line the entire link (URL) is not being sent to the server to retrieve the activation page. The system gets confused and returns an error. Try copying the ENTIRE link URL using copy & paste into your browser and click the �Go� button and see what happens.
Another common issue is some folks �double-click� on the link instead of just single clicking. When you double-click you�re essentially going to the activation page twice and since it activated you the first time you get an error the second time you visit the page. IF you continue to get the activation error follow the instructions and email us with your username and we will look into it/

5. Ok, my membership is activated, but why can�t I login?
This could be a lot of different things but is ALWAYS is something about the way YOUR pc is configured, NOT THE SITE.
Some things you might want to check are:

Make sure you are typing you password in the same case as you entered it during registration. Passwords ARE case sensitive.
Make sure you have cookies enabled in your browser.
Try emptying the browser cache and deleting cookies (not while you�re on the site).
Make sure your personal firewall software is not blocking cookies (this is the #1 reason for these errors).

6. What is this "Cookie Error" I am getting when I try and login?
RCSCALEBUILDER.COM uses "cookies" (like most other sites on the web) to perform a variety of functions for our members. Cookies are pieces of information generated by the web server that are stored on your computer to help enhance your browsing experience. For example: Cookies can help you login automatically so you don't have to enter a username and password every time you return to the site. Cookies are kept on YOUR PC not the site.
This problem creeps up from time to time and it always ends up being one ot two issues:

Corrupted Cookie on your PC
New software/firewall or updates blocking cookies.

If you are recieving this error then you might try deleteing your cookies and browser cache (while on another site) and come back to RCSCALEBUILDER.COM and try logging in again. There are too many browsers out there to try and provide step by step instruction on how to do this here. If deleting cookies and clearing the browser cache does not work, then there is an issue of something blocking the cookie. This could be a new piece of software, a firewall update, etc.

7. I've lost my username and/or password! What can I do?
If you click on the "Login" menu item on the site menu (at the top and left side of the browser window) there is a link to have the system email your username or assign you a new temporary password to login with. Be sure after you login to visit your profile (under "My Portal" on the site menu) and change your password to something you can remember.

Rules and Etiquette

1. Why are your rules so strict?
As you well know, the World Wide Web is a lot like the Wild West. There are many individuals with many different motivations surfing the web, but we only want individuals who are TRULY interested in R/C Scale on this site. We try and offer a safe and non-confrontational environment to share techniques and thoughts for both modelers and vendors. While it is by no means a utopian site, we try to keep it on-track as much as possible. The rules may seem strict but they are there for your and everyone else�s benefit.

2. Why do you not allow negative posts about vendors?
As stated in the last question, we are trying to provide a �community� atmosphere to share ideas and methods, not a place to promote or bash vendors. If you want to do that there are other sites that allow you to. While I agree that other modelers need to know about a vendor who gives bad service the number of illegitimate posts would FAR out weigh the legitimate ones. Unfortunately there is no way to police this so to cut out the �bashing� we do not allow legitimate complaints either. You can thank your fellow modelers who do this for this rule.

3. What is �trolling� and why don�t you allow it?
There are some folks on the internet (just like in real life) that like to stir up trouble and controversy. These people are called �trollers� (as in trolling or fishing) and they create posts that will generate arguments, bad mouthing, strong opinions, etc. As stated in the Site Rules, this behavior is NOT allowed on this site.

Posting

1. How do I post a new topic?
First make sure you are in the appropriate forum. For example, you should not post a question about a Top Flite kit in the Dave Platt forum. After navigating to the appropriate forum, simply click on the �New Topic� button in the upper right corner to post a new topic.

2. How do I upload a picture into my post?
Once you have started typing your post and you want to add an image to your post there are a couple of things you need to know. First, we only accept .jpg and .gif format images. Secondly, all images must be under 100K in size. You can use an image editing program such as PhotoRazor (a free download for PC's) to resize and adjust the resolution of the image. How to do this is outside the scope of this FAQ and you should consult someone with the appropriate knowledge if you are not familiar with editing images. Also, please make sure the image width is no greater than 800 pixels so not to throw the page layout out of alignment.

Next press the [Enter] key at least twice after your text or between images (or the text will wrap around the image) and click on the image upload button. Then you will be prompted to select a local file to upload by clicking on the �Browse� button in the file upload window. After selecting the file to upload click the �Ok� button to start the upload. Once it is complete you should see the image in the edit window.

3. I added an image to my post but when I submitted the post all that showed up was a red �x� where the image is supposed to be. What happened?
This is caused by one of two possible problems. First, make sure you used the Image Upload button and not the Link Image button. If you accidentally used the link image button it is trying to link to a image on your hard disk and no one can see it. A more common problem is the image filename has one or more �special� characters in it like & or ? or + or =. These characters are used by the protocol the web uses and it confuses the web browser when they are in the filename. Make sure your image filenames are made up of nothing but alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 0-9).

4. How do I add images to my thread from PhotoBucket?
When you are ready to add an image, postion the cursor where you want it. Copy the "Direct Link" of the photo from PhotoBucket and then click the "Add Image" icon on the editor toolbar and paste the link [CTRL+V] into the URL textbox. Be sure to clear the existing http out if it first. No other attributes should be set. Then click ok. And press [Enter] twice to move you down under the image.

5. How do I use the spell check while composing my post?
First, you must be running Internet Explorer on a PC to use the spell checking add-on. The first time you click on the spell check toolbar button in the editor while posting you will be prompted to go and download the spell check add-on (it�s free). Go ahead and download the add-on and then once you go back to the site the next time you click on the spell checker while editing your post you will get the spell check.

6. I noticed someone had quoted a previous post in their post. How do I do this?
You will notice in the upper right corner of every post there is a �Quote� button. When you press this it will send you to the �New Post� page with the context of the post you were in inserted in to the page. This feature is intended to answer specific questions in a post or if you wish to comment or answer a post that was a few posts back from the end of the thread.

7. I created a post in a thread, but I discovered that I need to change something in it. How do I do that?
Click on the "Edit" link at the bottom of your post and it will be open up your post and allow you to edit it. When you are finished, click on the "Update Post" button at the bottom of the edit box. If you wish to preview your post, click on the "Preview Post" button.

8. I have a post in a thread that I wish to remove. How do I do this?
Click on the "Delete" link at the bottom of YOUR post and then click on the "Ok" on the warning dialog box that appears. Then it will be removed.

9. I have decided that I do not wish to continue with my build topic (thread). How do I delete it or close it?
You can simply use the �Contact Us� page and let us know the details and why you wish the thread to be deleted and we will take care of this for you if applicable. However understand your thread may not be deleted if it contains valuable information that others can benefit from even if you think this is not the case.

10. Why do portions of my thread sometime disappear? Also, when I comment in a topic and then sometimes later it�s gone?
From time to time the moderators of the site "clean up" the threads to remove comments that do not directly apply to the thread content or are just "at a boys". This keeps the thread focused on the issue at hand allowing others to enjoy the thread without having to wade through all the �good Job�s� and �off topic posts�.

11. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from a topic (thread)?
To subscribe or unsubscribe to/from a topic (thread), simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and click �Watch this topic for replies� � you will see a pop-up telling you that you are subscribed to the thread and will be notified of replies by email. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page again, you will notice that the subscribe button has changed to �Un-watch this thread for replies�. If you go to the forum list, you will notice that you can subscribe to entire forums also. On the top menu, under My Portal, there is a �Subscriptions� button � also on the menu under "My Portal". Click this and you will see all the topics you are subscribed to � and you can unsubscribe here as well by checking the threads you don�t want to watch and then the "Unsubscribe" button.


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