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Newest 10 Entries
| Question | What are gift points, and how do they work? |
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| Answer | Gift points are a separate points balance that can only be sent to other members as gifts. They cannot be spent directly or used in escrow transactions. Gift points are earned daily based on usergroup membership and replenish independently of the regular points balance. When a member sends gift points, they become regular points for the recipient. |
| Question | Can members send points to each other? |
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| Answer | Yes, members can send points to each other as a token of appreciation, reward for a service, or as part of an agreement using the Points Escrow system. |
| Question | How does content validation affect point earning? |
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| Answer | Points are typically awarded immediately upon content submission to encourage participation. However, forum posts requiring validation only earn points after approval to deter spam. To further encourage high-quality content, consider using the "awards" addon to reward exceptional contributions. |
| Question | Can I reward members who use specific browsers or operating systems? |
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| Answer | Yes, Composr allows you to configure bonus points based on browser/platform criteria. You can set bonus points for members using Open Source browsers, specific operating systems, or even those who have enabled privacy features like "Do Not Track" (DNT) or "Global Privacy Control" (GPC). |
| Question | What's the difference between points balance and rank points? |
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| Answer | Points balance refers to the number of points a member currently has available to spend. This is the 'liquid' currency they can use for various actions. Rank points represent the total points a member has accumulated throughout their time on the website. These points determine the member's rank, which can grant access to additional privileges and act as a status symbol. |
| Question | How can members earn points on my Composr website? |
|---|---|
| Answer | Members can earn points in various ways, including:
Most earning methods can be customized in the Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Points options to fit your website's needs. |
| Question | What are cleanup tools in Composr and how do I use them? |
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| Answer | Cleanup tools assist with website maintenance by deleting unnecessary data and optimizing database tables. They are divided into "De-cachers" and "Optimizers". You can access them through: Admin Zone > Tools > Cleanup tools. |
| Question | How can I access PHP-Info in Composr? |
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| Answer | PHP-Info provides a comprehensive overview of your PHP configuration. You can access it within Composr by navigating to Admin Zone > Tools > PHP-Info / Server Checks. This page also provides additional useful server information. |
| Question | What is the purpose of the Health Check feature in Composr? |
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| Answer | The Health Check feature in Composr proactively identifies potential issues that may affect your website's performance, security, and overall health. It performs various checks and alerts you to problems like:
The Health Check can be run manually or scheduled to run automatically and send e-mail notifications of results. |
| Question | How can I use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to enhance my website? |
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| Answer | CDNs improve website performance by serving content from geographically distributed servers, reducing latency and server load. You can leverage CDNs for your Composr website by:
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Top 10 Entries
| Question | How do I restore my Composr website from a backup? |
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| Answer | Composr backups come as .tar or .tar.gz files. Extract the archive using an extraction program like 7-zip or your web hosting control panel. To restore a full backup:
To restore incremental backups:
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| Question | What alternative backup strategies are available? |
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| Answer | Many web hosting control panels include built-in backup features that operate at the system level, often offering higher reliability than web-based scripts. Ensure you back up both files and the database. For database backups, you can use tools like phpMyAdmin, which allows you to export your database as a .sql file. |
| Question | How do I create a backup of my Composr website? |
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| Answer | Composr offers a built-in backup addon accessible from Admin Zone > Tools > Backups. You can choose between full, incremental, and database-only backups.
The addon allows scheduled backups or manual backup generation. It is recommended to download backups to a location outside your web server for better security. Note: The Composr backup addon is limited by server-side PHP capabilities and might not always be reliable. Consider using alternative backup strategies offered by your web hosting control panel for increased reliability. |
| Question | Why are backups necessary for my Composr website? |
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| Answer | Disasters like hard disk failures, data corruption, and unexpected errors can happen at any time. A good backup strategy helps you recover your website and its data in case of such events. Backups can also help you roll back to a previous state if needed, such as after a failed upgrade or accidental changes. |
| Question | How can I control the privacy of member profile fields? |
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| Answer | You can control the privacy of member profile fields through the "Member privacy controls" configuration option. If you enable the "Extended privacy option control", you can fine-tune visibility settings for each field. Otherwise, you can set simple access levels (e.g., not at all, to members, to friends, to everyone) for each field. |
| Question | What is the difference between a Composr member and an author? |
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| Answer | A member is someone who has created an account on your Composr website and can log in. They have a unique member ID and username, and can interact with the site's features. An author is someone who creates content for the site. They may or may not be a member. For example, you might have an author who submits articles via email but never actually visits or joins the website. |
| Question | What advanced techniques are available for dealing with persistent spammers who repeatedly create new accounts? |
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| Answer | Composr's advanced banning features target sophisticated human spammers. Automatic bans can be configured to block users based on specific strings in their posts, while reasoned bans display customized messages to banned users, potentially deterring them. These measures, coupled with the ability to investigate users via IP address analysis, offer robust tools for managing persistent threats. You can configure advanced banning under Admin Zone > Security > Configure advanced banning. |
| Question | How does Composr handle user banning and what options are available? |
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| Answer | Composr offers various banning mechanisms. You can ban members by editing their accounts (ban member tick box), preventing logins while still allowing guest access. IP address banning blocks access from specific IP addresses or ranges (Admin Zone > Security > Members > Investigate user to see their IP addresses and flag certain ones for banning). You can also restrict member submissions, or you can effectively "suspend" users by assigning them to a usergroup with minimal privileges (e.g. probation). |
| Question | What is the "Warn Member" form and how can I use it to handle rule violations? |
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| Answer | The "Warn Member" form provides a centralized interface for addressing user misconduct. You can issue formal or off-the-book warnings, apply punitive actions like IP bans, usergroup changes, or probation, and even delete content or charge points. This form allows you to document reasons for actions, improving transparency and consistency in moderation. This tool can be accessed on a member's profile as staff, under Audit > Warn member. You can also review their warnings history on their "Standing" tab. |
| Question | How does Composr track user activity? |
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| Answer | Composr logs IP addresses for various actions like guest posting, page views, and content submissions. This data helps identify potential spammers and track user behavior. The "Investigate user" module provides tools to analyze IP addresses and gather additional information about suspicious activity. |