About forums

The forums are the place to discuss issues and they act as a repository of information for future reference. Please avoid social information or information of temporal interest, such as cruising news, unless it is essential to the topic. If you want to raise something of temporal interest (e.g. notification of a boat show, cruise plan etc.) consider a post instead of a forum topic.  See About posts.

Most forums are presently only available to logged-in members, but some may be public, as indicated in their description.

The forums are arranged hierarchically for ease of navigation and each forum may contain sub-forums.  

There are forums specific for each Ovni model to be found in the Ovnis branch.. If your issue is model-specific, use the appropriate forum. An example of model-specific might concern polar diagrams. But if your concern relates to technology used across different models (such as rudder pumps) , you should use the general technical forums

Each forum may contain one or more topics raised by members.  Other members may then respond by appending a reply or a reply to a reply.  This forms a record of the discussion. If you are replying to a reply, please do so via the reply button in that reply – that way the replies will be nested to make this clear.

A blue dot to the left of a forum name indicates that it or its sub-forums contain topics or replies unread by you.  The  Mark all topics as read button will mark as read all topics in all the displayed forums and their sub-forums.  To mark a subset as read, drill down to the required forum level before selecting the button.

In the list of topics, a blue dot indicates those unread by you and a comment bubble those to which you have already replied.

You may browse the full list of forums via the Forums tab.  You may search the forums using the search field in the sidebar.  If you want to follow developments on a topic, be sure to subscribe to it, using the subscribe button at the top of the topic.

If you want to return to a topic, you can mark it as a favourite.  You can quickly find your favourites via your profile>Forums>Favorite Topics or via the shortcut in the Forums menu tab.

Posting a topic or reply

Any user may post a new topic using the submission form at the bottom of the list of existing topics or replies.  Please keep to a single topic and be succinct.  The first time you add a topic or respond to one, it will be held for moderation.

Help on formatting your topic or reply, including inserting images, is available here.

Protocol for forum topics and their replies – read before contributing

The forums are intended to develop as a reference source.

[UL]

[LI]Please avoid chat (such as cruising news), which will be distracting and irrelevant to those referring to information in the future.[/LI]

[LI]Before raising a new topic, check if there is already one covering what you wish to discuss and, if so, use that one.[/LI]

[LI]When replying, keep to the topic and avoid digressions. If you have more than one matter to discuss, address them in separate topics, or raise a new topic if need be.[/LI]

[LI]Avoid addressing your reply to an individual on a separate line. It takes extra vertical space, making it harder for others to browse later. If you need to use a salutation, include it in the first line of substance. Avoid signing your contribution. Your name and details will appear alongside automatically.[/LI]

[LI]Sometimes you will have an after thought or correction to make. Rather than adding it as a reply, edit your topic or reply. You will able to log why you are changing it and chose who to alert to the edit. You can edit your contributions for up to 30 days.[/LI]

[LI]Avoid replying to say thank you. Such replies cause unnecessary email alerts to be sent to all topic subscribers and these replies get in the way of others referring to the subject later. Instead you can use the Thanks button which will record your thanks and inform the person being thanked.[/LI]

[LI]If you wish to discuss fine detail with another member, consider using a private message dialogue. You could summarise the outcome in a reply.[/LI]

[/UL]

Members may wish to share experience of services relevant to Ovni owners and this can be useful to other members.  But this is not the place to air any grievances – these should be addressed directly to those providing the service.

Subscriptions and email alerts

When you are subscribed to a forum,  you will receive an email alert when a new topic is created.  (Note that subscribing  or unsubscribing to a forum does not apply to any sub-forums within it – you must subscribe or unsubscribe to these separately, as you wish.)  Initially, you are subscribed to all forums except:

  •  Site support
  • Site changes – minor
  • Known issues with this site.
  • Ovni Spots forums

To receive a notification of replies to a topic, you must be subscribed to that topic – it is not sufficient to be subscribed to the forum, which only notifies you of new topics.  By default, you will be subscribed to topics you create and those you reply to.

You can unsubscribe from those forums or topics you do not want to follow. The simplest way is to view  your subscribed forums and topics via your profile>Forums>Subscribed Topics, where you can  delete subscriptions as desired.

If you cannot see a suitable forum for your topic, post it in the  Miscellaneous forum and a site editor may create an appropriate forum and move your topic there.  If you see the need for a new forum, have a query or a suggestion for improvements, please raise it as a topic in the Site Support forum.


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