Frisco-Online Forum FAQ
This FAQ has answers to commonly asked questions and helpful information to get you started using the Frisco-Online forum. This FAQ will be updated periodically as we get a better idea of the most common questions. If you have a question that is not answered here, feel free to email us at admin@frisco-online.com.

Questions answered below include:
What is Frisco-Online?
Is this the City of Frisco's site?
Is registration free?
What do I need to register?
Why can't I register with a free email account?
How do I register for Frisco-Online?
Is the forum moderated or controlled?
Are there posting guidelines?
Don't I have Freedom of Speech here?
I've been banned - how do I get reinstated?
What are Frisco-Online's Terms of Service?
What is Frisco-Online's Privacy Policy?
What is Frisco-Online's Advertising Policy?
What are the post counts required for increasing my member level? 
What is my "profile" and how do I use it?
Can people see my profile? How do I "hide" my profile?
What does the user rating mean in my profile?
Why is my email listed as usernREMOVEame@somedomain.com?
I can only see certain categories, why can't I see all of them?
How do I delete my FOL account?
How do I contact a moderator/admin?
How long does it take for someone to respond to a question or a moderation report?
How do I post a free classified?
How do you delete an ad once you have sold your item?
How do I attach a photo?
I can't find my post or thread, what happened?
What are private messages (PMs)?
How can I send a PM?
How do I read my PMs?
I can't send PMs. It says I am over the limit. What do I do?
I am getting unwanted PMs from posters, what can I do?
How does the ignore feature work?
What does subscribing to a thread do?
How do I subscribe/unsubscribe?

What is Frisco-Online? top
Frisco-Online is the premier community information Web site for the Frisco, Texas area. It is the goal of Frisco-Online to provide valuable community information about Frisco to residents, newcomers and people looking to move to the Frisco area. Part of that goal involves giving users access to our public forum, a place to discuss everything about life in Frisco.

Frisco-Online was acquired through Frisco-Online LLC, a Texas Limited Liability Corporation, in January, 2005 from DellaMark Web Technologies. Frisco-Online will use its resources as one of the area's leading real estate companies to continually update and improve Frisco-Online, provide new and exciting content and features, and make Frisco-Online the best community resource in Frisco.

Is this the City of Frisco's site? top
No. Frisco-Online is owned by a private company.

Is registration free? top
Registration for the Frisco-Online forum is free. Frisco-Online is supported by advertising from local Frisco businesses. If you do not wish to register, you can always read all of the open sections of the forum. We hope you will register so you can fully participate, give your advice and opinions, and make this a valuable community!

What do I need to register? top
The only requirement for registration is a valid paid for email address. To help stop abuse, we are currently restricting email addresses from free email providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, and eventually AOL. Frisco-Online will not use your email address for spamming and will not sell it or give it to anyone. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

Why can't I register with a free email account? top
To maintain a moderated forum, we have to be able to ban users. We can ban by user name, email address, email domain, or IP address. If someone can sign up for free email accounts and has a dial-up internet connection (no static IP address), then we have no way to ban them and keep them banned unless we ban the free email provider. So, we ban entire domains that give free email accounts if they allow anyone to sign up at any time.

How do I register for Frisco-Online? top
Click the Join button at the top of the main forum page. If you agree with the Terms and Conditions information including the Terms of Service Agreement, click the I Agree button. Fill in the information requested and click the Join button at the bottom of the page. A unique nickname and email address is required. Your password will be emailed to you at the address you entered. Click the Login button at the top of any forum page to log in with your nickname and password and start posting!

A common question:
I joined and tried to post, but I am getting a message that says I am “forbidden from posting”, What am I doing wrong?

The answer:  Going back to the email address, We do not allow you to register with free e-mail accounts such as Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. If you are registering for FOL, please use a non free e-mail account.

Is the forum moderated or controlled? top
Yes, Frisco-Online's forums are monitored and moderated. Administrators and moderators read the forum posts and watch for Terms of Service violations. While most posts will be left as-is, moderators may edit specific posts for content, may delete posts, and may ban users if the situation warrants such action.

Are there posting guidelines? top
We ask that posts be safe for a general audience. If you wouldn't say it in a public place where others could hear you, you probably shouldn't say it in writing on the forum. Debate and disagreement, and even sarcasm are normal and acceptable as long as they don't become defamatory and don't contain cursing, hate speech, or threats. Hate speech, threats, attempting to subvert the profanity filter, or posts which could cause Frisco-Online to be served with court orders due to defamatory language will cause you to be banned from further posting. Please refer to the Terms of Service that you were required to agree to prior to becoming a member of Frisco-Online.

Don't I have Freedom of Speech here? top
Short answer: Yes, with an "if...", long answer: No, with a "but...". Generally, your posts will be left as-is by Administrators and Moderators as long as you comply with the Terms of Service. Frisco-Online is only interested in maintaining a forum that is safe for a general audience - not in censoring anyone. It is our belief that differences in opinion will make the forum a better place. If we all believed the same things, there would be little point in having a forum.

When you join Frisco-Online, you agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions as well as the Terms of Service. Therefore, you voluntarily agree to restrict your own rights in exchange for receiving this service. (This is not something unique. If you've ever signed a nondisclosure agreement then you've basically done the same thing by agreeing to limit your own speech.) In addition, you agree that Frisco-Online has the right, at its sole discretion, to edit or delete any post any time for any reason. If you have joined Frisco-Online, and therefore agreed to the terms, then Free Speech is not an issue.

Frisco-Online is a privately owned business, and as a business we have a vested interest in keeping the forum civil. The Frisco-Online forum is not an unrestricted venue. Our goal is to make Frisco-Online the best place for a general audience of Frisco residents, newcomers, and prospective residents, and a place where anyone can visit, feel comfortable, and participate.

I've been banned - how do I get reinstated? top
You may or may not be eligible for reinstatement, at our sole discretion, depending on the reason for banning. If you believe someone has posted using your login and password, please contact us immediately so we can start to investigate.

Direct any questions or reinstatement requests to fol_moderator@frisco-online.com

What are Frisco-Online's Terms of Service? top
Click here to see our Terms of Service.

What is Frisco-Online's Privacy Policy? top
Click here to see our Privacy Policy.

What is Frisco-Online's Advertising Policy? top
Click here to see our Advertising Policy.

What are the post counts required for increasing my member level? top
Member - 20
Senior Member - 200
Bronze Member - 500
Silver Member - 1000
Gold Member - 2500
Platinum Member - 4000

What is my "profile" and how do I use it? top
The user’s profile consists of various sections.  Under the Profile tab, the user will see personal information, such as first and last name, username, email address, secret question and a field to enter a new password. 

Also, under the “personal options” tab, you will be able to enable, disable, and specify terms for certain features.  These features include: profile visibility, email visibility, receive private messages, block user signatures, disable private topics, etc.

Can people see my profile?  How do I disable it? top
If your profile is enabled, people can see it. You can disable your profile visibility by clicking on your “personal options” tab.

What does the user rating mean in my profile? top
It really doesn’t mean anything at all. Other users can “rate” you, but it’s just a nonsense number.

Why is my email listed as usernREMOVEame@somedomain.com? top
Our program automatically adds the “remove” to the email address in your profile. This is to keep spamming programs from collecting valid email addresses from

I can only see certain categories, why can't I see all of them? top
You might have certain categories blocked. They can be blocked or unblocked by accessing your profile and clicking the “personal options” tab.

How do I delete my FOL account? top
You will need to send us an email to fol_moderator@frisco-online.com from the email address that you registered with and then we can disable your account.

How do I contact an admin/moderator? top
Please email us at fol_moderator@frisco-online.com or admin@frisco-online.com.

How long does it take for someone to respond to a question or a moderation report? top
We try to respond as quickly as possible, however, please be patient.  We sometimes get many emails and it takes time to respond to each one individually. 

If you have not received a response after several days, please send us your query again.  As far as a “report to moderator”, we usually just handle the matter as we best see fit and do not send back individual emails.

How do I post a free classified? top
Please follow the instructions below to join the forum and post a FREE classified.

1. Access Frisco-Online.com
2. Click the Join button and follow this link: http://www.frisco-online.com/forum/reg.cfm
3. Click the I Agree button after reading the terms & conditions.
4. Fill out the information requested. Please note you cannot register with a free e-mail account such as yahoo or hotmail.
5. Click the Join Frisco-Online Community Talk Forums!
6. Your password will be e-mailed to you.
7. Now you are a user and can participate in the forums and access the classifieds section after logging in.
8. Click on “new topic” to create your ad and then type it out.
9. Click “post message” and your ad will appear in the classified section.
10. Please note that you are only allowed to post in the classifieds once every 7 days.

How do you delete an ad once you have sold your item? top
You cannot delete from the forum. Send a report to the moderator and they can delete it for you. You can however, edit your post to show that your item has been sold.

How do I attach a photo? top
Photobucket.com is a free webpage specifically for putting pictures on websites or forums.  You can upload your pictures and under the pictures will be a URL, HTML or IMG code to copy into your post.
When you want to put pictures in your post, you click on the “image” button at the top of the posting text box. A little box will appear and you add the URL code from photobucket under the photo you want into that text box. Hit OK. Your picture should appear in the post.

I can't find my post or thread, what happened? top
Most likely your thread was moved to a different forum that it was better suited for.  Please note that posts violating our advertising policy will be deleted or edited.  You should receive an email alerting you as to where your post was moved to.

What are private messages (PMs)? top
PMs are for communication between one user and another user.  If enabled by the forum administrator, a user can send a PM to another user within the forum community.  However, users have the option of using this functionality. They can enable it by specifying so in the user’s profile.

How can I send a PM? top
A user can send a PM to another user in one of two ways.  If a user is in a thread, and wishes to send a message to a user that has posted a message, he/she can quickly do that by clicking on the “Send Private Message” icon, which is located at the top right of the message window.  The “Send Private Message” window will be displayed for the user to enter the body of the message.  After entering the message, click on the “Send Private Message” button to send the message to the intended recipient. 

Alternatively, a user can access his Private Messages Center by clicking on the “Private Messages” link that appears in the personal navigation menu.  In the Private Messages Center, the user will be able to search for a user in the community by entering a name in the “Send Private Message” field and clicking on the Send button, or by searching for the name by clicking on the icon. When the intended recipient of the private message has been found, the Send Private Message window will appear for the user to enter his/her message.  Click on the button at the bottom of the window to send it.

How do I read my PMs? top
A user can access his/her Private Messages Center by clicking on the “Private Messages” link that appears in the personal navigation menu.  In the Private Messages Center, the user will be able to view all PMs that were received, as well as PMs that were sent.  Each PM listed describes the sender, a synopsis of the PM, when it was received, if it has been read, a link to view the message and a link to delete the message.

I can't send PMs. It says I am over the limit. What do I do? top
You are allowed a maximum of 200 Private Messages. This includes your incoming PMs and sent PMs. Go to your PM box and click on the PMs that you would like to delete and then click the delete key at the top of the page. This will clear out your PM box.

I am getting unwanted PMs from posters, what can I do? top
You can do one of two things. You can turn off your PM capability completely so you won’t receive any PMs from anybody (in your user profile). Or you can block a specific user from sending PMs to you.

How does the ignore feature work? top
Click on the “my forums” link at the top of your forum homepage. You can then choose “add an ignored user”. These users will be ignored when you view topics & messages.

What does subscribing to a thread do? top
You can subscribe to categories or specific topics in a category that are of interest to them. So, when a new topic has been posted in a subscribed category or messages have been posted in subscribed topics, you will be notified by the system.  The method of delivery, either by email or by private messaging, is determined by you.

How do I subscribe/unsubscribe? top
In your profile, under the “personal options” tab, you can specify which of the listed categories you wish to subscribe by pressing down on the CTRL key and clicking on the desired categories.  To cancel a subscription, return to your profile and unclick the category.