I start this topic in order to explain in simple words how the site works, it could be useful for the staff members.

Posetteforever is made of files coded in a language called "php" and the guys who made the core software called it "phpBB" "bb" stands for "bullettin board". The software is free for all and available here.
The files themselves are placed on a directory of a PC owned by an hosting company that actually is Godaddy. The domain name of the site, posetteforever.com is owned by me and points to that directory. I own other domains, so posette.com and davideclerici.com point here :) (I bought davideclerici.com but I think no one has ever tried it if not me :lol: ). So the site itself is in the U.S.A. even if I'm in Italy. The reason is that I don't trust too much italian hosting companies and I found a cheap and affordable price in Godaddy.
I pay for the site 9 US dollars a year for the domain name and about 100 US dollars a year for a "deluxe plan" on godaddy, it means 2,000 MB of disk space, 100 GB of monthly bandwidth (the maximum amount of data that the site can exchange), some limited email accounts and 10 MySQL database. The database is the dynamic part of the site, the PHP code is the "mask" and the data, like the text of the posts, go to the database which on Godaddy is on a different server (PC). The database is the most important part of the site because I can easily rebuild the "mask" but I can't rebuild the database, so I need to backup it often and keep a copy of it on my HD. I do the same for all the files of the site on a monthly basis, it means for example, all the pictures of the album and all the attachments which are basically the dynamic data stored on the server's hd.

Here are the ranks of the site and what they do:

The webmaster keep the keys of the whole site. Here at PF i'm the only one who can access the files of it. I do the work connecting to the site with FTP (file transfer protocol) and a program to download and upload the files. In order to do it I have a username and a password. You can try it typing ftp://posetteforever.com , but you can do nothing if not watching the prompt. I've also the access to the database's server using a program called phpmyadmin and from there I can modify the database and backup it. Actually the main difference from all the other user is that the webmaster is the only one who can do something on site's errors or crashes. The webmaster can do all the things that other ranks of users can do.

The admins have in their hands the administration of the site, they have access to a special page called "administration panel" and from there they can change all of the site, create or delete forums, delete accounts, manage all of the parameters of the site. they can grant moderators status to other members etc. The admins can do all things of the moderators too.

The moderators here at PF can rule the forum via a special links that appears at the bottom of the forum or topic's pages and only here at PF they can decide to warn or ban an user via the "flag system". the can edit, delete, move, split and lock any post.

The users are the category who use the site, Here at PF a normal user can also create special topics as "news" that will be shown on the front page.

The guests are those who has never registered. here at PF they can only watch but not post nor download anything except for the "Whip the admin" forum which is open for guests writing. (to be continued)