Forum Settings Section

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Core Configuration

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Maintenance Mode -   Put a checkmark in the box to enable/disable Maintenance Mode.
If ticked Maintenance mode will be activated. Only administrators can use the Forum.
Other users get a 'this Forum is in maintenance mode' message.
The database may still be accessed for user authentication (to tell if the Member is an administrator).

Subject for display - Title for the Maintenance Mode message. This will be shown to users only if Maintenance mode is on.

Message for display - Description of why the Forum is in maintenance mode. It will be shown to user only if Maintenance mode is on.


Forum Title - The name of your forum. This is used in the title and footer of your Forum pages, as the name of the sender of email notifications and on the footer of each email message sent by your forum.
Webmaster Email Address - Email address from which to send all Topic notifications, Personal message notifications, newsletters, etc. This address also receives database error warnings, should they occur.
Cookie Name - Name of the cookie to set for authentication purposes. Changing this value will cause everyone to be logged out.

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Feature Configuration

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IMPORTANT:  It is best to leave the settings on this page at default if you do not understand them.

Mail Type -  Mail type should be left at PHP Default (in the dropdown box)
    No need to mess with the settings for mail

Default login cookies length (in minutes) - The default values that will be shown in various login screens through the forum.
Enable local storage of cookies - (SSI won't work well with this on.)
SMF uses cookies to store login information on the client computer. Cookies can be stored globally (myserver.com) or locally (myserver.com/path/to/forum).  Check this option if you're experiencing problems with users getting logged out automatically.
Globally stored cookies are less secure when used on a shared webserver (like Tripod).
Local cookies don't work outside the forum folder so, if your forum is stored at www.myserver.com/forum, pages like www.myserver.com/index.php cannot access the account information. Especially when using SSI.php, global cookies are recommended.

Use subdomain independent cookies - (turn off local cookies first!)
Makes log in cookies available across subdomains. For example, if...Your site is at http://www.simplemachines.org/,
And your forum is at http://forum.simplemachines.org/, Using this option will allow you to access the forum's cookie on your site. Do not enable this if there are other subdomains (like hacker.simplemachines.org) not controlled by you.

Enable compressed output - This option will compress output to lower bandwidth consumption, but it requires zlib to be installed.
Use database driven sessions - This option makes use of the database for session storage - it is best for load balanced servers, but helps with all timeout issues and can make the forum faster.
Allow browsers to go back to cached pages - Turning this on will decrease the bandwidth your forum uses, and make it so clicking back will not reload the page - the downside is that the (new) icons won't update, among other things. (unless you click to that page instead of going back to it.)
Seconds before an unused session timeout - This is the number of seconds for sessions to last after they haven't been accessed. If a session is not accessed for too long, it is said to have "timed out". Anything higher than 2400 is recommended.
Default:  2880 (normally works fine)

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