Badges are virtual awards BearVilleSource staff can hand out for event, as prizes, etc! To view your badges, just view your profile.

You can click the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page, or click here.

Coins are the BVS "currency". You can earn coins by winning events, a staff handing them out, and even for just posting!

Yes! We never ask for, nor do we offer ANY feature that costs real money, or BearBills. "Coins" are the BVS currency, and you earn them by posting, adding friends, and from events.

Please visit this forum. You should be able to find what you're looking for, and if not, just ask!

Your rank will automatically update according to how many posts you have. Click here to view more about the star ranks.

You can click the button located on every post, topic, and message, and report the post. Please be sure to only report serious issue, and give details. If you need to report something but it doesn't have the report button, please use the "Contact Us" tool and report your issue that way.

You must post 10 messages on the forum before you're able to give out reputation to other members. This ensures you understand what is deserving of reputation, and what is not.

First, make sure that you have posted at least 10 messages first. If you have posted 10 messages, click the button on the post you wish to add reputation to, that will add one reputation to it's author's account. Please note: you cannot give reputation to yourself.

Don't worry. You're only able to give reputation twice a day, to make sure you're only giving repuation to members who you feel deserve it.

BVS Pro is an upgrade you can purchase right here on BVS! It doesn't cost ANY real money, just BVS coins! Interested in ordering BVS Pro? Click here to learn more!

BVS Pro can take up to 2 business days to be added to your account. If after two days you still haven't recieved it, please use the Help tool.

With our more recent updates, the gift program was dropped due to lack of use. Not to worry, though, it could return soon!

Welcome to BVS! We highly suggest that you create an introduction topic HERE, after reading up on our rules, of course. After that, you can browse the forum, looking for forums, topics, or anything that catches your interest, then start posting!

Have you registered? You must register in order to log in. Have you been banned from the board? (A message will be displayed if you have.) If so, you should contact staff to find out why. If you have registered and are not banned and you still cannot log in then check and double-check your username and password. Usually this is the problem; if not, contact an administrator.

You need to register to post for safety reasons. Registration will give you access to additional features not available to guest users such as definable avatar images, private messaging, usergroup subscription, etc. It only takes a few minutes to register so it is recommended you do so.

If you do not check the Log me in automatically box when you log in, the forum will only keep you logged in for a preset time. This prevents misuse of your account by anyone else. To stay logged in, check the box during login. This is not recommended if you access the board from a shared computer, e.g. library, internet cafe, university cluster, etc.

Don't panic! While your password cannot be retrieved it can be reset. To do this go to the login page and click I've forgotten my password. Follow the instructions and you should be back online in no time.

First check that you are entering the correct username and password. If that does not work, click I've forgotten my password under the log in area.

The most likely reason for this is you entered an incorrect username or password (check the email you were sent when you first registered), or your account hasn't been active in 3 months and has been removed. It is usual for BVS to periodically remove users who have not posted anything so as to reduce the size of the database. Try registering again and get involved in discussions.

All your settings (if you are registered) are stored in the database. To alter them click the Profile link (generally shown at the top of pages but this may not be the case). This will allow you to change all your settings.

The times are correct, however, BearVilleSource runs in PST (Pacific standard Time). If you're not part of this time zone, you should change your profile setting for the timezone to match your particular area, e.g. London, Paris, New York, Sydney, etc. Please note that changing the timezone, like most settings, can only be done by registered users. So if you are not registered, this is a good time to do so!

If you are sure you have set the timezone correctly and the time is still different, the most likely answer is daylight savings time (or summer time as it is known in the UK and other places). BVS is not designed to handle the changeovers between standard and daylight time so during summer months, the time may be an hour different from the real local time.

You cannot add your own image above your avatar. Images above avatars are ranks. Your star rank will change due to the number of posts you have. If you purchase BVS Pro, you will get the BVS Pro rank.

You cannot change your username color. But, if you purchase BVS Pro, you will get a gold username!

Sorry, but you cannot change your username.

Not to worry, this is no glitch. You are unable to edit a few of your profile fields becasue they are for only staff to edit.

The infraction bars show your warning level.
- No warnings
- One warning
- Two warnings
- Three warnings
- Four warnings (banned)

Easy. Click the "New Topic" button on either the forum or topic screens. You will need to register before you can post a message. The facilities available to you are listed at the bottom of the forum and topic screens (the You can post new topics, You can vote in polls, etc. list)

You are only able to edit your messages. You can edit a messages (sometimes for only a limited time after it was made) by clicking the edit button for the relevant post. If someone has already replied to the post, you will find a small piece of text output below the post when you return to the topic that lists the number of times you edited it. If you wish to delete a message, edit it and put "Delete Me", or use the icon.

To add a signature to a post you must first create one; this is done via your profile. Once created you can check the Add Signature box on the posting form to add your signature. You can also add a signature by default to all your posts by checking the appropriate radio box in your profile. You can still prevent a signature being added to individual posts by un-checking the add signature box on the posting form.

Creating a poll is easy! first of all, you must be registered and logged in to create a poll. When you post a new topic you should see a Add Poll form below the main posting box. If you cannot see this then you probably do not have rights to create polls. You should enter a title for the poll and then at least two options, to set an option type in the poll question and click the Add option button. You can also set a time limit for the poll, 0 being an infinite amount. There will be a limit to the number of options you can list, which is set by the board administrator

As with posts, polls can only be edited by the original poster, a moderator, or administrator. To edit a poll, click the first post in the topic, which always has the poll associated with it. If no one has cast a vote then users can delete the poll or edit any poll option. However, if other members have already placed votes only moderators or administrators can edit or delete it, this is to prevent people rigging polls by changing options mid-way through a poll

Some forums may be limited to certain users or groups. To view, read, post, etc. you may need special authorization which only the forum moderator and board administrator can grant, so you should contact them.

Only registered users can vote in polls so as to prevent spoofing of results. If you have registered and still cannot vote then you probably do not have appropriate access rights.

Click here to view our forum tutorial. If you cannot find what you need there, use our Help Center.

You can click the button located on every post, topic, and message, and report the post. Please be sure to only report serious issue, and give details. If you need to report something but it doesn't have the report button, please use the "Contact Us" tool and report your issue that way.

BBCode is a special implementation of HTML. You can disable it on a per post basis from the posting form. BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML: tags are enclosed in square braces [ and ] rather than < and > and it offers greater control over what and how something is displayed. For more information on BBCode see the guide which can be accessed from the posting page.

Smileys, or Emoticons, are small graphical images which can be used to express some feeling using a short code, e.g. :) means happy, :( means sad. The full list of emoticons can be seen via the posting form. Try not to overuse smileys, though, as they can quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may decide to edit them out or remove the post altogether.

Images can indeed be shown in your posts. However, there is no facility at present for uploading images directly to this board. Therefore you must link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.some-unknown-place.net/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor to images stored behind authentication mechanisms such as Hotmail or Yahoo mailboxes, password-protected sites, etc. To display the image use either the BBCode [img] tag or appropriate HTML.

Sticky topics appear below any announcements in viewforum and only on the first page. They are often quite important so you should read them where possible. Only BVS staff are able to make a topic "sticky".

Locked topics are set this way by forum moderators. You cannot reply to locked topics and any poll contained inside is automatically ended. Topics may be locked due to violation of the rules, upon request, etc.

Administrators are members assigned the highest level of control over the entire board. These members can control all facets of board operation which include setting permissions, banning users, creating usergroups or moderators, etc. They also have full moderator capabilities in all the forums. Administrators can be idenified by their Green username, and their rank.

Donators are members who have donated to the forum. Donators can be indentified by their Gray username, and their rank.

Retired Staff are members who have worked for the staff at some point, but have quit or been fired. Retired Staff can be indentified by their Aqua username, and their rank.

The "BVS Memebers" group is the first group you join. when you post an introduction, you are automatically added to this group, and are able to display a signature. BVS Members have no special user colour or rank.

Ranks such as "Bear Cub" and "Traveling Bear" are ranks that are automatically given depending on a user's post count.

Rank Title	Rank	Required Posts to gain the Rank
Bear Cub		0
Grizzly Bear		200
Panda Bear		500
Expert Bear		1000
Traveling Bear		2000
Legendary Bear		3000

VIP members are special members. They could be Build-a-Bearville staff, a special guest, or a member who is running an official BVS event. VIP members can be identified by their Purple username, and their rank.

Banned members are members who have been banned from the forum. Banned members can be identified by their Grey username, and their rank.

BVS Pro members are members who purchased the BVS Pro upgrade with BVS coins here. BVS Pro members can be identified by their Golden username, and their rank.

Moderators are members whose job it is to look after the running of the forums from day to day. They have the power to edit or delete posts and lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate, aswell as ban rude members. Generally moderators are there to prevent people going off-topic or posting abusive or offensive material. Moderators can be indentified by their Red username, and their rank.

Usergroups are a groups that give rights & classification to a user. Each user can belong to several groups (this differs from most other boards) and each group can be assigned individual access rights. When you register, you will be added to this group.

Private messages are messages that you can send to one or many other memebrs, without posting them on the forum. Please remember to follow all rules while using this system, or you may get banned

Either you are not registered and/or not logged on, or you have lost private messaging capabilites (due to breaking the rules).

If you keep receiving unwanted private messages from someone, inform the board administrator, they have the power to prevent a user from sending private messages at all. You can also add the member to your foes list to "ignore" them.

It cant take us up to 24 hours to give you your donator benefits. If it has been 24 hours and you still haven't recieved your benefits, check to make sure your transaction went through, or contact us.

Most likely your time with them has expired. Please remember that you get 30days of the benefits for every $3 you donate. (30 days if you donate under $3, still). If you are 100% sure that you should still have your benefits, please contact us.

Of course! We aren't even able to access ANY of the information you enter, ensuring the safety of your personal information. Aswell, we are ONLY able to use donations towards our forum, meaning that you can know it's being used for good purposes.

Please click here to learn more about dispalying an ad on the forum.

Just click the button located over the ad, and it will guide you through reporting an ad. Remember to be very descriptive of the issue!

The button is a "Refresh button". It doesn't refresh the page, but the ad, and will display a new ad for you.

Yes! BVS staff preview and make sure that the ad image, and the site it links to are 100% safe for everyone. But, if for whatever reason an ad links to an inappropriate site, please report it immediately!