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Client :

There are two types of forums in TopCoder.

General forums that deal with community specific topics and are open to everyone:  http://forums.topcoder.com/

Note that general forums for topics dealing with graphical design contest are located here: http://studio.topcoder.com/forums

Contest specific forums, which are created for a specific contest and are usually ONLY open to the registered participants. Such private forums protect the intellectual property of the clients as only participants that have signed the CAA are allowed to post/read in such a forum. Participants can ask contest specific questions to the client, and provide feedback about progress of the contest. In addition the client could provide contest specific announcements.

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Client :

TopCoder collects such information about visitors as their IP address, the TopCoder site areas they most frequently visited, what web browser they are using, and the origin of where the user cam from to the TopCoder website. All this information is used to improve the TopCoder website. From time to time TopCoder may reveal general, anonymous, aggregated statistical information about its Web site, services and users, such as the number of visits and users and what Web site features they use.

Contest Type :

Client :

As a client, the forum you should be mostly worried about (outside of the copilot contest forum) is the Project forum.  The Project forum is where you'll discuss high level questions with your copilot(s), and provide any information that will help the copilot facilitate more effective contests.  The Project forum is also where the copilot will escalate questions from the contestants that he cannot answer.  For this reason, we recommend putting a watch on the Project forum and let the copilot handle the Contest forums. The Contest forum is where the contestants will ask questions about each specific contest in your project.  As your project progresses, you may have 2 or 3 contests running at the same time, the copilot will monitor all these forums and answer questions as they come in.  If there is a question he cannot answer, he will escalate the question to you in the Project forum. The Project Forum: The Project forum can be accessed from the Project Overview page by scrolling down until you see the section labeled 'Project Forum.'  You can click on the discussion topic hyperlink that needs attention.  You'll know there are new questions in the Project forum because the number listed under the column labeled T./M. will appear in bold. If you are watching the forum, you'll also receive an email which will alert you to new questions in the Project forum. The Contest Forums: The Contest forums can be accessed from the Project Overview page by scrolling down until you see the section labeled 'Active Contest Health' If you hover over the dot in the column labeled 'Forums' and you'll get a pop-up box with gives you a link to the contest forum. Click on 'View Thread' to go directly to the contest forum.