Seems there's some misconception about MapVote and how to use it, so I thought I'd write a brief "how to" for it here. I'll break it down by the different tabs in the MapVote window (you DID notice there are three tabs, right?).
Voting Tab
There are several ways to vote for a map. You can double-click a map name, either in the server's list of maps, or in the list of maps already voted for. Alternately, you can highlight the map name and click on the vote button. The same applies to the vote for kicking a player. And you don't have to close it to use ingame chat, just type your message in the field at the bottom and press enter, and it'll appear ingame, just as though you used the "shout" chat.
Config Tab
There's not much on this tab, but what there is is handy. On this tab you can bind a key to bring up the MapVote window at any time ingame. So if you've closed it and want to change your vote, or even start a mid-game vote to change maps or kick a player, you can use your keybing to open MapVote and do that. The other setting on this tab is the message duration. You can set, in seconds, the amount of time that chatbox messages stay displayed for you ingame.
Info Tab
This tab has a series of buttons along the bottom. The server info button displays a small, simple webpage with the server info on it (duh) if the admins of that server have made one and set it to display in the MapVote properties (the Crackaz Server has the server rules and admin names/email addresses on it). There are also two report buttons, which give you some info on the maps on the server and how often they're voted for and played. There's an "about" button which links by default to a page no longer maintained by the creator of MapVote, and a help button which gives some basic info on how MapVote works, most of which I've already mentioned here.
To anyone who regularly plays the Crackaz server, I'd recommend binding a key to MapVote on the Config Tab the next time you have it up. It's just kind of handy to have, in case you close the MapVote window too soon or accidentally.
Voting Tab
There are several ways to vote for a map. You can double-click a map name, either in the server's list of maps, or in the list of maps already voted for. Alternately, you can highlight the map name and click on the vote button. The same applies to the vote for kicking a player. And you don't have to close it to use ingame chat, just type your message in the field at the bottom and press enter, and it'll appear ingame, just as though you used the "shout" chat.
Config Tab
There's not much on this tab, but what there is is handy. On this tab you can bind a key to bring up the MapVote window at any time ingame. So if you've closed it and want to change your vote, or even start a mid-game vote to change maps or kick a player, you can use your keybing to open MapVote and do that. The other setting on this tab is the message duration. You can set, in seconds, the amount of time that chatbox messages stay displayed for you ingame.
Info Tab
This tab has a series of buttons along the bottom. The server info button displays a small, simple webpage with the server info on it (duh) if the admins of that server have made one and set it to display in the MapVote properties (the Crackaz Server has the server rules and admin names/email addresses on it). There are also two report buttons, which give you some info on the maps on the server and how often they're voted for and played. There's an "about" button which links by default to a page no longer maintained by the creator of MapVote, and a help button which gives some basic info on how MapVote works, most of which I've already mentioned here.
To anyone who regularly plays the Crackaz server, I'd recommend binding a key to MapVote on the Config Tab the next time you have it up. It's just kind of handy to have, in case you close the MapVote window too soon or accidentally.
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