Community Center FAQ
Do I have to be registered to use the community center?
Yes, we require you to
register in order to view, post or reply to topics. To register, just click
Register and fill in the appropriate information.
How do I login?
To log in to the
community, click Log in/Register. Fill out the appropriate fields (NOTE:
both are case-sensitive; capitalization, spaces, etc., do matter). If you would like to be automatically
logged in when you visit, click the checkbox next to "Automatically log me
in". (Note: You must have cookies enabled for this feature. Your login
information is encrypted and stored in a cookie.)
What do I do if I forgot my password?
To reset your password,
first click Login/Register and then "I forgot my password". An email
will be sent to the address you provided when you registered.
What are discussions?
Discussions are posted
conversations that allow members to share ideas, opinions and information. They
are organized by topic and category in an easy-to-follow format. This community
has standards of conduct or rules of the road that outline certain things you
need to keep in mind when participating in a discussion thread; please
familiarize yourself with the rules prior to joining a discussion or posting
your first comment.
How is discussion content organized?
The content is
structured as follows:
?
Categories: A
category is a collection of discussions or other topics. Categories organize
discussions into a tree structure so that members can find discussions more
easily..
?
Discussions: Discussions
are the areas where individual conversations take place.
?
Topics: Topics
(also known as "threads") are the conversations, consisting of one or
more posts displayed as a list.
?
Posts: Posts
are the individual discussion contributions made by community members.
?
Replies:
Replies are posts made in response to other posts, and are organized in a flat,
tree or threaded mode.
How do I create a topic or post a reply in the forums?
To start a new topic,
choose the appropriate discussion and click Post New Topic. Type your topic
header in the subject line and type your text in the message box. Before you
submit your post, you can spell check your text by clicking Spell Check. When
you are satisfied with the text, click Preview to see how your post will appear
when published. Or you can post without previewing by clicking Post.
Topic options:
? To mark a topic as a question, click
Mark as Question (if available).
? If your community administrator allows
attachments, click Add Attachment, and then browse your computer's files,
selecting one to upload along with your post. Note: There may be a limit on the
number, size, and file types you are allowed to upload.
? To post a reply to a topic, click the
Reply icon next to the post to which you would like to reply. If you want to
respond to specific text from the original post, click Quote Original to add
the text from the original post to your new text.
? Edit options: If your community
administrator allows editing of existing posts, you will see an edit icon in
any post that you authored. Editing privileges may be restricted to a certain
timeframe or limited to any posts that have not yet received a reply. Any
edited post will display a time-stamped 'edited' notation.
What is a profile?
Profiles are personal
publishing spaces for biographical information that members want to share with
the community. Our community offers space for general biographic info, blogs,
photos and discussions. Profiles can include all the content created by the
specific member who authored them. To view all your own contributions to the
community, log in and click My Profile.
What is the list of profiles for?
The profiles list is a
central place where members can find all the public profiles of others within
the community. If you do not wish to have your profile listed among the rest,
click Hide (next to 'List me in the directory').
What is a photo album?
A photo album is a
collection of pictures with captions describing them. To start your own photo
album, go to My Profile and click Create My Photo Album.
What is a blog?
A Blog is short for
weblog. A weblog is a journal that is frequently updated and intended for
public consumption. Blogs often represent the personality of the author. To
start your own, go to My Profile and click Create My Blog.
What is the events calendar for?
Community administrators
use the calendar to note special events that may be of interest to members.
What are 'My Messages'?
Community members can
send and receive private email-like messages among themselves. Like regular
email, but only for messages sent within the community, My Messages allows you
to easily keep track of messages in folders: Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash and any
others you create.
How do I send a message?
Go to My Messages and
click Compose Message. Type the member's nickname in the 'To' box, enter your
subject, type your message in the large text box, and click Send. Or, go to the
member's profile and click 'Send Message to Member', which takes you to the
Compose Message page with the member's nickname already in the 'To' field. Fill
out the rest as noted earlier in this paragraph.
How do I know if I have any messages?
When you have a new
message, a small envelope with a starburst icon appears next to My Messages. If
you have no new messages, you won't see such an icon.
How do I set my profile and view other member profiles?
To create or update your
profile, click My Preferences. Your profile, privacy settings, signature line,
display preferences, profile photo, subscription settings, and blog preferences
are set from here.
To edit
settings, fill in your updated information and click Save.
To view the
profiles of members who have posted in the community, click their member names
wherever you see them as links. You can also use the search feature to locate
their member names. You can elect to "ignore" a member's posts by
clicking Ignore Member in the member's profile or in the member information
area of any post the person has authored.
How do I create a poll?
If polls are enabled in
your community, you can create them for your blog page or photo album and in
the discussions. To post a poll, click Create Poll. Type your poll title in the
subject line; then compose your question and poll reply choices. To have the
poll expire at a certain time and date, fill in the additional information as
requested.
How do I search the community?
From just about any page
of the community, click Search and type your term(s) into the search box,
selecting where you'd specifically like to search by choosing from the Content
drop-down menu, and clicking Go. You can also search by specific member name,
and date ranges.
What does subscribe mean?
A subscription notifies
you via email when a content area that interests you is updated. Similarly, you
can subscribe to any content added by a specific member.
To add an item
to your subscriptions list, click Subscribe at the top of the page. Clicking on
Unsubscribe ends the subscription (and cancels the email notifications you may
have set). After 30 days, inactive subscriptions automatically expire (unless
you elect to cancel the expiration in your subscriptions list in your
Preferences). To see your current list of subscriptions, click 'My
Subscriptions'. Click 'My Preferences' to change or update how often your
receive email notification on each of your subscriptions.
What does 'Email to Friend' do?
If this feature is
enabled in your community, you can send a live link to a friend by clicking
'Email to Friend' and entering the information as indicated.
How can I format the text of my posts, replies and comments?
To format text (bold,
italics, underline, etc.), you can use the format buttons in the posting view.
Type your message and then highlight the word(s) you want to format, and then
click the appropriate button. Small bits of code indicate the formatting, such
as in this example: "This is [b]bold[/b] text, and this is
[i]italicized[/i] text" text" will appear as "This is bold text,
and this is italicized text" in your post. To insert a smiley face, first
click the smiley button and then the expression you want to use.
How do I check the spelling of my posts, replies and
comments?
To check your text for
proper spelling, click Spell Check on the post screen. If our Spell Check
dictionary doesn't recognize a word in your text, the unknown word will appear
in a box. You can correct it yourself by typing over what is displayed. If the
dictionary has any suggestions, they will appear in the suggestion box. To
choose one of the suggestions, select it and click Change.
When you finish
checking your text, click Post Message to save your changes and post the text
with your spelling corrections. If you want to continue editing text, click Go
Back or Edit to return to the posting area. Your community administrator may or
may not elect to allow edits of your own posts after they are published. If
allowed, you will see a pencil icon next to the post where it appears in the
list.
What are ratings and rewards points?
Ratings: You may elect
to rate a member, or content with 1-5 stars.
Reward points
may be assigned to a post that is a question. The author awards the assigned
points to any members who gave good answers.
What are RSS feeds?
If RSS feeds are enabled
in your community, you may click the RSS link on any page to copy the code
required to regularly add any new content as it is posted, making it available
to via your RSS reader software.
