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FAQs
Community Center© FAQ
Do I have to be registered to use the community center?
To post or reply to topics, you will need to register. To register, just click Login and fill in the appropriate information. You do not need to register to read discussion topics.
How do I login?
To log in to the community, click Login. Then enter your name and password (NOTE: both are case-sensitive; capitalization, spaces, etc., do matter). If you would like to be automatically logged in when you visit, check the box next to "Remember Me". (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. Then click "I have already signed up and would like to log in. Click Here. Then, select "Forgot your Login Name and Password" link. Enter your email address and your email or password will be emailed to you.
What are message boards?
Message Boards are discussion areas that allow members to share ideas, opinions and information quickly and easily. Organized by topics in an easy-to-follow format, message boards are designed so you can quickly locate information, find other knowledgeable members and participate in conversations. Your community has standards of conduct that explain the rules of posting; please familiarize yourself with the rules prior to posting.
How is message board content organized?
The content is structured as follows:
Categories: A category is a collection of message boards or other categories. Categories organize message boards into a tree structure so that members can find discussions more easily.
Topics: Topics (also known as "threads") are the discussions, consisting of one or more posts displayed as a list, or in a tree structure of posts and their replies.
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 message board 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).
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 information that members want to share with the community. Profiles 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 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. In some communities, you can post a comment to another member's blog.
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, avatars and subscription settings 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 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 a 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?
This feature allows you to 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 enabled in your community) in the posting view. Type your message and then highlight the word(s) you want to format; 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?
You may elect to rate a member or particular content with 1-5 stars.
What are RSS feeds?
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.
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