To sign in:
To change your avatar:
To create your personal signature:
You can tell other community members as much or as little about yourself as you want. You can enter a short biography, your location, your interests, or anything else (within community guidelines, of course).
To tell other community members about yourself:
By default, all community users can see this information.
To display your info only to people on your Friends List:
Your profile card displays information about yourself and your community achievements. You can include your avatar, likes count, community rank, post count, and latest post. You can also create badges for Blogger and Wordpress.
To create a profile card:
To create a Blogger card:
To create a Wordpress or web site card:
Your Friends List is a way to create your own community within a community.
Depending on your privacy settings, the people on your Friends List can see your biography, other personal information, or online status. If you send private messages, you can choose friends from a list instead of typing their user names.
Note: Your Friends List is available only if your community supports private messages.
To add people to your Friends List:
Note: You can remove a person from your Friend's List by clicking "Remove from Friends". Additionally, you can click "Ignore" to prevent specific users from contacting you.
To set your viewing preferences:
Guests (unregistered visitors) can browse or search the community for information. Members (registered users) can post messages or comments, track discussions, and get email notifications on posting activity and other community actions.
We encourage you to visit often and participate. Ask your toughest questions. Chances are someone has a solution or can point you in the right direction. If you find a solution that works, let others know and pass on your own tips and insights. You might just have the answer someone else needs.
Remember to thank community members who have helped you. Show your appreciation by giving likes to helpful posts, accepting a solution that answers your question, or posting thank-you replies.
We want the community to be appropriate, friendly, informative, and fun for everyone.
Be sure to read the Community Terms of Service and the community's Rules and Guidelines so that you know what to expect and what is expected of you when you're here.
To post a message:
Click Reply to respond to a particular post.
The Reply Message screen is similar to the Post Message screen, with these differences:
Your reply is added to the existing thread. It won't create a new thread.
Yes. You can use macros to create boilerplate text that you can paste into any message. You can create up to 9 macros.
To set up a macro for boilerplate text:
Tip: To add text at the bottom of your posts, you can include that text as part of your signature instead of using a macro.
To add your boilerplate text to a post:
A knowledge base (also called a tribal knowledge base) is a collection of articles that captures and organizes helpful community information. Knowledge bases are great community resources for several reasons:
Contributors could be community members whose posts or comments are used in the article, authors who put the article together, or editors who reviewed or refined it. Related links take you to posts that were used in the article or other posts that the authors thought you might find helpful or interesting, including forum messages, blog articles, and ideas
You can view a knowledge base article in a number of ways.
To go to the knowledge base for a board or forum, click the book icon next to the forum name on the community page. Then, you can browse the list of articles and choose one to read.
To search for a knowledge base article, enter a search keyword and choose Knowledge Base in the list to the left of the Search button. Then, you can use search results filters to zero in on the article you want.
To go to an article related to a post, click the Knowledge Base links at the top of the article. You might find links to articles based on the post, links to articles related to the post, or both
If you find great community material (helpful questions and answers or just plain useful information), you can nominate it as a knowledge base article. The people responsible for your community's knowledge base evaluate your nomination, and if it's accepted, knowledge base authors can use it as the basis for a knowledge base article.
To nominate content:
You can contribute to knowledge bases by:
To edit a knowledge base article:
An idea exchange is a collection of ideas posted by community members. Ideas can include anything from new product requests to suggestions about how to improve a product or service. Everyone in the community can see and vote on the ideas. Idea exchanges offer 3 types of ideas:
Adding an idea is just like posting a message on a board, and voting for ideas is like giving likes. You can post comments on ideas the same way you do on blog articles. Your community might use labels to help organize related or similar ideas, and assign a status to each idea so you know which ideas might be considered or implemented
To post your idea:
You vote for an idea by giving it likes. Just click the Likes! button next to the idea. If you change your mind, you can revoke your likes later.
To share ideas with friend, you can use any shared bookmarking, social network, or other tracking service, such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Facebook, MySpace, Google, StumbleUpon, Technorati, or Twitter. However, you must have a valid account with the service.
To share an idea:
| To | Do this |
| Subscribe to an idea exchange | Go to the idea exchange page and click Idea Exchange Options > Subscribe to this Idea Exchange. |
| Subscribe to an idea | Go to the idea and click Idea Options > Subscribe to this Idea. |
| Subscribe to an RSS feed | Go to the idea exchange or idea and click Idea Exchange Options > Subscribe to this Idea Exchange's RSS Feed or Idea Options > Subscribe to this Idea's RSS Feed.
Then, save the live bookmark or whatever you usually do to add an RSS feed. |
A permalink, short for permanent link, is the URL for a specific idea in an idea exchange. In an active idea exchange with lots of entries, a particular idea will only stay on the New Ideas tab for a short period of time. It becomes hard to bookmark a specific idea or to email a link when the idea you want is replaced with something new.
This is where permalinks come in handy. They take you directly to a specific idea, rather than to the idea exchange's front page.
To use a permalink:
Posting a comment on a blog is a lot like replying to a message on a board. If the blog is open for comments, you'll see a post a comment link or a comment count link at the bottom of the article.
To post your comment:
Some BLOGS display new comments almost immediately. Other BLOGS don't display new comments until the blog author or a moderator approves them.
Yes, however, you must provide your name (which we'll show) and your email address (which we won't). You might also be able to enter a web site URL to display with your comment. Then, simply type your comment and click Post Your Comment.
Some BLOGS display new comments almost immediately. Other BLOGS don't display new comments until the blog author or a moderator approves them.
If your comment doesn't appear immediately, check back in a few minutes. If it still doesn't appear, your comment is most likely in the approval queue.
To share blog articles with friend, you can use any shared bookmarking, social network, or other tracking service, such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Facebook, MySpace, Google, StumbleUpon, Technorati, or Twitter. However, you must have a valid account with the service.
To share a blog article:
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Subscribe to a blog | Go to the blog page and click Blog Options > Subscribe. |
| Subscribe to an article | Go to the article and click Article Options > Subscribe. |
| Subscribe to an RSS feed | Go to the blog or article and click Blog Options > Subscribe to RSS Feed.
Then, save the live bookmark or whatever you usually do to add an RSS feed. |
A permalink, short for permanent link, is the URL for a specific blog article. In an active blog with lots of entries, a particular article stays on the blog's front page for a short period of time. It becomes hard to bookmark a specific blog article or to email a link when the article you want is replaced with something new.
This is where permalinks come in handy. They take you directly to an article, rather than to the blog's front page, which typically shows only the last few articles.
To use a permalink:
There are now two versions of the image upload feature that communities can use. The choice is made by the community manager and applies to the entire community.
In communities that use Images (Version 2) you can organize uploaded images into albums and images become more like posts: you can give likes to images you like and comment on images in your own albums and those of other community members.
Here's what's new in Images (Version 2):
You can view all photos and graphic files you upload to the community on your Albums and Images page. This page displays images in two ways:
To view your images:
To view another user's public images:
To comment on an image:
Depending on your starting point, you choose one or more images, choose the album where they'll be located, and upload. There are size limitations, of course, and a community moderator must approve your images before others can see them. You can upload images from:
You can change the name, add a description, and apply tags to an image, but you can't edit the actual image in the community. If you want to edit the image, you need to do that outside the community and upload the edited image.
To edit information about an image:
To insert an image in a post:
A private image is one that only you (and community moderators with permission) can see. When you upload an image, you can place it in a private album or public album. Moderators must approve all uploaded images before you can use them in a post or display them in your My Images list.
To change the privacy setting for an image:
You use image albums to organize the photos and other graphics that you've uploaded to the community. By default, you start with two albums: Private and Public. Your community manager determines the number of albums you can create.
To edit an image album:
For your protection, your community requires a moderator to approve all uploaded images before they can be displayed. Although you can see your uploaded images that are awaiting approval or flagged for review, other community members who view your images can only see the ones that have been approved.
You can use any approved image you've uploaded as your personal avatar.
To use an uploaded image as your personal avatar:
To insert a video in a post:
To upload a video to your video gallery:
A private video is one that only you can see. When you upload a video, you can decide if you want that video to appear in your video gallery. If you choose no, the video is private.â¨
Remember, a moderator might need to approve your videos before your can use them in a post or display them in your gallery.â¨
To change the privacy setting for a video:
The two main reasons why you might not be able to view videos are:
An Accepted Solutions is a way for you to choose the reply that best answers a question that you've posted. When you accept a solution, both the question and the solution get special icons and links that take you directly from the question to the answer.
An Accepted Solutions icon also appears on boards and in search results so you can see which messages have solutions.
You can mark a solution as accepted only for questions that you've posted (you started the thread). Community moderators can also mark one of the replies to a message as an accepted solution
To mark a message as a solution, click Accept as Solution on the reply.
If you change your mind or if another reply provides an even better answer, you can revoke the first selection and accept the second reply.
To revoke an accepted solution, click Options > Not the Solution.
You can choose another solution or leave the question unsolved.
Likes is a content rating system that lets you vote for the messages you think are the most useful or important.
When you give likes to a message, you are giving a thumbs-up for good content and a pat on the back to its author. Your likes help to boost the value of certain messages and enhance the reputation of their authors.
Giving likes is as easy as a single click, but the impact of likes ripples across the community.
You can give Kudos to any posts in the community except your own.
To give kudos to a message and its author, click Kudos on the message.
If you change your mind about the quality of the message, you can revoke your kudos.
To revoke kudos you've given, click the Kudos button again.
Want to know who thinks a message is good? It's easy to find out which regular community members and community experts have given likes to a message. Likes from community experts can carry more weight than those from brand new members. (Community administrators can choose to have likes granted by experts carry more weight than likes granted by regular members.)
To see who's given you likes:
There are usually two likes leaderboards on the community's front page -- one for authors and another for messages. The author's leaderboard shows who has received the most likes. The message leaderboard showcases the most liked messages. Links from the front-page leaderboards take you to the full leaderboard pages.
To view the Top Likeed Messages leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.
To view the Top Likeed Authors leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.
To see who's given you likes:
Your likes weight is the number of likes you give each time you click Likes!.
If you're new to the community, your likes weight is probably 1 (each like counts as 1). More experienced community members might have a higher likes weight, so they could give two likes, ten likes, or more each time they click.
There are a few reasons why you might not be able to give Likes to a post.
Sometimes a message gets so many likes that we run out of space to show the number. When that happens, you'll see a Hot Likes symbol or icon instead of the likes count on the likes badge.
Private Messenger enables you to send private notes to other community members. Private Messenger has two big advantages over email:
To use the Private Messenger, you must be registered and signed in. You'll see a Private Message icon at the top of your page. If you have any new messages, you'll see the number of unread messages next to the envelope icon.
Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
To send a private message:
To read a private message:
To reply to a private message:
You can delete messages one at a time as you read them, or in bulk from your Inbox.
To delete a private message:
To see the private messages you've sent:
Your Friends List is a way to create your own community within a community.
Depending on your privacy settings, the people on your Friends List can see your biography, other personal information, or online status. If you send private messages, you can choose friends from a list instead of typing their user names.
Note: Your Friends List is available only if your community supports private messages.
To add people to your Friends List:
Note: You can remove a person from your Friend's List by clicking "Remove from Friends". Additionally, you can click "Ignore" to prevent specific users from contacting you.
Most users in an online community get along very well. Sometimes, however, you might encounter someone you consider a nuisance. If you are receiving messages that you'd prefer not to receive, you can add the sender to your Ignored Users list. The system blocks all messages from users on your Ignored Users list.
To add someone to your Ignored Users list:
To remove someone from your Ignored Users list:
You can also search for community members and add them to your Ignored Users list.
To search for a user.
Bookmarks enable you to list community content (boards, articles, ideas, topics, or individual posts) on a special page so you can easily find it again.
To bookmark a piece of content:
To view and manage your bookmarks:
Subscriptions let you get email updates whenever new content appears in an area of the community that you're interested in. You can subscribe to a board, a blog article, an idea exchange, or any other location in the community. You can also subscribe to a specific post.
To subscribe a piece of content:
To view and manage your subscriptions:
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It is a way for you to get the latest content from this community, along with many other sites that you visit, all in one place. With an RSS feed reader, you subscribe to web sites, and those sites feed you new content so you can stay up to date.
To use RSS, you need a feed reader, such as Google Reader, MyYahoo, or the Live Bookmarks feature of Firefox. There are many free options. After you have your feed reader set up, you can find RSS feeds in the community by going to a board, blog, thread, or message and selecting Subscribe to RSS Feed from the options menu. There you will see a preview of the feed. Most RSS readers give you a button to click at this point. After you click it, the RSS feed appears in your reader as well as new content from that section of the community whenever it becomes available
Contests are a fun way to share content with your community. Anyone in the community can see and vote on your contest entries. Entries are organized into three groups:
Adding an entry is just like posting a message on a board, and voting for entries is just like giving likes.
To post your entry:
Posting a comment on an entry is a lot like replying to a message on a board. If the entry is open for comments, you'll see a post a comment link or a comment count link at the bottom of the entry.
To post your comment:
To tell your friends about a contest entry, you can use any of dozens of shared bookmarking, social network, or other tracking services, such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Facebook, MySpace, Google, StumbleUpon, Technorati, or Twitter.
To share a contest entry:
| To | Do this |
| Subscribe to a contest | Go to the contest page and click Contest Options > Subscribe. |
| Subscribe to an entry | Go to the entry and click Entry Options > Subscribe. |
This is where permalinks come in handy. They take you directly to a specific entry, rather than to the contest's front page.
To use a permalink:
To post your comment:
Tip: Search the idea exchange first to make sure that someone else hasn't already posted the same idea.
You can use simple HTML, format the text, or add links or images.