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    FAQ

      • Registering lets you take full advantage of the community, enabling you to:
        • Post new messages and reply to other members' posts
        • Receive email when someone responds to a specific post or topic
        • Exchange private messages with other members
        • Personalize your community experience
        • Post comments on blogs that don't allow anonymous comments
        • Post ideas, vote on the ideas you like best, and post comments
        If you don't register, you can only browse, search for information, and read posts. You won't be able to give kudos, vote on ideas, interact with other community members, or set customization preferences.
        Close

      • After you've registered and confirmed your registration, you can sign in and start participating.


        To sign in:

        1. Click Sign In at the top of any page.
        2. Enter your Login name and Password.

          Tip: If you're the only one who uses this computer, click Keep me signed in to sign in automatically next time you visit.

        3. Click Sign In.
        Close

      • To get help with your password:
        1. Click Need help with your login name or password? at the bottom of the page.
        2. Enter the email address you used when you registered with the community.
        3. Click Reset Password.
        4. Check your email for your login name and a password reset link.
        Close

      • Changing your avatar is an easy way to personalize your community identity. You can change your avatar as often as you like. Your current avatar appears at the top of the Avatar page.


        To change your avatar:

        1. Sign in to your community account.
        2. Go to My Settings > Avatars.
        3. Choose a new avatar in one of these ways:
          • Choose an avatar from the Community collection. (Choose an avatar collection and click the avatar your want.)
          • Use an image from your Image Gallery. (Click From Image Gallery and click the image you want.) You can only use this option if you have uploaded images that have been approved.
          • If you have been granted permission, use your Facebook profile photo as your avatar. (Click From Facebook and click Set Avatar.
          • If you have been granted permission, use an image from the web. (Click From the Web and enter the URL for the image. Then, click Set Avatar.
        Close

      • Your signature is text that appears at the bottom of your posts.


        To create your personal signature:

        1. Sign in to your community account.
        2. Go to My Settings > Personal Profile > Personal Information.
        3. Enter your signature text in the Signature box.
          Some communities let you use HTML in your signature. Check with a moderator if you have questions.
        4. Click Save.
        Close

      • Communities provide a place for members or participants to search for information, read and post about topics of interest, and learn from each other. Depending on how the community is set up, you'll find:
        • boards where you can post questions and answers
        • blogs where you can read and comment on articles
        • idea exchanges where you can suggest ways to improve products and vote for ideas that other community members have posted
        • and more...

        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.

        Close

      • You are essential to the community, even if all you ever do is read messages or articles that someone else has posted. Communities offer all kinds of contributions: posting questions and sharing answers, leaving comments on blog articles or ideas, voting for ideas you like, or just searching for answers to your questions.

        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 kudos 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.

        Close

      • To post a message:

        1. Go to the board where you want to post.
        2. Click the New Message link.
        3. In the Subject field, enter your message title.
          Tip: Make your subject clear and concise, as it's the only part of the message that shows up on the message-listing page.
        4. In the Body field, type your message. Be sure to include all necessary details, especially for technical topics.
        5. Format and spell check your message, as needed.
        6. Click Submit Post.
        Close

      • Click Reply to respond to a particular post.

        The Reply Message screen is similar to the Post Message screen, with these differences:

        • When you reply to a post, the subject line is filled in automatically. You can change it if you want.
        • You can paste the message to which you are replying into the body of your reply by clicking Quote Message.

        Your reply is added to the existing thread. It won't create a new thread.

        Close

      • 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:

        1. Sign in to the community.
        2. Go to My Settings > Macros.
        3. Enter a short but memorable name in the Macro Title field.
        4. In the Macro box, enter your boilerplate text. (You can use HTML tags if your community allows it.)
        5. Click Save.

        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:

        1. Go to a post.
        2. In the comment area, place your cursor where you want to add the boilerplate text.
        3. Open the Macros menu and select the macro you want to add.
        Close

      • 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:

        1. Go to the item you want to bookmark.
        2. To bookmark a location, choose (Location) Options > Bookmark.
          To bookmark a specific post, go to the post and choose (Post) Options > Bookmark.

        To view and manage your bookmarks:

        1. Go to My Settings > Subscriptions & Notifications.
        2. Click My Bookmarks.
          You can click a bookmark to go to the item.
        3. To delete a bookmark, click the check box for the bookmark and click Bookmark Options > Delete Selected Bookmarks.
        Close

      • 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:

        1. Go to the item you want to subscribe to.
        2. To subscribe to a location, click (Location) Options > Subscribe.
          To subscribe to a specific post, go to the post and click (Post) Options > Subscribe

        To view and manage your subscriptions:

        1. Go to My Settings > Subscriptions & Notifications.
        2. Click My Subscriptions to see a list of the items you've subscribed to.
          You can click a subscription to go to the item.
        3. To delete a subscription, click the check box for the subscription and click Email Subscription Options > Delete Selected Subscriptions.
        Close

      • 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

        Close

      • 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:

        • Your Albums and Images page
        • Any of your individual Album pages
        • Post Message, Answer, Comment, Article, and other Post pages
        Close

      • 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:

        1. Go to your Albums and Images page.
        2. Open the album that contains the image you want and click it.
        3. Click Edit to change the image title, add a description, and enter tags.
        4. To display an image on the front of the album, click Use this image for the album cover.
        5. Click Save.

        Close

      • To insert an image in a post:

        1. Start a new post.
        2. Click Insert Image.
        3. Choose an image source location.
        4. Follow the on-screen instructions

        Close

      • 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:

        1. Click the image to go to the image page.
        2. Click Image Options > Move Image.
        3. Choose an album and click Move. To make an image private, move it to a private album. To make a private image public, move it to a public album.

        Close

      • 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:

        1. Go to your Albums and Images page.
        2. Choose an album.
        3. Edit the album name or description or change the privacy setting as needed.
        4. Click Save.

        Close

      • 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.

        Close

      • You can use any approved image you've uploaded as your personal avatar.

        To use an uploaded image as your personal avatar:

        1. Sign in to the community.
        2. Go to My Settings > Avatars.
        3. Click From the Community or From Uploaded Images.
        4. Click the image to use as your personal avatar.

        Close

      • 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

        Close

      • 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.

        Close

      • Kudos is a content rating system that lets you vote for the messages you think are the most useful or important.

        When you give kudos to a message, you are giving a thumbs-up for good content and a pat on the back to its author. Your kudos help to boost the value of certain messages and enhance the reputation of their authors.

        Giving kudos is as easy as a single click, but the impact of kudos ripples across the community.

        Close

      • 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.

        Close

      • Want to know who thinks a message is good? It's easy to find out which regular community members and community experts have given kudos to a message. Kudos from community experts can carry more weight than those from brand new members. (Community administrators can choose to have kudos granted by experts carry more weight than kudos granted by regular members.)

        To see who's given you kudos:

        1. Go to the message page.
        2. Click the Kudos total.
          The Who Kudoed this Message page shows you all the community members who've given kudos to the message.
        3. Click Experts to see kudos given by high-ranking members of the community.
          Experts are usually moderators and other users who had a kudos weight of more than 1 when they gave the message kudos.
        4. Click the Date Kudoed, User ID, or or kudos link to sort this page by the date the kudos were given, the name of the user who gave kudos or by the kudos count.
        Close

      • There are usually two kudos leaderboards on the community's front page -- one for authors and another for messages. The author's leaderboard shows who has received the most kudos. The message leaderboard showcases the most kudoed messages. Links from the front-page leaderboards take you to the full leaderboard pages.

        To view the Top Kudoed Messages leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.

        To view the Top Kudoed Authors leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.

        Close

      • To see who's given you kudos:

        1. Go to you profile page.
          Your Profile pages shows the names of community members who have given you kudos, the messages they kudoed, your top kudoed messages, and the kudos you've given.
        2. To see all of your recent kudos activity in an area, click view all.
        3. Click the tabs to see more info about your kudos activity.

        Close

      • Your kudos weight is the number of kudos you give each time you click Kudos!.

        If you're new to the community, your kudos weight is probably 1 (each kudo counts as 1). More experienced community members might have a higher kudos weight, so they could give two kudos, ten kudos, or more each time they click.

        Close

      • There are a few reasons why you might not be able to give Kudos to a post.

        • You've already given Kudos to this message (you can only give them once).
        • You wrote the message (you can't Kudo your own messages).
        • Your community manager wants you to give Kudos only to a message that starts a thread and not to replies.
        • Your community manager has turned Kudos off for a message or a forum.
        • Your community manager has frozen Kudos for this message. You can still see how many Kudos the message has received, but you can't Kudo it any more.
        Close

      • Sometimes a message gets so many kudos that we run out of space to show the number. When that happens, you'll see a Hot Kudos symbol or icon instead of the kudos count on the kudos badge.

        Close

      • Private Messenger enables you to send private notes to other community members. Private Messenger has two big advantages over email:

        • You don't have to know the other member's email address to send the note. (Also, you don't have to reveal yours.)
        • You can read and send private messages without leaving the community, making it easy to a quick conversation with another community member.

        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.

        Close

      • To send a private message:

        1. Sign in to the community.
        2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
        3. Click Compose New Message.
        4. Enter the recipient's name in the Send to area.

          Note: Depending on your role in the community, you might be able to send a message to a group of users based on their role or rank in the community. If so, you can choose a role or a rank.
        5. Enter the subject for the message in the Message Subject area.
        6. Type the reply in the Message Body editor.
        7. Click Send Message.
          You can look for the messages you've sent in the Sent tab.
        Close

      • To read a private message:

        1. Sign in to the community.
          If you have any new messages, you'll see the number of unread messages next to the envelope icon.
        2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
        3. To read a message, click the message subject.
        4. To reply to a message, click Reply. Type the reply and click Send Message.
        Close

      • To reply to a private message:

        1. Sign in to the community.
        2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
        3. To read a message, click the message subject.
        4. To reply to a message, click Reply.
          The recipient and subject are automatically entered for you, but you can edit them.
        5. Type the reply in the Message Body editor.
        6. Click Send Message.
        Close

      • To see the private messages you've sent:

        1. Sign in to the community.
        2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
        3. Click Sent Messages.
        Close