Tips on using the bulletin board

[clarefisher]

To help you use the forum more effectively we have written a few hints and tips. If you can’t see the answer your require here, simply click on the ‘Help’ button which is located near the top of the forum in the menu bar or drop us an email with your questions.

How to…

…get an RSS feed for sections of the site

This is an excellent way to get discussions on the forum delivered directly to you as soon as it is published online.

Once you have logged in you are presented with the main index page showing the various sections to the journalists’ discussion forum (and for those members of our freelance database the sections on the freelance members’ area also).

You will notice that each section (for example, Ask Journalism.co.uk) has an orange radio button next to it. Click on the radio button and the page will reload producing a link for you which ends with "type=rss" in your web address bar. Next copy the link into your RSS software as a new feed and that’s it! You will now receive notifications of posts made within that section. (Please note: The steps may vary depending which web browser application you are using)

For more information on RSS and getting to grips with it, please visit: http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/51435.php

…be notified of replies.

The 'notify' button creates an email alert, which is sent to you to inform you that someone has replied in that section of the forum or to a specific topic.

If you want to be notified of any replies on a section (for example, General discussion) open the relevant section and on the right hand side you will see a 'notify' button. By clicking on this you will be asked if you wish to receive notifications for any new topic on this board. Select OK.

If you want to be notified to any further posts on a particular topic instead of a whole section, open the topic  (for example, Who are we all and who do we work for? ) and you will see on the right hand side the 'notify' button. Again clicking on this will set up an email alert to be sent to you if anyone posts a reply.

…send a topic to a friend.

This function allows you to email a direct link to a topic stream on the discussion forum to a friend. By opening the topic of interest you will see on the right hand side, near the top of the post 'send this topic' option. Fill in your recipient's name and email address and click send. You have the option in this function to comment about the topic you are emailing.

...do a descriptive link.

This is simple coding (shown below) which allows you to embed a link to words:

Code: [Select]

[url=http://somesite/]words that appear on site[/url]
TIP: If you highlight the word you want to link, then click the globe icon just above the row of smilies, it will insert the opening and closing URL tags for you.

…navigate quickly around the forum.

To navigate to various sections on the forum quickly you can use the 'jump to' drop-down option at the bottom right hand side of the forum. By clicking on the arrow it brings up the various sections on the forum, then simply select where you want to go to.

…report to the moderator a post by a member.

To notify the moderator and administrators to a post you feel is abusive or wrongly posted open the topic and on the right hand side at the bottom of each post a ‘report to moderator’ link is listed. Please fill in the comment section to tell us your thought of the post in which you are reporting and click send. We will then access the post and take the necessary actions.

…to quote someone’s comment in your reply.

You have the option of quoting from a discussion stream in your reply. To do this, click the 'quote' tab that appears on the right hand side of the relevant post. You can modify the amount you quote when it opens in the window and add your comment below.

A much more detailed help guide is available here