|
This online community system provides a wealth of services for you to use as well as engage with other members here.
When you first connect into our service, you're asked to sign up, creating an account for yourself. If you're online reading this
document, you must have already signed up, and should now have a User-ID and password that you can use from now on. When you
come to our site, all you have to do is enter in your User-ID and then your password.
The server remembers who you are, and starts by telling you if you have any mail waiting (it may also ask you if you want to read it right
away). You might also get some other important notices. On the navigation
screen you'll see various menu selections to go to different areas of the
system, each explained below. Within each service when you are using it are
options to get more help for that particular area. More for information on each
service, click on the icon
beside the service you are interested in.
Registration and Sign-up
The signup screen is an area where you can describe yourself to the System
Administrator. This information is private
and only seen by the operators of this service.
For more information click here.
Your Account
The Account Display/Edit allows you to display and edit your private account
information (name, address, password, etc.) directly from your browser.
For more information click here.
E-Mail
Electronic mail, otherwise known as e-mail, is a powerful and efficient way to send detailed messages to individuals who need not be there when the message arrives. Messages can also deliver attached documents or program files.
This system supports sending/ receiving your mail from a web browser or
an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) client (such as Outlook). When you
create an account here, you are automatically given an e-mail address as well
which is your userid followed by the "@" sign and then the domain
name (web address) of this server. For more information click here.
File Library
You can download megabytes of programs, documents, data and other sorts of
files from our server through File Libraries. A library in some ways resembles
a document folder, but it contains more information on each file. With
descriptive text, number of times downloaded so far by other users, and more,
you can intelligently choose which files are of interest to you and copy them
down to your PC. The downloadable files available through the
Web File Libraries are the same files accessible through File Libraries
in FTP, as well as Terminal Mode (for automated scripted file transfers).
For more information click here.
Discussions / Forums
Forums are typically long-term conversations. A user starts a topic of discussion by posting a question or a comment, for example: "I feel strongly that petty politics should not get in the way of progress. How does everyone else feel about it?" Other users can read the message the next time they are online on this server. Some will reply to the message, and later others will respond to those replies. Replies to replies may continue over a period of weeks or months, the thread of conversation often becoming hundreds of messages long.
Threads are valuable sources of information even if you don't wish to participate in the discussion. You can read all sides of an issue and gain a much fuller understanding of the topic presented. In a technical support forum, for example, a thread might start with one user describing a problem he or she is having by posting a request for advice. There may be 17 responses that night, some of them contradictory, some complimentary, and there may be more than one solution to the problem. The good news is, even the wrong ones can show what not to do. By the next night, others will have chimed in to correct inaccurate answers and make helpful suggestions.
For more information click here.
Polls and Questionnaires
Polls and Questionnaires are among the best consensus-finding tools
ever invented. They permit individuals scattered across the planet to
come to an electronic "town meeting" and let their concerns
be heard. While chatrooms and Forums offer a dynamic exchange
of commentary, they are not well suited to measurement. Polls and
Questionnaires offer users the opportunity to vote, and offer System
Administrators the opportunity to obtain hard data on voter sentiment.
For more information click here.
Calendar
The Calendar allows you to maintain your own personal calendar of
events as well as view a System-wide global calendar and shared group calendars.
For more information click here.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
A special interest group (SIG) is a community
established to enable the connection of members for the purpose of networking,
group learning, and sharing ideas and information. While we provide the
infrastructure to establish and operate special interest groups, each SIG is
volunteer-driven and self-sustaining.
|