Racks And Spurs Club... v5 ... What's NEW?!

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Well, as you can see, the Racks & Spurs Club has gone through a little bit of a "face lift" so-to-speak and we've implemented some great new features to this forum to expand the opportunities for our member base. Here's a little bit of a rundown on what is new and/or has been upgraded...

(The following screenshots and tutorial were taken from our sister site "NY Outdoor Sportsman" located at NyOutdoorForums.com ... both forums are running off from the same software platform and are very similar so the following should be pretty easy to relate to this forum as well... any questions, please feel free to create a new thread. Thanks!)

Let's first take a look at the "Profile" feature of the forum. (Pic below shows where the profile option is located)


-Very Top of the page...





Ok, so once you click that option, you will then come to this page...



Now, on this page, there will be several different NEW features and options available to you in order to best customize your personal profile to your liking. They are labeled in numbers as depicted in the following screen shot...





Let's look at each numbered option and explain how they operate...

#1)... This is your "Status Message". You can personalize your profile in this feature to display any recent status update you'd like other members to see. You can display messages such as "Gone Huntin" or "Scouting" or "Gone Fishin" etc. It doesn't necessarily have to be a status. It can also serve as just a favorite quote or saying that is meaningful to you. Whatever the case, it's there for your use to keep the forum "posted".

#2)... Now this is a great NEW feature offered to the Racks And Spurs Club! This is the basis of a "Following" or network within the site. This feature gives our members the option to "Follow" other members. What does follow mean? Well, "Follow" means that you're basically "subscribed" to another member's activities. Say for instance you particularly like Joe Shmoe's posts on the forum and you don't want to miss his or her's next posting.... by "Following" a member, you'll be notified of their activity on the site in your "Notifications" section of your personal profile (Notifications feature will be further discussed later in this thread). Now, if two members choose to "follow" each other, then a common connection is made and therefor the site will consider both members to be "Friends". Friends will be a collective group of people that have similar interests and/or likings within the forum. You can futher customize this by creating "Groups" from the friends in which you make on the forums. Pretty cool eh? It's a great way to "Network" yourself and keep in touch with othe outdoor enthusiasts around the nation!

#3)... This feature gives you the ability to click on either link shown above to display the most recent activity of the profile to which you are currently viewing. A great way to quickly reference a member's latest postings and activity!

#4)... The tabs to which are showing at the top of the view profile page are pretty self explanitory. They are there to give specific pieces of information that pertain to the profile in which you are referencing. Take a moment to click on each of your own tabs and/or another member's tabs to get a feel and better understanding of how they work.



Next up... we'll be discussing other new profile editable features that enhance your customization options within the site! They will be listed within the next post in this thread!

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Here's a pretty cool feature in version 5...

You now have the ability to create your own custom Avatar. Now, I know most of you already know what an "Avatar" is, I'll just go ahead and assume that not everyone knows and give an explanation so we're all on the same page.

Wikipedia defines "Avatar" as... "In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It is an object representing the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user."

Yup... ok, got it? Good. Let's move on....

Ok, so we all know what an avatar is now so let's take a look at how each member here can utilize one in their profile.

You have a few different options here...

1) You can upload an image of your own from  your computer or a personal image that is being hosted by an online image source.

2) You can create your own using the built-in avatar maker within the R&S site (which we're going to discuss in detail).

3) You can choose from one of the pre-installed avatars available from the R&S site. (which is located in the "Edit Profile" mode)

Let's discuss the new feature on how to create your own avatar using the R&S Avatar Builder....

Ok, so you're going to need to go to your profile page. Again, to get there you'll need to click on the Profile button at the top of the page...




Once there, you're going to want to click on the "Edit Profile" button...





After clicking that, you'll land on a page that looks similar to this...





Once there, you're going to see to the far right the box that contains the link to "Edit Avatar"... click on that (as shown by the green arrow pointing to the link in the pic below)...





Now, this is where it gets kinda cool...

From here the Avatar Builder will pop up and a brief tutorial will begin (if it's your first time building your own avatar). It will give you an idea on how to use the Avatar Builder and walk you through the steps. Take note of how it works and start building your own personal avatar!...





If you have any questions regarding the Avatar Builder and/or need assistance, please feel free to contact our administrative staff.

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Alright... before we go any further, let's just briefly define some commonly used phrases that are used on the site so that we all know the "language" of forums/message boards so that we're all on the "same page" so-to-speak... here we go:

1)Main Page: The main page is the "starting" page of the website in which all of the categories, boards, statistical information of the site, etc. are located on. (We'll further define/explain each of the previously mentioned terms as well within this "post")

-The Main Page is made up of "Categories". Each category will have boards within them. Each board will have a description of what that board contains as far as what's appropriate to discuss within them.

Examples of Categories are "Hunting", "Fishing", "Archery", "Firearms" etc. They are there to "categorize" specific areas of discussion and are further broken down by the "boards" within them.

Here's what a "Category" looks like on the "Main Page":



So what is a "Board"?

A Board is a specific forum/section of the site that is related to the Category it's located in. For instance, the HUNTING category has a BOARD within it named "Deer Hunting". The "Archery" CATEGORY of the main page has "Bowhunting" as one of the boards within it, and so on. Each BOARD on the MAIN PAGE will give you important information such as the type of topics that are within it (Board Name), the Sub-Boards that are within it (Located underneath the board title/description), the amount of threads within that board (We'll define what a "Thread" is within this tutorial as well), how many "Posts" are within that board (which we'll define as well what a "Post" is vs. A "Thread") and the latest Thread and/or Post (which can be a new thread or a reply to a thread... confused yet? lol) and the Author to which either created a new thread and/or replied to an existing thread within that "Board". Here's what a "board" looks like on the main page:




Now, the only other relevant information on the "Main Page" would be the Menu (located at the very top of the page, which we'll discuss what the menu entails later) and then the "Info Center". The "Info Center" is located at the very bottom of the "Main Page" and under the very last Category and Board that is in that Category. It contains forum specific information such as the latest threads/posts that were most recently added to the site, as well as the current count of members the site has, along with how many total threads and posts in the site and how many members are currently logged in and/or have logged in within the last 24 hours along with several other key pieces of interesting information of the site. The "Info Center" looks like this:

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Ok, now on to discuss what a "Thread" and "Post" are on the site and the difference therein...

A "Thread" is the starting point of a conversation. The original Author will click on a specific board of discussion (Board being previously defined above) and be taken to what is called the "Thread View" page of that specific board. Here you can create your own thread and/or reply to an existing one. 

A "Post" is a term used to describe a specific part of a thread that contains either the very first conversation of a particular thread and/or one of the replies/postings to that particular thread. There can be an unlimited amount of posts per any given thread.


The following screen shot will depict what the "Thread View" page looks like when you click on a specific board within the site, and then it shall outline what each section of this page does and represents...



#1) This is the current "Board" your are in/viewing.

#2) This is the "Create Thread" button which will allow you to do exactly just that... create a thread. In other words create a topic of discussion within this board.

#3) This is what is referred to as a "Pagination" which basically means the pages of threads within this board. You can click on a certain page that continues through the board to show other topics/threads that aren't currently showing on this page. It is a log of previously authored threads from the past.

#4) This is the action bar. You can hover over a specific thread within this board and click on the square that will appear just before the title of the thread you're hovering over. When you click on that box, a check will appear within it. Then, you can select from the dropdown box (that #4 is pointing to) and select the action you'd like to perform. This is helpful when you'd like to show the thread as being read, unread or bookmark that particular thread for future referencing. A great way to stay on top of discussions within the site!

#5) This is the search bar for this particular board. It's function is to search the entire board you're currently in for certain keywords, thread titles, content within the threads of the board etc. It's a great way to quickly find something you're looking for without having to manually search through each thread within the board.

#6) This is the Title of the thread that the original Author created within this board.

#7) This is the original Author's, of that given specific thread, personal Avatar. It's there to help visually identify who originally started the thread (there's also a column specifically called "Created By" to distinguish who the original Author is in text form as well).

#8) This is information pertaining to who last replied/posted to that specific thread. It will display the user's name, and date/time that the last posting took place.


Get familiar with all of these attributes to the site... they're great to know and understand for better/easier use and navigation within the site! 

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Here's a cool new feature that will surely be used a lot. It's the "Like" feature. It serves exactly the same function as the "Like" feature on Facebook. If you like a particular thread or post on the site, just click on the "thumbs up" icon above the post and it will register it as being "liked" by you. The author of that particular thread/post will then be credited with a "like" to their profile which will be displayed within their mini profile any time thereafter. The following screenshot will show where the "thumbs up" or "like" icon is located and where within the mini profile the like will show up:

#1) Is where you will find the "Like" icon, click on that and it will like that specific post.

#2) Is where you will find the "Likes" that the member has to their name within their mini profile (which is displayed every time that user posts on the site. As you can see... mine is currently at zero... so feel free to give me a few lol