Using This Website: Tips and Tricks

[David MacLeod]

Question:

"One evening last week I was checking out the home page and saw that the blue block in the middle showing the What You Can Do was gone, and what appeared was an announcement for TGU. I thought it looked great, and when I checked the main page on the following day, the page looked like it usually does. Is it not possible to remove the blue block from the home page?"

 

Answer:

Yes, it is possible to remove that blue block that sometimes appears on the home page, and I recommend you do so.  Just click on the little 'x' in the upper right hand corner of the blue block. The block will disappear and you'll see the actual content that we have on the main page.

[David MacLeod]

Hi TW members,

Wow, our membership here is growing fast, and there's lots of activity!

I'm having trouble keeping up with all the new membership approvals, welcome letters, and answering questions here on the site (what a great problem to have!). I also have many responsibilities in life outside of managing this website on a volunteer basis (yes, I do actually have a 40 hour week job on top of all my volunteer work). I'm going to have to cut a bit on my time spent here for at least a little while, so I can complete my mom's taxes, and prepare for a big move to the Transition Birchwood neighborhood at the end of this month. I'll still be here, just a little bit less for a while.

If you have questions about how to use this site, ask the questions here, and hopefully other more experienced users can chime in with help.

Many blessings to you all as we transition from fossil fuel dependence to local and resilient living!

[Heather K]

Thanks David for all you do!

Would you consider this to be one of the 'featured' discussions so that it is easier to find?
In the past I've not been able to refind the discussion. I've clicked the 'follow" so I'll also help out as I'm able.

At some point in the future....post taxes...post moving..post garden planting.....maybe we can figure out a way to organize the information we both share out to folks who ask questions, so we can just refer back to what we previously posted.
I've just shared some tips with Rebecca M on her first blog.

[David MacLeod]

Heather, it is a featured discussion, but it's a reply to an older post, so you have to click on "View All" to see it in the Featured Discussions List. Perhaps we should make a new post, so it sits on top.

Thanks for all of your help you are giving to people trying to navigate this site!

[Heather K]

Yes, try posting a new forum/discussion post with what you wrote earlier today and copy anything relavant from this discussion as part of the response.

In the future we can consider whether a group structure would work better in the long run to store info/directions on sharing guidance on the site....

I have not yet gotton a vision on what would be organizationally the simpliest for us to use and for others to ask their questions. Maybe a forum for folks question, that we answered within a member only group, so that when the same questions appeared we just had to go to our group or blog & cut & paste the answer to the question...If it was a group then other folks could take turns in helping assist with folks questions, instead of them all being directed towards you...( Back in 1977 - I majored in college as a system analyst major and I seem to think systems & patterns & network oriented)

Other thoughts-

I have met recently a small group of Transition folks who are very resistant to using the ning.com site stating that ning is corporately owned and that the informtion of the site is 'mined'.
I'm cautious what I post online so far I'm coping with the transpancy...although there may be many folks who are new that don't know how to set up their privacy options right away...

I like the idea of neighborhoods creating physical bulletin boards that are useful for folks not online, and useful in the future when there may be less access to computers in the home.

Take a look someday at these Transition US discussions for future ideas - both by Les S, but both don't seem to have active use:

Suggestion Box on transition usa by Les S
http://transitionus.ning.com/forum/topics/suggestion-box

Welcome Members & Welcome Groups on Transition US by Les S - http://transitionus.ning.com/forum/topics/welcome-members-and-welcome

Summary - create new forum that will appear at top of featured discussions to be more accessable to wave of new members & group users that may become active on the TW ning site.
In future - lets create a seperate TW group of computer helpers to record/store our answers to questions so we don't have to retype/rethink similiar questions each time.

David MacLeod said:

Heather, it is a featured discussion, but it's a reply to an older post, so you have to click on "View All" to see it in the Featured Discussions List. Perhaps we should make a new post, so it sits on top.

Thanks for all of your help you are giving to people trying to navigate this site!