American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)
http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/

Keeping in touch with the community
http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20902
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Author:  Christian Hecht [ Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Keeping in touch with the community

Gentlemen,
some recent conversations led me behind with the impression that at least some parts of the community use the board more casual and not to the best of its abilities.
That is why I want to point out some important things regarding the board so the every member keeps in touch with the community in the best possible way.


01. Always login
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Here you see the login screen, if you put in you username & password it's essential to mark the upper box so that you are automatically logged in every time you visit the board. If you are not logged in any visit to the board will not be recognized and by that things like subscriptions won't work at all what will let you drift out of touch with the community.


02. Check your private messages
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After the login you land in the main board page, here in the upper left you can not only see if are logged in but right of it you see if you got any private messages. Private messages or PMs may be the last straw for someone to contact you if mail contact failed, that is why you should not only check if you got some also set other board settings not make sure you will know if you got one.


03. Keeping in touch with topics
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If you brows the board and find something interesting that you want to follow or even contribute to, you have to make sure that you click on the "Subscribe topic" text, That will make sure that, with the correct board settings, you get notified if a new post is done in that thread, that will make you keep in touch with running discussion or conversations that the community handles.


04. Off board contact possibilities
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If you click on "User Control Panel" in the upper right you get into a section that allows you extensively that adjust the board like you see fit. In the "Profile" section there is the possibility to add various off board ways of keeping in touch with the community. If you use some of it you should enter your informations so that other board members can contact you over these off board ways.


05. Essential board settings
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Also on the "User Control Panel" page is the "Board preferences" section in witch the "Edit global settings" sub-section is. In here are various essential settings that you should set to the way the screenshot shows.
1st setting is to allow users to contact you by mail, that allows users to use the boards mail function what can be helpful if normal mail traffic fails for some reasons.
2nd setting is to allow the Administrator to send you mails, that is helpful in case the board will run maintenance or other things that will have a board wide impact but the Admin might also contact you to solve any kind of problems you have with the board so it is essential to keep that line of communication open.
3rd setting is to allow users to send you PMs, above was already mentioned that this is a useful contact way besides the usual mail traffic and also besides any off board contact way. For this to work you have to allow users to send you Private messages.
5th setting is to make sure you get notified if someone tries to contact you over a PM, as PMs are only an on-board contact function you would only be aware that you got one if visiting the board, that's why it is essential to allow the board to notify you about such a PM so that you visit the board to read the PM or else the PM would lay there forever.
6th setting is a last line of notification about PMs if other ways fail. In case neither a notification about a PM reached you and nor you actively checked for PMs it is essential to allow a pop up window to fire if there is a PM for you. In case you use any kind of popup-blocker you should add the board as exception so that the pop-up window works as intended.


06. Keeping in touch with topics you contributed to
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Still in the "User Control Panel" page and the "Board preferences" section is the sub-section "Edit posting defaults". In here is one very essential setting that you should set to the way the screenshot shows.
The 4th setting will make sure that you get notified by default on topics that you posted in. So if you take part in any discussion & conversation on the board these topics will be automatically subscribed and you will be notified once a new post is added to them. This is very essential as you obviously want to keep in touch with any topics that you contributed to, it is also very practical as you won't have to subscribe manually to that topics like described above under point "03. Keeping in touch with topics".


Hopefully this is helpful to new and old members to better keep in touch with the community.
Comments are welcome.

Author:  Jim Boling [ Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Keeping in touch with the community

Great tips for site management... many thanks!

Author:  Walt Dortch [ Fri Nov 06, 2020 12:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Keeping in touch with the community

General Hecht <salute>

Very helpful material sir.

Do you have it in a document format that you can send by email? If so, I would be delighted if you would send it to me at: waltdortch@gmail.com

Best regards,

Author:  Christian Hecht [ Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Keeping in touch with the community

Sorry, this was purely done online, no offline files exist.

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