The absolute myriad of options you can set for your profile can be a little overwhelming.  Here are some common things you might want to know about to make things hopefully a little less confusing.

What information do I need to sign up?

The only information you need to provide is a username and a valid email address.  When you sign up, an email will be sent to you which will allow you to set your initial password.

How do I set a forum signature?

A forum signature displays at the bottom of each post you make on the forums.  When logged in, you can set this by clicking on “User Profile” in the top menu, scrolling to the bottom, adding text into the “Your Forum Signature” and clicking “Update Profile”.

How do I set an “about author” description?

Your author biography is separate from your forum signature, and displays at the bottom of every news article you make for the front page.  You can update this when logged in by clicking on “User Profile”, scrolling to about half way down to the box that says “Biographical Info”, putting in whatever text you want, scrolling to the bottom and click “Update Profile”.

How do I upload a profile picture?

Your account may have already picked up a profile picture if your email address is recognised by the WordPress Gravatar service.  If it has and you are happy to use this, you don’t have to do a thing.  Otherwise, when logged in, click on “User Profile”, scroll all the way to the bottom where you will see an “Upload Avatar” box, click on “Upload” to find the file you want, then click on “Update Profile”.

How do I enable two factor authentication?

To enhance the security of your account, two factor authentication is available.  This can be paired with most authentication apps, including Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator or Authy.  Once logged in, click on “User Profile”, scroll a bit over half way down until you find “Wordfence Login Security”, and click on “Activate 2FA”.  It is recommended you save the recovery codes somewhere secure in case you lose access to your app so that you are not locked out of your account!  Once done, follow the instructions for your chosen app to scan the QR code on the screen, then enter the code that appears just below the recovery codes, then click activate.  Every time you log in from that point on, you’ll be asked to enter the code that displays in your authenticator app.

How do I submit a news item for the front page?

Users who are logged into the site can submit news for inclusion on the front page.  You can do this by clicking on “Submit News” in the menu bar.  Here, you’ll be able to enter a title, the contents of your article, select an appropriate category, tag the post, and add a featured image.  Once you submit, this will then go into the approval queue.  Assuming it gets approved, it will then go onto the front page!  Note that this is a manual process, so please be patient.

Here’s a few tips for you to get the most out of this.

• Featured images are optional.  Our moderators will add one when approving the post if needed.
• Featured images will only display on the front page, not on the post itself.
• Featured images that are roughly square work best.
• While images will be optimised when they’re uploaded, we’d still appreciate it if you didn’t upload images that are insanely high resolution or have large file sizes.  Tools like GIMP or ArtWeaver have free versions that you can use to reduce file sizes and resolutions to more sensible levels.
• For articles, pasting or writing a short summary (maybe 40-50 words) and then linking to the full article is best.
• For themed days like Tunesday, you only need to copy and paste the YouTube link in.  It won’t display the player on the form, but when someone clicks on the article from the front page, they’ll see the YouTube player in all its glory!

Can I become a moderator or admin of this fine establishment?

If you ask or beg for moderator or admin rights, the answer is likely to be no.  We already have a team of admins and moderators.  If we feel we need more assistance with the site, then we will approach other trusted individuals on a case by case basis to establish whether they are keen to play a part.