Post pictures
You can post images onto forum posts. Everyone loves a good picture so here's a step-by-step guide.
Click ‘reply’ if responding to a specific comment. This will open this box which can also been seen at the bottom of the page:
Click the ‘Use rich formatting’ link on the bottom right.
This will take you to the editing screen:
Click the green icon (it should say ‘insert/edit media’ when you hover over it). This will take you to an upload window:
Select ‘Computer (Upload)’ and click ‘Browse’ to find the image you want on your computer’s hard drive.
Note: When choosing a photo, try and ensure it’s not too massive! Less than 2mb is preferable as this is less likely to make your upload fail.
When you have selected an image it should appear in a the window as here:
This feature can be temperamental so if your upload fails your best bet is to just try again until it is successful.
Click insert and the image will be included on your post.
Insert a video
Currently our community does not support video uploads but you can post YouTube or Vimeo videos into your forum posts (or blogs if you are a blog administrator) using hyperlinks.
This will take you to this screen:
Click the green icon (it should say ‘insert/edit media’ when you hover over it). This will take you to this screen:
Select ‘YouTube or Web URL’ from the drop down list, Then post the full website address of the YouTube/Vimeo video into the ‘file’ box. Press enter and a thumbnail of a video should appear in the ‘Preview’ box.
Click ‘insert’ and the video should appear in your forum/blog post.
Insert a hyperlink
Click ‘reply’ if responding to a specific comment. This will open this comment box which can also been seen at the bottom of the page:
When you have written some text you can highlight this and the hyperlink icon in this tool bar will become active (it looks like a link in a chain).
Select the text that you want to turn into a hyperlink and click this icon. This will make this window appear:
In the ‘Link URL’ field paste in the website address you want to link to. Click ‘insert’ and the link will appear.
Request friendship
You don't have to be friends with anyone on the Community, but it can make for a richer experience if you are.
First, you need to have a Community account.
Once signed in, there are a couple of ways to request friendship.
1) From their profile page
Find your friends profile page (by clicking on their name).
click the 'add as friend' link that is on the right hand side of the screen level with their name:
A message box will pop up with their name already filled in.
Write your friendly 'hello' message then press 'send request':
2) By hovering over their name
Simply hover over a 'friends' name and a dropdown will appear with the option to 'add as a friend'.
Click the link and a message box will pop up. Write your message then press 'send request'
Sit back and wait for them to accept your request.
Like a comment
Sometimes you don't want to write a comment, but you do want to show your appreciation for something.
You can 'like' forum posts, photos and blog posts.
Simply look out for the little thumbs up symbol and click on it next time you come across some content you really like:
If you're the first to like something, '1' will appear next to the icon:
If you click on the number, you can see who has also liked a post:
If you accidentally 'like' something, simply click the 'unlike' link and no-one will be any the wiser!
You can keep track of you 'likes' under the 'likes' tab on your profile.
Send a private message
To send someone a private message you need to be friends with them (see how to: request friendship)
Once you are 'friends'- their name will appear in the 'friends' tab on your profile page - there are a number of ways you can send them a message.
1) By hovering over their name
Simply hover over a 'friends' name and a dropdown will appear with the option to 'send a private message'
Click the link and a message box will pop up with their name already filled in.
Write your message then press 'send message'.
2) From their profile page
click the 'send a private message' link that is on the right hand side of the screen level with their name.
3) From your inbox
If you know the name of the person you want to message, you can use the message facility straight from your 'inbox'.
Click the 'inbox' link at the very top of the screen. This should dropdown a quick list of your most recent messages.
By clicking 'see more' you will be taken to your full inbox. Hit the 'new message' button, which is situated in the left hand column under the navigation bar.
You will need to type in the name of the recipient. The rest of the fields should be filled out as above.
Empty your cache
Sometimes a webpage may have a problem but even when it is fixed it may be stored in your browsers memory or ‘cache’. This means whenever you go back to the page you get the same error message because your browser uses the memory of the broken page. If you hit problems like this emptying your cache is usually a good place to start.
How you can do this varies a lot from one browser to another, but I have covered some different ones here:
In Internet Explorer 8
Click the ‘tools’ button and this menu will appear
Select ‘internet options’ and you should see this:
Under ‘Browsing history’ is the ‘Delete’ button. Click this:
Ensure that the Temporary Internet files and Cookies are selected and click ‘Delete’.
Go back to the page where you found the original error and press Ctrl+F5 on your keyboard just to make sure that you refresh the page.
In Google Chrome
Click the three horizontal line menu logo in the top right of the screen:
Select ‘History’. From the next menu select ‘clear browsing data’:
On the next menu ensure the ‘Delete cookies...’ and ‘Empty the cache’ :
Click ‘clear browsing data’ and return to the page causing problems.
Press Ctrl+F5 on your keyboard to refresh the page.
In Firefox
Select history from the menu at the top of the screen:
Select ‘clear recent history’ and the following will appear:
Select Cookies and Cache from the list and select ‘clear now’.
Return to the page you had an error or problems on before. Press Ctrl+F5 to refresh the page.
Note: If I haven’t covered the browser you use you can see a list of how to empty the cache for lots more browsers on Wikihow.
Report abuse
This site is a community to share enthusiasm for nature and to help to protect it. We ask that people treat fellow forum members with the respect and courtesy they would expect to receive themselves.
In order for all forum members to get the most out of this site, we have produced a set of terms and conditions, which we ask people to stick to. These can be found via the link below: http://www.rspb.org.uk/help/community/terms.aspx
If you come across a post, which you believe breaks our terms and conditions or is offensive or anti-social, you can flag this material using the 'Report abuse' function. All posts have this function.
Simply click on the ‘Flag as spam/abuse’ text at the bottom of the post.
This will then bring the content to the attention of RSPB community moderators who will take the appropriate action.
Reply using rich formatting
Not only can you reply to threads in a standard way, you can also reply using rich formatting which allows you to change various things such as font size, colour, type as well as inserting bullet and numbering points, inserting video and photographs and tags.
To use rich formatting first click on “Use rich formatting” under the message box:
From here you can change various things, as follows:
B = make your writing BOLD
I = make your writing Italic
U = make your writing underlined
You can also:
Or:
Photos and videos can be added as explained at the start of this thread and you can even quote from a previous post if you are responding to a specific comment, do this by clicking the “Quote” button here:
Remember to initially click “Reply” to the specific person you want to quote from to do this however.
Tags can be embedded here:
Tags are used to link specific words that feature in your work, by tagging these words it makes it easier for others to find specific discussions or topics when browsing the internet. Simply enter the words you think are most appropriate to the discussion with this symbol in-between each word - ;
For example: osprey; bird of prey; Loch Garten; bird; Scotland
One you have finished you can preview you post by clicking here:
You can select to receive replies to this post by e-mail by clicking and then when you want to post it click “Post”
Starting a thread
You can only start a thread if you are signed in to the community. Look for the words ‘sign in’ at the top right hand corner. It should take you to the sign in page. If you are not signed up then click ‘Register’ to set up a community account.
Once you are signed in you need to find an appropriate forum for your thread. The blue bar along the top of the page is the key navigation aid, the different titles will lead you to different areas where the forums are located. Let’s use ‘wildlife’ as the example, click on ‘wildlife’.
Once you have landed in the wildlife section you will need to select the tab for forums, the third tab from the right below the ‘Wildlife’ title. Below this you will see a list of forums starting with ‘All creatures’. If that is where you want to post click ‘All creatures’.
Starting a new thread is now possible and simply requires you to press the blue tab saying ‘new thread’.
Once you have the above screen up, add your desired title in the field marked ‘subject’ and then the content you wish to share in the next field, add any relevant tags and then click the blue button marked ‘post’. Your newly created thread will be visible in the 'all creatures' forum list and also on the ‘Community Home’ page, which you can always get to from the blue navigation bar.
Stop email notifications
If you would prefer not to receive email notifications from threads simply:1) Go up to the top of the page and click on Settings in the black bar.2) You will now see a page with BASIC INFORMATION, above this are tabs that include: Basic Options, Advanced Options, Sign in information, E-mail and Notifications. Click on E-MAIL.3) You will now see the following screen:You can now select (tick) or deselect (untick) which emails you wish to receive.4) You can also stop receiving email notifications from specific threads, all you need do is click on ‘Reply notifications are on’. This is on the right hand side under options (see below). This will now say Reply notifications are off. If you want to receive emails from a thread then all you need do is click on Reply notifications are off, this will now say Reply notifications are on and will receive email notifications when people reply to this thread.When you get sent an email notiifcation from a thread, you can also opt out from receiving emails from a particulat thread by clicking on Stop receiving emails.