About the community and latest Vodafone news

[Tom]

Hello!

As well as the being able to post on the forum, there are a number of new features you can unlock by rising through the ranking structure. This thread details those features, as well as some general ones like how to use the search function.

If you've just earned a new rank and unlocked a feature, congratulations! Our community likes to applaud helpful contribution, so you may wish to send a private message to thesoupdragon to let him know.

• Search
• Subscriptions
• Signatures
• Private Messaging
• Tagging
• Kudos
• Accepted Solutions
• Avatars
• Image Approval
• Moving Posts
• eForum support via Facebook

[Tom]

What is it? 

The ability to search existing content on the forum to find the discussion you're looking for.

When is it available?

Search is available for everyone whether you're registered or not.

How do I use it? 

Just enter your search query into the box at the top of the main menu, or in any individual board or category. There's a dropdown at the side of the text box which allows you to choose where you're searching, either in the individual board you're in or across the whole forum.

We tag all handset posts with the manufacturer, model and scenario, so keep your searches simple but include these items, eg. "Samsung Galaxy MMS". 

As you enter your search query, a list of suggestions will appear below the text box- you can jump to a result straight from there or view the full results page and navigate through.

You can also use the dropdown to search for a specific user on the forum, if you wanted to find a certain post of theirs or send them a message.

[Tom]

What is it?

An email alert function which lets you know when a topic that's of interest to you is updated on the forum. We also use subscriptions for things like the Faults Board and any matters where we promise to come back with an update, eg. when we're low on stock of a device.

When is it available?

It's available to anybody who's registered from the first day you join.

How do I use it?

When submitting a new post, you can check the box on the right hand side of the screen to subscribe yourself to the topic there and then.

Alternatively if there's a thread already on the forum you'd like to subscribe to, just go into it, click the Topic Options menu and then choose subscribe from the list.

To manage the way you're alerted to any subscriptions you've requested, from the main menu, click My eForum Settings on the right hand side and then choose the Subscriptions and Bookmarks tab. You can change settings like how often you're notified and what the notifications contain. You can even set it up so that you automatically subscribe to all of your own topics.

[Tom]

What is it?

Signatures allow you to have a predefined message at the bottom of your posts, such as a personal slogan or a list of handsets you've owned. Some people even use them to ask for kudos and accepted solutions for good posts.

When is it available?

Signatures are available to all members except those with a "Scout" or "Poster" rank.

How do I use it?

To edit your signature, from the main page of the forum, just click My eForum Settings and then Personal Information from the items listed across the screen. Once you've unlocked signatures, there'll be a box there where you can enter yours.

You can use basic HTML in signatures to spruce them up a little. If you don't know how to write HTML, just start a new topic or reply on the forum, design the signature you'd like on the "Rich Text" tab, then when you're finished, switch to the HTML tab. You can then copy and paste this into the entry box for your signature. You can even add images from your gallery using HTML, just make sure they're no taller than 62 pixels as they'll get chopped otherwise.

[Tom]

What is it?

The ability to send messages to other members on the forum privately.

When is it available?

This feature is available once you've reached the Established Poster rank. People with the First Poster, Occasional Poster or New Arrival ranks are the only ones on the forum who can't use this.

How do I use it?

To send a message to another member, click on their name anywhere on the forum to open their profile. On the right hand side, you'll see the option for "Send this user a private message". Type your message out as you would do a post and then hit the send button when you're ready.

It's worth noting that there are some settings you can change around Private Messaging within your eForum Settings page, under the Preferences tab and then the Private Messenger header. In there you can choose to completely disable private messaging (so that others can't message you), you can decide how many to display per page in your inbox, and you can choose whether or not to be alerted by email when you receive a new message. I'd recommend enabling this for now, as there's not currently anything visible on the forum to notify you when you have a new message. We're looking to change this in the future, but for now you can use this link to check your inbox.

How do I access my Private Message inbox?

In the future there'll be a private messages link within the login panel on the main page of the forum, but until then, click the link just above, or the one in the announcement on the right hand side of the main page.

You can also click anyone's username and click the send message option in their profile, but rather than sending a message, just click the inbox tab along the top.

[Tom]

What is it?

The ability to mark posts with keywords to help with searching on the forum. When a user searches for a specific phrase, any posts tagged with words in that phrase will appear first in the results.

When is it available?

Tagging is available to everyone once you've posted for the first time.

How do I use it?

The idea of tags is that the post creator, or another member who is able to tag, picks key words from a post and "tags" them against it. Any user then searching for similar words will get the most relevant tagged posts at the top of their results.

The eForum Team will be applying tags to new topics on the forum which are device specific, eg. for a post about sending picture messages on a Samsung Galaxy S, we'll tag "Samsung", "GalaxyS" and "MMS". If you'd like any advice on what kinds of words to use in tags, take a look at the ones we apply, but generally, stick to manufacturers, devices and key scenarios. Avoid words like "the", "and" or even "issue" or "problem" as these won't help to single out particular scenarios. Also, use commas to seperate tags e.g. 'iPhone, network, settings'. 

The number of tags you add counts towards your forum ranking, so by tagging posts you'll unlock other new features in this list.

You can also use tag searching to create a virtual board within a larger section. Say for example you wanted to see only posts about Nokia N900, in the Nokia board, you can click on "n900" in the top tags on the right hand side, then halfway down the next page click on "View All". You'll then see this page which is all posts tagged with N900 in time order, which you could bookmark for quick access in the future. You can do the same with any other tag and section on the forum.

[Tom]

What is it?

Kudos is the way to reward great participation on the site. Giving kudos is like saying thankyou to someone who's provided help.

When is it available?

Once you've posted for the first time.

How do I use it?

When someone writes a post you'd like to reward, just click the little star icon under a poster's username and this will award them one kudo. You can only kudo each post once, but you can reward the same user on their other posts as many times as you like.

Kudos counts towards a monthly leaderboard you'll see on the right hand side of the main forum page as well as on individual boards. You can check out the entire kudos leaderboard here too.

As you receive kudos from other members, you'll rise up the rankings and unlock new features, but better still, by awarding kudos to others you'll actually increase your own ranking too. When you reach the very highest ranking levels, the kudos you give to others will be doubled or even trebled in power!

[Tom]

What is it?

Marking a post as the accepted sollution:

• allows other users to quickly find the most important information
• rewards the user who has posted the correct answer

Posts are marked as solutions by the origional poster in a thread or by the eForum team.

When is it available?

Accepted solutions are available once you've made your first post, but naturally the button will only appear on threads you created.

How do I use it?

If you're satisfied with an answer provided to you, just click "Accept As Solution" below the post. Whilst you're there, consider awarding some kudos to the member who helped you too.

When navigating the forum, you can spot threads which have been marked with an accepted solution as they'll have a green tick next to their title. If you enter the thread, you can jump straight to the answer by clicking on the "Go to solution" link in the first post.

Accepted solutions are the most valuable contributions on the forum. By providing answers to other people and them being marked as accepted solutions, you'll rapidly rise up the forum rankings and unlock new stuff!

What happens if the incorrect answer is marked as a solution

If the answer marked as a solution is incorrect, post in the thread to let us know and we'll continue to help.

[Tom]

What is it?

Your avatar is your profile image which appears to the left of your posts on the forum. Avatars are a great way of adding personality and identity to your forum account.

When is it available?

There are a selection of stock avatars available right away, but once you reach the Contributor ranks you'll be able to use your own uploaded images as avatars too! Alternatively, You can import your Facebook profile image by connecting your forum account to your Facebook account in settings.

How do I use it? 

To pick your avatar, just head over to My eForum Settings and select the Avatars tab. You can then switch between the standard avatar gallery, images you've uploaded or images on the web.

Once you unlock the feature, please make yourself familiar with the new Terms and Conditions which cover what you can and can't use as your avatar.

[Tom]

What is it?

 When you upload images to the forum as part of your posts, they normally have to be approved by a moderator before they're visible to everyone else. This feature lets you bypass that moderation step.

When is it available?

This is available to the Freelancer rank and above.

How do I use it?

There's not really anything to it- you just post an image as you normally would and it'll be visible to all right away. One thing, please always consider the Terms and Conditions when uploading images.

[Tom]

What is it?

The ability to move posts between forum sections.

When is it available?

Mentor ranks and above are able to use this feature.

How do I use it?

If you spot a post which you feel isn't in the right area of the forum, you'll be able to move it to the relevant section.

To do this, open the thread you want to move and click "Post Options" by the original post if you want to move the entire thread (if you want to move an individual post from later on, or a section of the thread then select the earliest entry out of those).

Under Post Options, select "Move Message" and a new screen will appear.

On this screen, check the second box for "leave a placeholder" and then under "destination action" decide whether you're starting a new topic in the new location, or whether you're merging the posts with an existing thread. If you're merging, you'll need the message ID which you'll see in the URL bar. The message ID for this thread as an example is 683455.

If you're not merging but starting a new thread, choose the destination forum from the tree visible below, then when you're ready, click move post.

[Tom]

What is it?

This is the ability to approve or reject images that other users upload to the forum.

When is it available?

Scholar ranks and above can use this ability. 

How do I use it?

From the main forum menu, take a look at the Image Moderation console on the right hand side (this is only visible once you've unlocked the feature).

You'll then see if there are any images awaiting approval (it'll say "1 unmoderated" or more) and can click "Image Console" to go through to another page where you can see all of the uploaded images.

Click on the image you want to look at and then select "Image Options" and choose "approve" or "reject" depending on the content of the image. If the image isn't appropriate, please make sure you use "reject" rather than "delete" as the team may need to take further action and so need to see the image. 

Please always consider the Terms and Conditions when approving images.

[JD]

What is it?

Support on our Facebook page is now easier than ever, thanks to our new eForum app. The app allows you to post on the eForum without having to visit or register for the site, simply by using your Facebook login and the Support tab on our Facebook page. It's quick and easy to use and has some other advantages too:

Asking a question checks for answers in the community - As you ask your question, the app checks in case there's already an answer available, making it even quicker for you to get the info you need. If the answer isn't there, you can comment on existing posts or continue and start a brand new one using your Facebook login.

My Posts tab - The discussions on our Facebook wall move so fast that sometimes it might seem like your comments have been removed, when in fact they're just a long way down the page. The My Posts tab in the Support app means that with one click you can see all of your previous posts quickly and easily.

Notifications when someone replies - The most important thing to us is you receiving an answer to your question. Choose to receive an email alert when someone replies and you'll be notified right away when there's useful information available.

When is it available?

Right now

How do I use it?

To get started, simply type your query into the text box above and click the "Ask" button. Any topics we feel might be of use to you will be displayed below, but if you'd like to continue to create a new post, simply click the "Continue" button, enter the details of your query and select the category from the dropdown box which best suits it.

If you'd like to be alerted by email when you've received a response, check the box next to "Email me when someone replies". Click the post button when ready. 

If you're using the app for the first time, you'll need to authorise it to connect your Facebook account to the Vodafone eForum by clicking the "Log In" button.

Your query will be visible on the app shortly after by clicking on the "My Posts" tab. It will also be visible on the Vodafone eForum. You can click the "My Posts" tab to see your post after a short while, and a member of the community or one of the eForum Team will respond to your query as soon as possible.