As promised yesterday, today we'll take on how to make sure you're a member of our region so you get notifications of events and regional messages, etc. If you're already a member of the region (because you were a member during a recent NaNo event), you shouldn't need to worry about this, because that information was already transferred to the new site for you - but you can pop through and check to make sure you're "Homed", just in case.
Just like yesterday, we're using the Community drop down menu. When you click on it, you'll want to mouse down and select "Find a Region". (This is also how you can see what region(s) you're currently a member of, which should have been carried over during the transfer.) You'll see a big map with red dots on the right and then two boxes in the left hand column. The top box lists "My Regions". If it's blank, you're not a member of any region. How do you fix that?
You scroll down to Find a Region. To join us, you click in the search box and start typing USA :: Washington :: Tacoma/Pierce County. (It will likely autofill for you when you get to a certain point and then you can just click on it to select our region.) From here, to make sure you will be able to see our Region Hub when you try to click on "Home Region", you will need to make sure our region is your home (i.e. you are "homed").
The little house icon that's circled, next to our region name, means that I am "homed" to the region. If you don't see that on your screen (perhaps because you only just selected to join the region) just hover your mouse over the box. You'll see two buttons - "Make Home" and "Leave". Just click on the "Make Home" button. (But, please, pretty please, don't click on the leave button... we'll miss you!) Viola! You will now be part of the region and have quick access to our regional hub, messages and events*.
Now that you're a member and homed to our region, you should be able to see our Regional Messages. Those will show up both in the chat box on the main hub that I showed you in
the last post and in your messaging area. There will be notifications when you receive new messages on the site. Where, you may ask?
In the navigation bar at the top of your screen on the main NaNo site, next to your Username, is a chat bubble (which I've circled in purple). That red dot means you have messages (although it is currently always set to "on" and won't clear - they're working on that). When you click on that, you'll be taken directly to the messaging area, which will look like this:
Since you are Homed in our Region, any Regional messages will appear in the box to the right. You can also click on other regions or names in this box to view the messages they've sent (if you are a member of those regions).
Clicking on NaNoWriMO HQ gets you quick message updates from NaNo Headquarters. :) Wondering how you check or send private one to one messages to other users of the NaNo site?
The Private Messaging system is accessed at the bottom of this screen. You can only message someone who is on your Buddies list. You click on their name and then you will be able to send and receive messages in the large box on the right.
You will find that all of your buddies have been removed from your list. (So sad. :( - Not really. They just couldn't port that info over.) As one of your MLs, I am quite happy to buddy any SockMonkey Writers who would like to add me to their Buddy list (but it's not required). Just click on my screenname in the MLs box to visit my profile and then click the "Send Invitation" button. (To find buddies you had before, try searching for their screenname in the "Search for users" bar at the top of the screen.)
You can click this little bell to see notifications of accepted Buddy requests, badges won or anything else you choose. (Although it does not tell you if you have a Buddy request. You have to answer those from the "Buddies" page on your profile.)
Phew! I hope that wasn't too long. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments or send them via the comments box on the side. More information coming soon.
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*Yes, events! There is now an integrated calendar that's part of the NaNo site. Regional events will be posted there. A tutorial like this one for how to check for events and how to create one of your own for approval and addition to the calendar will be posted soon.
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