Subscriptions
If you subscribe to the lfcventuring.org site all postings can be sent to your email the moment they are posted. That’s another way you can get instant updates without having to come to the website. Make sure to keep the check box marked to receive email notifications of new posts. This is a handy way to get news the moment it’s posted.
Subscribe by entering your email address on the box on the right side of the page. You can unsubscribe at any time using the same box.
Registration
In order to post on the forum Registration is required. To register, click on the “Meta” section on the left side panel of the page. Click on the “Register” link. Select a user name and enter your email address. A confirmation email will be sent along with a password. Use this password when you come back to the site and click on the “Log In” link. After logging in, the “dashboard” will appear which is the administrative section of the website. If you click on “Profile” you can change your password.
Memberships are granted at subscriber levels to everyone.
Subscribers: get email notifications instantly when news is posted and can leave comments. (All Venturers, Venturing Leaders and interested people)
Contributors: can comment and post messages. Postings are reviewed before publishing. (Venturing officers of crews and the Venturing Officers Association)
Authors: can comment and post messages immediately without administrator oversight. (Venturing adult leaders)
Editors: can comment, post messages and edit or delete other’s postings (Venturing adult district senior positions e.g. scouting professionals, commissioners, chairs, etc)
Membership level changes are changed by an administrator upon request. Send a message to Doug Cook (twoeyedox_at_gmail.com), or Bob Melton (bmelton_at_sbcglobal.net) and we will be happy to upgrade your membership. (Change the “_at_” to @ in the above addresses)
Posting a Message
To Post an message click on Log In link on the Meta sidebar on the left side.
If you haven’t registered, click on Register and a password will be emailed to you. You can change this password later.
The Dashboard will appear with different tools. Click on Write and a text entry form appears.
Select a Title, Write the message in the “Post” section. Add a Tag so your entry can be searched easily later. Examples can include VLSC, training, Crew XYZ, Silver Award for the topics your discussing. Also select a category which is similar to Tags. The other options you won’t likely need to use. You can Save the post as a draft or Publish the post immediately. You can even automate the posting to post later by clicking on “Publish Immediately” edit button above “Publish.”
Posting by email
Posting messages by email is a future upgrade that will be available on this site. This convenience would allow postings to be sent by your cell phone if you have email capabilities on your phone. Pictures can be posted as well. Convenient for sending messages and updates from the field.
Comments
Comments allow feedback by others on your posting. Someone may have something additional to contribute in addition to your information. Some one may comment they participated in the event your announcing and loved it – please go.
Pictures
You can upload pictures to accompany your post. You can browse and upload images from your computer. Medium size is usually best for viewing. For alignment, images seem to appear best if you select the left side for their location on the screen. An example might be an image from your trek or award ceremony. A crew group picture or activity.
Images existing on the internet is an option to use but you must follow copyright law’s for images borrowed. If you don’t have permission or don’t know if it’s legal to use it, don’t post.
Some images are available in the Media Library that appears in the popup screen. Adminstrators will delete inappropriate content.
Policy
This forum is subject to the standards for internet publishing as established by the Boy Scouts of America.
http://www.scouting.org/Webmasters/WebStandards.aspx
Postings are moderated. The posting will be reviewed by an administrator before publishing. One of the 3 administrators can approve the posting usually the same day.
What is RSS and how can it help?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Sites that support RSS have this symbol .
You don’t have to visit the website to check for updates. You can subscribe using your browser. For example, do you use Google? If so you can enhance Google buy using iGoogle. This is the same home page with utilities that can give you the day’s weather, gmail if you have it and all your RSS feeds headlined. Sign up for a free Google account and set your search page or home page to iGoogle.com. MyYahoo.com offers a similar service as well – all for free. You can see who this site appears in one configuration. (Click on image for a full size view)
This example shows RSS feeds coming to my Google search page for our council’s Venturing District and Jamboree sites, National BSA and World RSS feeds. You can survey the latest news in one page without traveling to different websites!
Subscribing to RSS feeds
If you click on Add Stuff, you get to this page in iGoogle.
Click on “Add feed or Gadget” located in the lower left side of the page.
It has the icon on it. A popup will appear as shown on the left. Enter the web address of the website and click Add. iGoogle will check and confirm if it can get newsfeeds. Sometimes a more specific address may be needed if iGoogle shows an error.
Here are some important RSS feeds:
World:
http://scout.org/en/rss_feeds
Boy Scouts of America: http://www.scouting.org/Media/PressReleases/2008.aspx?rss=1
Last Frontier Council Venturing District News
http://lfcventuring.org/
Last Frontier Council 2010 Jamboree News
http://lfcjambo.org/