New Users's Guide To Spymac.com Pt. 1

In a five part series, we will be outlining Spymac.com and how to use its system and services. New users to the website often have issues when it comes to posting, navigation, and verifying settings. There are also a lot of features they are not tapping. The Web Operating System (WOS) is amazing and full of features that completely immerse the user. When used properly you can customize the system and make it work for you. The five part series consists of:

1. Verifying the “Options” Panel, Forum Basics, Common Rules and the main news page and its categories.
2. In depth look at "Managers" (Forum, Gallery, Notes, Friends, and Tools) and how to find more about certain users via their Avatar or Profile.
3. In depth look at "Managers" (Forum, Gallery, Notes, Friends, and Tools) and how to find more about certain users via their Avatar or Profile.
4. Navigating the Gallery, creating a member forum and gallery. Uploading pictures properly and using “Trackers” system and using the Blog.
5. Email, Wheel, Support system, and proper way to praise / make complaints about Spymac’s services.

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Day-1:

Welcome to Spymac; the world’s largest online community of Mac and PC users. Spymac offers services, news, gallery to store and share your photos and a vibrant community with thousands of users online at any time to offer conversation, assistance or just lend an ear in times of excitement or disappointment. Right now you have created an account and verified your e-mail but you have no idea where to go and what to do. The Spymac interface can be overwhelming with tons of things that are clickable. With thousands of users online if you even go to the bathroom, you have missed the entire conversation; before you venture into the Spymac wild let’s make sure your settings are correct.

Click “Options”(located in the black bar at the top of the screen) and open each drop down menu putting as much information as you are willing to divulge. If you don’t want to give really personal information, lie. There are certain services that will not work if you have entered certain bits of content in the Options area. Start with “Profile” then move on to the demographics, and other info. Wheel, MailPro and Hosting info should mean nothing to you right now so disregard that, and if you are confused, just ignore it but most things are self explanatory. Also be sure to sync your computer’s time with Spymac’s by clicking "Account Information" and checking the time box then hitting submit so forum posts and things that display time are in accordance with your time zone. After you have modified your Options, things should work a lot better.

Even if you joined Spymac for E-mail, you will use the Forum eventually. It is there in your face begging to be explored but there are some basic rules to posting in the forums that many do not even notice. When you agree to the Spymac Terms of Service (TOS), you are agreeing to things that can get you in trouble. Don’t complain if you get a warning or suspension for breaking the rules. Spymac is run on privately owned servers and they have rights to use discretion on who can use their service. Keep a few things in mind that you can’t do.

1. Spam the Forums by double posting a topic in two different forum rooms.
2. Spam by posting a plug or similar reply in different threads.
3. Use all caps in thread titles or in posts. This is not an official rule but will cause some problems with other users.
4. Use bad language of any kind. Certain words are allowed but you may hear from a mod or your post will be edited by a mod if the context of that word is inappropriate.
5. Post nude photos or suggestive photos. You can post link to certain photos as long as there is a description of what they are clicking. Even then, it is iffy.
6. Talk about other Spymac members. If it is praise, the rules tend to bend but if you are talking bad about a member the post will be deleted and you may get a note from a mod (more about notes later).
7. Finally, if your current or future son or daughter that is under 12 is not allowed to read what you wrote then you should probably not post it. This covers the above rules but some content gets past the system’s censorship filters, but you will get on the bad side of moderators and other members if these rules are broken.

Now that you understand what not to do on the Forums / Gallery; let’s move on to how to post / reply in the Forum. Spymac moves very fast. If you post a new topic with a question or a conversation starter, within minutes at least 20 people would have viewed that topic and two people have replied. If a conversation starts, in 30 minutes you will have 200 views and 20 replies. Things move fast and this can be good or bad. Post-new topics with plenty of thought behind them. Since it is the initial post, try to use good spelling, grammar and post legitimate question and answer in the topic. Trust me, the users will let you know if the topic is dumb and it will quickly be ignored. I suggest just replying to topics in different areas of Spymac until you get fifty posts under your belt then try to be the conversation starter. You will get a feel where to post and what topics typically start with and appropriate topics.

Click the “Forums” tab at the top of the page (make sure you are logged in to Spymac first) and the forums will load. You see a section for computing, hanging out, creativity, technology, tech support and more. There is so much to do so spend 20 minutes in each room just reading and posting if necessary. Avoid creating a topic, “I love Spymac” or “First Post”. People will congratulate you but you will quickly get some complaints. In addition, the previous are against the TOS and the thread may be locked. We recommend using the Longest Thread Ever (located in the Lounge). Try every room and get an idea of what kind of topics are posted in each. It won’t take long to decide what your favorite rooms are. You can navigate room to room from a drop down menu at the top of each room. You can also use the left sidebar to go to different sections of the forum. A final way to navigate is looking to the right sidebar and you see, “Recent Posts”. You can check new threads and active threads over there and check each one out. If you stay in the Lounge the entire day, clicking a thread in “Recent Posts” will give you some diversity in your posting.

When you are ready to reply to a thread, you can use Quick Reply or the button that says “Reply”. With quick reply, pro Spymac users can type in different code to create smilies, post images, links or make their text italic or bold. Basic users can just type in a reply in plain text. I suggest trying both but if you want to post a link, image or add a smilie click “Reply” and hit all of the buttons just to get a feel for the additions you can make to a post.

When creating a topic, make the title without multiple CAPS or “!!!!” or a long title (keep it under 25 characters) because it may be locked and it is better to keep the topic descriptive and to the point. This only makes the viewer not want to read it. Secondly, look below the title and put the topic in the correct room. IPod hardware questions go in “Hardware Central”, OS X questions go in “Software Central”, and “what are you doing for New Years” threads go in “Lounge”. I could go on all day but this is a basic idea for appropriate posting. The time you spent in each room will give you an idea where to put your topics. Then, post a great initial post. If you need tech support, give a problem, with system type, kind of problem and any info you can give to help readers help you. If you post a link, try to post a text URL by clicking “Link” in the title bar. After you have written your topic, hit “Preview” to make sure it comes out properly. Happy? Now hit submit. You have created your first topic you can track its progress in the “Forum Manager” (more on this next time), and avoid bumping the topic. If the topic dies after two days (if you are lucky), let it go and don’t repost unless there is a post there that requires a response from you. If you come back a week later just to bring it back to the top of the list, this is against the rules in the Spymac TOS and the thread will be closed.

The main page of Spymac.com has undergone many changes in the past and the following is navigating the main page on November 2004. The page is full of ads and so is the rest of the site. It could be worse but if you purchase MailPro or Spymac’s Wheel services the ads will go away so keep that in mind. The top of the page consists of technology news. Important articles have different brightness icons at the head of the article. Important news will have a light yellow box surrounding the opening text. You can click the title of the story for the full news article and click “Discuss” or “x Comments” to be directed to the Forum thread relating to this. The right side of the main page is articles and are industry related articles that cover how-to, reviews or more in-depth features on news of that week. Scrolling down, you see pictures. These are the most recent posts in Spymac’s Gallery (a user powered system that you and others can post pictures in (as long as they are within the rules of the TOS) and get feedback and ratings from other users. You can post private pics as well. More on the Gallery later.) and you can click these to go to that picture.

Down further, is the community corner. This is a section that highlights, Member Forums, Blogs, and community based events and is a great way to learn more about your fellow Spymac members and the happenings of Spymac. To the left of that is the Member Spotlight of the week and Weekly Playlist. Two great sections where Spymac’s Kristie Masuda interviews a member and the other is a user submitted favorite songs. It is great to learn more about the other users you talk to daily in the forums. All entries you can discuss in the forum and engage in even more conversations with members. The news and community articles spark topics that users typically do not discuss.

Part 2 gives you an in-depth look at Spymac's manager system and how to harness their power. You are in total control with the managers and make Spymac work for you.