New Users's Guide To Spymac.com Pt. 4

In a five part series, we will be outlining Spymac.com and how to use its system and services. New users to the website have issues when it comes to posting, navigation verifying settings and 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 take control of the system and make it work for you. The five part series will consist of:

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Day-4:

Most users join for E-mail but the second most thing that brings users in is the Gallery. You can view different categories, events, and users’ pictures and even add your own. The melting pot is full of art, events and computer setups of the past three years. Can’t wait to start browsing and add your own art? With the first part of this section I will explain how to upload pictures properly and safely, creating your own suitcase for private images and browsing the gallery.

Standard users have 125Mbs of space as of this writing. Wheel users have 250Mbs of space for uploading. To get started click the “Gallery” tab at the top of the Spymac website. The gallery has recent pictures at the top. The left sidebar will have Gallery categories; there is a gallery navigation drop down and “Recent Pictures” on the right sidebar. You can also scroll down and see random pictures old and new. Start by navigating through the gallery and get an idea of the pictures in each category. Knowing where to post is very important and it makes the job of moderators easier if the images are posted in the correct section. Also if you post a computer picture in cars area, then you are less likely get many views or comments about the image.

After that, click “Add Picture” at the top of the Gallery page. You can see your available space in the Gallery. New users should have all of their space and it is shown in Kbs (kilobytes), so 40,000 Kbs used means that you have used 40 megabytes of your space. Below that you can “Choose File” to upload. The gallery support pictures as well as PDFs, Movies and MP3 and WAV files. PDFs and audio/ video files cannot be displayed in the gallery. Users have to click these files to open them. Beware, uploading a 100-megabyte movie will almost fill up your gallery space. If you need that much space, find another means of sharing the file.

You need to title your picture with an appropriate one and relating to the image displayed. Also, keep titles short and to the point. If you need to explain the image, put that in the description box. Use the drop down menu to put the image in the appropriate category. Read through the entire list if you are a new user so you know the appropriate place to upload. You have a choice to put it in your Suitcase. The Suitcase is a special section not public unless a user goes to your gallery directly. Typical browsers of the forum will not find it. If you would like to add a picture for your own archival you can choose to make the picture invisible. This keeps it invisible from everyone but you.

Finally, you have to check that you have read and understand the Spymac Terms of Service”. If you check that (which you will to upload), that means they can delete your picture and decide on appropriate punishment for pictures that break the TOS. Hit submit and the upload process begins. If it takes a while, just wait. Unless you get an error, the image should go through correctly. It is automatically resized for thumbnail, general size and original resolution. Note: you can see the image full size by clicking it a second time after loading it in your browser from the gallery.

If the forum is not keeping your attention and is missing some categories, you can make your own forum. In the Forum Manager just click “Edit Your Member Forum”. From here, you can create a room with a title; description and you are the moderator. There is an option to add another moderator as well. Put a link to your forum in your signature if you would like but don’t spam the forum too badly with your forum, it will upset users. Members will find it if is placed in the appropriate category upon creation. Also, all blog comments go to your member forum if someone comments on an entry in your blog (more on this later).

Trackers are the dynamic links on the right side of the website. They contain recent forum and gallery posts, news from leading technology websites and recent blogs posted. There are plus and minus buttons in the title of each tracker so if you don’t want to see recent gallery posts, just hit the minus button to make that collapse (don’t worry you can get it back). Recent Posts is relating to the forum and is only post from the leading forums. It excludes private rooms, 18 or older and the Political Corner / Sanctuary. Member Forums are not listed in that tracker as well.

“Around Town” is a tracker with tech related websites. It uses XML and RSS technology to get text links to the latest stories on these websites as they are posted. Spymac has made it possible to never leave their system with this technology. You can always have the latest news from your favorite website. You can modify what website you want to see in the tracker by loading “Options” and modifying “Around Town”. You can check your favorite website and after hitting Submit, they show up in the trackers. You can see when new stories are posted and click them to load the website. The blog tracker is similar to the forum and gallery one. It shows most recent blog posts and you can click them to load the blog.

Speaking of Blog, it is an important part of the community and helps members learn more about you. You can use a blog to mark your conquests, failures, daily happenings or highlight your poems. The blog is accessible through the Web Manager or Tools tab. Just do a little searching until you find, “Update Blog”. You can create an entry and once again the interface is similar to that of sending a note or replying to a thread in the forum. Your entry goes to the blog. The Web Manager gives a link to your blog and you can save that and send out to friends. It is also good to put a link to your blog in your signature for people to see what is going on with you. The blog is pretty self-explanatory. People can comment and the comments go in your member forum.

Part-5 has an in depth look at E-mail, Wheel, Spymac Support and how to resolve issues and request features with Spymac.