Follow Specific Tags
To find common research interests or to ask questions, you’ll do better to search and follow specific “tags.” For a good example, choose “job opportunities.”
Say you’re just finishing up a degree and you want to be notified about jobs.
- Click on “tags” in the main menu and
- “jobs” under the list of community tags.
- Then click on the bell at the top right and you can set your notification preferences for this topic.
- “Watching” means you’ll receive emails notifying you of new content with this tag. “Tracking” means they will show up in your feed when you log in.
We post all the LTER jobs that come to the LNO with the “jobs” tag, but others who are searching for candidates are also welcome to add their jobs (remember to include the “jobs” tag).
Interested in getting involved with Synthesis? Do the same thing for synthesis and/or synthesis opportunities.
Find Colleagues with Similar Interests
Now, let’s say you want to find other forum users who work in marine ecosystems or who study biodiversity. Just type those search terms into the search box to find (and even message) them.
Searches can be fine-tuned to include posts where the search terms shows up anywhere; only results from specific categories; only posts where the term is tagged; or only users.
Your Profile
You can only find other users because they they took a minute to add their interests to their profile. So if you want other users to be able to find YOU, please fill in your profile.
Go to the profile image at the top right. You’ll also see notifications about replies and likes, and new topics posted.
Go to the profile icon at the bottom of the drop-down menu and choose “preferences.” Here, you can set:
- how you login (by associating your account with a google or github login)
- adding two factor authentication for extra security
- Updating your profile – including what site(s) you’re associated with and what your interests are
- Snazzing up your profile with a custom header
- Adding a featured topic, say, a description of a project you’re currently excited about.
Set Notification and Tracking Preferences
Some people are voracious consumers of information. Others want to filter their inputs to only the most essential. For some, if it doesn’t come through email, it doesn’t exist. Others consider email a failed communication medium. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, Discourse has you covered.
The most useful profile settings appear under “Tracking” and “Users.” Tracking spells out which categories and tags you have set to “watch” (get email about); “track” (get in-app notifications); or “mute” (get no notifications, even if you post). In “Users,” you can set whether some or all other users can message you through the app.
“Notifications” allows you to pause notifications or schedule them only for working hours.
