Forum Activity for @strumelia

Adding a Forum to a new profile

Installation and Configuration

Yes, to create a new quota --> ACP--> Users--> quota browser
(and to save time you can 'clone' a currently existing quota that has most of the settings you want for your new quota, like "admin"...and then give it a new name and make adjustments as to how you want it to be different from your Admin quota.)

To change a user's quota (like to promote or demote them from being a moderator,etc) go to their profile page and then to their 'settings' (the gear icon) and look at their Profile TAB to change their quota.
If you create a new profile, you can select their quota in the same location of their settings.

If you want new members to automatically be assigned to a particular quota (like a regular member), or to have a choice of more than one quota they'd like to be in when they first sign up to your site, you'd set this here in the User module, under the Quota Config TAB there:
http://(yoursite).com/user/admin/quota
There, you can check or uncheck under each quota the box to "allow signups". For example, you likely would not want some random stranger signing up on your site as an Admin without your permission, so you'd want to UNcheck that box for the Admin Quota. You can put any member into the Admin quota manually yourself whenever you want.
On my site, the ONLY quota I have checked to "allow signups" is the (regular) member quota... my typical member who does not have any special moderator, 'sponsor/donor', or admin powers. So, all my new members are automatically put into the general Member quota when they join my site- they're not presented with any other choices.

Glad it was of help!

Adding a Forum to a new profile

Installation and Configuration

Keith, just checking on something because it confused me when I was starting on JR, so I wanted to mention it just in case it was helpful:

When you check that "Allowed on profile" box in the Forum module, the help description for it is: "If checked, users in this quota will have a Profile Forum they can post topics to." This means that all the members in that particular Quota will then EACH have their own personal Forum on their profile page that they can oversee.
If you prefer that instead there be one main site-wide forum (or more than one if you want) that is managed by you and that members can all participate in equally, and NOT allow a member to have their own personal forum on their profile page, then you'll want to leave that "Allow on Profile" box UNchecked.

For a main site-wide forum setup instead, there are two methods. I'll let someone more knowledgeable than me describe one method, but I can tell you the other method, which i use on my site, was to create a new quota (I called mine "Forum Quota") and then create a new profile (which i named "Forums", with an 's') and made it the only member of that quota. In the Forum Module under "quota config", I then CHECKED the "allow on profile" for that quota only...with its one lone member whose profile name is Forums.
I then went to the member "Forums" 's profile page and began to set up their profile Forum, with discussion categories etc. (if I go to the 'categories' tab, as admin I'll see a place to delete or create new categories).
On my site, the member Forums's Forum location is thus: http://fotmd.com/forums/forum/ ....with "forums" being the profile name, and "forum", being their forum which was to be used as a whole site forum.
There are a couple of steps in the end you can then take to 'hide' the personal sidebar info and profile pic etc of the member profile so it's not apparent that the site-wide forum actually 'belongs' to a member. Truthfully, it was a while back when I did this so if you choose this route you could get the JR team to walk you through hiding the "Forums" profile info while just leaving their Forum highly visible.

I also use the link I typed above as the link in my site's header bar for members to click to the site Forums. You'll notice the hotlink along the top nav bar of my site merely says Forums.
Sorry if none of this was actually what you had in mind, but I figured i'd throw it out there just in case that's what you actually wanted for your site rather than individual member profile page forums for lots of members.

Member Snoop?

Using Jamroom

eminyard,
After hearing the scenario you describe in which such a function would be used, I have a suggestion:
You can create two testing profiles- one with regular member status, and another with admin or moderator status. Then you can share the password for these two profiles as needed with your admins or moderators and use it to test issues. For example, if you created an admin test profile "George", then you could have your invited admin that was having a problem log in as George to do her upload testing, and you could also test via George profile too. Then when she was done you could always change George's PW again so she could no longer go back in and cause problems later on.
I keep both an admin and a regular member test profile for these purposes. Also when you have someone help you on the site you can give them access to the test admin profile, and then change the PW again when they are done with their work...just to be on the safe side.
Perhaps you have done this all along and know all that- if so, just ignore the above. It seemed like the logical approach to me for these purposes though.

Member Snoop?

Using Jamroom

You don't have access to their password. You'd have to first change their password to a new one, and use your new password to log in as them. These are safeguards for everyone's privacy so private messages cannot be read by others, for one thing. Also so a person (even a site owner) cannot do bad things under someone else's name.

Because you won't be able to see their current password you can't: change it, log in, and then change it back to what they had to cover your tracks. Thus, once you change their pw, they won't be able to log in anymore unless either you give them their new password or they attempt to change their password via some 'forgot my password' process. They might then suspect what you did if they're savvy.

I've had a couple cases where a member died and I had to decide whether to let their family know they could actually read the person's private messages if I changed the pw and gave it to them. So far, I have not contacted families about that, 'cause I wasn't sure if it would actually be a good thing or not. I wouldn't want to cause them more pain or create a problem based on what they might discover.
updated by @strumelia: 08/02/16 04:02:48PM

What are YOUR first steps in setting up a Jamroom site?

Using Jamroom

I think one point that could use some repeating to new users is for them the make a CLONE of the original JR skin they start with, make the clone active and then make their custom tweaks to their new cloned skin only and leave the original parent skin alone. The concept of updating the parent skin and looking at which of those updates you want in your custom skin is important, and is something most new users seem to miss.

Full width Image on the home page

Using Jamroom

Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect those images you are referencing are not header images, nor part of the header section.
updated by @strumelia: 07/28/16 09:29:10AM

What are YOUR first steps in setting up a Jamroom site?

Using Jamroom


People who are experienced at 'setting up a new site' can probably do it without a detailed guide. It's the folks like me (with a little bit of html and admin of a ning site for years, but no experience in CSS or server/domain stuff at all) who will benefit the most from a step-by-step guide. I assume that's who you are targeting. A guide laid out in easy-to-understand layman's terms may seem like a lot to have to bother explaining, but overall it will help the Jamroom Team by answering some of those repetitive newbie questions, and of course it will help new users grasp the concepts and what they need to do, in logical order.

It's the exciting success or frustrating failure of those very first steps taken by a non-coder that will often determine whether they stick with Jamroom and with owning/running their own site....or whether they give up and walk away because they find it's beyond their abilities. The thing about it is that once a non-coder (like me) successfully gets past the first few hurdles, their level of confidence and rate of learning improve more quickly. A good clear guide for beginners on 'getting started' is really worth its weight in gold.
updated by @strumelia: 07/28/16 07:53:15AM

What are YOUR first steps in setting up a Jamroom site?

Using Jamroom

THANK YOU.

I guess I'd start with securing a domain name. And deciding where to host my new site, server-wise.

youtube embed

Jamroom Developers

"If you know the youtube video you want, you can just ask for it"

-Maybe he's trying to always have the LATEST video from a particular user showing somewhere on his site aside from on their profile- as opposed to embedding one certain video from that user? He did mention 'latest video'.

I was thinking (dangerous, yes)...considering that our Youtube videos are already embeds, does trying to 'embed an embed' come into play here and mess things up ...maybe? I know nothing, just a thought.

Notification Settings

Jamroom Developers

I have to add my two cents- I've had member complaints about the new style as well. Even a couple of my moderators didn't realize that there was a dropdown menu for the categories. Maybe just adding a way of making it more obvious somehow?