Tip 1: New Posts
The forums are getting very busy and it is harder to keep up with all of the threads that have new posts. However, there is an easy way for you to see every post that has not been read. Once you have logged in to the forums, simply click on the "New Posts" link inside of the navigation bar towards the top of the screen. This link will show you all posts that you have not read. This is how I get through reading each and every post on the forums.
Tip 2: Tech Home Page
I know that many people may not go to the main technology home page very often. In fact, some of you may have a bookmark to the forum site. However, we are constantly updating the main page with news, technical information, blogs from managers at the Church, and, of course, my blog. There is a lot of good information that you won't want to miss.
Tip 3: Searching the Forums
There is a wealth of information in the forums, but getting the information out of the forums may be difficult. When searching, don't forget that you can use wildcards and you can use words like "and" and "or" to filter the results. For example, if you want to search for all posts that have the word "scriptures" and the word "study,", enter "scriptures and study" in the search field. If you want to find all posts with the words "scriptures" or "study" (either one), enter "scriptures or study". You can mix wildcards in your searching as well. Try searching for "mission* and ward" and you will find all posts that have any word beginning with "mission" and the word "ward" in the post. Searching is not case sensitive.
Tip 4: RSS Feeds
We have a couple of different RSS feed options for you on the site. You can subscribe to an RSS feed of all new entries posted on the home page. Also, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of all new threads or of specific threads. To subscribe to various RSS feeds within the forum, you have a choice of two formats: RSS 0.91 and RSS 2.0. The differences are as follows:
- RSS 0.91—This feed is based on a standard written by Netscape and provides a link and the title of the thread.
- RSS 2.0—This feed contains the title, author, date, and contents of the first post of the thread.
URL: http://beta.tech.lds.org/forum/external.php?type=rss2
http://beta.tech.lds.org/forum/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=12,3,18
This example would get all new threads in forums with the ID of 12, 3, and 18. To determine the forum ID, simply hover over a specific forum on the main forum page and look at the end of the URL line. It will have a "f=###" where "###" is the forum ID.
Tom Welch
Technology Community Manager