Forum FAQ

How do I search the forum?

Click on the house symbol to go to the header. This will take you to a page headed “Forum Activity”. On the line below “Type your post here…” there is a line starting “Community”. On the right of this line is a little magnifying glass and a # symbol. Click the magnifying glass to make a search with plain text. When using more than one search word, called a keyword, you can choose whether any of the search words or all of the search words are required to be in the original post for that post to be found. You can also search using hash tags. Try and make your search term as specific as possible. If you search using a boat class, e.g. #centaur, you will be inundated with “hits”, i.e. post found. 
 
When typing the original post, OP, of a thread, any #searchterm(s) that you type in the post will be catalogued by the site so that they can to be used for searching the forum at a later date. 
 
To make boat classes more useful include them in the search term itself e.g. #centaurkeels would work better than #centaur and #keels. N.B. Only the original posts are searched, not the responses.
 

HTTPS Links to External Content

If you link to external contact via an HTTPS URL peepso will attempt to render that content inline.  If you don’t want this happen click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) and set “Link Preview” to off.

The website is doing funny things?

Often just refreshing the page with CTRL-R will solve the problem.  If it doesn’t then try clearing the cache just for the Westerly website.  Instructions for Chrome and Firefox are here

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/clear-cache-cookies-specific-website

You should avoid clearing the entire cache as you will lose settings for other websites that you use.

How do I see my Saved Posts?

There is a “Community” icon below “Say what’s on your mind” post box. Click on this and change the focus to “Saved”.

I seem to be getting a lot of emails how can I control this?

Logon and goto the Forum. On the top right of the activity panel you will see your name and a down arrow to the right of it. Click the down arrow and select Preferences, then choose the Notifications tab. You can control all notifications there by turning off all email/site notifications or selecting the ones you would like to see. You can also deselect the email digest if you wish.

How do I format text?

**emboldens text**

*italic text*

~~strikethrough text~~

`displays in code block`

How do I upload Photos?

In the post comment box there is a camera icon over on the right hand side.  Click on this and it will guide you through uploading photos into the discussion.

How do I find someone?

If you go to members you can search by forename and surname and even WOA membership number.

My login is not accepted on the Old Forum. Why?

You don’t need to login to the old forum as it read only and will not accept new posts.

How do I avoid Narrow columns?

Each time you add a reply level the columns get narrower. It is good to minimise this by replying at as high a level as possible

How do I continue a Post?

If you click return too soon you can continue your post using the small pencil edit symbol. You can increase the post up to the limit of 6000 characters which is more than enough for most situations.

I click on a community hashtag but get “No Posts found”?

This is generally because the tagged content is in a group that you are not a member of.

How do I chat to someone?

Click on someone’s name this takes you to their profile.  You will see a small envelope icon on the right hand side. Click on this and a small pop up box will appear near the bottom of your screen.  Type your text in the dialog box.  This is a private conversation between you and the recipient.

What do #hashtags do?

A neat way of grouping all similar content together. If you click on #headlining you are presented with all the posts on that subject.

What are Groups for?

A way of segmenting content so you can just get presented with what interests you. After you change your focus from “Community” to “Following” you will only see posts from the groups that you belong to. You can always change back to “Community” if the need arises.

How do I change my Display Name?

In the forum click on your name.  Then select edit profile and select your Display Name from the drop down list.  If the display name you want is not there enter it into Nickname  then select it from the drop down list.

How do I change my Avatar?

Your avatar is the image which is used in the Forum.  Avatars used here come from Gravatar.com, and this is where you can change the image.  Using Gravatar ensures that you have a consistent avatar across the web.

When I search for a phrase in my comment nothing is found

Searching for words and hashtags only searches the original posts.

How can I see all my own posts?

Just go to you own profile by clicking on your name in the toolbar at the top of the screen

I want to edit a post and add a new line

Use Shift-Enter to add a new line in a post.

Search Engine found a link to the Old Forum/Wiki but I get an http 404

If browser search returns something like this:

https://westerly-owners.co.uk/woaforum/viewtopic.php?t=4047

https://westerly-owners.co.uk/westerlywiki/?title=GK29

change it to this:

https://forum.westerly-owners.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4047

https://wiki.westerly-owners.co.uk/?title=GK29

and you will find the topic.