What you can do to help Able2Know

A few people have been asking how they can help. There are many ways to help this site and while we don't expect this from everyone here is a list in case you are interested. It will be edited to include anything I missed.

Post new topics :: New topics are the lifeblood of any forum. The more variety there is the better so an easy way to help is to post a topic about something that has not yet been discussed. Posting questions is an added bonus due to the site's theme of Q&A but anything interesting helps.

Invite Others :: Able2Know does not have an advertising budget to speak of. Sometimes I'll run ads for A2K but this is usually not much and most of our members come from search engines and referrals.

Link to Able2Know :: If you have a website or a blog link to us. That's another way to help and it brings new visitors.

Vote for Able2Know :: Voting for Able2Know in our topsites helps us get new visitors. Click here for a list of our current topsites and vote daily if possible.

Put a link to Able2Know in your email signature :: putting a link to Able2Know in your email signature is one way to get the word out and bring us some new members.

Diversify your participation :: By participating in some of the forums that you normally don't frequent you help strengthen the community.

Help Others :: Many people come for help in various areas. Giving them the help they need is what the site is all about. If you have been helped here pay it forward.

If you need help with the site use the forum Forum Help board :: Sending a message to one of the staff is a slow and time-consuming way to resolve problems. By using the forum help board everyone can help answer and the answer is available to everyone. Please open a new topic for your help request. Posting to an older topic makes it hard for us to know who still needs help.

Welcome the newbies :: When new members post help make them feel at home. Try to help them get situated.

Use our Amazon affiliation :: If you purchase from Amazon you can use the Amazon search box on the home page and Able2Know gets a referral fee.

Answer the Unanswered Topics :: The Unanswered Topics List shows all topics that have no replies. If everyone helps we can answer them all. Don't worry about bring up an old topic. If the list is empty then we are helping keep topics from falling through the cracks.

Make Able2Know your home page :: Making Able2Know the first site you visit is yet another way to help.

Use Forum Etiquette :: Besides the rules there are many things you can do to help keep this place a worthwhile site to visit. Here are just a few:

• Don't use ALL CAPS. This is shouting.
  
• Posting huge links can be ugly. Using a text link looks nicer.
  
• Posting to multiple categories will often not help you get your message seen and will confuse/irritate some. It sometimes comes across as spam so it's best to post once and let people reply in one place.
  
• Images in signatures should be discreet. Using large images makes some forums (especially gaming ones) very ugly. Images that are ridiculously large etc will probably be removed.
  
• Likewise it's nice not to use large fonts in signatures.
  
• Using butt ugly colors can be a pain. Like this. Use them sparingly (irritating bunnies is a noble pursuit for e.g.).
  
• Nested quotes can look horrible. If a quote contains a quote that contains a quote... there is a good chance a few of the nested quotes are unnecessary. In addition quoting a long post in its entirety to respond to one sentence should be avoided if possible. Try to just quote the relevant sentence.
  
• if you post and immediately afterward want to add something to that topic it's best to edit your last post and add it instead of posing a new one right after your last post.
  
• More later
  

Review Able2Know on Alexa :: Post a review of Able2Know on alexa.com.

Go easy on the mods :: The mods are here of their own volition and it's not an easy job (that's why I copped out ). Put yourself in their shoes before thinking that they have been unfair. Maybe they have, maybe they are human too.

Ask your questions on the boards :: I get a lot of webdesign questions by PM. I always refer people to the message board because that way others can benefit from the answer. It allows for corrections etc and some people (like myself) would prefer to use the PMs for other purposes and would rather answer questions on the forums.

Add these links to your signature :: The following links in your signature will help others find this topic and learn how to help out.

Support Able2Know :: Forum Help :: Vote for Able2Know!

Add the following to your signature:



Design a banner or logo :: If you know how to do graphics you can always design a banner or logo for us. ;-)

Join the development team :: If you know webdesign (particularly graphics, PHP, Flash, MySQL, Javascript, and to a lesser extent HTML) you can contribute your skills.

More to come.

Post here if you have done a bit to help Able2Know. This is a community that is powered by each member's contributions. Thanks to all.