Tips and Pointers for the new H-Sport

Dear H-Sport Subscribers,

Judging by the mail we're getting, these two issues are rather common.  I hope the following will be helpful:

1.  Resetting passwords. Some folks are getting in a password loop where the system asks for their old password when they are trying to reset their Commons password. This is happening because they are still logged in to the Commons. They need to be outside the Commons when clicking the reset button, so be sure to log out of the Commons before clicking the reset link. Once you have logged out the system should not ask for an old password before allowing you to choose a new one.  Specifically: To reset your password in the Commons:

• log out of the Commons http://networks.h-net.org. The log out link can be found by clicking on the avatar / silhouette in the top right hand corner of any page
• go to http://networks.h-net.org/user/password to reset your password.
• the system will then email a new password; look for that email and follow the instructions in that message to confirm the new password.

2. Resetting your subscriptions back to digest.  You can click on the "manage your notifications" link at the bottom of any notification email, which will take you right to your notifications page.  There you can click the dropdown next to H-Sport and choose "daily digest."  For more assistance, visit the pertinent startup guide at the Help Desk.Maybe the most important thing to know is that every page at our site has its own URL.  This means you can bookmark to your heart’s content.

In addition, here are some helpful tips:

Too much mail?

You’ve got options:

• Set your notifications to digest.  Click “manage your notifications” at the bottom of any notification, log in, and next to your H-Sport subscription, choose “digest” from the drop down.  Now you’ll get one daily file of discussion postings sent out around midnight Eastern time.
• Get RSS feeds.  This is the best way to follow everything without crowding a mail box.  At the bottom of our front page, there are RSS links.  You can set these up in any web browser or email program like Thunderbird or Outlook, which have news readers in them.  Instructions are here.  The great thing about these feeds is that they can include all our content, not just discussion posts.  And you see the whole page, properly formatted, with graphics and links.  RSS feeds update automatically when new material is published.
• Put H-Sport in its place by filtering your mail.
• Disable notifications and view us through RSS (above) or by bookmarking the site and visiting occasionally to see what’s up.

Looking for something of ours that’s not in your mailbox?

There’s an app for that:

• From our front page, click “all content.”  Everything we ever published is listed there, and you can filter the search by content type.
• Run a search on our network, using the “search H-Sport” box in the lower right side of the front page.  If you find something you want to save, label the search in the “give it a name” box next to the search results and click “save to MyHNet.”  Now you return to it whenever you want.  Tip: tags and categories help you find and save stuff.  You can filter search results with tags and categories in the right side of the page, and the saved search will automatically update with new material when a tagged item is posted.

New options for posting to the group.

When you click “reply” or “start a discussion” you are taken to a web page with many fresh options for preparing your message.  At the top of the text window where you write your message you’ll see little icons for applets that add features to your message.  Now you can:

• You can use italics, bold, underline, right/center justification, bulleted and numbered lists and other formatting -- even the dreaded smileycons.  
• Link to video or audio (such as YouTube).  When you click on that applet, the instructions in the dialog include helpful links to all the streaming services.
• Paste documents from MS Word.  Use the “paste from Word” applet.  Word’s formatting doesn’t always translate character for character to web lingo, so some cleaning-up after pasting is usually necessary.
• Know some HTML? If you do, our text editor can render most basic HTML code; click "source" in the applet toolbar to expose and edit the code.  Your results may vary.

Personalize your setup

Underneath the silhouette in the top right of a Commons screen is quick access to your settings: your profile (tell us about yourself and upload an avatar or pic); networks (see them all listed); notification settings; your account (reset passwords, etc.); content (everything you ever submitted); your MyHNet headquarters.  And at MyHNet, you can feed in postings from an individual or all of your subscriptions, save searches for later retrieval, even leave notes to yourself.

Remember: the Help Desk is always a click away, with tips and instructions.  And be sure to write us with ideas and suggestions.