Get started and learn the basics

Admin_Scope · October 16

Getting started on your community

We are excited to welcome you to Scope’s online community, a safe and welcoming space where disabled people and their families can talk about the things that matter most to them. Whether you're here to seek advice, share your experiences, or simply connect with others, you are in the right place.

Joining an online community can feel a bit daunting, and you might not be sure where to begin. To help you out, we've put together some suggestions of things you could do to get you started.

Explore the community

Take a moment to explore the community. Start by browsing our recent discussions, checking out our various discussion categories or searching for topics that interest you.

If you're having trouble getting started, check out at our guides for using the community. Many members use their smartphones, tablets, or other mobile devices, while others prefer their laptops or desktop computers. We've created separate user guides to help you based on the device you're using:

Introduce yourself

While it’s fine if you just want to use the online community to read what interests you, everyone is welcome to post. Why not introduce yourself, share a bit about who you are, your interests and what you hope to gain from being here? Many new members make their first posts in our Start here and say hello! category while others will just start posting or asking questions in another category that interests them or is relevant to their lives.

Get involved

Sometimes members prefer to quietly slip in without drawing attention to themselves and that’s fine, too. You don’t have to introduce yourself just yet, instead you could join a discussion that’s already taking place and share your opinions or experiences. Perhaps you could join in with the light-hearted discussions in the Coffee lounge or try our forum games in the Games den? Whoever you are and whatever your interests, you’re welcome to talk about them on the online community.

How do I post?

Want to get started and make your first post? We've put together a quick guide to making your first post on the online community on both mobile or tablet device and your personal computer below:

Making your first post

To create a new discussion or post, look for the New Post button (if you're on mobile this will be a circle with a + sign inside it which is usually in the bottom right of your screen.) If you select this button, it will snap open a menu which includes:

New discussion
New poll

Creating a New Discussion

To create a new discussion, Select New discussion from the New Post button menu .

Select a Category

If you selected the New discussion button outside of a category, you will need to Select a Category where you will be posting the discussion. Otherwise, the Category you were in will automatically be selected. Please note: a member of the Online Community Team can always move discussions to different categories, so please don’t worry too much about where you post it!

Discussion title

The Discussion title is what will show at the top of the post once it’s been posted. It helps if discussion titles tell members what the post is about. Sometimes if the Online Community Team may change the discussion title if they think it could help others notice your post.

Text field

The big text field is where you type your post. You can add emojis using your device’s own emoji menu to the post, but if you're using a desktop device, you can select the emoji picker at the bottom left corner of the text field.

Simple formatting

If you want to change the formatting of some of your text, you can highlight it and a menu will appear with the following text formatting options:

B - Bold
I - Italic
S - Strikethrough
{..} - Inline code
🔗 -Hyperlink

You can learn more about formatting in our mobile guide or desktop guide on posting.

Save Draft

If you don’t want to post your discussion yet but want to continue creating it later, select Save Draft. You can find your draft posts in My Drafts.

Cancel

If you have decided you don’t want to post your discussion, select Cancel.

Post the discussion

Once the post is ready, select Post Discussion to publish it. The page should reload to show you the published discussion, but if you need to find any discussions you created later, you can find them in My Discussions.

Replying to posts

When you’re reading through the online community you might see a post (a discussion or a poll) you want to reply to.

Each posted discussion includes a comments section where all members can participate and share their thoughts on the topic.

If you want to reply to a discussion, scroll down to the comments section and the Leave a Comment text field.

If you need more information about how to reply to posts, why not check out:

Update your profile picture and signature

If you’d like to make your online community profile more personal to you, why not update your profile picture and signature? Find out how in our mobile guide or desktop PC guide.

Read our house rules

While we want discussion to be open and honest, everything on the online community should be civil, supportive and safe. Check out our community house rules for more information about how to make your time with the online community a positive experience. Following these house rules helps us make sure the online community keeps the supportive atmosphere we all cherish.

Sign up to our weekly newsletters

Each week we send out a weekly newsletter to our subscribers sharing some discussions from the online community and information about what Scope’s working on.

If you’d like to receive our weekly newsletters, take a look at our sign up page.

Feedback

We love hearing from our members! Share your feedback and suggestions to help us improve the community with our feedback chatbot. Your ideas are valuable in making Scope’s online community even better.

Last words

We’re so glad you’ve joined us. It might take some time for you to feel comfortable with being on the online community, but what’s important is you’re here. Keep exploring, keep contributing where you can and send us an email if you’re struggling with anything. Thank you for joining us and welcome once again to Scope’s online community!

Get started and learn the basics

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