Hi Martin, sorry the new layout has thrown you for a bit of a loop. You aren’t the only one, I can assure you. The good news is that you did manage to post, and your message got through! That’s one hurdle cleared.
So let’s do this one step at a time. First the HOME PAGE. The home page has a left and a right column. The left column reflects the content of the site, organized as categories. The right is organized by time: the most recent posts are at the top, and as people post, items get added to the top and others “fall off” the bottom.
If you look at the tabs near the top of the Home Page, and you click on WELCOME, you will see a number of discussions that might be helpful to you. I’ll put shortcuts here for you, but they came from the Welcome page.
Getting Started with Discourse
Using Discourse
Basically, most things are organized as discussion threads: this format doesn’t have a lot of static “poster boxes”. I miss having that, I’ll admit it.
Messaging is done by using the envelope icon. When you see an envelope icon and click on it, you are working with private messages. Your screen may look similar to what it did in discussions, but there will be a grey envelope icon displayed. The really nice thing about this (once you realize that the envelope icon means you’re in messaging, is that you can message people from a discussion thread: click on the icon, send your message, and send it, and you’re still on the discussion thread where you left off. Your INBOX for messages is accessed by clicking on your avatar (red band, right) and then clicking on the envelope.
If you have any questions, or you forget at some point, you can always go to our “help desk” or raise the SOS flag like you did today.
I’m a really old girl, Martin, (probably the most geriatric of the sailors on SS Ben’s Friends) and I will admit to not having enjoyed the transition to this format. When we started this transition, I think I felt much as you do today. With a bit of practice, though, I discovered that there are a lot of very cool features in Discourse, and I’m much more comfortable with it than I was. You can do it!
Seenie from Moderator Support