FAQ 2.0

Frequently asked Questions for SoFurry 2.0

• Q: I just signed up. Is their a getting started guide? A: Yes! It's right here!
• Q: How do I search for a user? A: Their is a link at the bottom of the SoFurry page that takes you to the user search function. If you need more help check out the searching section below.
• Q: I think I found a bug or I want to see if anyone has already submitted a bug report. Is their anyplace I can check? A: Yes! You can also get an update with any reports you have filed here: http://www.sofurry.com/report
• Q: Can I still use the old SoFurry User Interface? A: You can still access the old interface by visiting http://old.sofurry.com/.
• Q: Where is the Cum Counter? A: The cum counter is no longer in SoFurry 2.0 however plans exist for the feature to return under a new name. ("Appreciation Button"?)
• Q: How do I watch / unwatch a forum thread? A: At the top of each thread page is a Watch button. Click it and a new post in the thread will trigger a notification. (The button is a toggle style. When you click Watch it will change to Unwatch allowing you to switch off notifications for the thread.)
• Q: Can I still access my account with a URL like http://myusername.sofurry.com? A: Yes. Try it! http://toumal.sofurry.com
• Q: Can I change my username (account name) in SoFurry 2.0? A: Not at this time. It's on the to-do list.
• Q: I was looking for the old FAQ. Is it still around? A: Yes! You can access it here!

The Quick Tour

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The SoFurry 2.0 Interface

The image on the right shows the locations of the features discussed below.

• (1) Your Avatar. You can click this to go to your user page.
• (2) The Upload button. Use this to upload new content to SoFurry.
• (3) The PM icon. This takes you to your personal messages. The envelope icon will be a brighter white and indicate the number of messages you have waiting for you after it. In the example their are no unread messages.
• (4) The Notifications icon. This takes you to any comments, Favorites, Watches, Votes, and Watched Threads notifications you may have. Like the PM icon, the icon will appear brighter if you have any unread messages in this area and display the number of unread messages you have. In the example their are 2 unread messages.
• (5) The Settings link. Click this to change the settings for your account. Many of the new features in SoFurry 2.0 can be customized in this area. (Note: Notice the tabs at the top of the form. Click them to access even more settings! :)
• (6) The Logout link. Logs you out of SoFurry. Use this on shared computers so that others can't access your account.
• (7) Account Name. This indicates the account you're currently logged in as. You can click this to go to your user page.
• (8) The Main SoFurry Bar. The top row contains a link to the submission content page (SoFurry), your Watchlist, Groups, and the Sofurry Market. In the example you might notice a number 3 in a circle over WatchList. This indicates three items have been submitted by people you watch. Use the Groups link to access the groups you belong to or create your own! (Note: The Market feature is still under development.) Below the main links are a set of sub-links that control what is displayed in the main window. In the example the submission content page is selected so Artwork, Stories, Music, Photos, Journals, Forum, and Chat are displayed. By clicking on one of these the main page will display a subset of the submitted SoFurry content such as art or stories.
• (9) The Quick Search Bar. Type in the tags separated by commas (example:Toumal, Orca) you want to search for and press the Go button to search all of Sofurry's media types.
• (10) The Report Tab. Click this bar and a window will pop up that you can use to report a problem with the site, report a problem with a user or submission (such as adult work tagged as clean, harassment, etc.) or give a suggestion.

All about tags on SoFurry

Tags preform a variety of functions on SoFurry, from helping a person find works that they may be interesting in to preventing certain types of works from appearing. This section of the Wiki deals with what tags are, how to use them and what tags to use whether your using the search engine or submitting new content to Sofurry.

You can hardly go anywhere anymore on the Internet without seeing tag clouds, tag filters, tag searches, tag lines, and dog tags everywhere. On top of that it seems every site has their own way of using them.

First let's talk about what tags are. Basically tags are short descriptive words or phrases that describe something. I like to think of them as collection of phrases that taken together describe something.

Imagine you tell someone on the phone that you have a ball. Whomever you told now knows you have a ball but it doesn't tell the person anything about the ball. It could be anything; a ping pong ball, a beach ball, a tennis ball and so on. So the person your conversing with asks what kind and you reply that it is a foot ball, but that still doesn't help the person your conversing with because they may not be from your part of the world! An American would think of a oblong brown thing you toss around while a person from the British Isles (and most of the rest of the world for that matter!) would think of a round white ball with hexagonal squares on it that you kick.

This is where tags come in. Tags let you say what kind of ball you have in greater detail without having to write a book to describe it. Lets take our ball as an example. Lets suppose I gave you this list to describe it: Hard, Egg sized, white, dimpled. Now you probably have a fairly good idea I'm talking about a golf ball. This is what tags do for submissions on SoFurry!

Generally tags are entered on SoFurry on a single line with each tag separated by a comma. Let's suppose I drew a picture of Toumal holding the ball I talked about above and submitted it to SoFurry. (Boring I know but it gets the point across :)

I'm going to add Toumal right off the bat because he is a character in my picture. Toumal is an orca so I would add that as a tag. An orca is a cetacean so I might want to add that tag as well. Toumal is male so I would add that tag. Since this picture isn't adult in nature I would tag it clean. I'll also add the other component, golf ball. I drew my picture using a pencil so I'll add traditional media and pencil. I might toss the tags sketch and black & white on it as well because I haven't colored the sky or the sea. So when I enter in my tags to submit my image I would type the following on the tag line.

Clean, Toumal, Orca, Cetacean, Male, Golf Ball, Pencil, Traditional Media, Black & White, Sketch

Notice how many of the tags are single words but some are short phrases like Traditional Media, Golf Ball and Black & White. This is important because it means if someone searches for say just ball my picture won't come up, but if someone searches for golf ball it will.

The same thing could be said if someone wanted to search for pencil works, traditional media, or just pictures of Toumal. Or perhaps pictures of Toumal with a Golf Ball. (Toumal, Golf Ball)

So what kind of tags should you add to your submissions? People tend to either search for things that they are in the mood for or specific works. Here are a few suggestions put forth by Carlos_Penguin, Tyvara_Panther and others:

• Name of character(s) and or artist.
• Sexual? Clean, Adult or Extreme.
• Genres? Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary, Fan-fiction, Comedy, Science Fiction, Romance, etc.
• Sexual nature: straight, gay. Then narrow that to characters: M/M, M/M/F, interspecies, etc.
• Fetish?: BBW, skinny, bondage, watersports, etc.
• Type of characters: alien, dragon, scaly, fox, vixen, horse, equine, etc.
• What is going on? crime, school, friendship, marriage, breakup, etc.
• Is this a series? progression, climax, epilogue, [name of series]. (This one may seem esoteric, but a lot of writers breakup their stories into parts.)

Protip!: Pay attention to the numbers next to the tags after a work is submitted. If the tag is common, there will be a large number after it (to show how many other submissions use that tag). Generally speaking, if there are no numbers (or hardly any, like 2) it's an unused tag, and needs to be replaced with a more appropriate one. Sometimes it's a spelling issue, or a matter of adding a space or removing a dash.

Searching

Their are several ways of searching on Sofurry. You may search for matches over any media (artwork, stories, photos, journals and so on) or you can search for something just in specific media. Note: At the time of this writing, the search function does not include the forums.

If you wish to search all media:

• Log in to Sofurry.
• At the top of the screen is a header that has a floating Search box and a Go button. Enter in the tags you wish to search for in the box separated by commas. (For example enter BBC, Tags) and click the Go button.
• Your search results will appear below.
• Didn't find what you were looking for? Try using fewer/different (or one) tag(s).

If you wish to search for a specific type of media (like artwork):

• Log in to Sofurry.
• At the top of the screen is a header that has several links for Sofurry, Watchlist, Groups, and Market. Under these are links to current submissions. Select the type of media you wish to search for and the main page will load below it. On the media page you will see a box under the media type. Enter in your the tags you wish to search for in the box separated by commas. (For example enter Toumal, orca) and click the Go button.
• Didn't find what you were looking for? Try using fewer/different (or one) tag(s).
• Protip!: If you want to limit your search by things such as rating, submission date, orientation/gender or if you want the search to return the results in a different order (by popularity or date) Select the criteria by clicking the modifiers below the Go button before you enter in your search.

If you wish to search for a specific user:

• Log in to SoFurry.
• At the bottom left hand side of the page is a link titled User Search Click it.
• On the new page enter in the name of the user you wish to search for. (For example: Toum)
• Click Search. Sofurry will display the avatars of all users that match your search string.

Working With Folders

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Working with Folders

The exact use varies a bit between different media but the basics are the same. In this example moving an image will be illustrated. The image on the right shows the locations of the features discussed.

• Log in to SoFurry.
• Click on your Username or Avatar to bring up your user page.
• Select the type of media you wish to move.
• Select the work you wish to move.
• The work will appear.
• Click the Edit button under your user name in the top left of the submission page. (1)
• On the Edit Submission page their is a link titled add to folder (2) in the top left corner. Click it to bring up the Choose Folder form. (Note: You can move the form around the page by grabbing it's title.)
• To move a submission to your home folder select the radio button next to / (shown). (3) To select an existing folder select the radio button next to the name of the folder you wish the work to be in or select New Folder and enter in the name of a folder to create.
• Click the OK button on the form to move the work.

Note: If you wish to rename or delete a folder first click on the folder you wish to change. When the new form appears click the Delete folder or the Rename folder button. Deleting a folder with files (stories / artwork etc...) will not delete the files. They will simply return to your home '/' directory.

Custom Banners

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Setting Custom Banners

This section deals with custom banners for SoFurry 2.0. The image to the right shows the locations of the features discussed below.

First some info. Banners come in two styles (Adult and All Ages) and two sizes (Standard & Mega). The banners appear to your visitors at the top of your user page. All banners must be properly tagged and in PNG, JPG, or GIF format.

• Standard Banners should be 728x90 pixels.
• Mega Banners should be at least 1024x200 pixels and the wider the better! (Note: Only the top 200 pixels of the image will be displayed.)

So how do you use them?

• Log in to SoFurry and click the settings button on the top left of the header.(1)
• Click the Banners link below your avatar. (2)
• Select the style of banner you wish to upload (3) and click the upload new banner button (4). Your browser will open a form for you to select your new banner. Choose your file and click Open. (5) (Note: Your File Upload dialog form will probably look slightly different than the image.)
• A green check box will appear on the screen if the file is is the correct size. (6)
• Click the Upload button and it will appear in your list. (7)
• If your banner contains adult content click the toggle link so that it says adults rather than all ages. (8)
• You can delete a banner by clicking the delete link under the banner you wish to remove. (8)

In summary: Don't forget to select what type of banner you want to use in your profile settings. If you upload a megabanner but only the small banners show up, check your settings, chances are it's still set to use the normal banners.

User Settings

Their are a variety of settings you can adjust on SoFurry to customize the way the website looks and interacts with you. The basic layout of the settings page is a list of commonly used settings located on the left hand side of the page and a set of tabs that make up the majority of the settings that you can change. To access any subset of the settings on the right, click the tab on the top to view or change any of the settings under that subset.

Persistent (always on the page) Settings: These settings are located on the left hand side of the page at all times.

• Edit my Avatars / Avatars: You may click the current avatar or click the link to Add / Edit and remove avatars. Use this to change the content level setting of your avatars. Avatars on Sofurry should be 100x100 pixels and in either PNG, JPG or GIF file format.
• Banners: Add edit and remove custom banners your visitors will see when they view your userpage. More information is above under Custom Banners.
• Likes/Dislikes (tag filter): In this area you set your likes and dislikes. The lower categories (Loves, likes, tolerates and hates) simply rank your interests for other users to see. However the Active Tag Filters are special. Any tags you add to this list will be filtered out from your viewing of SoFurry Content. (EX: If you don't want to see anything involving 'Latin Jazz' adding the 'Latin Jazz' tag to the Active Tag Filters will prevent ANY submissions with that tag from appearing to you on SoFurry.) Note: You are the only one who can see your Active Tag Filters and they can conflict with your likes / dislikes. (EX: You can have 'fox' in the Loves category but also in your active tag filters, preventing you from seeing anything tagged with 'fox'.)
• Characters: This link lets you view and edit your profile. It also allows you to add and edit new characters to your profile.
• Link Twitter Account: Click this link to allow Sofurry access to your Twitter account. When active, submitting new content on SoFurry will be automatically tweeted to the people who follow you. Sofurry will not have access to your Twitter password.
• Advanced Preferences / Simple Preferences: This is a toggle style link. Selecting Advanced settings allows you to see some settings that are normally hidden or provide advanced control over the user interface.

Subsets: The tabs on the top of the page control the subset of settings to be displayed below.

• Site: General settings for how Sofurry will be displayed.
• Account: Settings that effect your account on SoFurry.
• Display: Options that define how Sofurry is displayed.
• Profile: Information your visitors see when they visit your userpage.
• Browse: These settings determine how SoFurry orders submitted content.
• Privacy Settings: Sets what other people can see about your activities on SoFurry.
• Notifications: Sets when Sofurry should send you information when your off-site. (E-mail, SMS)
• Forums: Sets your preferences when you visit the SoFurry forums.
• Chat: Sets your preferences for the SoFurry chat rooms.