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CR4 FAQ Items
What is CR4?Conference Room 4® (CR4) is a forum for engineers, scientists, technical researchers, technical buyers, students and folks who just like technology to discuss engineering news, seek technical help and get answers to burning questions. CR4 is a community site supported by GlobalSpec, the Engineering Search Engine. What are the rules and responsibilities of a CR4 member?Click here to view the CR4 Site Use Policy. What is the relationship between CR4 and GlobalSpec?CR4 is an engineering community site sponsored by Globalspec, Inc. The majority of the administration team is Globalspec employees, but this site in no way represents or speaks for GlobalSpec. The words of all administrators and indeed every CR4 user are their own. How do I register?Registering at CR4 is easy and free. Simply click the "Register" link (Hint: It's on the right-hand side of the red bar near the top of the CR4 home page). Then follow the steps. Why would I register?By registering with a username, you will be able to subscribe to posts and threads that are of interest to you, rate threads and comments, and receive and send private messages. And, quite frankly, you're more likely to get an answer to a question you've posted if you are a member. You will also be able to edit your profile and preferences. You will get the most out of your time here if you change your profile to suit your individual tastes. There are lots of options in your profile to make your experience here more enjoyable, so please take a few moments to personalize the various settings. I am registered at GlobalSpec. Am I also registered here (and vice versa)?No, you are not. The two sites are completely different in terms of registration. Both sites use separate passwords and security systems. If you register at GlobalSpec.com, you are not automatically registered at CR4. Conversely, if you become a registered member of the CR4 community, you are not registered at GlobalSpec.com. To become a member of both sites, you have to register separately at each. I've forgotten my username / password?Click here and follow the steps. How do I contact the CR4 Admin?Email us at cr4admin@globalspec.com Do you use cookies?Yes. Cookies are used to track your username / password and to identify the posts you've read during your current session. If your browser does not accept cookies, some CR4 functions won't work properly. A lot of people are paranoid about cookies (and not without reason), but the simple fact is that this is how we know it's you from one click to the next. If you don't want to use cookies, you don't have to. You can still post anonymously, but you will not be able to use all of the advanced features of CR4 (story tracking, story rating, user preferences, etc). How do I login?If you have registered an account (username) within these forums, you must login in order to take advantage of the personalization features, and to have your username displayed on comments and posts. To login, look in the upper right-hand corner of your screen for the Login link. This link will take you to a page where you can enter your username and password. Keep in mind that your password is case-sensitive. This means, for example, that the software considers 'S' and 's' to be different. How do I update my profile?Click the "Edit Profile" button within your own user profile, or choose the "Edit Profile" link at the bottom of the site wide right-hand navigation bar. (Hint: This link is in a box labeled "Logged In".) From within the Edit Profile action area, you may:
How do I post to a forum?At the top of the right-hand navigation bar click either "Ask a Question" (to ask / post a question) or "Start a Discussion" (to report / post news, tell a story, etc.) in the right-hand navigation bar. Enter a title and your message (including related links, if applicable), then select the appropriate forum for your entry. Click "Preview Thread" to see how your submission will look. If everything looks good, submit your entry; you can also edit your post within fifteen minutes of publishing it, if you find errors. Once the post is submitted, it will appear on CR4 in the forum that you selected. Can I post copywritten material?If you own the copyright, then post away. If you're not the owner, then limited presentation of material is permissible via the "Fair Use" Doctrine. A reasonable rule-of-thumb is that copying three paragraphs from a normal-length news article or editorial (approximately 300 words) is acceptable as long as attribution is provided; however, this is not a hard and fast rule. If there is a question, simply don’t do it. If you do not know the copyright status of a given block of text, assume it is owned by someone else. Copying and pasting copyrighted complete articles without permission from the copyright holder is categorically prohibited by copyright laws. Copyright infringement can expose both you and CR4 to financial liability. Please do not do this - or the CR4 Admin will be forced to remove your post and possibly ban you from the site. Copying and pasting copyrighted images without permission is the same as using copyrighted text. It is a violation of intellectual property laws. If you want to use an image, get permission from the copyright holder first. When in doubt, don't post the image. Are there specific rules for posting?While you are free to post whatever you wish, as long as it does not violate the CR4 Site Use Policy, we ask that you follow these guidelines when posting or commenting on CR4.
Are there limits to the usernames that I can select?Yes, we ask that you avoid using registered trademarks, company names, or the names of real people (who are not you) in or as your username. Where does my post belong?It depends on what you are writing about. CR4 is divided into 15 sections, each with at least one forum:
What if I post to the wrong forum?Let the cr4admin@globalspec.com know - he/she will be able to move it for you. Occasionally, an administrator will do this of his or her own volition upon finding a post that belongs in another area. This is most likely to happen in relation to items that belong in Commercial Space. What is the difference between a forum and a blog?A forum is a place where any user can ask a question or start a discussion. All CR4 users - registered members or guests - can post and reply to posts within a forum. A blog is an online journal comprised of postings and links. A blog is owned by an individual user or a small, selected group. Only the blog owner or owners can start a discussion within a given blog; however, all users can reply to posts. How do I reply to a forum post, blog entry, or comment from another user?To reply to a forum post, blog entry, or comment from another user, click "Reply" associated with the given entry. Enter your message in the box provided, them preview and submit your reply. How do I rate a post?You can rate any forum thread from 1 to 5 stars - 1 being poor and 5 being superlative. At the top of every thread are three gray boxes. Click "Rate this", select the desired number of stars, and then click "Add Vote". Your opinion of the thread will be instantly registered and added to the total. Please note: we do not display half or quarter stars. Instead, we round up or round down to the closet rating, so that an item rated 3.2 stars will physically show up as 3 stars, while something rated 3.7 will appear as 4 stars. You are welcome to change your vote at any time, but the system will only log your most recent vote for each individual story (i.e., if you vote that a story is a 2, but then go back and change it to a 4, your original vote of 2 is deleted). How do I rate a comment?Comments can be be rated as "Good Answers" (GAs) or "Off-Topic" (OT). Only registered members of CR4 can rate a comment, and each member can only register one vote per comment (except in the case of a "self off-topic" vote which will immediately relegate the comment to off-topic status). It takes a net of two positive votes (+2) for a post to be considered "good" and a net of two negative votes (-2) to be considered "off-topic". Posts voted as good answers will be ringed in green with a thumbs up icon. Posts voted "off-topic" will be minimized. Additionally, Good Answers are noted in the user's profile as part of a running tally. Good answer votes should be given only to comments that provide a valuable technical contribution. Comments should be voted "off-topic" only if they do not directly pertain to the original post. Off-topic should not be used in cases where you disagree with a poster's point of view, nor should they be used to punish another user. Posters who engage in such activity will lose their ability to rate comments and may have their account closed. Over time, you may see your running tally fluctuate up or down. This is a normal occurrence as other users may see the value of your posts or feel they lack merit. If you feel you have lost good answer votes unfairly, please contact the CR4 Admin and they will investigate. If your case is founded, you will have your GAs returned. Generally, though, the greatest fluctuations take place when a user receives a good answer for a political comment ("Bush is an idiot" or "it's all Obama's fault"), a questionable claim (HHO/perpetual motion, anti-evolution, conspiracy theories, etc.) or a populist message ("It's all the fault of x government/business/entity"), then someone of a differing viewpoint disagrees and marks it OT. In those cases the CR4 Admin will not make a change, as they were opinion based, and not awarded based on technical merit. How do I post to a blog?You can only post entries to a blog if you are an approved member of that blog. You can, however, reply to entries within the blog as you would within a forum. Many of the blogs allow visitors to submit material for potential inclusion. So, if you are particularly moved, use the "Contact Blog Admins" button. You are also are welcome to lobby the blog's owner to invite you in as a blog owner, but this will likely require demonstrated expertise on the subject as well as dedication to CR4 in terms of usage, rank and quality citizen-journalism. I want my own blog!So you think you've got what it takes to be a CR4 blogger? Well, then email the CR4 Admin from your profile and say that you'd like a blog on CR4. Let the administrator know what you'd like to write about and your experience / expertise in the field. The CR4 Admin will evaluate your proposal by studying your user rank, previous postings, and the work in your biography to see if you fit the CR4 blogger mold. We usually have the person write a few entries for an existing blog before providing a personal blog to the requester. Note, we are not looking for bloggers who simply want to pimp a product, service or company. What are user groups?User groups are cadres of registered CR4 members who have something in common and desire to display their association. User groups can develop based on many factors, such as personal interests, similar experiences, hobbies, geographic location, career paths, etc. Some user groups have open membership and other require permission to join. The list of existing user groups can be found on the User Group Index. Most user groups have open membership while some require permission to join. Any registered member of CR4 can petition to join a group or submit a request to create a new user group. At this time, user groups do not have their own forums. They are simply groups of users based on their affinities. What are pathfinder tags?Pathfinder tags are similar to keywords. They are added to a post to detail important topics within the post and to allow users to find a post more easily. Pathfinder tags may be added by the poster of the entry when the entry is first posted and, occasionally, by the CR4 administration team. What are user tags?Registered users can tag forum posts and blog entries so that they can find them later. User tags are not visible to the general public. They serve to help you organize the site for you. Tagged items can be tracked and modified through your user profile. What do member titles mean?Member titles are a fun way to track user participation on the site. The more posts you submit to CR4, the higher you'll rise along the following scale:
Beyond that, we really don't know (and we're kind of scared...). You must be a registered CR4 member to accrue posts towards user titles. Any actions that you take prior to registering will not be carried over. When you register, you start as a "browser". Note, user titles in no way reflect the quality of posts provided by an individual, only the number of posts they have provided. A users "Good Answer" total is a better reflection of this. You may notice a number of folks with titles who are not on this list. They are CR4 Administrators and do not gain rank in this way. How do I subscribe to a discussion?There are a number of ways that you can subscribe to forum threads or discussions in blogs, but there is one unifying factor - you must be a registered member of CR4 to do so. You can subscribe when posting a question or story, or when replying, by making sure that the "Yes, email me as new comments are added" box is selected. You will then receive an email whenever someone responds to the post - unless you have edited your profile preferences so that thus will not happen. You do not have to post or reply to subscribe to a discussion. All forum threads and blog entries have three gray boxes over them. Click the one that says "Subscribe" and then click the "Subscribe to this Discussion" button. You can unsubscribe from discussions by modifying your user profile and clicking "Default to 'Don't Subscribe'", or by clicking the "Subscribe" button in the forum thread and blog entry again, and then clicking "Unsubscribe from this Discussion". How do I report a post?All forum posts, blog entries and user profiles have a "Report" link. Registered CR4 members can use this to inform the CR4 moderation team of spam, inappropriate advertising messages, and problematic (harassing, fighting, or rude) posts. Please describe the exact problem in detail. How do I email a friend / send an internal message?Occasionally, you may want to contact another user to discuss something in greater detail without the prying eyes of the rest of the community. Registered CR4 members can do so by sending an internal message. You can do so by clicking "Send username a message" within his or her profile, or by clicking "Write New Message" from within your own mailbox. Note: this is not an email, but a missive sent within the CR4 system to another user. Use of the internal messaging system is a privilege - not a right. Any registered user who violates the Internal Messaging Code of Conduct risks losing the right to use the messaging system - or even expulsion from CR4. A quick, though not comprehensive list of unacceptable messaging behavior includes, but is not limited to:
How do I subscribe / unsubscribe from the Daily Digest?You may unsubscribe from the CR4 Daily Digest at anytime by:
Note: Unsubscribe may take up to 72 hours to take effect. You will likely receive at least one more edition of the CR4 Daily Digest, for which we apologize in advance. |
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