In order to use all of the
features of the new community section of the website, you will need to be a
registered user. New users can register by clicking the green “Join” link
located at the top right of the home page. The “New User Registration"
page will appear, and you will be required to fill out the necessary fields to
create your new account.
- Create a SCREEN NAME - This will be a unique name that appears publicly
when you post on the discussion boards, blogs, etc. To protect your privacy, it
is not recommended that you use your real name as your Screen Name. his is also your
password that you would use when logging into your account.
- Create a PASSWORD – A strong password containing both numbers and letters is
recommended for added security.
- CONFIRM PASSWORD –
Re-type your password from the previous field.
- YOUR E-MAIL – Enter the email address you wish to use for contact purposes.
- CONFIRM E-MAIL -
Re-type your email address from the previous field.
Please read Sun Media's Terms & Conditions by clicking the link provided. When you are finished, click the checkbox indicating that you have read and agree to the terms. If you would like to be included in the mailing list to be kept up to date on special offers and news, click the appropriate checkbox. When you have filled in all of the necessary information, click the “Register Me Now” button.
A verification email will be sent to the address you specified when you signed up. This email will contain your
registration information, including your password. Check your email and click on the link to verify your new
account. A new browser window will display the message “Thank you for registering. You may now access Your Account.”
Your registration is now complete.
Please note that if you are using online services such as AOL, Hotmail or other e-mail programs or suppliers that
they may have automatic spam filter systems in operation to prevent your account from receiving unwanted e-mails.
You may need to turn off your spam filters temporarily, adjust your filter settings, or find some alternative when
trying to receive your verification e-mail.
Community Partners can use the U R Community pages to promote their organization and events. To become a
Community Partner, you must first register with the U R Community pages using the process outlined above.
Once you have registered, log into your account and scroll to the bottom of the greeting page. You will
see a link that will take you to the Community Partner Application page. Fill out the required information
on the page and submit the form. The newspaper will be notified of the application, and will take the
necessary actions to verify your request. Once the request has been verified, your status will change from
that of a General User to Community Partner.
If you are already a registered user, you will need to sign in to the site to make use of all of the new
features. To sign in to the community site, click on the green “Sign In” link located at the top right of
the home U R community page. The “Sign In” page will appear, prompting you for your user name and password.
If you would like your computer to remember your login information for your next visit, click the “Remember Me”
checkbox (This is not recommended on public computers such as libraries, internet cafes, or schools.)
When you have filled in your user name and password, click the “Sign in Now!” button. If you have
successfully logged in, you will be directed to your account home page, where you can access all of the site
features. If you forget your username and password, you can click the link at the bottom to have your login
information resent to your email address. If you do not have a user name, you can click the “Join Now” link
to begin the new user registration process.
The main menu for the U R Community site is found in the middle column of the site, just below the
Community header, and to the right of the content you are viewing. All features that are discussed in
this section are found in the menu to the right of the U R Community page.
The events calendar is where U R Community members can share and update other community members and visitors on events happening in their community. Submissions are entered by U R Community members based upon the date and event type.
Please note that after submitting your event, you will be able to edit or modify the listing.
To submit an event, click on the Submit an Event button, found just below the Events Search section title bar, on the left side of the page. All required information must be filled out in order to submit the event. If there is information missing, you will receive an error message indicating what you either entered incorrectly formatted information, or you did not enter information at all for a required field, and you will be informed what you need to enter to make the submission accepted by the system.
When entering the date, there are two methods, using the calendar feature to select the individual date, or manually enter the date or dates of the event. To use the calendar, you will need to change the month and the year (if necessary) by clicking on the Next or Prev links, beside the appropriate field. The year and month name will update automatically to reflect the time frame you are currently viewing in the calendar. Click on the date that the event will happen and the date will be entered in the text box below the calendar. To enter a range of dates, you can click on the individual dates, or you can select the Range option, found just above the calendar. If the range option has been selected, you only need to click on the first date in the range, and the last date in the range.
You also have the option of entering the date manually by typing it into the text box, found directly under the calendar window. The dates must be in the mm/dd/yyyy format, with a range of dates entered as mm/dd/yyyy – mm/dd/yyyy (Note the spaces before and after the dash). If the month or day is a single digit, you do not need the leading zero. Press return after entering the first date if you wish to have more dates added. Only one date or date range can be on a line.
When filling out the Location information, you only need to enter the name of the venue and the city it is located in. However you will want to enter in as much information as possible, using the field names as guides for what you should enter.
Next you will need to fill in your contact information. This is necessary in case clarification or updated information is needed. Your information will not be displayed on the site.
Lastly the word verification needs to be entered. This is an anti-spam device and helps to prevent unauthorized or undesired events to be listed on the site. The graphic to the right of the field will contain a random series of letter and/or numbers that must be entered correctly for the submission to be posted to the site. There can be no spaces, dashes, commas, or any other special characters in the word verification field. The letters are not case sensitive so you do not need to enter the letters in the same case style as displayed in the graphic.
Once you have entered all of the required information, click the Submit button in the bottom right corner of the screen and the event will be entered in the database and available online immediately. Events that are submitted by Trusted Users and by Community Partners are automatically posted to the front page of the newspaper website.
Please note that after submitting your event, you will be able to edit or modify the listing.
To find an event that is going on, you can search for the event if you know the title, or a key word in the event title. Enter the keyword or keywords in the Search field. If you wish to narrow down your search results, select the event category in the Categories field, and you can also use the Date Range option to find events within a specified number of days from today’s date. Once you have entered in the information and clicked the Search button, all matching results will be displayed below the search box. The search results will display with the title of the event at the top, where the event is located, when it’s going to be held, and the category that the search result falls under. You can find more information regarding the event by clicking on the title of the event, of the More link, at the bottom of the entry.
If you know the exact date of the event, you can use the calendar window in the left side of the screen to click on the date of the event. All events that have been scheduled for that date will be displayed. Any day that is highlighted in light green has an event scheduled for that day, the day that is highlighted in dark green is the current day. To navigate to a different month, click on the left or right arrows at the top of the calendar. The new month and year will be displayed at the top of the calendar.
Once your event has been submitted to the site, you will be able to edit and modify the listing. Simply log into your account, click on the My Events link in the menu in the middle of the page. Once you have found the event you wish to edit in the list, click on the Edit link to the right of the event and make the adjustments.
The Account Control Panel section will only appear if you have logged into your U R Community account. If you do not have a U R Community account, please see the Getting Started section above, for information and instructions on how to obtain your free account.
All options listed in this section are available through the Account Control Panel found on the right side of the screen.
Once you log into your account, the page displayed is your account home page.
Your current access level will be displayed at the top of the page. Your access level will start off as a General User which means you can post content and participate in all sections of the web site. As you become a more trusted user in the U R community, you can gain greater access and the ability to moderate sections or the entire web site. You gain the trust of your fellow community members by having them vote on your information articles, blog entries, and comments. You get one point for each positive vote you receive, and lose one point for each negative vote you receive. Each newspaper will have a different threshold for determining when someone moves from a General User to a Trusted User, and that information is not given to the public. Points that you have gained in one U R community will not transfer over to other U R community sites. So if you live in Kingston for example, your U R Kingston points total will not be available in the U R Belleville community pages, you will have to build your reputation at that newspaper as you did with Kingston.
Here you will also find messages for you regarding actions that have occurred with your information. For example, if you’ve written a blog and someone has promoted it to the Front Page, there will be a note here indicating this. If nothing has occurred affecting your account, then the page will display no messages.
There will also be a welcome message here.
After logging in to the site, select “My Profile” in
the Account Control Panel to the right. This section allows you to update your
profile information, including your avatar photo, personal information.
- EDUCATION - Select your level of education from the drop-down
menu.
- ABOUT ME – Write a brief description about yourself.
- AVATAR UPLOAD – Upload a photo or graphic that will represent you
throughout the site. Please do not upload copyrighted materials or
inappropriate content. To upload a new avatar, browse to the file you wish to
upload on your computer. If you already have an avatar uploaded, it will be
displayed as a thumbnail image. You can click the DELETE button to remove your
current avatar.
- MY WORK – Select the field of employment from the drop-down menu
that most represents your current job or career.
- PERSONAL INFORMATION – Add some personal information about you,
such as your real name, phone number and email address. This information won't
be displayed anywhere on the website or in your blog entries or posts, and is
optional.
- CHANGE PASSWORD – You can use this section to change your password for your U R Community account. Enter your old password and new password in the indicated fields, then reenter the new password. Once the submit button has been pressed, an e-mail will be sent to confirm the change of password. Nothing will happen until the verification e-mail has been opened and the steps outlined in that e-mail followed successfully.
When you are satisfied with your information, click the SUBMIT button. To view your current public profile, click the “View My Profile” button.
The My Alerts section allows you to subscribe to the e-mail alert system for the Sun Media newspapers. You will receive an e-mail notification whenever a news article is posted to the newspaper web site that matched the criteria you outline when setting up your alerts (see below). Alerts are sent our every 15 minutes as necessary.
There are three steps to setting up your alerts
Step 1: Choose Delivery Service
You may choose to receive emails in plain text,
HTML format, or not at all.
Step 2: Choose Your News
There are six types of emails you can receive.
You may choose any combination.
Amber Alerts: Alert for missing children.
News Alerts: Breaking News
News Live: Events currently occurring
Sports Live: Breaking Sports News
Weather Alerts: Storm Warnings
Top Stories of the Day: Front Page Stories
Step 3: Choose Your Newspapers
You may choose which newspapers will send you
alerts.
Click the submit button to confirm your settings.
If you want to easily review an article (newspaper or community) click on the button with the picture of a floppy disk. You’ll be able to save the article to your clipboard. When you login to the community site look for your clipboard under the account control panel and you’ll be able to see a list of articles and blogs you’ve saved.
The My Events section will display any of the events that you have submitted to the Events Calendar. You can edit any of the events that you have listed by clicking on the Edit link found to the right of the event name in the listing. When editing your event, you can edit any of the fields on the form. To save the changes, just click on the Submit button at the bottom of the form. You can also begin to edit your event by clicking on the event title in the left most column of the event listing.
If you wish to delete an event, you will need to speak to the newspaper that runs the U R Community page, as they are the only ones who have access to delete the submitted events.
You may change your email address that is associated with the Sun Media websites by entering the new e-mail in both fields and then clicking submit. You must verify the new address through the verification email that is sent to the new address.
There is a check box under newsletter to subscribe/unsubscribe to the newsletters to keep up to date on special offers and news. Click in the box and then click submit to make the change.
