Frequently asked questions: How do I register on Refstripes?

1. This document is meant to answer many of the questions you might have about Refstripes.com and it’s discussion board. Most of these are based around questions we have gotten from members and guests since it’s inception. • Frequently asked questions: • How do I register on Refstripes.com? • What do the member titles (high school, NCAA D1, NFL, etc.) and Supervisor Reports under each member’s profile mean? • As a member, how do I change my profile? • What are personal messages and how do they work? • How do I start a new thread? • How do I post a reply in a current thread?

2. First, here are some basics about the website and discussion board. When you go to www.refstripes.com, you will see this: From this page, you can get to any of the other parts of www.refstripes.com. The other parts include the Discussion Board, Zebra Times (new articles on officiating and officials), a page with many different links for officials, and a page for persons who are interested in becoming a football official. Zebra Times also has a page for members to submit articles. If you have an officiating article, please send it in. The articles in the Zebra Times will first show up in the News Box at the top right of the Discussion Board.

3. Refstripes.com Discussion Board The discussion board is the main part of Refstripes.com. This is where officials communicate with each other in an open forum. This is what the discussion board will look like the first time you see it. If you are a member, simply put your username and password into the boxes in the middle of the screen. If you are a guest, you can browse the forum by selecting one of the boards (General Discussion, NCAA Discussion, etc.), but you can’t post unless you are a member. Each section is dedicated to a different set of rules or topic.

4. How do I register? • Registering at Refstripes.com is very easy. All you have to do is click on the “Register” button just below the search button.

5. How do I register? • After you click the “Register” button, you will move to the registration page. Choose a username and password and enter the e-mail address you want to use with the discussion board. Just read the agreement, click “I Agree” and click “Register” at the bottom of the page. You will then be logged into the discussion board with the username you just chose.

6. What do the titles and Supervisor Reports under the member names mean? • The titles under the members names are a feature of this software that is strictly • a representation of how many posts that member has made. It has nothing to do • with what level that official is at or has been at in his officiating. The best way to • identify yourself and the level you work is with an Avatar. This will be discussed in • a later slide. Here are the titles and what they mean: • High School – 0-49 posts on the discussion board • Supplemental NCAA – 51-99 posts on the discussion board. • NCAA D-III – 100-249 posts on the discussion board. • NCAA D-II – 250-499 posts on the discussion board. • NCAA D-I – 500-999 posts on the discussion board. • NFL – 1000+ posts on the discussion board. The titles discusses above is a feature of the board that we decided to modify to relate to football officiating. This is similar to the Supervisor’s Report you will also see under a member’s username in a post. Any member can affect any other member’s Supervisor’s report. If you agree with something another member posts or think it’s great information, you can click on “Ataboy” to increase the positive report by one. Or you can increase the negative report by clicking on “Downgraded” if you disagree.

7. How do I change my profile? As a registered member, you have a profile page. To get to it click on “Profile”

8. How do I change my profile? After you click on “Profile”, you will go to your profile page. It will look like this. The section with the red circle around it is where you can change your settings.

9. How do I change my profile? The part circled in red in the previous slide will be how you can change your profile settings. • Account related settings – This will allow you to change the way your name is displayed, change your e-mail address, specify whether or not your e-mail address is public, change your password, or specify a secret question to help you retrieve your password if forgotten. • Forum Profile Information – In this section, you can add a personalized picture (Avatar). This is the best way to identify yourself and at what level you are working. I believe all of the current NCAA conference logos are listed. If you have a picture or logo you would like to add, send it to grant@refstripes.com and it will be added to the list of pictures or logos available. In this section, you can also change your birth date, location, ways to contact you, your website, or your signature. Your signature will be placed at the bottom of each post you make on the board. • Look and layout preferences – This section will allow you to change the way the discussion board looks when logged in. • Notifications and e-mail – You can receive e-mail notifications from your posts if you would like. This is specified here. • Personal Message options – This allows you to ignore certain users or set some rules around your personal messages. We will go into more detail in the next slide.

10. Personal Messages Personal messages are basically e-mail between members through the discussion board. If you have a personal message, you will see the following. Click on the part that is underlined (8 messages) and it will take you to your personal messages.

11. Personal Messages • If you would like to send a personal message to another member of the discussion board, all you have to do is click on their name to view their profile. • At the very bottom of the page, you will see a line that says, “Send this member a personal message.” • When you click on that, another screen will come up that will look very similar to an e-mail message. It will have a “To” line, a “Bcc” line, and a subject line. • Type your subject in and then type the body of your note in the open box at the bottom. After you are finished writing the note, you can preview it with the “Preview” button to send it with “Send Message.”

12. How do I start a new thread? A thread is nothing more than a topic on the discussion board. In order to start a new thread, go into the board you would like to put the thread in (General Discussion, NCAA Discussion, etc.) and then click on the following.

13. How do I reply to a current thread? • There are two ways to reply to a current thread. • Reply quoting a previous post. • Reply without quoting a previous post

14. Reply using “Quote” feature • If you would like to reply by quoting a previous post, go to that post and click on “Quote.” Using this will let other readers know what you are referring to. • When you do this, the post you quoted will be in the body of your note like the following example. Type your message after [/quote].

15. Reply without quoting previous post. • If you would like to reply without quoting a previous post, click on “Reply”. • This will bring up a blank body section like below. Type your message. Type your message here

16. Replying to a thread. • After you have finished your post, you can click on “Post” or “Preview” at the bottom. • “Post” will do just that, post it to the discussion board. • “Preview” will let you see it just as it will look when you post it. This will allow you to see the formatting and check for spelling or grammatical errors more easily. After you have proofed it, click “Post” to post it to the board.

17. Summary of Refstripes.com • As you can see, there are many features of the Refstripes.com Discussion Board. There are also many that weren’t even mentioned in this presentation. • One major advantage of this board and software is security. If you are a member of a college conference or have a large association and would use it, we can set up a secure board that will only be visible to members of your conference. • If you ever have any questions, there are numerous ways to get your answers. • E-mail the admins at grant@refstripes.com or bigdon@refstripes.com. • Send a personal message to Grant – AR’s or BIG DON. • Or post the question on the discussion board and someone will be able to answer your question. • Towards the bottom of the discussion board, there is a Test Board for members to play around with. You can use this section to make sure you understand how everything works. • The goal of Refstripes.com is to increase the level of officiating across the country and around the world. Come join us and share your knowledge.