Help Topics

• Who can use and contribute to this website?
• How do I create a user account?
• I have a user account. How do I log in?
• Dho!  I forgot my user name (or password).  What do I do?
• How do I edit my account profile?
• Which website features can I use?
• How can I create content?
• What are the different types of content?
• How can I include photos in my post using Flickr?
• How can I copy content into my post?
• How do I create a Flash event?
• Yuck!  What's all of this gibberish in my post?

If you can't find the help you are looking for, or you have suggestions for improving the help, please contact us with your suggestions. Thank you!

Who Can Use and Contribute to this Website?

Anyone is welcome to use the Club Fat Ass "online clubhouse". Use of our facilities is free.

We want the site to be a great resource for you, and people like you, who are looking for information about running and related activities.

We also want the CFA "online clubhouse" to be a place where you, and people like you, feel comfortable. Our community is very welcoming and sharing. We value your race reviews, your photos, your comments on our adventure stories and your advice. We value your opinion and trust that you will respect those of others you meet at the "clubhouse".

Like most clubs, we do get the occasional bad apple coming through the door. In the online world, this frequently means spammers, people who might vandalize our clubhouse or otherwise be mean to our members and guests.

To minimize the impact of "bad apples" and to make it easy for you and other "good apples" to benefit from our community, we ask that you create a User Account and that you sign in when you want to contribute to the community.

How Do I Create a User Account?

It's simple, painless, and you only have to do this once!

1. Find the "User Login" box on the top left sidebar of this website
2. Click on Create new account.
3. Fill out the form.  We recommend you use your real first and last names or a very familiar nickname as your Username so you don't forget it.  Please enter the email address you want to receive account confirmation at.  Note that fields marked with an * are required.  Click "create new account" once you are done.
4. In a couple of minutes you will receive an email note.  It will confirm your Username, a password and provide further instructions. 
5. Note:  Be sure to file this email note somewhere handy in case you forget your Username and password!

I Have a User Account. How do I log-in?

It's also simple and painless, but not necessarily obvious the first time:

1. Find the "User Login" box on the top left sidebar.
2. Fill in your Username and the password you received via email.
3. Click "log in"
4. Note:  Most browsers will allow you to remember your Username and Password

Dho!  I forgot my Username (or Password).  What do I do?

1. Go to"User Login" on the left side of this page
2. Fill in the text field with either your Username or the email address you used to set up your User Account.  Fill out the "captcha" and click on "Email New Password". (Note: if the form doesn't accept any of your email addresses, chances are you don't have a User Account.  Please see "How do I Create a User Account" above.)
3. An email note will be immediately sent to you.  Check your inbox for a note from CFA_info (at) cfasports (dot) com.  This email contains a special login link that can be used only once. It expires after one day and nothing will happen if it's not used. 
4. Click on the login link. You will be directed back to a page on the Club Fat Ass website. Click on the "Reset your Password" tab.  This will take you to your profile page where you can reset your password.
5. Note:  Be sure to record your Username and Password so you remember the next time.

How Do I Edit My Account Profile?

1. Log in with your Username and password
2. Scroll down to your personal navigation block on the left sidebar (you will see your Username in orange.)
3. Click on "My account".
4. From the tabs on the top of the page, select "Edit"
5. Fill in the form as desired (i.e. if you wish to change your password, do it in the appropriate field).
6. In the "Block Configuration" box, please select "Navigation" with the check-box. Note, if you don't check "Navigation", you will not be able to see the commands that allow you to post to the website.
7. In the "Subscription settings" box, we recommend you select "Autosubscribe"(check-mark).  This way you will get an email to let you know if someone responds to something you wrote.
8. Click "submit" when you are done

Which Website Features Can I Use?

The table below tells you which features different users can access:

How Can I Create Content?

As highlighted in the table above, there are permission levels depending on your member status.

• Log in with your Username and password
• Find your personal navigation block on the lefty side bar (you will see your Username in orange followed by a selection of blue links).
• Click "Create content".
• Select the type of content you would like to create. Please check the table above to find which content you have permission to post.
• Follow the prompts on the form. In general, you will be asked to type in a title (keep it short but informative) and depending on the type of content, you can choose a category from a drop down list. (i.e. if you are posting a blog post you can choose from "adventure", "general", "run report", "training", etc ). If appropriate you can even choose several categories at the same time. This means your content will be posted in several places on the site.
• Type your content into the text box labeled Body.  
• Some type of content allows you preview and re-edit your content. When you are happy with your content, click "submit".

What are the Different Types of Content?

• Event
  Club Events are scheduled for a specific date and time. Scheduled Events will be posted by admin. Flash Events can be posted by CFA members any time. To post an event, log in, look for your navigation block on the left side bar, select "create content", and select "event".
• Forum post
  A forum is a threaded discussion, enabling users to discuss a particular topic. You can post a forum topic here. Forum topics will also be posted on the right hand column under Active Forum Topics.
• Image
  We use Flickr to share photos of our events and the Traveling Colours Contest.  Instructions are posted here.
• Personal blog entry
  A blog is a regularly updated journal made up of individual entries, often called posts, that are time stamped and typically arranged by the day, with the newest on top (a diary is the reverse). They tend to be quite personal, often containing links to things you've seen, or to editorials that you find interesting. Some blogs also contain original material written solely for the blog. Since a blog is personal, you and only you have full control over what you publish. Blog posts on the CFA website will automatically be posted to the front page, so make sure you check your spelling before hitting submit!
• Poll
  A poll is a multiple-choice question which visitors can vote on.
• Story
  A story is similar to a newspaper article. It automatically gets promoted to the front page. As an Event Host you can use the story function to announce your event or results. Stories can also be used to announce events in the community, as long as the announcement/event is relevant to Club Fat Ass. Please use this feature responsibly. Any inappropriate content will be removed and might result in the cancellation of your posting privileges.

How Can I Include Photos in My Post Using Flickr?

Club Fat Ass uses the great features of the photo sharing website Flickr.  There are many benefits to using Flickr rather than uploading photos directly to the CFA website, but most important are that Flickr is the best tool we know of for photo sharing and your photos can be shared more widely.

You will need a Flickr account to include photos in your CFA posts.  A basic account is free.  If you need help with Flickr please refer to their user guides or take their tour.

How can I add photos to the Members In Action block (right side-bar), or to the Traveling Colours Contest?

1. Join Flickr or log into your existing Flickr account
2. Use the neat Flickr uploader tool to upload multiple photos.
3. Join the Club Fat Ass Flickr Group. (The join button is on the Flickr Group page on the right side a bit down the screen.)
4. Add your photos to the Club Fat Ass group pool. You can use the Organizer tool on Flickr to do this if you have a batch of photos.
5. Tag your photos, as below, to appear in different areas on the CFA website:
   
   
   • Members In Action. Add to the CFA group pool and tag with ClubFatAss. Please note that only member photos, shirt photos or photos of CFA events should be added.
   • Travelling Colours Contest. Add to the CFA group pool and tag with ClubFatAss, TravellingColoursContest and TravellingColoursContestYear (replace "year" with the current year, i.e. TravellingColoursContest2009)
   • Event Photos. Add to the CFA group pool and tag with ClubFatAss, ClubFatAssEvents, ClubFatAssEventYear (replace "year" with the current year, i.e. ClubFatAssEvents2009), EventName and EventNameYear (replace "EventName" with the name of the event and "year" with the current year, i.e. FullMonty2009)

How can I add an image to a post (blog, results, story, weblink)?

If you just want to post a photo in your blog, Event results, or a story, you can still do this by using the image icon in the tool bar of our text editor (it's that little square icon with a green tree). Please note: to use the image icon in our text editor your image needs to be hosted somewhere on the web - this can be a photo-sharing site like Flickr or Picassa or your own website).

• Grab the image location by right clicking on the image you would like to insert and selecting "copy image location"
• In the CFA text editor, click on the image icon (the little icon that looks like a picture frame). A pop up window will open.
• Paste the image location in the Image URL field
• Optional: fill in Image Description
• Set alignment (left, right, center) so your image goes where you want it to
• Either use the orignal image size or set Image Size to less than 490px. If you are using a photo posted on Flickr, use the different images sizes Flickr offers. Medium works best for full size photos (i.e starter photos on top of the results page) and small is recommended for photos that are within the text body.
• Leave border blank
• Indicate 3 for vertical and horizontal space
• Click insert. After the photo is inserted you can drag and drop it into different locations within the page. 

How Can I Copy Content into My Post?

One would hope that cutting text from one place and pasting that text into another place (e.g. the CFA site) would be as simple as pie.  Unfortunately, it's not. 

What you cut from some software applications (Microsoft Word and Outlook come quickly to mind) comes with all sorts of invisible code that can make a mess of your contribution to the CFA site.  Here's how you can avoid problems:

1. Select the content in Word, Outlook or scrape from a webpage (use the mouse or Ctrl+A to select all).
2. Copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl+C or select "copy" from the edit menu).
3. Place the cursor on the location in your CFA post where you want the copied text to begin.
4. Press the "Paste from Word" icon (small blue W icon) on the little text editor above the post's body.
5. A pop up window will appear. Paste your text into the window (Ctrl+V) and click "insert".

How Do I Create a Flash Event?

A Flash Event is a one-time event.  It is free.  It is open to anyone.  The only gotcha is that Club insurance does not cover Flash events, so you need to make extra sure you take good care of your guests.

Anyone who is authorized to use the Club Fat Ass "online clubhouse" can put on a Flash event.  All you need is a User Account.  (See How do I Create a User Account.)

It takes less than 5 minutes to create and share a Flash event:

1. Log in
2. Click on "Create Content".  (On the left side of the main page under your user name.)  You will go to the content page where you will be given several options
3. Click on "Event"
4. Title.  Give your event a title:  e.g. Flash - Funky Chicken 50K.  Be sure to preface your title with "Flash" so it shows up in the list of events as a Flash event
5. Location.  The nearest town or suburb to the start
6. Tag it with "Flash Event"
7. Enter the event details.  We strongly recommend you use the recommended Flash Event format.  (See below.)  Be sure to include the disclaimer! 
8. Press "Save"  (Better than "Preview" as you are less likely to lose your work)
9. Your Flash Event will automatically appear in the CFA calendar and, if it's coming up soon, also under Upcoming Events in the right sidebar.  Admin will post it to the main page about 2 weeks prior to the Event.

Other hints and tips:

• Be sure to check your Flash Event page to make sure it is formatted as you expect it to be.
• If you need to edit the content of your Flash Event page, click on the edit tab at the top of your Flash Event page.
• We strongly recommend you use the "ShareThis" feature to tell your friends about your event.  You can find this feature at the bottom of your Flash Event page.

Flash Events are summarized on one web page.  Simply copy this format and use it to kick start your Flash Event:

What:  What's it all about?

When:  Date and time of the event.

Where:  Where is the start?  What route will you take?

Why:  Why are you doing this?

How:  How do I confirm I will join you?

Other:  Any other information that is relevant.

You are responsible for your own well being and safety and should be self sufficient. Please read the Release of All Claims. By participating in this event you agree to the terms of the Release of All Claims.

Yuck!  What's all of this gibberish in my post?

You have just spent the last half-hour crafting a brilliant and helpful story to share with friends, fellow FatAsses and folks out there in Internet land. 

You cut text from one website or another, maybe you got it from an email note or a Word document?  You pasted it all together on the CFA site, formatted it nicely, checked your spelling and pressed save.  Voila.

To your horror, your opus is full of weird formatting, weird text (e.g. <span>, <end if>) and other weird stuff. "Crappy website!," you holler in frustration.

You have stumbled across one of those technology things that we just have to work around.  You see, word processors, email programs and other computer programs that manage words and images have all kids of hidden codes.  When you paste information from these programs into a web editor such as ours, the hidden code comes along for the ride.  You can either make sure there is no hidden code in what you post to this website, or you can clean out the hidden code from your post on this website.

1. Cut and Paste from Word.  If your original document is a Word document, best to use our editor's handy "Paste from Word" tool.  To do this, copy your content from the Word document.  Go to the post on our website where you would like to paste the text.  Place your cursor at the exact paste location.  Look for the Word icon (a folder with a blue "W" in the text editor toolbar above.  Click on the Word icon.  A "Paste from Word" window will will open up.  Paste your text here and press ok. 
2. PreWash.  A hassle, but certainly the easiest way to get rid of hidden code in your posts on this site is to make sure it never gets into your posts on this site in the first place.  Hidden code is automatically stripped out by a simple text editor such as Wordpad.  You then paste to the CFA site
3. After the fact.  Edit your post as you normally would.  There is two ways to strip additional formatting:
   - use the handy "Remove Format" tool in our text editor above.  Highlight the text where you'd like to remove formatting, look for the "remove format: tool in the text editor (note: it looks like an eraser).  Click on the "remove format" icon.  If you still see some funky code or formatting use the next option:
   - Below the editor, you will see "Switch to plain text editor".  This will take you below the hood to the HTML editor where you can strip out the invisible code.  Warning... requires some knowledge of HTML!