Introduction
Here's a quick guide to using this space, including tips on some of its features and the main kinds of posts you can make. If you need technical support at any time, please do get in touch at support@thebuddhistcentre.com and we'll be glad to help! If you want to contact us privately for any other reason, please get in touch at mitrasupport@thebuddhistcentre.com.
Taking part
Click + follow above to take part. You can then read posts by other members and have the option of posting your own.
You will also be notified of new posts. You can manage your notification settings under ‘my profile’ (hover over your name top right on any page when logged in to see this option).
Finding your way around
Use the group menu (under the big header image of the bowing monk) to move between different views of the space. The filter button lets you choose more specifically which kinds of posts you want to see.
Group etiquette
Please review our general community guidelines and also our moderation terms for the site. Please also stay on-topic within the comment stream on someone's post.
If you don't like how someone responds to your post - or it's off-topic - you'll find advice about the best ways to handle it at the links above. You can also contact us at any time for help: support@thebuddhistcentre.com
Making posts
Use the '+ post something' bar to make a post (see below for the different kinds you can make).
Blog posts
If you want to write something of fuller length (with the option of including pictures) you can make a blog post by choosing + blog. This will probably be the default for a lot of us - a good way to write out your reflections.
If you'd rather just have your reflections witnessed without comment, please feel free to turn commenting off on your post.
Discussions
If you want to invite conversation around your post, choose + discussion. This is a text only format, intended to facilitate the back-and-forth of dialogue. You can find all designated discussions listed under the discussions filter.
If you want to have any other kind of post specifically listed as a discussion, just tick the 'list this in discussions' box when you post. (Comments can still be left on your posts even when you don't list them as discussions.)
Talks and Videos
To share a Dharma talk in the space as a basis for your post choose + talk. We support embedding recordings from Free Buddhist Audio and Soundcloud. Follow the instructions when you go to post.
To share an online video as a basis for your post choose + video. We currently support embedding videos from Vimeo, and videos and playlists from YouTube. Follow the instructions when you go to post.
Resources
If you'd like to share files as a basis for your post choose + resources. Files can also be attached to a comment on any kind of post.
This is a good way to share an audio or video file that isn't available for embedding (eg. a video story filmed on your webcam). If you'd like help to make it embeddable, please get in touch at support@thebuddhistcentre.com and we'll be happy to help.
Archive
The archive view shows all the posts made to this space. You can re-order them in different ways (by author, date, etc.).
Finding Stuff
If you can't see the post you're looking for in the archive, use the main site search box (top right of any page) - it works very well these days!
Read more about our improved search engine
Mobile use
The Buddhist Centre Online works well on computers and tablets for both posting and reading. We're in the middle of upgrading the whole platform to be fully mobile web-compatible, and for future apps.
At present if you're on a small screen, all our forms for posting blogs, etc. have been upgraded to work on phones in portrait or landscape mode. For reading, while we work on full responsive mode, if you use landscape it's better. The best bet is to use your browser's built-in 'reader view'. This is present in Safari for iOS and in Chrome for Android.