Affinity Group Members – Posting Instructions

Each Affinity Group Moderator is the contact person for all that AMSA members want to post on the AMSA website (www.mensstudies.org) for an Affinity Group and for all policies and questions about that group’s processes, content, and discussions.

You can locate an Affinity Group by moving your cursor over “Affinity Groups” at the top of any page of the AMSA website. A dropdown menu will appear under it and you can click on the name of the group in which you are interested. When you do so, you are on a summary page of posts for the Affinity Group. Click on the headline of the post to read it in its entirety (including links and photos embedded in the post).

Anyone can read or comment on what is posted on any Affinity Group, but only members of the Affinity Group can post items. Members are added by contacting the group’s moderator. Each group’s moderator also must approve all posts that members submit for approval as well as all comments on items posted before they actually appear on the page.

Members must be current members of AMSA and must apply to the appropriate group’s moderator to join the group. They will then receive a login ID and password in their email. It will come from this address: “WordPress [wordpress@mensstudies.org]” with the subject line: “[American Men's Studies Association] Your username and password.”

Though anyone can comment on any post anywhere on the AMSA website without logging in by filling in the “Speak Your Mind” form at the bottom of a post or clicking on “Leave a comment” on the headline page of an affinity group, affinity group members will need to log in to submit their own posts to their group.

Members of the group can log in on any page of the website. Click on “Log in” in the dark blue bar, which also includes copyright information, at the bottom of a page.

Once you have logged in, you will be viewing your “Profile” page. You can change your password there and fill in other information. You can also choose how you want your name to appear with your posts by a dropdown menu after “Display name publicly as.”

To post items, click on “Posts” in the upper left hand corner of your “Profile” page. Then click on “Add New” in the dropdown menu below it.

Your screen should then have a box for a subject or headline and another larger box below it for your post. On the upper right of that larger box you should make sure you are on “Visual.”

You can now write your post and do one of the following actions in the “Publish” box in the upper right-hand corner of the page when you are finished:

1. Save it as a draft if you do not have time to complete it or want to edit it later by clicking on “Save Draft” — this saves your draft post on the website so it will be in your account when you log in again;
2. Preview it as if it were posted by clicking on “Preview” in the upper right;
3. Submit it to the group’s moderator for posting by clicking on “Submit for Review.” When your moderator approves it, it will then appear on the website for all to see.

If you wish to insert a link to another webpage, first highlight the words in your post that you want to link to the other web address and click on the image of the unbroken chain link in the icons above the box in which you are writing your post. A pop-up screen will appear for you to insert the address of your link.

To add an image or photo, you can do so in your post by clicking on the HTML tab at the upper right. Then you will see “img” for adding photos to your post in the bar right above the box with your post. Click on “img” and follow the instructions.

You will enjoy this process once you get used to it. It really is not difficult. It should be a great way to communicate and share common interests and information.

If you have questions with the “how to” elements or any of the actual mechanics of this, the Webmaster, Bob Minor, is available to respond to them and actually happy to talk Affinity Group Members through them by phone while you are on the website at your computer. Email him with questions and, if you wish, times you are available for him to phone you to do this. Don’t forget to add a phone number if you want a call.