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FreewareBB survives because of you, and we always value your participation on the site although we realise that sometimes it can be a tad difficult to navigate sites which you may not be familiar with and that's the reason we've created this introduction on how to participate in the two main sections of our site, our forums and our downloads.

Downloads
Adding a download
Any registered member can add a download to our, already extensive number of listings.   SEE HERE for a quick-start guide on adding a download.

Rating a download
Registered members can rate any download on the site using the 5 star rating system.   You simply hover over the stars and choose how many, out of 5, you wish to give the software with 1 star being the least (and worse) rating possible and 5 stars being the most (and best) rating possible.   Your rating helps other members decide what's considered the best in that category!.

Fig 1.1



Recommend or share a download
You can share the details of a download on our site with some of the popular bookmark and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, digg, Buzz, delicious, Reddit & StumbleUpon using the small icons found near the bottom of the download page.   You can also send details of the download to someone via email, print the details to your local printer and even download a copy of the page, all by using those small icons!.

Fig 1.2



Keeping an eye on a download or category
When you come across a download that you really like, you can keep informed of any changes or updates to the download and receive email alerts of this as well as any comments made on that download.   To do this, you would hit the "Follow this file" button and choose your preferred options (Fig 1.3).   You can access a complete list of the content you follow using the "Content I Follow" link on the drop down from your username (Fig 1.4).   Similarly, when you find an entire category that you want to keep an eye on you can also choose to "Follow this category" and receive notifications of comments and updates (Fig 1.5).

Fig 1.3


Fig 1.4


Fig 1.5



Adding a comment to a download
Near the bottom of every download you will find a section where you can add your own comments and share your opinions with other members and visitors of FreewareBB!.   Just click inside the box and start typing, when you're done all you have to do is hit the "Submit Review" button - why not give it a go!

Fig 1.6



Adding a review to a download
You can also add a more detailed review to a download using the "Read/Write Reviews" button which will take you to the forum section for our reviews where you simply add a reply to the existing thread already setup for the download giving details of what you found particularly useful or dissapointing about the software.   Posting a review should normally be accompanied with some detailed information, like pro's and con's, good points, bad points and ideally (but not required) a few screenshots as examples.   Although there are no real hard or fast rules about what makes a good review, we normally look for a minimum of a few paragraphs before approving any review.   Simple comments can be added to any download as explained above in Fig 1.6.

Fig 1.6a




Like a comment?
When you find a comment useful or really informative, you can "Like This" which not only encourages the commenter to continue posting on other downloads, but shows your appreciation.

Fig 1.7



Forums
Creating a new post
When you want to start a new post in our forums, first go to our main forum section HERE (or hit the "Forums" tab on our menu at the top of the site).   From the available forums, choose which one best suits the nature of your post (i.e. you want to add feedback to our site then you would choose "Site Feedback & Suggestions").   Next, hit the "Start New Topic" button over to the right-hand side of the screen and begin your post by entering a title for your new post.   Further down the page you will find a large blank box and this is where you enter the details of your post.   When you've done this, you can then choose to upload a file to your post (depending on your member group).

Once you've entered all the relevant details, simply hit the "Post New Topic" button and your post will be sent to a moderator for review.   If you have 10 or more active posts on the site, your new posts and replies will automatically be approved.

Fig 1.9




Replying to a post
Replying to a post is really simple, it's very similar to adding a comment to a download - all you do is scroll to the bottom of the last reply and click inside the "Reply to this topic" box and start typing.   When you're done, hit the "Post" button and your reply will be viewed by a moderator before approval.   Members with 10 or more approved post's don't have to wait for their replies or new posts to be approved.

Fig 1.10



When you like a members post
In the same way you can "Like" a comment made on a download, you can also "Like This" on a post - again, if the post is informative, useful or just plain hilarious, you can "Like This"!.

Fig 1.11



Recommend or share a post
You can share the details of a post on our site with some of the popular bookmark and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, digg, Buzz, delicious, Reddit & StumbleUpon using the small icons found near the bottom of the page.   You can also send details of the post to someone via email, print the details to your local printer and even download a copy of the page, all by using those small icons!.

Fig 1.12