Guidance

This guidance will help explain the different functionality of ShoutOut for you.

Registration

This is the place where you can register to take part in ShoutOut. Only those questions marked with a red asterix (*) are compulsory. All other questions/requested information are optional.

Dashboard

When you first login to ShoutOut you will see your own personal dashboard which is the place where you can get involved in ShoutOut via four different routes:

- Having your say in the Forum

- Voting in a Poll

- Recommending a News link

- Submitting a Question

Forum

The Forum is where you go to have your say on the issues which are currently being debated. Here’s how:

1. Login to the site as normal to access your dashboard;

2. From the dashboard, click on the ‘Have your say in the Forum’ option;

3. Now from the Forum page, click on the ‘Current topics’ option where you can read the introductory information about the current debate;

4. Click on any of the discussions which are you want to contribute to and then the ‘Add new comment’ option;

5. Enter your ‘subject’ and ‘comment’ in the appropriate boxes. If you are happy with the comment, select the ‘preview’ option, then the ‘post comment’ option;

6. You can also reply to another participant’s comment by clicking on the ‘reply’ option and repeating step 5 (above);

7. Your comment will be checked by moderators to make sure it meets all the discussion rules and if they’re happy then it will be published on the site.

Poll

The polls are a very important and quick way for you to cast your opinion on an issue. Here’s how:

1. From the dashboard page, click on the ’Vote in the Polls’ option;

2. You should be looking at the polls which are currently live. To vote in a poll, select your preferred choice followed by the ‘vote’ button;

News link

The news link section is where you can recommend interesting news links which you come across to other like-minded people on ShoutOut. Here’s how:

1. From the dashboard page, click on the ’News Link’ option;

2. Enter all the relevant info about your news link in the ‘Body’, ‘Description’ and ‘Web address’ boxes. If you are happy with the news link, select the ‘preview’ option, then the ‘submit’ option;

3. Your news link will be checked by moderators to make sure it meets all the discussion rules and if they’re happy then it will be published on the site.

Question

If you have a question which you need answering, you can submit a question on ShoutOut which other participants might be able to answer or assist you with. Here’s how:

1. After logging into the dashboard, click on the ‘question’ option;

2. Enter the question and any additional information in the relevant boxes;

3. When you have finished composing your question, click on the grey ‘preview’ button near the foot of the page;

4. Finally when you are happy with your poll, hit the grey ‘submit’ button near the bottom of the page;

5. Your question will be checked by moderators to make sure it meets all the discussion rules and if they’re happy then it will be published on the site.

How to upload your virtual face/picture

To maximise your own ShoutOut profile you can upload your own virtual face or picture (Maximum dimensions are 48×48 and the maximum size is 30 kB). Here’s how:

1. After logging into the dashboard, click on the ‘My account’ option;

2. Select the ‘edit’ option, and then you will see the Picture box halfway down the page;

3. To select your picture/image click on the ‘Browse’ button to locate it on your computer;

4. Once you have selected your image, scroll down to the bottom of page and select the ‘submit’ button;

5. If successful, you will see a confirmation message that your changes have been saved.

How to recommend a part of ShoutOut to others

As a ShoutOut participant you can recommend different parts of the site to others. You can recommend wherever you see the orange ‘Recommend’ button in the Forum – in the News, Forum and Q & A sections – here’s how:

1. After logging into the dashboard, click on the ‘Forum’ option (as an example);

2. Now from the Forum page, click on ‘Current topics’ and one of the discussions listed;

3. You should now see the orange ‘Recommend’ button underneath either an opening comment from the moderator or comments from other participants. If you want to, you can recommend both – just hit the ‘Recommend’ button;

4. Once you have recommended a particular comment or news item you cannot recommend it again.