During the first login session, members who subscribed before February 23, 2009
will be asked to confirm the community profile information on file including the
email address and provide additional information. It takes just a few minutes and
then you'll have full access to the new profile area.
Enjoy all the features of the community account including:
When your registration is completed, an activation email will be sent to the email
address on the account registration page. Please follow the instructions in the
email to confirm your account. Once the account is confirmed you may login. Tip:
If working in multiple browsers, check each one for new tabs or open windows.
Select the "Sign in" link found under the "My Community" section on any of the forum
and chat pages found within the Discuss Your Legal Issue area or choose to reply
to a post. Provide your account email address and password to complete sign in.
Once signed in, you'll be returned to the community page you were viewing.
For security, all passwords are encrypted and not available for anyone to view.
If you've forgotten your account password, request a reset link be sent to the email
address on file for the account. Accessing the unique link allows the account password
to be changed and completes sign in. The
and
can be accessed only once.
If working in multiple browsers, check each
one for new tabs or open windows.
Passwords may also be changed after sign-in. Simply click on "Edit Profile" in the
right tool bar under "My Community," select the "Sign in Information" tab and complete
the desired changes.
Once you sign in, you can edit and update your personal information. The "My Community"
section includes:
Profile Options
- Avatars - Use the default avatar or upload one of your choice.
- Bio - Add or update the biographical information available through your Display
Name with submitted messages.
- If you're an individual, give us a general description of your situation
or what brought you to Lawyers.comsm. For example: "Injured worker struggling
with comp system for last 3 years." We discourage the inclusion of any personal
contact information.
- If you're a lawyer or other professional, we suggest providing contact info,
including email or Web site address, in this location. If you ever choose to update
your biographical information, the change will reflect in all past as well as future
postings.
Common Profile Options - Update your account information. If you have a website,
blog or an item to read you wish others to know about, feel free to add them; this
information will display on the public profile available through account Display
Names.
Site Option - Customize your account in a number of areas but specifically
with:
- Threaded or Flat Message View - Choose the viewing option for message threads that
you prefer.
- Signature - Add a signature that would be with all submitted messages. Limit of
250 characters including spaces.
Sign in Information
Back To Top
Posts You Have Not Read- Access the posts you've not yet read across all
the forums. If you're only interested in the posts from certain forms, the sorting
function at the top let's you choose forum of interest and return posts from the
specific group.
Tip: To view multiple posts from this page, right click on the post title
and open in a new window. The post breadcrumb at the top of the page will show the
exact location.
Back To Top
Sign-out - Protect your account. Don't forget to sign-out and close all browsers
you may have opened while accessing the community. An open browser with an active
session will remain accessible for 2 hours.
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Forum Functionality
Forum functionality will vary depending on whether viewed before or after sign in
and whether in “threaded” or “flat” format. Complete a free registration to receive
access to all the features offered with the forums.
Forum Navigation
Use the selections at the top of each page to navigate within the forums area.
Forum Home Page
Topics
The main Topics section of the Forum home page provides access to the 5 most recently
active topics across all forums. View a listing of all topic activity across all
forums by selecting the "More" link at the bottom of the first section.
Sorting Options
Available sort options depend on whether viewing or signed into the community.
- Not signed in offers two sorting functions
- Signed in offers four sorting functions as well as access to submitting a post.
Choosing to write a new post from this location requires selecting the subject the
new message should be submitted to. Once you select the forum, all activity takes
place in within the selected forum.
Tip: Accessing "Your Discussions" if you've not submitted any postings results in
the following message:
Additional Searches
Accessing "More" at the bottom of the main Topics section provides additional search
options for forums and specific time-frames.
Post Icons and Visited Links
Tracking viewed posts is available to people signed in. Visitors not signed in will
see only gray message icons and visited links will not change color.
A red pencil denotes new message and/or message with additional replies since your
last visit. The subject link will be light blue.
A gray pencil indicates topic access and no new posts since your last visit. The
subject link turns to dark blue.
Red stars indicate a new reply message(s). A message with a star has received more
than 15 replies.
Gray stars, like gray pencils, indicate topic access and no additional posts since
your last visit.
Browse Discussions
The lower portion of the Forum Home page offers access to the area of law group
home pages and individual forums within the group.
Selecting a group name, or clicking on the "More" link associated with each section
on the Forums Home page returns the Group Home page. This area displays recent activity
within the group along with all the forums available in the group.
Group Home Page
Access forums associate with a specific legal topics.
Sorting Options
Sorting options within the group area is available on the Group Home page. Again,
sorting options vary depending on whether or not the participant signed into the
community. Options include:
Like the Forums page, sign in offers four sorting functions as well as access to
submitting a post. Choosing to write a new post from this location will require
selecting the forum the new message should be submitted to. Once the forum is selected,
all activity takes place in that area.
Tip: Accessing "Your Discussions" if you've not submitted any postings results in
the following message:
Topical Forum Home Page
Area of law articles and other community activities found on Lawyers.comsm relating
to the forum topic is available at the top of each topic specific forum.
Sorting and filtering options are accessible at the top of the main forum pages
and provides all users the ability to sort the messages based on category and date
for all participants. Read status, while visible to all, is functional only for
signed in participants.
Access to writing a new post is available in the upper right corner of all topical
forums.
If you've not signed in when selecting this, you'll be prompted to do so.
Marking all posts of the specific forum as "read" is available to signed in users.
. "Read" posting display with a gray pencil or star.
Topics
Topics, also know as posts or messages, are displayed in chronological order based
on recent activity - whether a new post or a reply within an active thread. The
display includes:
- Message title - links into to the original or parent message
- Latest post - links directly to most recent reply message
- Display name of participant who added the latest post - link to public profile
- Date and time of the latest post
- Number of replies - 14 entries are shown per page; 16 posts and the post is marked
as a "star"
Post Icons and Visited
Links
Tracking of viewed posts is provided to signed-in participants. Visitors viewing
messages without sign in will see only gray icons; visited links will not change
color.
A red pencil denotes new messages and/or messages with additional replies since
your last visit. The subject link will be light blue.
A gray pencil indicates topic access and no new posts since your last visit. The
subject link turns to dark blue.
Red stars indicate a new reply messages. A message with a star will have more than
15 replies.
Gray stars, like gray pencils, indicate topic access and no additional posts since
your last visit.
Tip: On each topic page is a "Mark all read" link. Selecting this will change every
unread message to read.
Flat or Threaded Views
Each participant has the option of changing the format of viewing posts, Flat or
Threaded, at any time. Flat viewing is the default setting for the forum program.
Change the viewing preference in Edit Profile under the Site Options tab.
Viewing a message in the "flat" mode will return all interactions within a post
on one page. Access a specific post by clicking on the "in reply to" link found
in the upper right corner of each reply post.
A message in the "threaded" mode shows each posting individually. An outline located
above each message provides the location, and relationship, of the message within
the thread. Expand the outline and access individual postings by selecting the "plus"
icon where indicated.
Participant
Information Displayed with Messages
Registered users along with visitors have access to participant information after
clicking into a message.
- Display name - is listed at the top of the profile section. Clicking on the name
will return the public profile for the participant.
- Avatar - represents the participants and can be either the default avatar or one
of the member's selection
- Participation gage
- State location - based on zip code provided in registration. If a country other
than US is selected, no location is displayed.
- Posts - access all posts submitted by this member.
Public Profiles
Clicking on the Display Name returns a member's public profile information:
- Display Name and User Type (Consumer, Lawyer or Admin)
- Avatar
- Member since date
- Last login date
- State location based on the zip code in the account
- Posts - Access a listing of original or reply postings by the member.
- Biographical, "Bio," information - The information the members wants others to know
- Announcements - Here you'll find general information such as additional involvement
on Lawyers.com such as chats or Ask a Lawyer Q & A's if the member is a host
or panelist. Others may reference material they've found helpful on Lawyers.com
or the Internet
- My Activity - Easy access to the member's recent activity on the forums. Members
may choose to exclude information from this section.
- My Comments - Displays the feedback received from other subscribed participants.
Members are in control of displaying or removing comments submitted to their account.
Posting Guidelines
Before beginning, review the
Forum Rules for detailed posting guidelines. Below are summary points from the
guidelines:
- Select the one best forum for your question; no spamming.
- Post respectfully, no "flaming" or foul language.
- Be cautions in providing your contact information.
- Do not name other individuals or businesses.
- No advertisement, solicitation or copyrighted information without permission.
-
Help the community. Use upper and lower case letters and standard punctuation; please
turn-off the "caps lock" key.
New Post
- Compose
- Subject lines - Have a character limit of 60 including spaces.
- Composition box - allows for limited customization of the text including:
bolding, italics, underline, indentation, bullets, adding icons to display within
the message . Pasting content from Word is allowed. Links/URLs included in text
will not "hot."
- Email Alerts - If you want to receive emails sent to your private email address
alerting you to any new messages added to the topic thread, check the box at the
bottom of the post.
Tip: If you decide you don't want to receive the messages, click on the link
"Stop Emailing replies to me" found at the top of the topic thread.
Options
The options page provides a selection of icons to display with the message on the
main topic index.
Preview
See what your message looks like prior to submission.
Post
Select the post button when ready to submit your message. Upon submission, the message
can be viewed by the public. You may edit your post for 5 minutes after publishing.
You will need to provide a reason for the update in the "Edit Notes" box. Edit notes
are not publicly visible. Deleting a whole post is not allowed, but you can delete
the text within your post.
Reply to a Topic
Replies to a message are made by selecting either "Reply"or "Quick Reply."
Quick reply provides only the composition box noted below.
Compose
- Subject lines - Can be changed; character limit of 60 including spaces.
- Quoting - The post you are responding to is located above the reply box.
You may include the entire message in your reply by selecting "Quote" or highlight
the portion you wish to include and then select "Quote." You may delete text included
in the quoted section prior to submission.
- Tip: Use caution in quoting an entire message - you reply may be pushed far
down the page.
- Composition box - allows for limited customization of the text including:
bolding, italics, underline, indentation, bullets, adding icons to display within
the message . Copying/pasting text from Word is allowed. Links/URLs included in
text will not "hot."
- Email Alerts - If you want to receive emails sent to your private email address
alerting you to any new messages added to the topic thread, check the box at the
bottom of the post.
Tip: If you decide you don't want to receive the messages, click on the link
"Stop Emailing replies to me" found at the top of the topic thread.
Options
The options page provides a selection of icons to display with the message on the
main topic index.
Related
Access to all postings in the thread.
Preview
See what your message looks like prior to submission.
Post
Select the post button when ready to submit your message. Upon submission, the message
can be viewed by the public. An Edit link is available for 5 minutes after posting
allowing updates. Please provide a reason for the update in the "Edit Notes" box.
Edit notes are not publicly visible. Deleting en entire post is not allowed, but
you may delete the text within the post within the 5 minute window.
Favorites
Add or remove a post or forum as a Favorite by clicking on the icon. Favorite selections
appear in your Home section of My Community. Posts and Forums are grouped together.
Removal of a favorite selection is made from the Home section.
Contact
Viewing profiles, accessing posts and starting a conversation are available through
the contact option when in a specific message.
Conversations are sent within the forum to the participant and appear in the related
section on their Home page. Recipients may choose to reply or delete. Replies will
appear in the Conversation section in the senders Home page. Please respect others
- if a conversation request does not result in a response, do not repeatedly send
requests.
Reply Notification
and Ratings
Receive email notification sent to the email account in your registration when replies
are added to a post by selecting the link at the top of thread. To stop receiving
notifications, click on the link in the email and scroll to the top of the thread.
Click on "Stop emailing replies to me" link.
Really like a post or response? Make it known by selecting the star ratings.
Report Abuse
Participants may report a messages and posters who are not respecting others on
the board or the Forum Rules. Please provide a subject line and comments regarding
the message. The site administration will review and take appropriate action. Message
details will be included in the report; no need to add. Thank you for helping keep
the community welcoming to all.
