The "Buddies" feature has just gone through a major upgrade!! This is where I know there's a collective head scratch about what the heck the buddies feature IS.
The Buddies feature didn't do very much before except show you if your buddies were online in the "Who's online" list. You'll notice now when you're logged in that there's a fancy new blue button on the right side just for Buddies! Once you add a buddy to your list, you'll be able to keep up with all their new posts and see all the great new creations they're making.
Here's a tutorial on how it all works!
You can now follow all the Craftsters you love! Once you add someone to your Buddy List, their new posts will show up in a special feed that you can access via the blue buttons on the right side of the forum.
Just click on View Buddies' Posts! Now you'll get 10 pages of all the most recent posts OR posts with pictures from the people on your Buddy List. You can see there's a quick little toggle up at the top so you can go between the two option and there's also a link to your Edit Buddies page.
If you don't want people to be able to follow your posts
you can easily opt out!! Everyone has been automatically opted in but opting out is simple. Just go to your profile and then to Account Related Settings. You'll just untick the second box under your email address.
If you don't opt out and someone puts you on their list, you'll get a PM like this:
You'll also get the same thing as an email
if you have this option checked off in the Notifications and Email portion of your profile. (It should be the first option listed)
Now, I know you can't wait to go add buddies to your list! Well there are two ways to do it. The first is within the forum itself. You'll notice that in the avatar area of everyone's posts, there's now an "Add to buddy list" option right there! So if you see someone fabulous you can follow them without leaving the thread. Once someone is in your Buddy List, the option will change to "Edit buddy list". That way you don't have to remember who you've added and who you haven't.
After you add someone to your list, a small window will pop up that looks like this. You'll be able to select if you'd like to receive PM or email notifications of their new threads, both, or
neither. You will only be notified when they create a new thread in a Completed Projects board. You will
not be notified every time they post!
You can also view or edit your Buddy List by going to the new My Buddies area under My Craftster in the tape measure. (Or you can get their the long way by going to My Profile and then selecting Edit Buddies from the left hand column.)
Here's your Buddy List when it's empty. Aww. Sad.
Let's fix it by entering the username of the person you want to follow! I'm adding rackycoo because she makes such fantastic things! (If you want to add someone but you aren't sure how to spell their username, just hit the little exclamation point and use the pop-up to find it!)
Now that I have a few people added it looks much better. You can use this page to see all of their posts, threads, or posts with images or to go to their profile or see if they're online.
If you decide you want to receive notifications a certain way (the default is to receive PMs and emails when a buddy posts a new completed project thread), you can configure the checkmarks however you like! Just make sure to hit that little Submit button at the bottom.
I think that's it! If you have questions or concerns let us know! Otherwise, enjoy!
