Home Forums Discussions General Discussion A few tips on using the board

We have a lot of new people on the board in the past few years, so I thought I would point out a few things that may be helpful.

First, there is a way to change what the board looks like. There are three themes. You can use the Style Chooser at the bottom left of the board on the Blue Bar:



I get a lot of messages asking me why their time doesn't match the board time. The board time is based on Greenwich Mean Time. So, if you are on the east coast, you will be off by five hours. You can go to Edit Preferences under My Stuff and change this by using a negative amount of hours unless you are in Italy or somewhere east of GMT.



When you become a user, you must choose a username to log in with. You cannot change this name. Unfortunately, your username becomes your default Display Name when you post. So, when your username is drjns127, it makes it difficult for others to call you by your name, and it can become difficult to start a post with Hi drjns127. So, while you can't change your username, you can change your display name, which you will find in My Stuff > Edit Profile. So, there you could enter Dr. Johnson or Mike, etc.



You can see how changing my display name to Bert from my username bert is MUCH better, lol. The capital makes a huge difference.

You can also add and/or change an auto-signature to your posts. If you really like your difficult username to be your display name, you can at least reveal your name you wish to be called by. Or you can use your display name in both. As you look at others, you see some will just put their sig, others will put some demographics and still others will add some witty saying or phrase. This can also be found in My Stuff > Edit Profile.




A few more tips: There is a Shout Box at the top right. This is for quick comments that are meant to have fun or ask very quick questions such as, "Is NewCrop down?" or questions about UpDox. But, if you are having problems with Amazing Charts not saving patient notes, that should be started as a thread where it can be addressed more easily. Plus, the comments on the Shout Box go quickly off the screen.

It is also helpful when you ask a question about your network such as, "One of my ACs on a computer can't access the server or is very slow, etc." It helps the other users if you give a detailed setup of your network, like "10 computers using Win 7 Pro on a client/server domain using a router, switch and modem. This is completely wired except for two computers which are wireless. Everything is 1Gb including all NIC cards, etc.

When you ask a question like above, please post back frequently and if you come to a solution whether good or bad, please post this for the benefit of others.

A very helpful thing to know is that when Amazing Charts is having an issue, especially if it is one out of five computers, it may very well be an issue on your network or computer. SQL Server and the database setup is rock solid and likely isn't the problem. If you haven't heard of the problem or bug anywhere else on the board (most bugs that are present in any particular version are quickly identified by users and AC, it is likely not AC. So, try to keep an open mind and don't just jump to the conclusion that it is AC. Not so much so you don't blame AC, but because if you consider it could be your network or your computer, you may arrive at the solution sooner.

I hope some of these help.

Any tips on how to post-whore enough to make it into the top 10?

Just keep coming up with good ways to help others.

Or keep complaining a lot

Or repeat yourself multiple times!

Good news! I am busy learning a new EHR (and new life) so my spot is hereby deemed available. Use it wisely.

David,

AC or no AC, keep in touch. Whether it's from the arctic tundra or the Pacific islands, I've much enjoyed reading your comments and musings.

And Bert--to keep on topic--thanks for this thread and all (all 9895 of them) you've done to support this virtual community.

David,

1512 is a mark for someone to shoot for. Those were 1512 great comments as John stated. I'm not taking you down.

PS What is the EHR? Hopefully, not NextGen.

John, thanks for the kind words.

I'd prefer you stick around David!