Zoints

[amykhar]

I'm pleased to announce that we now utilize Zoints!

What is Zoints?

Zoints is a community-based social network and profile system that will take forums like ours to a whole new level via a feature common to all forum software: profiles. By its very design, Zoints is meant to benefit online communities. It will help us get new members, increase revenue, and much more.

Zoints will help keep the Internet democratic and free from censorship by empowering the operators of online communities and their members. Rather than a few large companies controlling the users' experience, Zoints is working to ensure that the beautiful diversity of the online community continues to flourish.

Zoints Basics

Using the simple drag and drop interface and selection of various dropdown options, you can configure your profile to be uniquely yours. But first, you need to link your forum profile here to your Zoints profile.

Getting Started

To link your profile, follow these easy steps:

Step 1:

Go to the Zoints dropdown at the top and click on "My Profile"







Step 2:

If you already have a Zoints account, login. Or select create your profile.







Step 3:

Create your account (it takes 30 seconds max) and that's it. You can now play with the most powerful profile system on the net



Now add me to your network! Go to:

Zoints Message and add me

This tour explains how to add someone to your network!

[amykhar]

Add me to your network! Go to:

Zoints Message and add me

This tour explains how to add someone to your network!


Zoints provides an easy means for you not only to create an incredible profile, but to connect with new people and manage those contacts in an efficient manner.

Configuring your profile is a snap! You can simply drag and drop any of the blocks to the desired location. Don't like a block? Simply click on the and it disappears (it can always be added back later). An example of a block being dragged to a new location:





If you don't like the look or color of your profile, you can change it with a single click. Zoints comes with different color default styles, you can create your own, OR you browse through hundreds of member created and shared styles in the Style Database. An example of how easy it is to change the look of your profile:





The interface for creating a new style and editing single blocks is very easy to use:





There are three editing modes. "Advanced" where you can drag and drop blocks, "simple" which allows blocks to be moved with arrows, and "disabled" which shows you your profile as other members would see it. Switching between the three modes is quick and easy:





There are MANY additional blocks you can add to your profile with just a couple clicks. Or, if you're a more advanced user, you can code and use your own (Zoints allows most HTML and .css to be used). An example of some blocks:





If you like .rss feeds, there are quite a few ready for you to add. Or, if you want to use one not already provided, you can create a new .rss block VERY easy using the "create new block" system:





There's a lot to do on Zoints. You can meet new people and add them to your network:





Search for others using the powerful search system:





Rate other members or let them rate you:





Add "interest tags" that, when clicked, show you other members who share those same interests as you:





The "network interests" block lists interest tags that those members who are in your personal network have listed. The more people who share an interest, the larger the tag becomes:





If you want to let others send you a real quick message, why not utilize the "social actions" block?





Some sites just have "friends", Zoints goes the extra mile and lets you have friends and any other group you want to create. YOU create and manage your groups:





Zoints has an extremely powerful permissions system that allows you to show the content you want to the users you want. You can show different content to one group than you do to another group:




There is so much more to Zoints than what has been listed here. Dive right in and explore the system for yourself!

[eris esoteric]

I'm scared, Amy...

[amykhar]

What this will eventually do is to allow you to have a common profile page for just about any vbulletin forum you use. Only a few forums are in at this early stage, but I expect it will grow pretty rapidly once it's out of private beta.

It's going to let you track your friends from various forums and not just EA.

[pippadaisy[$]]

You imply that we visit any other vBulletin forums??

[theworm[$]]

scary

[amykhar]

I know wormie does, Pippa. She goes to a crochet one Cristina and Sooner also use his forum, which is vbulletin. Uno owns his own vbulletin forum and the people who join my hideaway do too.

Amy

[pippadaisy[$]]

Traitors, all!

[emeleel]

The only other forum I visit regularly (and lately, that has not been very often) is a coupons forum. They are vBulletin (and man, have I wished often they could hire you for tech work, Amy!) but I'm not sure there would be a lot of point of hooking up the two.

[theworm[$]]

I am scared of this Zoints, but if it is good for you and for EA, Amy, I will overcome my fears and sign up. Still.....

[phoenixx]

No thank you, Amy. Let me know when we can toggle that option off.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Lords of Legend finally switched over to vBulletin earlier this year. I kept posting the link to our forums over there so the admins could come and see how awesome vBulletin can be

[amykhar]

Leslie, you can turn it off in your usercp options.

[phoenixx]

sweet.

[thinkerlady[$]]

I am just curious, Leslie, why do you say no to it?

[theworm[$]]

I signed up.
It was a bit confusing - suppose I could have read the instructions.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I signed up but I don't think I'm linked.

[pippadaisy[$]]

I don't know about Leslie, but anything that can track me from site to site gives me the heebity bejeebies.

[lynnzop[$]]

I would like to make the pink thing at the top of my screen go away.

[amykhar]

Your usercp, Lynn. But, Lynn, your zoints profile could be a great showplace to show off your beading stuff. It's a lot more configurable than the profiles here and it allows you to pick and choose what you show. The page you see there is just the default. Check mine out to see how I am evolving it into something more 'me'.

[lynnzop[$]]

I'll do that tonite Amy...and I'm not saying I won't join up, it does sound like a great networking op.

I just browse at work with a minimized window and that pink box eats up my space (where I used to be able to just click on new posts discretely )

That's all.

[drmomentum[$]]

There are other forums????

/me faints

[slick4591[$]]

I want the pink thing gone also, but I'm not finding it in usercp. I hate change.