Let's Get Patchy: Learn How to Use Community News Site's Functions

New look, same great site!

As you may have noticed, that’s what we’ve done here at Patch in recent months. New look, same great content about your town, including government, schools, police, arts and entertainment, sports and so on. And we thank you for sticking around with us.

We’re updating the sites constantly, making them more functional and easier to use for readers all the time. But with change comes some glitches, of course, and over the past few months your newsletters may have gone missing or your Patch account has been changed.

So here’s a few quick tips on how to rectify those problems, and hopefully the info will help you get back into Patch and all it has to offer:

Newsletters

When you sign up for our daily newsletter you’ll also receive our breaking news alerts, which are sent directly to your email inbox.

It’s really simple: Scroll to the bottom of this page. On the right, you’ll see a small icon that looks like a newspaper under the heading “Stay Connected.” Just click on it and a dialogue box will appear asking for your email address. Type it in, hit subscribe, and you’re on your way! You can also do this for any other Patch site you’d like to receive updates from.

Comments

How about leaving comments on the articles you’ve read? Also very simple. Patch’s new commenting platform is powered by the third-party application Disqus, the most popular commenting system on the Web. It’s really easy to use. Here’s how:

1. Scroll to the bottom of this story and click the word “Login.”
2. You’ll be given the choice of logging in via Disqus, Facebook, Twitter or Google. You CAN remain anonymous.
3. Type your comment in the “Join the Discussion” box. Make sure to adhere to our commenting policy, which you can review here.
4. Click “Post.”

Contribute

Lastly, how can you contribute to Patch’s Bulletin Board? Again, easy stuff, so let’s take a look.

Go to http://contribute.patch.com and login to the site with your Patch account. If you’ve never logged in to the new Patch 3.0, you may need to enter your old password and then create a new one. It’s just to prove you’re a human! If you’re receiving an error message, file a ticket at support.patch.com.

New users must create accounts by filling out a new user request form athttp://support.patch.com. Why? Because only verified users will be posting content on Patch. So give us some information — your email address, why you want to post, choose “create an account” from the drop-down menu, and our Support Team will get back to you.

After you’ve logged in, you will be brought to a page called Contributions. You will see all of the content you have posted to Patch on this page and the following page. From there, you can edit or delete a previous post, or start a new one by clicking the “+ Create Article” button.

When creating a post, you’ll need to follow these steps:

• Assign your community in the right corner of the page. You will need to start typing the name of your community and it will appear. Click it when it appears to “assign it.”
• Enter your title, article text (including a summary) and add a photo. Don’t see a preview? Don’t worry. Make sure it says “image received” under the photo box.
• Writing Tips: Don’t use all caps, please. But do capitalize the first letter of each word in the headline only. Also remember, you don’t want to be an unfriendly user — publish once a day, please!
• Click “Publish” — Your article is automatically approved and will be posted on the Bulletin Board! Be patient, you may not see your article at once. Do not publish it more than once, or you will see it appear many times.

You can now edit your own stories while you are reading them! If you are on your local Patch and are looking at one of your stories, click the small “P” icon next to the dateline. Click that to access “Moderation Mode.” You will be brought back toContribute.Patch.Com to make your edits or deletions. You do not have access to edit anyone else’s stories, just your own.

All user content is now found on the Patch Bulletin Board. So how do you find all your content in one place on your local Patch? Click your byline to be brought to your profile page on Patch. That is your new “home” on Patch and where all your readers can find your content!

So welcome back and have some fun. Connect with your community by keeping up to date with our newsletters, engage with the site by leaving comments, and show off by making your own contributions to Patch.