User Guide

At community.nspe.org, members can easily connect with each other, ask questions, share expertise, share files and more! This user guide will help you set up your profile and start connecting.

Table of Contents

» Logging In
» Updating your profile

Communities

» Joining a community
» Starting a new discussion post
» Responding to discussion posts
» Including an attachment in a post
» Creating a library entry
» Leaving a community
» Sorting discussion threads

Directory

» Finding new members
» Adding members as contacts
» Opt-out / Opt-in

Settings

» Community subscription options
» Email
» Privacy

Logging In

The NSPE community site supports the following Internet browsers:

  • Internet Explorer (IE)
  • Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari

You can access the NSPE community site on the NSPE website or by simply typing in the URL: https://community.nspe.org

To access from our website, visit www.nspe.org and on the left-side navigation, under "Membership" click on the link that says "Communities." Clicking here will bring you to the NSPE community homepage. Once there, click on the green ‘Log In’ button in the top right-hand corner.

Your username and password is the same as what you use on the NSPE website.

Important: When you log in for the first time, please be sure to read over the E-Group Rules and click on the ‘I Accept’ box at the bottom of the E-Group Rules & Etiquette page. You will need to agree to these rules before continuing to the community site.

*Note: If you are having trouble logging in to the NSPE community site, please verify that your e-mail address is accurate in your member profile in the "My Account" section of the NSPE website. You can update your e-mail address directly on the NSPE website.

If you continue to have issues logging in, please call NSPE Member Services at 888-284-NSPE (6773) and we will be happy to assist you.

Profile

Updating Your Profile

As an NSPE member, you already have a profile on the NSPE community site that is ready for you to customize.

To update your profile, please log in to the NSPE website. After you log in, click on the "My Account" link at the top left corner of the webpage. While on your account page, make any necessary changes and save.

*Important: Basic contact and employment information is automatically populated onto community site profile from the NSPE website. Any updates made to your profile page will automatically be reflected in the community site. The community site is auto-refreshed every hour.

To review your profile on the communities site, click on your profile picture drop down arrow at the top right of the communities homepage and then click the "Profile" button. From here, you can review your profile.

Communities

Joining a Community

As a new member of the communities site, you are automatically subscribed to the all-members Open Forum. You can also find and join additional communities under the ‘Communities’ tab on the home screen. Simply browse the communities available and click ‘join’ to add yourself to any additional communities of interest.

Starting a New Discussion Post

From the communities homepage, click on the “Participate” tab and then “Post a Message”.

You can also post a message by clicking on the “Communities” tab and choosing your desired community. From there, click on the “Discussions” tab and click on the green button at the right that says, “Post New Message”. Enter your subject, choose the community you wish to post the message into, type your message, attach any necessary documents and click send.

You can also post a message directly from your e-mail account without having to log in. In one of the e-mails you receive from the NSPE communities site, you will see a link at the top that says, “Post New Message Online”. Click on that link, type your discussion post and click send.

Responding to Discussion Posts

If you are replying while logged in to communities site, click on the blue “Reply to Discussion” button to send your message to the entire community or click on the drop down arrow and then “Reply to Sender” to reply privately to the original sender.

There are three ways to reply to a discussion post: 

  • Reply to Discussion: reply to everyone in the group;
  • Reply to Sender: reply privately to the original sender; and,
  • Reply by E-mail: reply directly from the e-mail notification you receive without having to log in to the community website. To do this, simply click on the blue “Reply All E-mail” button at the top right of each message.

We recommend replying to the sender for simple comments that add little value to the overall discussion (ex/ thank you); and replying to the entire community when you are sharing knowledge, experience or resources that others could benefit from.

You can also reply directly from your e-mail account. Simply click on the blue “Reply All E-mail” button at the top right of each message.

Including an attachment in a post

When posting a new message via the web, you have the option to include one or more attachments (files) with your message. To include an attachment, click the "Attach" button at the bottom of the "Post a Message" form.

Files that are attached to an email are added to the community’s Library. Because of this, there are a couple of steps you need to take to add an attachment:

  • Upload the files from your computer by clicking the "Choose files" button.
  • After selecting all of the files, click the "Upload" button, then click the "Next" button.

Creating a Library Entry

To upload a document to a community, click on the “Add” button above the Shared Files section of the page. On the "Add to a Library" form, enter a title for your library document, select the community you wish to enter the document in, choose the document type and click next.

You can also upload a document to go with the discussion post you are writing. You will see an “Attach” button at the bottom of the page. Click on that button and insert your document. That document will then be linked to your specific discussion post.

Library items can also be web links, so if you want to share a document on Google Docs, for example, the library item could be a link to the Google Doc.

Leaving a Community

Go to your profile page, click on the My Account tab and then Subscriptions. Here, you will see a list of available communities and those to which you’ve subscribed. Select “Unsubscribe” for the communities you wish to leave and click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page. You will get a message confirming that your subscription options have been successfully updated.

Sorting Discussion Threads

The community site gives you two options to sort the discussion posts: sorting by thread or sorting by most recent.

The community site automatically defaults to sorting by thread, so if you prefer to sort all of the posts by date, please see below. Take a look at the screenshot for further assistance.

To sort by date/most recent: Click on the Communities tab > All Communities > Open Forum > Discussions tab. You will see a blue bar with text that says, “Thread Subject, Replies, Last Post, View by Thread”. Click on the small down arrow next to “View by Thread” and click on “View by Date”. This will sort all threads by date. In addition, if you would like to sort the posts within each individual thread by date/most recent, click on the thread you would like to sort, click on the same down arrow next to “Sorted by Thread” and click on “Sort by Most Recent”. This will put the most recent posts within the thread on top.

Directory

Finding Members

You can build your contact list using the directory (available to members sometime in 2017.) When you click on the Directory tab at the top of the community site homepage, you are taken to the Find a Member page. Search by first or last name, company name or email address. You can also do an advanced search if you have specific criteria you are looking for.

Adding Members as Contacts

Once you find the member(s) you are looking for, you can add them as a contact. Adding contacts creates an organized list in your profile where you can easily access who you are looking for. To add a member, click on the button at the right where it says “Add as Contact”. That member is now saved in your contact list.

Benefits of Adding Contacts:

  • From your profile, you have quick access to your contacts’ profile information and the ability to send private messages faster.
  • Other members can see who your contacts are and which contacts you have in common, which helps you connect with more members.

Opt-out/Opt-in

You can control whether or not your name appears in the directory or community rosters. To opt-out of being included in the member directory and community rosters, or opt-in, visit your profile page and click on the "My Account" > "Privacy Settings" > and adjust your settings.

Settings

Community Subscription Options

When you join a community, you are automatically subscribed to receive emails containing messages that other users post in that community. To review or edit your email subscriptions, go to your profile page, My Account tab and then Subscriptions. You can choose from the following options:

  • Real Time: You will receive an email each time a new message is posted. To reply to a discussion, click on the ‘Reply to Discussion’ link in the column at the right.
  • Daily Digest: You will receive one email each day containing all of the previous day’s messages. To reply to a discussion, click on the ‘Reply to Discussion’ link in the column at the right.
  • No Email: This means that you won’t receive any emails in your inbox. You will need to log in to community site to view and reply to discussion posts.

You can also edit other email preferences on the My Account tab. Click on My Account drop down button > E-mail Preferences.

E-mail Successful Delivery

To make sure that you always receive e-mails from community site, please be sure that the emails are not going into your junk folder. To do this, you need to whitelist “DoNotReply@ConnectedCommunity.org”. Please use the website below to help you add community site to your email safe list.

Instructions for Whitelisting

If you continue to have trouble receiving emails, please check the following:

  • Verify that your e-mail address is accurate on your member profile of NSPE website.
    • If your e-mail address is inaccurate, please update it on the NSPE website. Updates will automatically be reflected in the community site.
  • Verify your e-mail subscription level on the “Subscriptions” page of your profile.

E-mail Opt-Out/Opt-In

After you log in, click on the arrow located on your profile picture on the upper right side of the page and click on the green “Profile” button. Next click on the “My Account” tab and select “Email Preferences” from the list.

Privacy

In the community site, you can control the amount of information other members see on your profile. Once you log in to the community site, go to your profile page, My Account tab drop down button > Privacy Settings. From there, you can choose what information others can see or not see. Be sure to click the ‘Save’ button at the top or bottom when finished.

Help/FAQs

If you have additional questions or need additional support, please use the "Contact Us" link at the top of the homepage or call NSPE Member Services at 888-284-6773 (NSPE)