| The following list contains answers to some of the questions that are frequently asked about the TaxAlmanac Discussion Forums.
How can I update my profile
Your profile, also known as your user page, can be accessed by clicking your user name on any of your posts, or my clicking the user name next to the username icon (a little person icon) at the very top of the screen. If you're already signed in to TaxAlmanac, you can also get there by clicking on this link: Profile.
To update your profile, you open it up and then click the "edit this page" tab. You make any changes to the existing version of the user page - if you've just signed up, you'll see some boilerplate language there to suggest the kinds of things many users tend to include - and then click "save page" at the bottom when you're done. You can also use the "show preview" button to make sure the information is arranged as you like, and then click "save page" once you've made any additional changes.
It's very important that your user page be updated before you start participating on TaxAlmanac. The users here like to get to know each other, and also, your level of experience may be an important consideration when users are developing an appropriate answer for your questions, or when assessing the reliability of answers you provide to others. Beyond that, though, some users won’t respond at all if your profile hasn’t been updated, so providing the info before you ask a question may increase your chance of getting helpful responses. And finally, questions may be moved out of the Tax Forum, and into the Consumer Forum, if they do not appear to have been asked by a tax pro (e.g., if profile has not yet been updated).
How can I link to a Code Section or Regulation within my posts?
- This is fairly easy - simply type "Sec." followed by the section number, and put that between two square bracket characters, like this:
- [[Sec. 123]] - To link to an Internal Revenue Code Section.
- [[Publication 17]] - To link to a Publication
- [[Rev. Rul. 99-1]] - To link to a Revenue Ruling (1954-1999)
- [[Rev. Rul. 2000-1]] - To link to a Revenue Ruling (2000-present)
- Please note that the "Sec." must include the period.
- Also, at this time you cannot link to a subsection, so [[Sec. 123(a)]] will not work, so use [[Sec. 123]](a) instead.
- In theory, linking to a reg should work the same way: [[Reg. 1.123-1]] - To link to a Treasury Regulation.
- However, some of the shortcuts are not available, and therefore in most cases you may have to go to the Treasury Regulations section of TaxAlmanac, find the reg you wish to link, copy the page title, and paste the link into your post just as you'd normally paste an onsite link (i.e., surrounded by double brackets). Or you can copy the URL and include it in your post the same way you'd put in an offsite link (i.e., single brackets).
How do I edit my posts after they are saved?
- Select the edit link at the top of the page. That will display the contents of the entire page, not just your post. Find your post on the page. Each post starts with {{ and ends with }} and contains various pieces of information. Try to leave these other pieces alone and just change the text as you need to. Please do not edit other people's posts (unless you're improving readability by converting an ALL UPPERCASE post to mixed case, etc.)
How can I rename a discussion after it has been saved?
- To change the Topic / Subject of a discussion, select the move tab at the top and enter the name that you'd like the page to have. Please keep the "Discussion:" prefix at the start of the name. If you receive a warning message indicating that another article already has that name, please choose another and do not overwrite the existing page.
How do I find a question that I asked or a topic that I responded to?
- There is a link called "my contributions" in the upper right corner of your screen once you've signed in; that link will take you to a list of all posts you've made with that user ID.
- If you have created a new discussion forum topic or replied to an existing one, you can view that discussion and select the edits link next to your username. You can do this for yourself or for any other user. This will display all edits / replies that you have made on TaxAlmanac, sorted by date.
- If you haven't yet participated in a discussion (or can't find it), simply go to your user page by clicking on your name at the top of the screen after you log in. Once there, select the User Contributions link in the toolbox on the left side of the screen to see all of the pages that you have added or edited. New posts and replies in the discussion forums are included.
- If you want to find the posts of another user, simply click on their name in the discussion forum and follow the same procedure.
How can I learn more about the qualifications of another user?
- When other users answer a question, how do you know how much faith you can put in their answers? What are their qualifications? Are they an expert with years of experience in that area of taxation? Are they a CPA or an Enrolled Agent? To find out, simply click on their username and you'll be taken to their user page. This is where they hopefully have listed their qualifications and a little bit about themselves.
- Although many people have done a great job of adding information about themselves to their user page, many other have not yet done so. Have you? If not, it's easy! Simply click on your username (either in a discussion or at the very top of the screen), then edit that page. Tell us who you are! Note that you do not need to reveal personally identifying information on this page if you don't want to. Feel free to just say something like "I have been a CPA for 5 years."
Can I add a picture to my user page?
- Yes, you sure can! Use the Upload file link in the toolbox on the left side of the screen. Go to your personal user page and simply add the text [[Image:NAME.jpg]]. If you'd like to get fancier, you can left-justify it on the page and have the text on the page wrap around it by entering this: [[Image:NAME.jpg|left]]. Note that the name of the picture is case-sensitive.
How can I contact another TaxAlmanac user?
- You have two options. First, click on the user's username - that will take you to their user page. Once there, select the discussion tab at the top of the page. If you edit that page, they'll be notified the next time they log in to TaxAlmanac. If they have an email address entered and authenticated, they'll also receive an email indicating that their talk page has been changed with instructions on how to view the changes. I've been adding a welcome message at the top of everyone's discussion page which includes an easy Leave a message for User by clicking here bar, but I am a little behind at the moment. If the user you are trying to message has this, you can use it. If not, just edit the page using the edit tab at the top.
- A second option is to go to their user or their talk page and select the E-mail this user link on the left of those pages. If they have an email address entered and authenticated, you will be able to email them from TaxAlmanac.
Can I sort the topic listing grid by other fields?
- Yes, simply click on the column title to sort by that field.
How can I change the formatting of my posts?
- It's fairly easy...
- Italics
- Simply surround text with 2 apostrophes. ''This'' will produce This. Note that this is not the quote character. You need to do two of the single quotes here.
- Bold
- Simply surround text with 3 apostrophes. '''This''' will produce This.
- Bold and Italics
- Simply surround text with 5 apostrophes (2 + 3). '''''This''''' will produce This.
- Bulletted List
- Simply start a line with an asterisk "*"
- Numbered List
- Simply start a line with a pound/number sign "#"
- Feel free to test these out in the Test Discussion Forum.
How can I link to other pages or other sites?
- It's not that difficult, but there are several ways, depending on where you're linking.
- To link to another discussion or page on TaxAlmanac, surround the page name with two "[[" and "]]" characters, like this [[Main Page]] which produces Main Page.
- Advanced: You can change what is displayed by doing this: [[Main Page|Entryway]] which produces Entryway.
- To link to a page on another website, simply type in the location of that website, like this: http://www.irs.gov.
- Advanced: You can change what is displayed by doing this: [http://www.irs.gov IRS] which produces IRS.
- For more information, see Help:How to Add Links.
Can I change my user name on TaxAlmanac?
- Yes, this is now available, though the process does not update your user name listed in past discussions on the discussion forums - it only changes it going forward. Simply contact the moderator, Tdoyle, and include a suggestion or two for what you'd like your new name to be. As long as the name has not yet been taken, your old name can be changed by the moderator and all of your user history and your profile will transfer over to the new name.
Can I be notified via email when my question is answered?
- Yes, you can use your watch list for limited email notification, with a few caveats.
- To Set Up Email Notification of Changes to your Watchlist Items:
- Log in and go to your preferences on the very top line.
- Make sure you have a valid email address in the Email field.
- Scroll down a bit on that page until you can see the Email section. Make sure that the options to Send me an email on page changes and Send me an email also for minor edits are both checked.
- If a notice is displayed in the email section indicating that your email address is not yet authenticated, select the confirm your email address link and from that page select the Mail a confirmation Code button.
- You should receive an email within a few minutes. Open that email and select the link that is included. You should receive a message indicating that your address has been authenticated.
- At this point, you are set to receive email notifications when any page on your watchlist changes. These pages can be in the discussion forum or anywhere else on TaxAlmanac - the main page, Internal Revenue Code sections, etc.
- How to Add Items to your Watchlist
- For discussions, simply select the Watch this discussion checkbox on the bottom of the discussion pages and then save.
- For pages other than discussion pages, select the watch tab at the top of any page. This works for discussion pages as well.
- To view or edit your watchlist, select the my watchlist link at the top of any TaxAlmanac page.
- Keep in mind that you will only receive one email per page that changes until you view that page. If 5 people add replies to a discussion, you'll only get one email. Once you view the page, the trigger is reset.
- I don't believe that an email is sent if you make the change to the page - it has to be someone else.
How can I search and/or find information more efficiently?
- See Hints and Tips on How to Search on TaxAlmanac.
- You can also browse discussions or articles by topic:
-
- And, there are also older help pages on searching: TaxAlmanac:Searching, Help:Searching; they may not all be updated to match the current search functionality.
Can I search just the discussion forums?
- Click on advanced search.
- Unselect all checkboxes except Discussion, and enter your real search term, then press enter.
- The results will then be displayed with only the discussion forum included.
Can I spell check?
- See Discussion:Spell Check Feature for more information.
How can I force a new line?
- See Help:How to start a new line
How can I add professional designation boxes to my user page?
- See Communities & Designations for a list of communities and designations that are available to be added to your user page, and instructions about how to edit your page to include them.
If you have any questions which are not answered above, please add them to our TaxAlmanac Feedback Discussion Forum.
|
